0:12

Hello and welcome to the Taskmaster Podcast,

0:15

Ed Gamble here, host of That. Today

0:18

is episode two of the best of

0:20

series 17 episodes. Some

0:22

of our favourite moments from series 17, you know

0:24

the drill, we talk about the tasks, we talk

0:27

about all sorts of other nonsense, it's great fun

0:30

and there's stuff that we didn't have the first

0:32

time around because we don't need to worry about

0:34

spoilers. Occasionally guests drop in things from future episodes

0:36

from the one they're discussing and we can't put

0:38

that in but now we can. So

0:40

enjoy that and don't forget Taskmaster

0:42

New Zealand. We're going to be talking about Taskmaster

0:44

New Zealand from the very beginning. That's

0:47

coming very soon, very excited to do

0:49

that. It's another big effort that we've

0:51

given ourselves after historically doing all of

0:53

the previous episodes of UK Taskmaster and

0:55

they keep making Taskmaster New Zealand so

0:57

that's never going to end. You

1:00

can watch Taskmaster New Zealand one to

1:02

three by visiting channel4.com and then you

1:04

can listen to companion podcasts about it.

1:06

But for now, enjoy the best of.

1:13

Welcome Kael to the Taskmaster Podcast.

1:17

It's so nice to be here once again. Once

1:19

again, you're back, back in the world of

1:21

Taskmaster. You are, I think, the

1:23

only contestant in Taskmaster history to get

1:25

to do more Taskmaster than you deserved.

1:27

Sorry? Well, I'll talk you through

1:29

it. I think you know exactly what I mean. I

1:32

wouldn't have used the word deserved though. Well,

1:34

you didn't win your series. May

1:36

Martin won your series but

1:38

they weren't available to be on

1:40

the Champion of Champions. So

1:43

you just swan in all willy

1:45

nilly, all cool as a cucumber

1:47

and take May's place on Champion of

1:49

Champions. Imagine if I won. Imagine

1:52

if you won. But you weren't going to

1:54

win because you couldn't even win your own

1:56

standard series. So what makes you think

1:58

you were going to win? up against

2:01

four genuine champions, Kyle. Wow,

2:04

that is crazy specific. I

2:09

believe I thought I had what it

2:11

took, and I think I could

2:13

have if it wasn't for the fact

2:15

that Dara is better

2:18

at Taskmaster than anyone else. Yes,

2:20

Dara is better at Taskmaster than anyone else. I

2:22

would say... But I also did come fifth. Yes,

2:25

you came fifth. Well, there's no shame

2:27

in coming fifth in Champion of Champions, Kyle. No, wait, hang

2:29

on. No, I came fourth.

2:33

Ah, OK. Well, there is shame

2:35

in coming fourth. Fifth is the best

2:37

place to be in Champion of Champions.

2:39

You could have joined a hallowed hall

2:41

of former contestants who came fifth on

2:43

Champion of Champions, but

2:46

also you didn't win your series. So anyway,

2:48

we'll move on from that. But

2:50

was it fun being back in the Taskmaster house? Was it

2:52

a bit of a surprise? You must have been a bit

2:55

sort of taken aback by the fact you were back in

2:57

there. Yeah, I was expecting to be. Yeah. And

3:01

that morning I had had a conversation

3:03

with one of the camera

3:05

team, Holly, because she

3:08

was on So M.B. And

3:10

when I was talking about it, I was like, oh, man, I

3:13

wish there was a way for me to do Champion of Champions.

3:15

And the email came in that afternoon and I looked at Holly

3:17

and I was like, are you a witch? And

3:22

I still don't know. You manifested it. That's what happened.

3:37

And so we spent like three days together

3:39

doing the tasks. And it's like, it's kind

3:41

of like you're kind of it's a it's

3:43

an experience that kind

3:45

of wells you together. And

3:47

what was lovely then when we got into

3:50

the studio when I met Nick and Steve,

3:52

there was no well, John John was John's

3:54

competitive. But ultimately, we were just there to

3:56

have a nice time. Yeah. You know, there

3:59

was it was. all very fun. It was

4:01

just fun and I would say you might

4:04

agree it's the most fun I've ever had making

4:06

a TV show. Oh I mean

4:08

easily the most fun I've had making a TV

4:10

show, doing that show just because it does happen

4:12

over a long period of time as well. You're

4:14

filming the tasks over a long period of time,

4:17

you almost don't want that to end but then

4:19

you don't want the studio to end and then

4:21

you're having the pleasure of watching them all go

4:23

out as well in people's reactions so it's just

4:25

a constant joy. Yeah it's ten

4:27

years of your life for me. Roughly

4:31

isn't it? I'll be retired by the time I'm

4:33

here. But no, it was amazing, I loved it.

4:36

Loved, loved, loved it. And it's so sad, not

4:38

to give any spoilers but I won't be coming

4:40

back. Task

4:54

one, I'm going to read all of this out,

4:56

Lou, it's quite long. Work out who is following

4:58

you. You must stare at the duck at all

5:01

times and take an average length step towards the

5:03

duck every time it quacks. If the person following

5:05

you agrees with you they will say the name

5:07

of a mammal. If the person following you disagrees

5:09

with you then they will say the name of

5:11

a bird. If the person following you doesn't know

5:13

if they disagree or agree with you they will

5:15

say the name of an amphibian. The correct answer

5:18

for this from the duck wins, your time starts

5:20

when the duck quacks. Again, you know like when

5:22

your grandma says to you, well how do you

5:24

learn all those lines when you do your show?

5:26

That's me with, how are they thinking up all

5:28

those tasks? I know. How do you think you

5:30

would have done in this Lou? I

5:33

think I would have got very stressed about the different

5:35

layers of the task. I was thinking

5:37

that. But then

5:40

my gut instinct is as sharp as

5:42

hell. So you've got to factor that

5:44

in as well. I probably would have

5:46

said, are you Mr Blobby? Question

5:48

one. You know what I mean? Yeah, because

5:50

you have... I am a bit psychic. Yeah,

5:52

exactly. With these psychic powers, is there a

5:55

cap on them or is there like you

5:57

can only use so much in your life?

6:00

do you think saying is it Mr Blobby straight away would

6:02

be a waste of the psychic powers? Ah

6:04

good question thank you Ed. Well

6:07

I think as time goes on they

6:09

get sharper, there's no limit to

6:12

my powers. Would I use

6:14

them on a mainstream television show? Yes, I

6:16

mean I did do it when it was still on Dave so

6:19

less risk you know getting out into the witch but still. No

6:22

but I do think it was a good game

6:24

though and you'd be so happy that it was

6:26

Mr Blobby even if it took you a while

6:28

to get there wouldn't you? Yeah I mean

6:30

Jahan certainly was because she's already mentioned

6:32

Mr Blobby in in this series she

6:34

seems obsessed with Mr Blobby he is

6:36

her go-to as it's mentioned. Are

6:39

you a you a Blobby fan? Well I wonder if

6:41

they put that in the task because they knew

6:43

she was you know a bit of a blob

6:45

head as it were. Interesting yeah that would be

6:47

good to know whether the obsession

6:50

with Blobby actually changed to who it was

6:53

going to be. Yeah sorry just

6:55

to go back to am I a Blobby fan? Well I

6:58

was up until 14th

7:01

of November. No

7:03

I didn't I was sort

7:07

of more pro than anti but then

7:09

I saw Mr Blobby supporting self-esteem and

7:11

I really feel like Blobby

7:13

tried to sort of steal a bit too much of the

7:15

thunder. Well that's Blobby's raise on Detra. Blobby's not

7:17

going to fade into the background he's pink with

7:20

yellow spots for God's sake. I

7:22

know but it was just that she was

7:24

taking a bow and Blobby was acting like

7:26

it was his show. Yeah that's what of

7:28

course he is he's Blobby. Yeah I know

7:30

but then also in

7:33

the bar beforehand Blobby

7:35

was there in his full outfit and I

7:37

thought you've got to hide yourself for

7:39

the reveal. Blobby's walking around like he owns a joint

7:41

and I'm like Blobby come on have a bit of

7:44

element of surprise but

7:46

you know these are all tiny things and he's probably

7:48

a great guy or girl I mean it's Mr Blobby

7:50

so you think we can guess the joke.

7:53

Yes I think so. So show

7:55

burning a woman's show I mean no I'm

7:57

sure Blobby's obvious you know him personally. I don't know Blobby

7:59

personally. never met Blobby. I mean, Blobby is a

8:01

bit of a hero of mine, I'll be honest. Yeah.

8:04

And actually, I think I've been a bit

8:06

mean, actually, to old Blobby there, because I

8:09

might have misread it and I'm probably being

8:11

a bit hyper aware, really, of, yeah. Blobby

8:13

does as Blobby does, and you get Blobby

8:15

for a reason and you feel filled that

8:17

task, so well done, Blobby. It's

8:19

also quite a difficult person slash

8:22

alien slash whatever he is to work

8:24

out, because we don't, I don't

8:26

know whether Blobby's a mammal. Yeah,

8:28

no, that's really fair, actually. Right.

8:31

So, I might have asked the question and

8:34

discounted it straight away, because there's a couple

8:36

that are on the line for me in

8:38

terms of who Blobby is or what Blobby

8:40

is. Yeah, no, I know what

8:42

you mean. Well, also, I felt

8:46

a lot of empathy for the girl answering

8:49

the question. Yeah, well, that's what you've just said,

8:51

isn't it? Yes, because, yeah, she, what

8:54

is, yeah, it's sort of what I

8:56

said. Yeah, it's difficult. It's difficult to

8:58

know what those answers are. And I

9:01

suspect it took a long time. It took a lot

9:03

longer on the day while they all sort of scrabbled

9:05

to work out whether Sophie Willan

9:07

had ever been drunk with the person inside

9:09

the Mr Blobby outfit. That's

9:12

hell. But also, I

9:14

was trying to work out, this

9:17

is really thick, and I was

9:19

trying to work out how the girl was on the back.

9:21

And then I thought, oh, no, they've got a microphone. And

9:24

she's in an office with a bit of

9:26

Google. She's googling away in the

9:29

office or in a shed or something. And I

9:31

was like, oh, right. Because I was like, how

9:33

does she know what's going on? And yeah, but

9:35

I worked out quite quickly, you'll be pleased with

9:37

that. You thought she was on the back of

9:39

the little buggy thing. Well, I was just thinking,

9:41

where is this girl's voice coming from? Like, she

9:43

can't fit in there. And I was sort of

9:45

trying to work it all out. But, you know,

9:48

it didn't take me minutes to get there, put it that way. It's

9:50

probably seconds. Yeah, fair enough. I

10:05

wish I could capture that

10:09

it's what people call flow state,

10:12

that first five to ten seconds

10:14

of a task. You

10:17

are in, it's like a form

10:19

of pure mindfulness because all I'm doing

10:22

is thinking a hundred miles an hour

10:24

about what I'm going to do and

10:26

also trying to slow that down to

10:28

think strategically. And I

10:30

cannot get, because I'm

10:32

someone who over thinks massively and I sort of

10:34

live in my head and it drives me nuts,

10:37

but given that sort of singularity

10:40

of purpose, I feel like

10:42

I'm in sort of a zen state. So

10:45

that moment where you're turning over and you're

10:48

thinking, okay, human, sausage,

10:50

I've got 25 seconds left, I

10:52

love it, I live

10:54

for it. But

10:57

then as soon as the task ends, the brain takes

10:59

over and it goes, why did you put a helmet

11:01

on that? Didn't look like a helmet. Why didn't you

11:03

do that? But when you're actually in the moment, you've

11:05

not got any of that sort of self talk going

11:08

on because you don't have the sort of time. So

11:11

I sort of, I remember coming away from a lot

11:15

of the tasks thinking, I wish I could just

11:17

be in a constant state of doing tasks. Would

11:20

that be the best thing for your mental health?

11:22

Do you think just constantly doing tasks, like constantly

11:24

opening envelopes, constantly doing things like that? Well, I

11:26

was like saying to Alex, oh, if you ever

11:28

need task testers, I basically just want to actually

11:30

live in the house and do this for the

11:33

rest of my life. If there's any way of

11:35

monetizing that, that would be a bonus. But it

11:37

would keep me so, like I've

11:39

got, I've taught myself how to do cryptic crosswords

11:41

and I think it's a huge mistake because I

11:44

get such an adrenaline rush from

11:47

opening a new crossword because

11:49

it allows my brain to stop

11:51

thinking. But because it's

11:53

thinking very specifically about one thing. There

11:56

must be an opportunity for maybe

11:59

comment relief. stand up to cancer, there's more of a

12:01

channel four things in it, for you

12:03

to do 48 hours of

12:06

living the house and constantly doing tasks.

12:08

Yes, I would do that. I

12:11

would do it for charity. I would pay to do it,

12:13

let's be honest. I would maybe

12:16

like it to be my retirement. You've

12:19

come up with a task before, haven't you? Haven't you? You've

12:21

come up with a task that's been on the show before.

12:23

Would you like to reveal to our listeners what task that

12:25

was? Yes, my task was make

12:28

Marmite. From series five,

12:30

I believe. It

12:32

was Bob Mortimer's series, I think. Yeah,

12:34

series five. Make Marmite. Yeah, I was

12:36

in the pub with Alex and Tim

12:39

Key, and

12:41

we were sort of playing silly games, one

12:43

of which I've got a video of Tim

12:45

doing this, which is so I set them

12:47

the task of saying as many different words

12:50

in a minute. And

12:52

Tim's, the video of

12:54

Tim doing that is so funny,

12:57

because he can't repeat or have

12:59

any connections between the word. But

13:02

then it was just one of those ones and I

13:05

don't work on the show. And this

13:07

was just came from sort of banter between mates

13:09

which allows Alex not to pay me for the

13:11

idea. But it's

13:14

one of those rare moments where something like that comes out

13:16

fully formed. Make Marmite. It's

13:18

sort of a

13:20

perfect task because Marmite is one of those things

13:23

that no one actually knows what it is, but

13:26

they know what it looks like. And it's

13:28

so familiar and yet so foreign in a

13:30

way. Yeah, yeah. No, it was it was

13:32

an amazing task. And what what thing to

13:34

be able to chalk up that you've you've

13:36

contributed a task 12 series

13:39

before you actually did the show. And then

13:41

bang, 12 series later. But

13:47

this is the one where I started to think I genuinely

13:49

feel bad for Nick when he this made me sad when

13:52

he realises what Sophie realised that he could get

13:54

out of the lab and get some thing. But

13:57

it's too late. I don't know why he does

13:59

it. I know. Tries

14:01

to get on the leg. I know. Tied to the bed

14:03

and then ends up on his stomach. I think he says

14:06

like a wood louse that's rolled over the wrong way. And

14:09

just when he says, he goes, oh, I

14:11

don't think I've done this one right. It's

14:13

so sad. I know. And he has

14:16

a kind of a

14:18

child vibe to him. And

14:20

I'm not being heightless, but there's no

14:23

denying he is a shorter stature. And

14:26

so when he's sad, you really feel for him.

14:29

And also, I was like, what's a wood louse? Right.

14:32

Ha ha ha ha. Hang

14:35

on. Hang on. Well, this is

14:37

the revelation. Do you not know what a wood louse is?

14:40

It's a wood lice. No,

14:42

that's the plural, wood lice. Stop.

14:46

It's wood louse. It's singular as wood louse.

14:49

In fact, I guess the plural is wood

14:51

lice. But yeah, wood louse is the singular.

14:54

Oh, OK. When I dig ass, I

14:56

was like, if someone's wrong here, it's probably me. Wood

15:00

louses, I thought it was just like a kind of a

15:02

very posh English way of saying it. No,

15:04

no, no. Wood louse is the

15:07

singular of wood lice, yeah. Oh,

15:09

OK. Well, obviously, I've only dealt

15:11

with packs. Obviously, because I've only

15:14

ever heard them referred to as

15:16

wood lice. I'd

15:19

be like, I found a wood lice. I

15:21

have a wood lice. No, a wood louse, it

15:23

would be. But also, you could have used the

15:25

excuse, which you used in the last episode, of

15:27

saying it's different in Ireland. It's

15:29

different in Ireland. It's different in Ireland. Like

15:31

the shaking hands with the rubber gloves on the

15:33

fence. The way you shook hands was to feel

15:35

the hand for a long time to try and

15:37

work out what was in it, and then said,

15:40

that's how you shake hands in Ireland. We're

15:42

very sleazy in Ireland. There's

15:45

a game in us, too, yeah. And

15:48

you never see a single wood louse. That's the

15:50

two things I know about Ireland. They don't travel

15:52

on their own in Ireland. They're obviously terrified. Yes,

15:57

well, poor Nick. It was very sad, but it really

15:59

made me laugh. bless him. That's

16:01

when I was watching it back. That's the screen

16:03

grab I sent to Nick going, I'm watching your

16:05

series of tasks and he was like, Oh no.

16:09

Oh no. Cause

16:11

I think, I don't think, I think he didn't, not that

16:13

he didn't want to do it, but I think Alex was

16:15

trying to get him to do it for a while. And

16:17

he was saying, Oh, I just don't think I'd be very

16:19

good on it. And

16:22

then Right. But

16:26

that's what I found. I found, I found him

16:28

maybe from the funniest. Cause

16:30

he's so funny. He's so

16:32

funny. He's just not that

16:34

great at some of the tasks, but that

16:38

also doesn't matter. Like people love

16:40

people who love the people who

16:42

aren't good. So you know, it's,

16:44

it's a rich tapestry. He's fantastic.

16:46

Um, Steve gets naught points

16:48

though. Steve gets naught points. He's disqualified for

16:51

getting the terrible time. Nick, despite doing all

16:53

of that, still gets two points. John

16:55

gets three points. You get four points, Joanne.

16:57

And Sophie gets the five points, which is

16:59

two tasks in a row where Sophie gets

17:02

top marks. I was in

17:04

scouts for years, you see. Oh,

17:06

is that, is that why the, the, the,

17:08

the scouts tying the nuts and I'm

17:12

grabbing at straws, but I, maybe I'm

17:15

familiar with the camp bed. Do you know what I mean? Like I've

17:17

done the cat

17:19

nature events. Yeah. Tying myself to it for security.

17:21

So how many nature events did you go to?

17:24

And how many times do you think you said

17:26

wood laughs wrong? Well,

17:31

if you're in nature, you're certainly not going to get one,

17:33

one, one on your own. Are you? That's true. Yeah. Yeah.

17:35

So you got your wood lice badge. That's good. I'll

17:37

be like, Oh, look at the butterflashes. I'm

17:45

not going to make that mistake again. Talk

17:50

me through the strategy. It was quite good. I thought I

17:52

don't think I had one really. You went and got

17:54

a rope. I did just crawled about and got a

17:56

rope and tied myself up. Well, don't talk yourself

17:58

down. You saw what Nick? Nick,

18:01

what was going through your

18:03

mind when you were crawling around on the floor with

18:05

a camp bed stuck to your back? I felt like

18:07

a wood louse that had inverted itself and just couldn't

18:09

get back. Once I flipped, there

18:11

was nothing I could do. But

18:16

what I'm interested in is why did you

18:18

flip? Yeah, it

18:20

was a good question. Yeah, yeah. Let's

18:23

move on to talk about Task 2. We've

18:25

mentioned it already, but let's talk about it

18:27

in more detail. Create the biggest and best

18:30

dot-to-dot picture. Biggest and best dot-to-dot picture

18:32

wins. You have 20 minutes. Now, obviously,

18:34

the horses, we've mentioned the horses, that

18:36

added a whole new level

18:38

of difficulty to this, which I think

18:41

would have been quite a hard task.

18:43

I mean, I don't think

18:45

I understand what dot-to-dots

18:47

are still and how they're made. No,

18:49

no, I... Does it have

18:52

to be a continuous line? Yes.

18:56

And actually, some of these weren't continuous lines, were they? I

18:58

think as long as they're numbered... well, no, I think as

19:00

long as they're numbered sequentially, you can then... Well,

19:03

maybe... You could turn a number over, Alex said, and you

19:05

could do a break in the line and then pick it

19:07

up. Yes, and I don't

19:09

think he told me that. I mean, not going to

19:11

make much difference. Well, I was going to

19:13

say, yeah... Much difference to my...

19:16

Nick, this killed me. This made

19:18

me cry laughing, your one, when

19:20

that comes up and everyone's trying to guess

19:22

what it is, and balloon and oboe is

19:25

suggested. And Greg

19:27

breaking that down. Yeah,

19:30

yeah. When I rewatched that episode

19:32

and Greg says, that shows the

19:34

extent of how bad news does,

19:37

when they're the things that people

19:39

are guessing. Balloon or oboe. Or

19:42

oboe. And you don't see your... Is it

19:44

also just the idea that imagine if I'd

19:46

done an oboe? Oh, yeah, I know what

19:48

I'll do in a field

19:50

full of horses. Oboe? And people are going to get that. But

19:53

it's the way... So chica. You seem

19:55

genuinely taken aback that people can't guess what it is

19:57

or... guess

20:00

what it is or even they think it's

20:02

bad because the way you deliver, it's actually

20:04

just a very happy snake. I

20:07

was very pretty, I think I heard as

20:09

big, the bigger, the better and I thought

20:11

well, I

20:17

can't be sort of better in terms of, because like,

20:19

you know, Sophie's in particular was

20:21

so detailed and brilliant and Steve's was as

20:23

well too. And actually, in fact, all of

20:25

them were apart from mine. And

20:28

I remember thinking, oh, but I could scale this, like I

20:30

can, I'm happy to just sort of literally trot over to

20:32

the edge of this field. And I did,

20:35

I mean, it took ages and it was really hot,

20:37

but it was just like, just a nice old walk

20:39

and I just sort of took a big clump of

20:41

those discs and just sort of set off on my

20:43

travels really. Well, it's when

20:46

Greg asked you what were you thinking about when you

20:49

went on that big walk and you said, well, I

20:51

wasn't thinking about the task, you just went on and

20:53

on. I know what I was thinking about. I was

20:55

like imagining I was in Lord of the Rings because

20:58

they had a drone. They were

21:00

filming it with a drone and

21:02

I just thought, oh, I don't

21:04

know, like in a film because

21:06

I was in my Dracula makeup

21:09

and it was sort of a bit like the Shire

21:11

because of the rolling sort of green hill. And the horses,

21:14

I was just like, oh yeah, it's like I'm in Lord

21:16

of the Rings. And I just then started thinking about that.

21:18

And then I was like, right, better turn back and finish

21:21

the snake. So funny. I mean,

21:23

I think but the snake is

21:26

unfinished because the head sort of there's

21:28

a face and then it's just sort of a finish

21:30

line. I think if you joined all that up and

21:32

it was like a complete looking snake with a big

21:34

with a nice. Well, that's why

21:36

I think I wasn't aware or even just forgot

21:38

about that you could turn up a disc over

21:41

and then that would be like a break. So

21:43

then I can do the separate eyes and mouth

21:45

and everything. But in the end, it just the

21:47

head bit with the smile just turned out into sort of

21:49

to be like a mess. Oh

21:52

God, oh bloody hell. Kicking off over there.

22:01

LAUGHTER Jesus

22:03

Christ! Oh,

22:10

excuse me. Sophie. That's

22:13

horrific. I think she was making

22:15

a statement, weren't she, Willa? I

22:19

think I'm done. Oh, right, well,

22:21

we'll join the dots and see what Craig thinks.

22:24

Thanks, man. See ya.

22:30

And when I come

22:32

back, I hope there's a red dot in the bottom

22:35

corner. Think about that.

22:38

Oh, shit! Oh, you're kidding!

22:41

APPLAUSE Task

22:48

two. Perform a recognisable piece of classical

22:50

music without using any musical instruments. You

22:52

may not hum, sing, whistle or that

22:54

sort of thing. Most accomplished performance wins.

22:57

You have a maximum of 30 minutes.

23:00

Now, this was a good task, I think. I

23:02

would have been awful at this. I'd have

23:04

been terrible at this. I hated these

23:06

kind of tasks. Absolutely despised them. And

23:08

I do remember at one point when

23:11

we had to do, I think it was when me and Ardel

23:13

had to do a song. And

23:16

I turned to Alex and I looked him in the

23:18

eye and it was throwing the toys out with the

23:20

proud moment. And I turned and looked at him and

23:22

I said, I hate drama school

23:25

crap like this. And

23:28

he just, he literally looked a little bit dejected because

23:30

obviously, you know, they put a lot of effort

23:33

into these tasks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I

23:35

get really embarrassed. So if it's like

23:37

do classical music or, you know, do

23:39

a song or act out something, I

23:41

weirdly get extremely self-conscious. So I

23:43

was watching it immediately

23:45

self-conscious and embarrassed for them, then

23:49

blown away at how well some of

23:51

them did it. Some. Some is the

23:53

key, isn't it? Yeah. I

23:55

think I'd struggle because I'm very ashamed of this, but

23:57

I don't think I know the names of any piece

24:00

of- of classical music. So I know exactly what I

24:02

would have done as I was watching it because I

24:04

always think what would I have done here. I know

24:06

exactly what bit I would have done but I wouldn't have

24:08

been able to tell them what it was called. I would

24:11

have had to say this is direct quote of what

24:13

I would have said. I would have had to have

24:15

said it's the one where they're all getting ready and

24:17

home alone. Yeah,

24:26

perfect. That would have been

24:29

difficult to do. I could have said Beethoven's

24:31

Fifth Symphony but that just because that one

24:33

that was. But

24:37

then I don't know where it goes from that point. I

24:41

mean Joanne described Sophie's music as

24:44

the one from the Gee-Lucks advert. Yes, so that.

24:46

They're my frames of reference. Yeah, that's exactly it.

24:48

Yeah, I believe if I was sitting there and

24:50

she's Joanne and I did mine she'd go other

24:52

one from home alone when they get ready. I

24:54

go yes. Yeah,

24:56

but I would have probably started by going we

24:58

slept in. It

25:20

does feel a bit smug though, doesn't it?

25:24

But the conductors are smug, aren't they?

25:26

And a lot of the time not needed.

25:30

What are they ever needed? I've watched all because

25:32

they're never looking up at that dickhead. Would

25:35

you agree with that? Would you say that

25:37

it's your true personality that you're putting across

25:39

on Taskmaster? Definitely, I don't think you can

25:42

really hide in it because it's just you

25:44

in the moment trying to survive, isn't it?

25:46

Yeah. Would you say of survival fight or

25:48

flight? I really just you argue. Well,

25:50

I mean in the case of you in episode one,

25:53

sorry to go all the way back to episode one,

25:55

it was weeks ago. You were

25:58

literally in survival mode. You said you.

26:00

you nearly drowned while trying to hoopla

26:02

Gary. I did, yeah. Well,

26:04

it suddenly the earth just went. It

26:07

was like quicksand, I thought this is it, this is the

26:09

way I go. And then

26:11

Alex just stirred at me with his ruthless

26:13

eyes. I mean, he didn't do anything. He

26:17

would love someone to die on the show,

26:19

wouldn't he? I think he would actually. He's

26:21

a lot more of a menace than you

26:23

give him credit for. Yeah. I suppose it'd

26:25

be a bit of a spoiler when that

26:27

person didn't then show up on the studio

26:29

shows. Yeah. Did you know many

26:31

of the other contestants before you started

26:33

the show? Did I know that? I

26:35

knew Steve a little bit, but

26:38

I've never met Nick. I've met John a

26:40

couple of times at Edinburgh festival, but not

26:42

really. And Joanna met for the

26:44

first time, but we had a whale. All

26:46

of us had a whale. It was lovely.

26:48

It's a lovely group, actually. It really seems

26:50

like a lovely group. That felt like a

26:53

group who could go on to be a

26:55

friendship group. You all bring something different to

26:57

the friendship group, I think. Yeah, definitely. Well,

26:59

me and Joanne brought a lot of wine.

27:01

We were in the green room afterwards. It's

27:04

getting sizzled most evenings. It was fabulous. You'll what

27:06

is the series has gone on. You probably noticed

27:08

we both look a bit more knackered as the

27:10

series goes on. That's good. Because yeah, when I

27:12

did the show, there was always the green room

27:14

drinks after and I probably always just had one

27:16

too many. And it did, it did affect my

27:19

performance for the rest of the thing. I think.

27:21

Yeah. Yeah. But it's fun though, isn't it? Because

27:23

you want to have a laugh and connect with

27:25

people. And we did, we did

27:27

get a chance to do that. And

27:29

Steve's lovely. He's actually been in Alma

27:31

and so has Nick Mohammed, actually. So

27:34

that's been nice, you know. The Northern comedy mafia

27:36

are all looking after each other. I know. Well,

27:38

it was quite nice. I was sat between them.

27:40

It's a bit like sitting between Wallace

27:42

and Grandma. It was just a

27:44

lovely atmosphere with two people going, oh, yes,

27:46

well done. Oh, yes, Wednesday. They're just lovely.

27:55

Did you win yours? Yes,

27:58

I did. I was, I was more of a. John. I

28:04

think I was more of a

28:06

John, slightly more chaotic I'd say but yeah

28:08

I definitely had John energy. The

28:11

Johns this world are going places that's why I

28:13

was saying to Alex I think

28:16

I was like

28:18

why don't you have like for the people who

28:20

don't win and he

28:23

said because we need people to care or

28:26

it won't work. Yes

28:28

very fair point. But you did

28:30

well right I mean none of this can

28:32

go in obviously you can second right so

28:35

yeah I think you're very good you've

28:38

I think you're very good and

28:41

you say you think inside the box but

28:43

I think sometimes that's just like that can

28:46

be a really good thing for Taskmaster because sometimes you just need to

28:48

play the task in front of you right. I

28:51

think I represented the layman that's

28:54

my honesty too yeah Steve

28:57

Pamberton's of these world they're like unusual

28:59

you know yeah.

29:05

Sambly Stadium I will just say quickly fantastic

29:08

and I think you suffer from the same

29:10

thing as me that you just want Nick

29:12

to do well so you will think better

29:15

of everything he does because you just think

29:17

he's precious. Absolutely and I sort of it's

29:19

it's almost astonishing when he

29:21

gets low marks because I I

29:24

don't know I just appreciate everything I appreciate the

29:26

effort and the sincerity and

29:28

so there is like a momentary like oh

29:31

yeah that was bad yeah now that it

29:33

said out loud I can see how that

29:35

was not good and

29:38

every so often and this was one of

29:40

those moments because we're we're six episodes in

29:42

now you sort of forget how people address

29:44

in the task that's just normal but then

29:46

every so often the fact that he's dressed

29:49

as Dracula is just drawn into very sharp

29:51

focus. It's so good it's so good what

29:53

a it's what a great idea when there's

29:57

later on he's standing outside and and they're

29:59

reading. He's reading the task and his

30:01

cape is just gently blowing in the

30:03

breeze. It's

30:06

beautiful. It's beautiful. It is

30:08

because you do forget and then you remember. And

30:10

this one, because of the way that Thumbly Stadium

30:12

is lit, he is

30:15

very sort of Nosferatu. It's very sort of 1920s, 1930s

30:17

Dracula, isn't it? But

30:20

he's always smiling as well. He's always

30:22

grinning. He's always smiling. Do

30:26

you know what? You did Taskmaster, Paul. Do you

30:28

know what you'd wear? Would you have a special outfit

30:30

for it? Oh yeah, I've thought about it. Yeah.

30:34

Would you reveal or are you going to save it just

30:36

in case? I'm going to save it just in case.

30:38

Okay. I mean, you're a very

30:41

well-dressed man, so I'd be excited to see what

30:43

you're wearing. That means I have to go even

30:45

further. Yeah. Well,

30:48

you heard it here first, Paul. You haven't.

30:51

Actually, you haven't heard it here

30:53

first. You haven't heard it at

30:55

all, but Paul will wear something

30:57

if he does Taskmaster. You're

31:12

very gracious, Sophie. So if I was in the

31:14

studio and the Greg statue is being used as

31:16

a catapult, I would say that's not a flick.

31:18

And you know what? It would have

31:20

kicked off. It would have been a big argument and not a funny

31:23

one. I'm very glad me and John went on the same series. Yeah,

31:25

John would have kicked off. It's funny because Steve

31:27

and John have a couple of moments. Yeah.

31:30

Because they're the most competitive out there. Definitely.

31:33

Yeah. You know, I think Joanne's

31:36

just like, fuck it, I'm here. And me

31:38

and Nick are a bit like, oh God, fuck, we're here. And

31:42

then them two are just like, we won't

31:44

miss. Yeah. Fuck, we're here. Yeah.

31:48

Fuck, we're here. Yeah. Nick

32:01

and Steve, when they first announced as a team,

32:03

and I think it was in the first episode,

32:05

I thought they're going to be great. And

32:07

now every team star since then has proved

32:09

me wrong. I know.

32:12

But I wouldn't have it any other

32:14

way. They're so great together. There's so

32:17

much fun to watch. They clearly, well,

32:20

I was going to say, they clearly adore

32:22

each other, but I wonder if Steve is,

32:25

by this point, it's starting to fray a bit

32:28

where he's like, okay, this was fun for

32:30

a while, dude, but I'm trying to win

32:32

here. And you are dragging me down. Yeah.

32:35

I mean, this is probably down to Steve,

32:37

this loss though, because he couldn't quite sort

32:40

of reach some of those spots. And Nick

32:42

doesn't really know where he's throwing the darts.

32:44

And he gets called, Nick's

32:46

just lobbing him and seeing what happens. Steve

32:49

is called old again in this. He's

32:52

asked if he has any ailments

32:54

or any problems with his

32:56

body, I think is the phrase. That's

33:03

a question you should only be asked by

33:05

a doctor. Any

33:08

problems with your body? Any

33:10

particular areas of concern? And

33:16

yeah, he did say he had a dodgy body, to be fair. It

33:20

is something that if I were to do it,

33:23

I would be very anxious about that

33:25

as well. Yeah. That if somebody said,

33:27

this is what you have to do, like, ah,

33:29

I think I'm okay, but I guess I'll find out. Yeah.

33:32

Flexibility is one of my weak

33:35

points, I think. So I'd be

33:38

happy if I could just sit there and maybe put my hands

33:40

on stuff. But as soon as the hips get involved, it's not

33:42

going to happen for me. So

33:44

they only manage four moves versus the 43

33:46

moves, which is,

33:49

and they still get two points. I don't think they should have

33:51

got two points for four moves versus 43. You

33:54

have to be kind though sometimes, you know? Yes.

33:56

You have to be kind. See,

34:00

this is why I think you'd be an assistant

34:02

rather than a taskmaster. Ha ha ha ha

34:04

ha! You're too kind,

34:06

Paul. Ha ha ha ha! APPLAUSE

34:10

The bottle was a bit of a set-up, really, wasn't it?

34:12

It's just to make you look like a prick. Yes.

34:15

Yeah, he knows what he's doing. If you can't throw a

34:18

bottle. Yeah, but it's very hard.

34:20

You did pick your positions. I was

34:22

forced into mine by the doubts champion. That

34:25

is true. I mean, fair play. He's good at

34:27

darts. He's good at darts. I mean, genuinely impressive,

34:29

wasn't it? Yeah. I'm not sure we got

34:31

to test how nimble you were. Unfairness. So

34:33

how many moves...? Like, I was in that down

34:35

for a good... Hour. Hour. So

34:38

how many different moves did they manage to do? A total

34:41

of 43. Wow.

34:44

APPLAUSE So, five points to

34:46

the team of three. What's

34:48

the like of these poor fuckers? The

34:50

old man and the little boy. Five?

34:54

LAUGHTER APPLAUSE

34:57

Task one. Task

35:00

one. What have you caught? Fastest

35:02

correct answer wins. You may only

35:04

give one answer. Now, of

35:06

course, they're holding a fishing rod with

35:09

a string attached to it that goes all

35:11

over the house, all round the garden. Brilliant.

35:13

And then right at the beginning of the

35:16

task, Soundman Neil clips the word fish onto

35:18

all of their backs. Yeah. Now,

35:21

Chris, I struggle to

35:23

imagine how you'd react to this, whether

35:26

you would absolutely hate this task and

35:28

get really all frustrated, like, red-faced angry

35:30

Chris, or whether you'd be like,

35:32

whether you'd be like, oh, I love chia in string!

35:36

Genuinely, I'm on the fence as well, depends what day

35:38

your catch is on, but when I watched it, I

35:41

did think I would just grab

35:43

a handful of all of that and just bring it to

35:45

me. I don't think I would have

35:47

followed it. I think I would just grab the whole

35:49

thing and just started pulling, but then I realised it

35:51

was round the bottom of the bath and I realised

35:53

it would have all snapped and... Yeah. Yeah, would it

35:55

be... As I watched them do it, I thought, oh,

35:57

yeah, I'd have made a fool of myself if I

35:59

did that. I,

36:03

again, I had one of them, we had moments where, even though I'm on the

36:05

telly, and even though I know all of these

36:07

people, when Salma and Neil walked in, I

36:09

went, oh, I know him! I

36:12

even know the hosts of the show,

36:15

and I've been on the show, just like, oh my God, I

36:17

know him! He did my mic? Pathetic.

36:20

It's more exciting to see members of the crew

36:22

on screen, because we see all those other guys

36:24

so much, you know? It's exciting to see Neil.

36:26

It was good. He was good as well. None

36:29

of them had a clue. None had a clue that he'd

36:31

put something on the back there. Well, you don't expect it to here.

36:34

That's the thing, that's the thing. I mean, I told you,

36:36

didn't I, when I went to the house, when the shoulders

36:38

to the room, that is your dressing room, I searched all

36:40

over for cameras and microphones. I thought they'd

36:43

bug me room. I sweat the

36:45

room for bugs, like

36:47

Jack Reacher. But

36:49

yeah, I thought, I was very,

36:51

very astounded at how quick Nick Mohammed did that.

36:53

He just followed that

36:55

string, incredible. It was amazing, and

36:57

look, he's a happy guy, but I've never seen

36:59

him happier that when he ran into

37:01

that room. This is great. This is great. This is

37:04

a good one, this Alex. And he found the fish,

37:06

he went, I've got a fish. He

37:09

was so happy. It was lovely, but

37:12

that's what's so lovely about the show. Obviously the

37:14

moments of frustration, the moments where they make fools

37:16

of themselves, but when someone just gets genuine childlike

37:18

joy by following a bit of string and getting

37:20

a fish out of a cupboard, it's

37:22

brilliant. It's brilliant. That's the beauty

37:24

of the show. And they have my favourite bits in it.

37:26

And again, hats off to the team.

37:29

I mean, how long did that take to reset that string?

37:31

I mean, what the hell? I can't imagine.

37:34

It's like something you'd have to do in a

37:36

nightmare. Yeah. There's

37:39

an episode of Taskmaster New

37:41

Zealand, series

37:43

two, David Kureyos, and he gets a task

37:45

that's only given to him, which

37:47

is to untangle a string that's like three times

37:49

as long as that all over the house. And

37:52

he spends hours untangling the string. Oh.

37:56

And it's only him who has to do it. Oh,

37:58

everyone, mean rules. Rosie did the,

38:01

the, the, the Chag Mardinoid tour. Every

38:04

single night before going on, she would

38:06

hand us this tiny little bracelet that

38:08

you wore every night. And every night

38:10

I had to untangle that bracelet. It

38:13

was horrible. Every, please can you

38:15

untangle your bracelet? About to go on in an

38:17

arena. And I'm just like, keyhole

38:20

surgery, untangling this thing. And I

38:22

got flashbacks when I watched that. Yeah, awful.

38:25

Every night I had to do that. Keep you

38:27

busy, stop you being nervous. That's something new. Yeah,

38:29

she might have had sort of a motive to

38:31

that, but it was just, yeah, every night. And

38:33

it weirdly became my thing. Like if it wasn't

38:35

tangled, I'd be like, oh God, we're

38:38

going to have a stinger. It

38:45

was the ice cube and the glass I was saying was

38:47

my favorite moment of the whole series. So

38:49

funny. Because he just- The concept of putting

38:51

an ice cube in a glass of wine

38:54

is just- He thought he'd

38:56

invented it. Someone had suggested it

38:58

to you. Now

39:01

that I thought it was so funny.

39:04

My favorite of his, which hasn't been on yet

39:06

either, was Bath Pearls. Because

39:09

he just tells this really boring story about why

39:11

he's brought Bath Pearls in. And then the story

39:13

just ends and everyone's like, Nick, is that seriously?

39:19

He's just so unassuming, but it's like

39:22

he's accidentally hysterical. It's just

39:25

a charm that I don't know. I've never seen it

39:27

before. Yeah, he's

39:29

amazing. He's so sweet. I

39:31

could write for an error and then Nick

39:34

will just say something stupid and everyone's like

39:36

rolling around laughing. I'm like, fuck's

39:38

sake. Well,

39:53

no, nothing should have been a single ice cube in

39:55

a glass of wine. Because I have said this to

39:57

Nick privately. I think that's the worst prized task ever.

40:00

entry there has ever been in the history of the show.

40:03

But he's so precious. He

40:08

delivered it so earnestly. He was

40:10

so sincere, absolutely. But

40:14

it's so bad and it's not even the

40:17

prize is not a glass of

40:19

wine with an ice cube in it. His prize

40:21

was the concept of adding an ice

40:24

cube to the glass of wine. So it's just

40:26

the idea. And again, I spoke to Nick privately

40:28

about this. He thinks he invented that. No.

40:32

Yeah, he thinks he invented putting ice in

40:34

wine. I

40:40

don't know what to do with that information. It's

40:46

amazing, isn't it? But it was he

40:49

doesn't he doesn't deliver it. He thinks that's going

40:51

to get five points. The way

40:53

he says that the concept of adding a

40:55

single ice cube to a glass of white

40:57

wine. It makes more sense now that he

41:00

thought he invented it because the way he

41:02

presents it is a little bit.

41:05

He's dialing it down from this is going

41:07

to blow everybody's mind. But that is clearly

41:09

the intent. Yeah, because you know you

41:11

could do this. He's

41:13

not selling it because he thinks it doesn't need to

41:16

be sold. Exactly.

41:21

But this segment, oh my God, when

41:23

people were referring to the

41:25

process as presents and gifts and

41:28

you saw the real Alex come

41:30

out. Yeah, really angry. Oh,

41:32

he was genuinely like I've never heard that

41:35

voice from him on this show before. No,

41:37

no, it was incredible because he is so

41:39

he's obviously this show is his life. He

41:41

spends all his time doing it so that

41:44

he's so protective of the format and what it

41:46

is and what they're going for. The fact it

41:49

was just they rode over it roughshod. Sophie

41:51

genuinely believes that it's presents for Greg.

41:53

This is episode six. Yeah. Astonishing.

41:57

And then everyone jumps on it. It's so

41:59

funny. It was

42:02

beautiful. Alex is very sassy this episode. He

42:04

is. He's getting sassier, I think. Yeah, he

42:07

really is. You know, when you get

42:09

to Series 17, I think you probably get a

42:11

bit of confidence, right? Fuck yeah. That's really

42:14

what the confidence sets in. Yeah. Let's

42:21

talk about the live task. Did you enjoy

42:24

doing the live tasks, Steve? I

42:27

really did. I really loved doing the live

42:29

tasks. We'd all got to know each other

42:31

a bit by this stage because obviously prior

42:33

to that, you're doing stuff on your own

42:35

with a grape in your pocket. And

42:38

there was a great

42:40

camaraderie backstage. You didn't

42:42

have a clue what

42:44

was going to happen,

42:46

but occasionally, you know, the director and

42:48

Andy would come and say, you're

42:51

going to like this one. And this

42:53

one, he said to me, because, you

42:55

know, I'm quite a big film fan.

42:57

I'm a bit of a film buff. I

42:59

know my movies. And he said, you know,

43:01

you're going to like this one. You're going

43:03

to do really well. And then

43:06

I didn't do really well. You

43:08

did quite well. I mean, look, the

43:10

task is obviously guess the movie that your teammate's

43:13

saying. Your teammate can only say the first three

43:15

letters of each word of the movie title. Most

43:17

movies in each round wins. And then the final

43:19

round, it's the last it's the

43:21

last three letters of the movie. No,

43:24

I thought I thought you and Nick were you and Nick are

43:27

a very good team, I think. And you I

43:30

think you got six, six and then

43:32

and then three. But I think being

43:35

on a team of three is is an advantage in

43:37

this situation because you got two people guessing. Yeah,

43:41

that's true. That is an advantage.

43:44

But they did brilliantly. Yes, they did

43:46

so well. And, you know, when it's

43:48

their their ones, I was

43:50

getting them all. Yeah. When

43:53

it's your own, you know, Mrs.

43:55

Dowell, you know, what

43:57

could that be? Mrs. Dowell. But

44:01

yeah, what did I fall down on? Roy, I

44:04

think, Roy. Roy, Troy. I didn't think of a

44:06

film that ended with Roy. Simple,

44:08

isn't it? I just had one letter, but yeah, it was a

44:10

very fun one to do. And

44:13

you could play that at home.

44:15

Yes, and even last week as

44:18

well, the changing the sausage, adapt

44:20

the sausage. You've played

44:22

that one at home as well. They seem to have really, the

44:25

first two weeks of this series, they're little

44:27

games you could genuinely play at home, which

44:30

is great to see. You don't need a sort

44:32

of a long story. I enjoyed the sausage one.

44:34

I enjoyed the challenge of it. And I'm not

44:37

that artistic, but I

44:39

went with quite a human looking sausage

44:42

in the first round and then having

44:44

to adapt it, you know, go on

44:46

go. But

44:49

yeah, I was really surprised I did

44:51

well to get to the last two

44:53

in that one. You did, but

44:55

you didn't add enough sexual elements. You

44:58

didn't add as many sexual elements as

45:00

Joanne. I mean, to be

45:02

honest, she had started with penis and vulva

45:04

in her first sausage. So I

45:07

was, I had a lot

45:09

of ground to capture upon that. Yes,

45:11

you did. But no, she did

45:13

fantastically. I can't argue with that.

45:16

Absolutely. Jo, I

45:18

think for me, Joanne's the

45:21

man of the match in this task

45:23

simply for her quick guesses

45:26

that are nonsense like Batman, Batman,

45:28

Big Man and Jumongo. Jumongo.

45:31

Jumongo, which is the title of the

45:33

episode. Jumongo is so funny. Absolutely.

45:38

Well, yeah, just say what you see,

45:40

isn't it? Say what you hear, Batman,

45:43

Big Man. Listen, Jumongo

45:45

to me sounds like what your characters, the

45:51

teenage film nerds

45:54

would say Jumongo, when they're

45:56

listing all of the films in the video shop. How

45:59

many killings are there? Another in Jaimungo, yeah. Not

46:04

including animal deaths. We don't care about animal

46:06

deaths. How many human killings in Jaimungo? Thank

46:12

you for doing that for me, Steve. I appreciate that. You're

46:14

welcome. John,

46:22

congratulations. You are an excellent

46:25

champion. You've absolutely smashed it. Will you be

46:27

touring around the country on an open-top bus?

46:30

No, well, this is the kind of mad

46:33

thing. Because my tour finished, we

46:36

recorded the studio dates during

46:38

my last tour. Because my tour had finished,

46:41

I've sort of got nothing to

46:43

point people towards at the minute. And

46:46

I can't help but feel that might be financially

46:49

catastrophic error. You

46:51

know, the most coverage I've

46:53

ever had on national TV. And

46:55

I'm just like, yeah,

46:58

follow me on Twitter. Fine.

47:01

Donate. Please give generously. Well,

47:04

of course, you know, I think it'll bring even

47:06

more listeners to Alice and John on 5 Live,

47:08

I think, and getting the podcasts.

47:10

I think that'll, you know, that'll

47:13

definitely improve that. And

47:15

the really nice thing is getting people who've

47:18

been listening to us for years to get to sort of see

47:20

one of us on Taskmaster.

47:22

Because I know how much our

47:25

sort of fans have wanted that to happen. So

47:27

that's really pleasing. And Champion

47:29

of Champions to Come, if you give me any

47:31

tips for it, what would be your top tips

47:34

for COC? Well, I came bottom. So

47:37

what I would say is, remind

47:39

yourself of everything that you did well in

47:42

your series, and try and

47:44

take that into Champion of Champions.

47:47

Because it is one day, it's,

47:49

you know, it's one episode.

47:52

So it's kind of, it is kind

47:54

of luck-based as well. Because if you have a

47:56

bad day, you can do that

47:58

on a series because there's ten hours. episodes, right? If

48:00

you have a bad day on champion and champions, as

48:02

I did, uh, it's, it's

48:04

not ideal. And then really, really

48:07

nail the prize task, really

48:09

try and nail the prize. I mean, it's

48:11

almost like I need to be sort of growing

48:14

a tree in the shape of Greg

48:16

Davis now and like training it, um,

48:20

kind of what they call that as a name for that.

48:22

Um, but I don't know what the price test is going

48:24

to be. So I'm going to end up with a tree

48:26

in the shape of Greg in my garden. I mean, you

48:28

can go, just go big with the prize task. I mean,

48:30

I sent my taskmaster trophy to

48:33

space, uh, which, which secured

48:35

me the five points because I knew, well, yeah,

48:38

it was on one of those weather balloons. So it's

48:40

like the edge of space. So they film it on

48:42

a GoPro. And, uh, how did you do that? There's

48:45

a company that does it. It does like

48:47

promo stuff for people. Um, so you, that

48:49

must have cost you thousands

48:52

of pounds and it didn't pay off John. Um,

48:56

now I hate to do this to you,

48:58

John, but of course you are the champion,

49:00

you know, enjoy being the champion, but the

49:03

next lineup for taskmaster for taskmaster series 18

49:05

will have been announced immediately

49:08

after your final

49:10

episode. Yes. So, you

49:12

know, people move on quickly is

49:14

what I'm saying. Oh yeah.

49:16

Yeah. Well technically I am on

49:19

standby for taskmaster today. So

49:23

I probably shouldn't be having this conversation with you

49:25

in case someone falls down a well or something.

49:27

Well, I'm, I'm going to read you now the

49:29

next lineup. So it's, this is a, I mean,

49:31

this is a great lineup. They always are, but

49:34

I'm always so excited by the combination of people.

49:36

Um, Andy's ultimate cannot

49:39

wait. Uh, Babaton de la

49:41

Che. Brilliant. Emma city. Oh

49:44

nice. Jack D. They are

49:46

pulling out a big gun there and wait for this

49:48

as a big gun that has been let off the

49:51

leash. Rosie Jones. It's double big

49:53

guns. I

49:55

mean that, I mean, Rosie

49:57

obviously is an absolute liability.

50:00

And I cannot wait to see what she does. She

50:02

will be fantastic value as they all will

50:04

be. And I think Jack D is normally

50:07

Alex's answer for who do you want to

50:09

be on Taskmaster, but hasn't done it yet.

50:11

I am most looking forward

50:14

to seeing how Zoltzman approaches

50:17

some of the tasks. Younger

50:20

listeners and viewers may not know

50:22

who Andy Zoltzman is, but Andy is

50:26

an absolute bastion of political

50:30

satire and cricket and snooker.

50:33

And Andy has got my dream

50:35

job, which is the scorer for Test

50:37

Match Special. So he

50:39

gets to watch Test Matches from

50:41

the best possible view around some

50:44

of my sporting heroes, and every

50:46

so often tells them how many runs

50:48

the team have got, but in punishing

50:51

detail. So I'm looking

50:53

forward to how Andy approached it. I'm

50:55

going to guess Andy will be dressed

50:57

in full cricket whites with

50:59

pads and gloves. That's my prediction. That's

51:01

a great prediction. I think

51:03

it's probably between the youngsters. I

51:06

think it's between Babatunde, Emma, and Rosie.

51:09

I think that's fair to say. I think Rosie

51:11

will torture Alex, and I can't wait to see what she

51:13

does. Well,

51:17

there we are. We've covered it. The best of Series 17.

51:20

Two special episodes done. Stick around,

51:22

because Taskmaster New Zealand episodes will be coming

51:24

very soon. And then, of course, after that,

51:26

chat about Series 18 of Taskmaster. You've seen

51:29

the lineup. I can't wait to see it

51:31

myself. But just keep watching the

51:33

feed. There's going to be a bountiful

51:35

treasure of Taskmaster chat. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

52:00

Yeah, I love it. It

52:03

was so much, honestly, because I remember I think I texted

52:05

you about whether I should do or not and I just

52:07

loved it. It was so much fun.