Taskmaster
- TV comedy
- Channel 4 / U&Dave
- 2015 - 2025
- 171 episodes (18 series)
TV format in which Greg Davies and Alex Horne set a group of comedians various outlandish challenges. Also features Romesh Ranganathan, Frank Skinner, Roisin Conaty, Josh Widdicombe, Tim Key and more.
- Returns on Sunday 29th December on C4 at 9pm with New Year Special
- Streaming rank this week: 118
Episode menu
Series 6, Episode 4 - BMXing!
Prize task: Most thought-provoking thing.
* Russell Howard: A Buddhist monk playing with a fidget spinner app on an iPad. - 5
* Tim Vine: The disturbing cover of the album Bill & Kate by Billy Cotton and Kathy Rayne. - 4
* Alice Levine: The book Don't Pee on My Legg and Tell Me It's Raining by Judge Judy Sheindlin. - 3
* Liza Tarbuck: Some files belonging to Nikola Tesla. - 2
* Asim Chaudhry: A painting of an Iranian prince in a restaurant in Los Angeles that looks remarkably like Asim's doppelganger. - 1
Task 1: Do something manly with this cardboard box. Manliest thing wins. You have 20 minutes. Your time starts now.
* Liza: The box is sat in front of the TV watching golf, while Liza makes the box a cup of tea. - 5
* Tim: Stands in the box, takes his top off, and flexes his muscles at the side of the road. - 4
* Asim: Turns the box into a robot called "iFeel" to help combat against toxic masculinity. - 4
* Alice: Performs a play illustrating the manly gender pay gay. - 4
* Russell: Stands in the box, pretending to be a stereotypical man, with tattoos, smoking a fake pipe, doing DIY and giving Alex poor manly advice. - 4
Task 2, Part 1 (Team Task): Have the most fun. You have three minutes, at the end of which you must return to the caravan and await your second task. Your time starts now.
* Asim, Liza and Tim - 3
* Team Funk - 2
Task 2, Part 2 (Team Task): Exactly recreate your attempt at the first task. Most accurate task re-enactment wins. You have three minutes. Your time starts when Alex shouts his own name.
* Everyone - 5
Task 3: Make the best art using the entire contents of this can of squirty cream. You have 20 minutes. Your time starts now.
* Liza: Creates a piece on a wall, but the cream falls off. - 5
* Alice: Recreates the Mona Lisa. - 4
* Russell: Draws around Alex to make a body outline and makes it look like a crime scene. - 3
* Tim: Writes the letters "ER" and calls his piece: "Her Majesty the Cream". - 2
* Asim: Creates a work themed on global warming, also using a bell jar, an egg-timer and some toy animals. - 1
Task 4: Remove the five pound note from under the pint without spilling any of the pint. You may not touch the pint glass. If you spill any of the pint, you are disqualified. Fastest wins. Your time starts now.
* Russell: 1:19
* Asim: 1:20
* Tim: 2:54
* Liza: Disqualified for spilling the pint by try to quickly pull the fiver away. - 0
* Alice: 3:27, but disqualified for spilling the pint. - 0
Live task: When tapped on the shoulder, shake hands with the [blindfolded] Taskmaster without revealing your identities. You may not speak during the task. Everyone must shake hands with the Taskmaster once, for at least two seconds. If the Taskmaster guesses your identity, you are eliminated. The task continues until we have a winner.
* Alice - 5
* Everyone else - 0
Final scores
* Russell - 24
* Alice - 23
* Tim - 21
* Liza - 20
* Asim - 18
Broadcast details
- Date
- Wednesday 23rd May 2018
- Time
- 9pm
- Channel
- U&Dave
- Length
- 60 minutes
Cast & crew
Greg Davies | Host / Presenter |
Alex Horne | Host / Presenter |
Alice Levine | Self |
Asim Chaudhry | Self |
Liza Tarbuck | Self |
Russell Howard | Self |
Tim Vine | Self |
Alex Horne | Writer |
Tim Key | Task Consultant |
Andy Devonshire | Series Director |
Andy Cartwright | Series Producer |
Richard Allen-Turner | Executive Producer |
James Taylor | Executive Producer |
Jon Thoday | Executive Producer |
Hilary Rosen | Executive Producer |
Rob Aslett | Executive Producer |
Andy Devonshire | Executive Producer |
Alex Horne | Executive Producer |
Dan Trelfer | Edit Producer |
Thomas Perrett | Editor |
Joe Haughey | Editor |
James Dillon | Production Designer |
Sam Montague | Director of Photography |
Martin Kempton | Lighting Designer |
Dru Masters | Composer |
Tom Howe | Composer |
Videos
Tim Vine gets his kit off
In this clip from Taskmaster series 6 episode 4, Tim Vine flaunts his body from the side of the road whilst in a box. Why? Well why not. You'll have to tune in to find out...
Featuring: Greg Davies, Alex Horne & Tim Vine.
Remove £5 note without touching the glass
In this clip from Taskmaster, the contestants have to remove a five pound note from under a pint glass without touching the glass. And Alice Levine gets in to trouble with Alex Horne.
Featuring: Greg Davies, Alex Horne, Alice Levine, Asim Chaudhry, Liza Tarbuck, Russell Howard & Tim Vine.
Outtake: Bill & Kate, Pate
Alex Horne gets ridiculed for trying to rhyme Bill & Kate with pâté in cockney rhyming slang.
Featuring: Greg Davies, Alex Horne, Liza Tarbuck, Russell Howard & Tim Vine.
Outtake: Alex Horne Hopping Dance
Before the show starts, Greg Davies makes Alex Horne do a hopping dance whilst he sings. There's a surprise at the end for Alex...
Featuring: Greg Davies & Alex Horne.
Press
Taskmaster, which started as a comedy routine at the Edinburgh Fringe, has become the most popular show in Dave's admittedly short and unspectacular history -- such a success that another three series have been commissioned. That's good news for anyone who can't get enough of stand-ups and comic actors creating art with whipped cream or hurling dolls into trees.
It works because the five contestants, who this time include one-liner king Tim Vine and sitcom stalwart Liza Tarbuck, happily submit to the show's sadistic style. Watching them make fools of themselves is quite entertaining: seeing presenter Greg Davies mock and sneer at their efforts can be shamefully funny.
Creator of the concept, and butt of Greg's harshest jibes, is Alex Horne, who also oversees all the tasks. He understands the importance of a rigid format, and each episode follows a precise rhythm. It's possible to gauge almost to the second when he will make a self-conscious quip, or a jangling piano will introduce a clip to introduce the next task.
Eventually the format will become stale, changes will be introduced, and the whole thing will fall apart. For now, we can wallow in telly that manages to be inane, spiteful and hilarious at the same time.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 24th May 2018