u/TetrisIsTotesSuper

I was able to track back the broadcast dates for the previous series of Taskmaster UK through the excellent taskmaster.info but i was wondering if there is a definite source of info re studio taping dates per series since the start.

I know the schedule has been pretty established with May and September studio taping times as of late but this was obviously disrupted during the COVID years and I am unsure when they started with such an efficient rolling schedule. Anyone has any info or could let me know when they went to tapings pre-Covid? Anyone here who went to the Clapham Grand at the time and want to brag about being part of TM history?

Here are my notes from the taping of this episode, including some of the behind the scenes and some of the bits that got cut!

Disclaimer - i have not yet listened to the podcast so some of this might have already been mentioned.

Pre-show:

As always Mark Olver Orvel was the warm-up comic and MC.

Greg and Alex both come out before the contestants themselves and we had some banter and questions from both.

I got to ask if they had anything in the drawers of their chairs, they confirmed there was stuff but wouldn’t say what it was. Whatever it was wasn’t used during the taping, and I suspect it might just be snacks. Greg did mention he was gifted a lot of Caramac during his last tour and ate all of them but had to slow down on sugar on the whole after that (if you ever had a Caramac, you get it).

Other questions included:

·       whether there would ever be a non-celebrity taskmaster edition and we got told no, but now Taskmaster House is happening soooo

·       Someone asked what they had on their socks, I think it was coffee?

·       Will there be a Champions of Champions of Champions? Which was answered with “potentially potentially potentially”

·       Mark was asked if he would ever go on TM himself and said joking dismissively it wasn’t for him

·       Greg was asked if he liked the new studio so far and said that yes he does because it’s closer to his house and he likes a lie-in

Alex also did a song about kebabs as a warm-up which was as you can imagine, absolutely delightful. From notes from other tapings it sounds like he had a song before each one (E4 was a song about the tube strikes? Iirc from a comment on here) and we will never get to see them as this is all pre-shows and the cameras aren’t rolling.

Greg announces the contestants for the series before they come out so we already know who they are by the time they get introduced properly and have already been cheered for by the time you see the intro on TV. I was sat 2^(nd) row and could see his card read “Nanjiani” and thought “surely not, he’s too famous” (I kid you not) even though I had spotted his wife in the waiting line ahead of me outside!!

Yes, even if you are the wife of a super buff, super famous, very in love with you Marvel star, you wait outside in the blistering London September heat like all of us peasants. She was hard to miss as she is tall, slender and very pretty! Honestly, class act Emily.

I realised it was her and it was the first episode she was attending as Kumail introduced her from afar (him on the stage and her in the audience still) during the first break which happened before the sardines task.

Alex later referred to her as a “a very talented writer who co-wrote The Big Sick with Kumail” during the break after the sardines task. Again, even if you do not like rom-coms, go and watch it, it’s very good.

Show!

The banter section will probably get released as an outtake again, but in case it doesn’t it was >! a joke about a ferret wheel (instead of Ferris wheel), and how we don’t realise the true size of ferrets and should all be terrified !<

Prize task:

The prize task took a while but not because of Joanna!

There was quite a debate between Kumail and Amy about the number of men that could fit the raft, and some argument that she wasn’t concealing anything big as it wasn’t inflated at the time of concealment, which swiftly got shut down once he realised he also had an inflatable as his prize task! He is such a shit stirrer in the studio it is unbelievable.

There was a short anecdote from Joanna (which might get released as an outtake) on the crystal but mostly Joel and Kumail took the piss at her because it wasn’t well concealed at all. Greg did make a point and say “this is the first time you’re not giving me your life story as a prize task” which knowing very little about Joanna going in, knew was the first sign of something we might not have seen on the show before!!

Then there was quite a bit of debate about who should win between the tattoo and the baguettes legs, Armando got told he could get the five points if he kept it on during the whole show but they were taken off at some point during one of the breaks! It is crazy hot in the new studio to be fair and most of the breaks are spent drinking water and using fans for the cast.

Task 1 – Make the most unlikely prediction

Amy made that quite lengthy by saying weird stuff happens in the country side, loads of jokes about last of the summer wine. As the points came in Greg said she would be disqualified or finish last because they couldn’t prove Chris had actually sung, which is when she pleaded to be able to call him. He answered and launched into a bit of a tirade about his health (in the style of the first call, imagine him and Joanna having a convo!) which is why Greg said “happy to hear you are alive!” then she sorts of cuts him off saying she might lose points.

As much as Emily got recognition from Alex, no one mentioned Chris Cantrill was who he is (Christopher Cantrill for reference).

Long dissection of what Kumail had done trying to figure out why he spoke backwards, why he was upside down, why the sand timer was (or wasn’t) the wrong round and this is when I saw a celebrity unravel in front of my very eyes. Genuinely started thinking this guy is going to be a shell of himself by the end of the series. Conclusion was nothing made sense but he had given it his very best, then Joel (in superb form this episode) made a joke about being a replica of his Eternals character hence why it flopped.

“make time go backwards” became a catchphrase throughout the episode as at least two more times were cut out of the final edit.

Task 2 – Sardines!

Okay this one I don’t have much on as people were laughing so hard I couldn’t tell what was going when they were whispering!

I suspect the longer version of Emily & Kumail’s story might make it as an outtake but basically they >!went on a holiday with a couple of married friends whose marriage was already on the rocks, but the sardines game was the tipping point and they divorced swiftly after their holiday citing the game as a major factor!!<

Joel had a wonderful quip about cumin once Greg mentioned they were looking in the spice cupboard which has already been published as an outtake, but there were also loads of cumin and spice jokes in the show afterwards, another red thread.

Task 3 – Put the ball into this glass

I am wondering if they have edited the task footage between what is being shown on TV vs what we see of the recorded tasks in the studio as I swear watching Kumail bouncing balls the wrong side of pans was NEVERENDING.

Joel made a Simon Rimmer joke at some point after all his “rimmies”.

There was a break immediately after this task and before the cast exited for a bit of down time during prep of the live task, Kumail asked Alex if those were the real times and if he was really the slowest by this much. As I said earlier, experiencing complete breakdown! And with Emily in the audience.

Live task:

ETA: there was an issue with the central camera which shoots Greg alone in his throne while everyone else is on stage. Faithful to their characters, Alex apologised profusely for the technical mishap and told us we were such good, lovely, patient people a lot. Greg joked about someone getting fired.

This wasn’t as long as some of the ones we’ve had to date this series (Debbie where are the fucking oranges) but I think it lasted a good 10-15 minutes. It started with Kumail asking for the rules to be read and clarified about 3 times which was why Amy mocked him so much as he nailed it.

The number of attempts between rounds is edited down to the best ones, and we genuinely all went wild when Joel and Armando nearly had a tie.

The Pakistan chant did gather a bit more steam than showed, Kumail made a joke about how people in the UK were too uncomfortable to chant Pakistan and we should probably stop.

After show:

Greg and Alex commented on the very high score and noted Armando nearly had a clean sweep. At which point Greg asked Alex “has anyone ever had a perfect 30” and Alex said “I don’t know my brain doesn’t work like that”, a couple of us yelled from the crowd about Dara and Alex chuckled and said we knew the show better than he did.

After the show they recorded the bits for red nose day that have already aired.

The also had to re-record a few transition bits because we had been clapping too much!

Misc:

At some point during one of the breaks Greg got asked how he takes his tea and then subsequent questions about his tea taking habits were asked every break. We collectively channelled Ed Gamble and annoyed him so much he yelled from the corridor at the start of the last period “I’m not coming back in if anyone is asking me any more questions about fucking tea!”

Amy in real life is glowing. I cannot describe it any better than that she radiates warmth and kindness and she is stunning.

I am an Armando super fan and thought there’s no way he’s not winning, this is a show made for him, and as it happened I just attended his first episode win. Imagine my surprise catching up on the first four episodes live on TV!
I was sat next to someone he knew and gestured to her on his way out like see you later, and I thought he was waving at me so I waved back frantically… Died of embarrassment when I realised ofc…

 

If anyone can send me a screenshot of a wide audience shot, I can spot myself in it!! I can't seem to work out how to do it on the Channel 4 player and Youtube episodes are blocked in the UK

The 2nd edition of UK Celeb traitors will have none other than TM legends:

James Acaster

Romesh Ranganathan

Joanne McNally

Rob Beckett

And ironically Joe "fuck charity" Lycett

Participating!!

Edit 1: Also featuring Hannah Fry (NYT contestant), thank you u/Goldman250 for the addition!

Absolutely pumped!

Cast announcement

Edit 2: Not to forget Ed Gamble does the after show podcast as well ofc

Edit 3: Getting ahead of this one, but this show is hostled by the very iconic Claudia "petty thief" Winkleman ("a true TV professional, not like the you two dickheads") who was also in a TM NYT!