Taskmaster US falls apart at the seams, it seems.
*This post was originally posted on cohost.org, which has announced it's shutting down. They're going to leverage the internet archive to avoid link rot, but I still would like to have this here on my own website.
This version of the show is insane
If you have not seen this version and are a fan of Taskmaster, it IS kind of fascinating. Myself, my husband Zac, and my friend Shel made an evening out of it. I think I can boil the problems with this show down to "executives meddling with something they don't understand so that it has more Mainstream Appeal to Americans."
Above all else, it is important to understand that the US Adaptation of Taskmaster represents everything wrong with the US television industry.
This version is lazy. Very lazy. Americans should not try and adopt foreign comedy formats, but because The Office was such a hit for NBC, they're going to keep trying to do it.
From a timeline perspective: Taskmaster US aired in April & May of 2018, and UK Season 6 would have started airing right as this version was ending. There are eight 23-minute long episodes. There are significant changes to the format.
I'll put a read more here, in case you would like to subject yourself to this on your own time & come back to this post, OR, in case you simply don't want to know. You should stop reading now if you want to experience this yourself. If you do want to watch this, try and go in knowing as little as possible.
OK so first let's talk about the cast.
The taskmaster in this one is Reggie Watts, who I knew and loved as the band leader for Seasons 1-the-first-half-of-4 in Comedy Bang! Bang!
In addition to just seeming like a nice guy, Reggie is not given enough time to develop as an authority figure. He scores the tasks and then we move on with our day. He ends every episode with "And remember: goodnight." You could replace him with anybody, because they have to rush through everything and therefore don't let him do anything. He has no chemistry with Alex at all.
But really, the worst part, is they randomly make Reggie introduce tasks doing a Racist Sterotypically Exaggerated Black Voice like Jamacian or Gangsta. I assume the producers think this is okay because they're making the Black Guy do it. It happens two or three times throughout the series and it always makes me feel like I've been run over by a car.
Alex Horne is here. You know this guy. He's wasted on this version, they don't let him do ANY of the things that make him an endearing part of Taskmaster on this version.
We've got the following unfortunate souls, from left to right:
Dillon Francis, from hereon out to be known as DJ Nepotism Nephew, because I suspect the reason he was on this show is because he has an uncle that heads up a Venture Captial Firm that had bankrolled the production. He's not funny, His Wikipedia article (which you should click on) is written in a way where I feel like the only person maintaining it is him. It has the "this is written like an advertisement" banner at the top. He has a couple of film & tv credits, nearly all of them are As Himself. The photo is of him in a suit in a full bathtub covered in rose petals. The last thing he was in was as a cameo in the Saints Row game where Volition dissolved right after it was released. This, specifically, makes me think there's something to the Nepotism VC Uncle theory. This guy is a living parody of someone with too much money trying to buy their way into the public eye.
Freddie Highmore, a british child actor who kept at it into adulthood - his "known for" blurb on Wikipedia lists films from 2004-2008, and then says he played Norman Bates in the 2013-2017 drama-horror TV series Bates Motel. He would have been fresh off of that here. I have a feeling this guy likes the original and was happy to be a part of it until it Turned Out Like This. He seems okay, he's not particularly funny but he gets what the show is supposed to be and his attempts at the tasks do show that when they haven't obviously been directed by the production crew. They seem to feed alot of the Secret Answers that the UK contestants found to this guy.
Kate Berlant, who we had, for pretty much the entire night, mistaken for the actress who plays Janet on the Good Place. It wasn't until after that I thought to look it up and yeah, no, not the same person as it turns out. She also seems okay, she does very well in the tasks and wins the series. She seems to do alot of one-off roles in larger TV shows- she WAS in The Good Place, actually, for one episode in 2019. She's in a Comedy Bang Bang episode as a bit character, she's in an episode of I Think You Should Leave, she's done stuff for American Dad, Bob's Burgers, Bojack, Tuca & Bertie, like she gets around but they're always really small roles, I'm having a hard time finding anything she's been in where she's been a regular cast member. They seem to cut to her making strange facial expressions alot, particularly right before a live task, in a way that makes me think the higher ups were like "you have an expressive face, do one of those facial expressions while the task gets read out so we have something to work with in the edit." I think she was hoping this would be her moment to shine.
Lisa Fuckin Lampanelli sits in chair number 4, and I know her from the comedy central roasts, which I used to watch occasionally in high school. She's the worst fit for this show by a mile, her style of humor is "say horrible things about a celebrity for an hour" and she's trying to play up this animosity towards Alex that really feels unearned. By being on this show, she is, I think, officially landing at "Washed up." I don't have much to say about her, she's really not funny in this, all she says is "fuck you, bitch" and "suck my dick" all show long. Apparently after this she retired from comedy & began Life Coaching which is extremely funny.
Thank god for Ron Funches. Ron Funches carries this version of the show. Ron Funches does alot of voice acting work, and hearing his voice it makes alot of sense. Every time I feel like the show is showing too many seams, or Lisa Lampanelli is saying "suck my dick" to Alex too frequently, Ron swoops in and says something to make me laugh & saves the day. There are some really good moments in this show and I think most of them belong to Ron. His attempt at impressing the Mayor is one of the more memorable attempts at a task.
We have to talk about the format changes.
First, and this is one of the few good things about this version, is they've changed the set from the Red & Black & Gold iconography to look unique. I can tell I'm looking at Taskmaster US's set easily, while NZ and Australia pretty much just recreated the UK set wholesale, which is fine, but some individualized identity doesn't hurt.
The Taskmaster Classic format is: Intro, Banter, Prize Task, 3 (maybe 4, if two are kinda short, at least in this era) pre-recorded at the house tasks, and a live task. This version is only 30 minutes, probably 23 or 24 with commercials accounted for, so they don't have time for that.
The Banter is awful. The only thing they ever let Alex talk about is how he's from the UK and we're in the US and isn't that wacky!!!!! Reggie has really nothing to say to this because, well, there's nothing for him to work with in this segment. What do you say to "I'm british!"? you go "yes"
Instead of the prize tasks, what we get is one person brings in a prize "that they don't want to lose" and puts it up for the episode. This, more than anything else, is what I'm missing from this version. The stories we get as to why someone brought their prize task selection in is how we get to know the contestants. It's a crucial part of what makes me care about the show. Without this we don't really get an insight into how these people think, they just bring shit like "well this is my laptop and I need it so I would hate to lose it." "This is a stuffed animal I've had for a really long time."
Lisa Lampanelli, weirdly, is the one who gets this kind of right. She brings in a quilt made of shirts from her decades-long comedy career.
Once we get to the end of the five people, then Alex & Reggie bring in items they don't want to lose. Then, since that's only seven out of eight, on the final episode, they put up a bunch of props from the house like rubber ducks & the leaf blower, because they KNOW they aren't getting renewed for a second season.
Let's talk about the video tasks.
Every single task in this show is a repeat from the UK. Most of them are from Seasons 4 & 5, which is where I expect they realized they had a hit on their hands & I agree, Seasons 1-3 are good in their own ways, but Season 4 is where TM UK really finds its groove. The whole first episode was repeat tasks, then the whole second episode, then I went "oh god are there going to be NO original tasks?"
They also don't seem to let Alex do what he does best which is enforce. He's such a small part of the video tasks, they really wasted bringing him over since they barely use him. This is why it feels undeserved when Lisa Lampanelli tries to bully him, even if he's doing it in the room none of the enforcing that paints Alex as an "irritating little weasel" makes it on screen.
There's a task that was originally a Season 3 team task, where you have to un-handcuff Alex but it's like an escape room and you have to follow the clues until you get to the key in his hand. Lisa Lampanelli does not understand this at all: the task, on its face, says "Fastest wins, your time starts now." In response, she says "OK well I guess I get to make up my own task so my task is going to be rip this paper in half" and she does it and says stop the clock, and Alex, in the corner, handcuffed, goes "are you sure?" and she goes "Yeah man, I did it, didn't I" but with more cursing peppered in, and Alex sheepishly goes "Ok if you want us to stop the clock we'll stop the clock."
There also seems to be alot of Producer Meddling on this version. I suspect there's some of this in the other english language versions, but most of it they do a good job of hiding. In this version it's very visible. In the same task that Lisa Lampanelli didn't understand, DJ Nepotism Nephew just walks over to Alex and finds the key. His hair is messy & sticking up weird in this shot in a way that makes me think this guy wildly overslept and they had to cut this one short to make their shooting times & told him to do it. One of the funniest attempts on this show is Ron Funches attempting to impress a Mayor. He asks the mayor to leave the room and then starts redecorating with the things already in the room, he's essentially just rearranging it. Alex walks in halfway through with a plant from the hallway & Ron goes "No." because it's against his vision for the task.
In the impress the Mayor task, DJ Nepotism Nephew decides to video call Kate Hudson. She does not pick up, because of course she doesn't. Later, in the studio, he calls her back and she does pick up, because I'm sure he had time in between to explain it & said "be available during the studio recording." He then shows his phone to Reggie & Alex. Someone, presumably a PA or something, shouts "audience" to prompt him to turn the fuck around and face the cameras and they just leave it in. This is also emblematic of a pattern with DJ Nepotism Nephew. I suspect this guy has never had to work for anything in his life, he uses his connections to get whatever he wants, such as a slot as a contestant on a poorly thought out american adaptation of a british comedy show.
There's one good attempt of Lisa's but it also relies on the animosity towards Alex that they haven't put in the work to develop on-screen. In the "Record the best POV footage" helmet go-pro task that gave us Spoony Neeson in the UK, Lisa decides to tie Alex up, and run a bunch of food from the fridge into a meat grinder so that it just lands on his face. It doesn't sound like much but with how dry this show has been this is one of the better attempts. Plus, this pre-dates Rhod Gilbert's "fairly structured torture" by two whole seasons!
In a repeat of the "order this pizza w/o saying the words" task, as it turns out, American food service workers are not nearly as patient as ones in the UK, so everyone just gets hung up on alot. Freddie Highmore I think pretended to be stoned, and that got him pretty far.
I don't remember why but at some point in the series the audience starts chanting "USA, USA, USA" over and over again. Super embarrassing behavior.
At one point they try and Rules Lawyer Lisa on something, and she's like "Whatever man, fuck you" and doesn't try and argue it.
The Live Tasks.
Every live task is also a repeat. I had thought that one of them wasn't but it turns out it was also done in Season 4, I just didn't remember it. A good task idea, "prepare these items for part 2" and then "hold them in one hand." At the end of this one, DJ Nepotism Nephew tries to bribe Reggie Watts live on stage with a hundo! In the little montage during the credits, we see Reggie give it back, but again, DJ Nepotism Nephew seems like he wasn't trying to do it as a bit! Because Al Murray got away with it in Season 3 they probably allowed it, thinking it would be funny.
The live tasks in this one don't really have the gusto they need. For a couple of reasons but the big one is because I didn't care about the scoring. They haven't given these people enough time to develop on-screen. On this subject, the other reason these don't have Gusto is that usually during these in the UK Greg makes comments & they really don't do that here, another example of not letting Reggie do anything.
I don't really like the way New Zealand does live tasks, my complaints there sort of mirror Reggie with Jeremy Wells being too hands-off, but they don't do them this badly.
One of the live tasks, a repeat from the UK that I originally remembered as a Season 8 location task, turns out is from Season 4, create the longest continuous noise. DJ Nepotism Nephew asks for a cell phone and Alex has to tell him no. Why would you leave this in the edit? But also, definitely fitting with DJ Nepotism Nephew's whole deal. Kate Berlant's solution to this task was actually pretty fun, she gets the audience to start laughing for as long as she can. Most of the other people opted for dragging the stool around, dragging it against the floor.
In one task, a repeat of the Balloon Chain task from Season 4, they try and have Ron Funches recreate the baloon chain break that happens to Noel Fielding, but Ron Funches doesn't try and argue with Alex too much so they just move on. Completely dropped the ball.
At the end of each episode we get a scoreboard recap for the series, which is then narrated by Alex Horne in a way that's out of the studio which is really jarring.
They then do a "Next Time" similar to how NZ does it, but they have Reggie narrate it, which also feels bad.
After that, the Avalon logo plays, and they play the credits & show a few clips from the episode & some after-the outro clips like Kate Berlant hyping up the audience to laugh in the live task & everyone sleeping under Lisa's quilt on stage after the outro
All in all it's one of the weirdest Televisual Experiences of my life. You know how if you were to have a dream and all the details of something you knew very well were wrong? That's kind of what it was like.
I have been typing this for two hours. That's half of the entire duration of the series. I need to stop now. I hope this has been informative. It blew me away how bad this was. I can't believe I saw people on r/Taskmaster defending this version a few days ago. It's egregious.