''Taskmaster'' is an American comedy

panel game A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

show which aired for one season in 2018. The series was adapted from the original British version of the same name. The series stars comedian and actor

Reggie Watts Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, musician, beatboxer, and actor. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. He refers to himself as a "disinfo ...

in the title role of the Taskmaster. The Taskmaster issues simple comedic and bizarre tasks to a panel of five celebrities contestants who attempt to complete the tasks and earn points. The tasks are administered by British comedian

Alex Horne Alexander James Jeffery Horne (born 10 September 1978) is an English comedian. Horne is the creator of BAFTA award-winning TV series '' Taskmaster'', in which he takes the role of assistant to the Taskmaster Greg Davies. He is the host and ba ...

in the role of the Taskmaster's assistant. Horne created the original format of Taskmaster, and reprises his assistant role from the British series.

History

The Taskmaster format was originally created by

for the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in 2010, with Horne tasking several of his comedian friends with performing tasks, and then assessing their performance. He presented the results at the festival. The format was picked up for a UK television show in 2015 with

Greg Davies Gregory Daniel Davies ( ; born 14 May 1968) is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Mr Gilbert in ''The Inbetweeners'' (2008–2010), Ken Thompson in ''Cuckoo'' (2012–2019), Dan Davies in '' Man ...

hired in the role of Taskmaster, the figurehead ostensibly assigning and ultimately judging the tasks, and Horne acting as his assistant. After several seasons of the UK series, an American adaptation was commissioned in 2017 to be aired on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. Comedian and actor

was cast in the title role of the Taskmaster. Horne acted as Watts's assistant. Besides Horne, other elements of the UK series were incorporated into the US version including the theme and interstitial music, the ornate thrones the Taskmaster and Horne sit on, the form of the sealed tasks, and the general style of the Taskmaster house (including the satirical artistic portraits of the Taskmaster). The first season of the show was recorded in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It premiered on April 27, 2018 The series was not renewed for a second season.

Format

As with the original UK series, ''Taskmaster'' pits five comedians against each other in a competition to earn points by completing assigned tasks. Most of the tasks were filmed over a period of time on location at a house that is purported to be one of the Taskmaster's many houses. The contestant filmed their tasks separately from each other and don't know how the others' performed. Many of the tasks are time-based, rewarding the fastest performance. The tasks are often worded such that creative or "lateral" thinking may allow contestants to perform a task faster or better; such as by completing the task in a way that is not the obvious way implied by the wording of the task, but is not prohibited by the wording of the task. For example, a task that prohibits contestants from crossing a line may not explicitly restrict them from moving the line. Some of the tasks are re-used from the British version of the show. Each episode consists of the five contestants, Watts and Horne seated before a live audience in a theater. Horne presents edited footage of the five contestants completing one of the pre-recorded tasks, and Watts judges their performances and awards points, generally with 5 points for the best performance and 1 point for the worst performance (or 0 for failures or disqualifications). Each episode consists of several pre-recorded tasks followed by a final live task performed on stage before Watts and the theatrical audience. The winner of each episode receives a prize brought in by one of the contestants, Horne or Watts as an object that is meaningful to them, though generally of little value to anyone else. This differs from the UK series where each episode, all five contestants contributed a prize fitting a certain theme, and the winner received all five prizes (these prizes were themselves ranked for points as the first task of each episode). Points are also totaled over the course of the season, with the highest scorer winning a trophy in the shape of the Taskmaster's head. This follows along the lines of the British series, though the US head trophy is not life-sized. The titular Taskmaster ostensibly sets the tasks, which are delivered to the contestants typed on folded task cards that are sealed with a wax seal.

Episodes

The contestants for this series were

Dillon Francis Dillon Hart Francis (born October 5, 1987), also known as DJ Hanzel, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. He played a key role in popularizing moombahton and later developed its heavier variants, moombahcore and EDM trap. Earl ...

Freddie Highmore Alfred Thomas Highmore (born 14 February 1992) is an English actor. He is known for his starring roles beginning as a child, in the films '' Finding Neverland'' (2004), '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005), '' Arthur and the Invisibles ...

Kate Berlant Kate Elizabeth Méndez Berlant (born July 16, 1987) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. She is known for her surrealist and absurdist style. Early life Kate Elizabeth Méndez Berlant was born in Los Angeles on July 16, 1987, the daug ...

Lisa Lampanelli Lisa Lampanelli (born Lisa Marie Lampugnale; July 19, 1961) is an American former stand-up comedian, actress, and insult comic. Early life and journalism career Lampanelli was born in Trumbull, Connecticut, to a middle-class family. Three of h ...

and

Ron Funches Ronald Kyle Funches (born March 12, 1983) is an American comedian and actor. Born in California, Funches spent his early life in Chicago before relocating to Salem, Oregon, as a teenager. He began his comedy career in Portland, Oregon, at age 23. ...

, with Berlant being the overall winner of the season.

Reception

The show received mostly positive reviews, though some critics compared it unfavorably to the original series.

and

(Taskmaster and umpire of the British version) later said the show would have worked better with fewer changes from the UK format.

References

2010s American comedy game shows 2018 American television series debuts American television series based on British television series Comedy Central game shows American English-language television shows 2018 American television series endings Taskmaster (TV series) {{US-game-show-stub