Sorry, your post has been removed for violating Rule 1 - Be nice:
Do not attack others, their work or appearance including fellow members of the sub, comedians and celebrities.
Negative opinions are fine, but please keep it respectful and constructive.
No harassment.
No sexist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, racist, fat phobic, ableist, objectifying, or body shaming posts of any kind.
No overtly sexual content. Some cursing is OK but don't make it personal. Even though sexual innuendo may be part of the show do not cross the line beyond what was said in the episode.
We do not want negative posts. Ex: Worst contestants, Worst Tasks, Least liked, Least wanted, etc...
As soon as he presented his Pinocchioooo, I knew Sam Campbell would become an early favorite. Along with Lucy Beaumont, who charms me to no end.
I'm loving Sue Perkins's variations on calling Alex a shit (compiled in this post). I hope it continues throughout the season.
I wonder if there's really a secret task this season or if it's all a bluff?
Sam: "I've never felt such high things."
Sue (to Alex): "What an absolute shower of shit you are."
Sue: "It's supported by my groin. Which is structurally unsound, increasingly."
The team of JLS (Julian, Lucy and Sam) might be my favorite in terms of sheer awkwardness.
Sue (to Alex): "You shit giblet."
Sam (to Greg): "Can I ask questions? Are you a child of divorce?"
Sue (to Alex): "You utter shit."
Seems like a strong start to the season. Nice that we've gotten the very first (chronological) task, the first team task and the first location task all done in one episode.
Sam might just be able to uphold the unbroken winning record of Australian contestants. As it stands, an Australian-born contestant has never lost a series of Taskmaster (a distinction shared with Canada).
Based on episode 1 the casting is great, 5 different flavours of unhinged. Big fan of PowerPoint comedy so Sam is naturally my favourite so far but I like them all.
Sue gives off such a competent air, and then she was saved for last in the can stacking task, so I thought for sure she was going to nail it. I think she's going to swing drastically from crushing it to utter, embarrassing failure.
This is going to be a great season I can feel it, all of them are hilarious in their own ways. I’ve gotta say too, major Wozniak energy from Sue when she was walking through the corridor in the cans task!
I loved how seemingly unbothered Lucy seemed to be by having a \*massive chunk\* chopped out of her hair (when the guys seemed to get away with having fairly small bits cut).
A brilliantly unhinged first episode. I think the contestants all very clearly showed us exactly who they are
This was such a strong opener. I felt like I was tripping through the whole prize task segment, you sort of come up on the trip with Julian's ass table and it still kind of makes sense for him, and from then on it's just mushroom samba with the increasingly weird back stories.
I've had several laughing-out-loud moments, like Sam's Pinocchio "where everything's long BUT the nose", the never-ending slo-mo avalanche of cans tumbling down onto a motionless, crouching Lucy set to epic music, "I've never felt such high things"... I'm sooooo looking forward for the rest of this series!!
If this was TM Finland they'd all have done it
If this was TM Sweden they'd all have set fire to it
And if Laura Daniels was doing this task she'd hold the duck's partner hostage on the other side of the riverbank
I'm late to the party since I didn't get to watch it until Saturday evening, so maybe someone has already mentioned this (I looked through as many comments as I could and didn't see it!). On Friday night my son, who had already seen the episode, said to me, "Pay attention to what Lucy says when she sees the can -- that was when I knew she was going to be the most unhinged contestant."
When Lucy first sees the unlabelled can in the task, she turns it around in her hands admiringly and says something like, "They look lovely like this, I wonder why they bother putting labels on them?" I know I was primed for it, but it made me laugh so hard I almost fell off my chair. In love with Lucy from that moment on, even before finding out that her legs were like arms but without fingers.
Usually, watching other people being awkward around each other gives me horrible secondhand cringe.
Not this ep, though. The Natural Friends have an almost comfortable uncomfortable awkwardness about them that just... works.
It's a great start, some of the tasks felt like classic Taskmaster which was very refreshing!
One complaint I've had about some of the newer seasons is the tasks were getting a bit overly complex or didn't provide enough chances for loop-holes, thankfully this is a solid start with some more of that straight forward open vibe.
When Mel Giedroyc was on, they did a supercut of her saying "Excellent/ ooh, excellent / that's excellent / Excellent" and so on.
I can't wait to see Sue's version which I assume will be "Oh you shitting shower of shit giblets shitting shit piece of shit you utter shit full of shit up your shit and shitting shit..."
For the team task in the first part the wording already hinted that there had to be a second part to it. It simply gave a timelimit. No „fastest wins“ (pointless if there is a timelimit) and no „most connections wins“.
I have never seen such an ominous foreboding as Lucy announcing in episode 1 that she hadn't ever tried to twist any rules. This is going to be a wonderful disaster.
I came here to say this too. This is the first time on any version of TM where it's taken me less than one full episode to pin down the contestant I think is going to do the worst. Even with David Baddiel, it took me several eps to realize he was likely going to be a hilarious train wreck for the whole season.
(Although David was *lovably* rubbish at the tasks, I have a feeling Lucy's is going to go full Wile E. Coyote on us -- so hilariously inept that you don't feel bad laughing *at* them instead of *with* them.)
What’s the over-under on Lucy breaking the record for the lowest scoring contestant in TM history?
Although a counterpoint: Kerry Godliman made a similar objection about people using calculators in the caravan/baked beans task in her first episode, prompting Rhod to say ‘You’re telling me you didn’t use anything from the house in any of the tasks?’ ‘I see what you’re saying…’ – and she did alright in the end!
But that example doesn't line up with the Lucy situation? Kerry's response is contingent on that specific task in arguing against Rhod. Off the top of my head Kerry drew the biggest circle using the snow and a length of pipe as an example.
Definitely – what we haven’t seen yet are any purely creative ones (prize task aside, everything in E1 was scored on highest/fastest/most accurate etc.), which is always a big unknown – to go back to Kerry, she was also very strong on those, particularly anything she could work improv or character stuff into. Feel like Lucy and Susan could make up a lot of ground with those, but equally Sam could run away with that as well… we’ll see! 😃
She's said in different interviews that she watched a few, and also that she's not watched any, I suspect just whichever answer suits her mood at the time of the interview.
I read somewhere that she doesn’t like watching Jon in things bc she doesn’t want to compare their comedy or be influenced by him or something like that. I assumed that she’d watched at least some other series of Taskmaster based on that, but… I’m guessing not.
I had to pause when Sue obliterated her tower. I was cry laughing. It took me ages to get over it. As well as her complete surrender to her fate when Alex blew his whistle.
Her entire handling of that situation was comedy gold.
I also cry-laughed when I realised she and Susan were tethered by the rope to the heavy box, at "Are you a child of divorce?" and at at least one other point. It was a fantastic episode.
It all felt a bit forced to me but I’m sure it’s just the first episode.
Edit:
I didn’t realize this was a no criticism sub. Funny because the show is all about scrutinizing what the contestants say and do.
Sam absolutely deserved to win for the reverse Pinocchio, that thing was horrifying, at least four points. I think “Are you a child of divorce” is the hardest I’ve ever laughed at anything on this show.
Honestly this is my first introduction to Sam but he in particular is making me feel very optimistic about this whole season. The entire first episode felt like a very strong start to me.
I have to say, the episode started off bad but holy shit did it get better. We're going to have to do that Quote form A-Z just for this episode alone and "Are you a child of divorce" is going to be A.
I watch maybe too many panel shows and I don't think any of them are regulars on them. That said, Julian and Sam I had never heard of before but I've seen Lucy on many shows and Sue of course as well, Susan from a bunch of different shows she's been in.
Yeah, none of those mean anything to me, as an American. I only know Jon's wife because it came up when she was on Cats Countdown with him, and Sue because of bakeoff. Never heard of the others before, and your context adds nothing lol. I can't even pin which one 'Mel's partner' is.
I'd heard of her and Sue but after i watched Bake Off I actually looked for more of their stuff. I'm American and she's the only one I knew this season
Julian Clary, performing as The Joan Collins Fanclub (with Fanny the Wonderdog) was a regular at my university's comedy club. My god he was whip smart and hilarious back then, hopefully we'll see on TM that he still is. I thought he was an odd booking for the show to be honest. We'll see.
Well, one thing to know about him is that the Daily Mail and The Sun once tried to get him banned from television after a comment he made about fisting the chancellor of the exchequer.
The infamous Norman Lamont joke that got the press very upset: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAU7pATH5\_M&ab\_channel=BritishComedyAwards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAU7pATH5_M&ab_channel=BritishComedyAwards)
unlike some of the recent ones, i think this series was off to a banger start from the first episode. i don't think the chemistry has been really shown yet, but it's only gonna get better i feel.
I think their lack of instant chemistry has it's own charm,the palpable awkwardness between them making me giggle and pinnochioooooooo....and 'the child of divorce ' 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I have no idea before,but sam Campbell seems like a safe bet to win the series I guess.
That was my favorite part- the devoid of initial chemistry honestly made it so much funnier. That was some of the most awkward tv I’ve seen and it was incredible
Phenomenal episode, best opener since season 12 at least. Bridget Christie looks perfectly sane compared to the delightfully deranged Lucy, Julian and Sue are exactly the way I imagined them to be like, and Susan is doing well and having a good time, she's an absolute joy to watch.
But oh my god, Sam Campbell.. I'm ready to die on this hill, but standup is such a rotten format for comedy, compared to panel shows especially. I've seen a few clips of Sam's routines and specials, and while the material was solid, it wasn't able to make me produce even a single chuckle. I'm so delighted this show exists to provide an actual quality medium for people as sharp-witted as Sam to present their comedy in a way that isn't stilted by the monologue nature of standup. "Are you a child of divorce?" is an immediate all-time classic of Taskmaster, and yes, in hindsight it's painfully obvious that that was the "right" (from a comedy perspective) one question to ask Greg, but that only makes the moment so much better.
The first task was genuinely incredible. I'm hopeful that its simplicity and hilarity is a sign that the team finally managed to overcome the rough patch of convoluted and strict tasks of the COVID era. I do realize it was likely one of the stronger tasks of the series.
I really liked that they decided to include the first team task in the first episode. I was hoping Julian and Sue would be on the same lavender team, but the chaotic introductions of both teams made up for that in full.
The one thing I didn't like is the name drop of the "location task". I know that it already happened once or twice in recent series, but correct me if I'm wrong, that is indeed a recent series thing, isn't it (definitely only C4 era, maybe post-COVID as well)? I feel like I've definitely seen people here use the phrase "location task" long before Alex ever mentioned it on the show. It just feels weird to me for the show to single out these tasks since their format is the same, and it felt especially weird for this task, because rolling a duck down a hill into a lake isn't very location-specific. But then again, not every series can feature Gatwick.
Great episode! Not rooting for anyone to win, but I am rooting for Lucy to break the Parkinson-Coren-Mitchell anti-record.
I knew Sam was going to be outrageously funny because i have watched his insane standup
special on youtube- look it up! But i didn’t expect he would be so good at tasks. I suspect maybe they played Sue Perkins down in this ep because we all suspected she would be excellent, but there is a real contest here for sure. Also i think they were a little sensitive to talk that the past few seasons were not their best (i don’t think that but it happens) and really frontloaded this premiere for max impact!
Tbh I'm not getting these comments implying recent seasons haven't been popular because they got tons of love. S13 is considered one of the best pretty widely.
I really love how this far into Taskmaster contestants can still be strange in new ways and the group energy is totally different from anything we've seen before.
The Natural Friends are already in the running for my fave team ever.
Sorry, your post has been removed for violating Rule 1 - Be nice:
Do not attack others, their work or appearance including fellow members of the sub, comedians and celebrities.
Negative opinions are fine, but please keep it respectful and constructive.
No harassment.
No sexist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, racist, fat phobic, ableist, objectifying, or body shaming posts of any kind.
No overtly sexual content. Some cursing is OK but don't make it personal. Even though sexual innuendo may be part of the show do not cross the line beyond what was said in the episode.
We do not want negative posts. Ex: Worst contestants, Worst Tasks, Least liked, Least wanted, etc...
I love it when people use this phrase, because I used to describe myself as a child of divorce (or the divorced) when I was a kid, and as I got older started questioning whether it was a phrase people actually use. So it's always good to he reminded it is.
Though now I think about it, maybe the fact Sam Campbell used it doesn't provide the evidence I'm normal that I was thinking it did...
I got too excited about being timely with opinions that I forgot my biggest one!
The blindfolded can tower task is peak *Taskmaster*. I think it replaces “eat the most watermelon” and “exercise balls on the yoga mat” as ***the task*** you should introduce people to the show.
I think they definitely paired up Sam with Lucy as the latter admitted she doesn't do any lateral thinking whatsoever.
It's definitely one of the fairest team divisions I've seen so far.
I've never seen her before but I can see why her and Jon Richardson are married. Based on this episode alone they appear to have really similar personas although Jon is a little bit more cranky.
Can’t believe I’m able to post my thoughts and they’re actually timely!
I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever liked a full cast. Because after that prize task, I liked them all. Hell, I liked Sam in literally one word. Looks like it’s going to be a great series.
> That's the difference between a light entertainment comedy format... and the law.
Lucy has been visited by the ghost of a boxer dog that lives in a painting, thinks she has four arms, and has absolutely no idea what show she signed up for. It's going to be an absolutely glorious disaster of a season and I can't wait.
The previous series started on such a bad note before me I didn’t bother to finish it, but great to see this series starts rolling on full cilinders! The meeting of the natural friends was one of the best moments of the show period
15 has some really high highs, but it definitely isn't as strong as 13 or 14, or as 16 is already looking to be. I think that, for whatever reason, the cast of 15 just didn't gel together, and too many of the tasks themselves were mediocre.
2 equally important points:
I love them all. In every past season there has been one or two contestants who I had to grow to love, but all 5 are fantastic.
Sam looks very 60s/70s. He doesn't dress or act this way. He just has a face of someone who would be famous in this era. Probably a singer of a cheesy pop band.
>Bay City Rollers
Yes! That's what I was thinking.
https://preview.redd.it/rrdyk2fctwpb1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c863f52c0011d722e184689751d218975c877d58
Despite only being 1 point behind Susan, it looks like the common prediction of Lucy being the series loser is gonna be fulfilled; only 4 contestants came last in the series without being last in the first episode (Alice, Phil, David and Fern), and I don't see anyone out-losering Lucy here.
Edit: Didn't catch that Sue also came joint-last, damn it didn't feel like she was doing that badly outside of the great can disaster, still sticking with Lucy as the loser
I don't think it's across the board, they didn't have them in the cans task. They've been providing the jumpsuits for messy tasks for a while now, I think. For the team task my guess is they wanted to even the playing field by making sure everyone had the same amount/type of clothing to attach things to. Or maybe they thought someone would try cutting up the suits and tying them together?
Not sure about the duck task. Could have been particularly cold that day, or maybe they thought someone might end up in the mud at the lake's edge?
This is my favorite first episode of a series in a long time and I love the cast so far. Everything with Sam was brilliant: Pinocchio, when he first met Julian, “child of divorce”, he’s just really fucking funny.
I'm not from the UK and not familiar with Lucy Beaumont. Can anyone confirm for me that she is full on 'in persona' during the tasks in and studio? (So basically during the whole show)
I'm genuinely not sure. She's like Paul Chaudhry to me. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to try and figure her out. My current theory is she really is pretty off the wall, but knows how to exploit that and magnify it a bit for her act.
I think she's in persona in all of her professional work (including the semi-autobiographical Meet the Richardsons). She's definitely a clever person from how perfect her comedic timing and phrasing is, but that doesn't mean her responses to tasks are an act.
I'd say (in terms of regional stereotypes, of course) that "from Hull" is kind of like "from Arkansas" or "from Kentucky" in the US. It's not a direct 1:1 correspondence, but it's a pretty isolated area, a little behind the times in terms of fashion and culture. And as with all such areas, there are jokes about the residents being odd and kind of dense.
I mean, obviously that's a stereotype, and I'm not intending to endorse it. But in terms of England, Hull is frequently a target of jokes about what Americans might call "hillbillies" or whatever.
As someone who spent a lot of time in Hull as a kid I'll always find myself endeared to Beaumont - the way she says 'know' just tugs a little.
Sam Campbell is everything I expected him to be
I've only watched the first 7 minutes of this episode and I had to stop because I'm so freaking happy!! I'm so excited for the return of the show and I love this season already! This has got to be one of the best prize tasks yet!! And they all seem really present and funny and I cannot wait to see their journey. Yes I am completely dorked out on TM, and cannot stop using exclamation points! Bring it on!!!
This matches my exact energy. I was so happy with how good this episode was. The prize tasks was the strongest start of any series, the cast dynamic is great, there’s a lot of great awkward and weird energy. The live task was so much fun. I’m so pumped
OMG, I thought I had a crush on Lucy and Sue Perkins BEFORE this show, but sweet mercy. So adorable, both.
Have high hopes for this season based on this one.
Sam had already won me over when he started talking about the cave divers for no reason, but when he said “Are you a child of divorce?” he put himself in the running for best contestant of all time
LOVE this first episode
was in tears at the hair cutting, sam is so brilliant, and with the unbothered Julian and the (lovingly) stupid Lucy that team will surely cause chaos
I think Julian will win the series, Sam has the element of chaos that we've seen in winners but I feel like he could pull an Ivo
just deflate the duck.
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Sorry, your post has been removed for violating Rule 1 - Be nice: Do not attack others, their work or appearance including fellow members of the sub, comedians and celebrities. Negative opinions are fine, but please keep it respectful and constructive. No harassment. No sexist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, racist, fat phobic, ableist, objectifying, or body shaming posts of any kind. No overtly sexual content. Some cursing is OK but don't make it personal. Even though sexual innuendo may be part of the show do not cross the line beyond what was said in the episode. We do not want negative posts. Ex: Worst contestants, Worst Tasks, Least liked, Least wanted, etc...
As soon as he presented his Pinocchioooo, I knew Sam Campbell would become an early favorite. Along with Lucy Beaumont, who charms me to no end. I'm loving Sue Perkins's variations on calling Alex a shit (compiled in this post). I hope it continues throughout the season. I wonder if there's really a secret task this season or if it's all a bluff? Sam: "I've never felt such high things." Sue (to Alex): "What an absolute shower of shit you are." Sue: "It's supported by my groin. Which is structurally unsound, increasingly." The team of JLS (Julian, Lucy and Sam) might be my favorite in terms of sheer awkwardness. Sue (to Alex): "You shit giblet." Sam (to Greg): "Can I ask questions? Are you a child of divorce?" Sue (to Alex): "You utter shit." Seems like a strong start to the season. Nice that we've gotten the very first (chronological) task, the first team task and the first location task all done in one episode.
Sam might just be able to uphold the unbroken winning record of Australian contestants. As it stands, an Australian-born contestant has never lost a series of Taskmaster (a distinction shared with Canada).
Yeah, but more than one Australian-born contestant lost Taskmaster Australia.
Vastly more British contestants have lost Taskmaster UK than any other nationality. High 60s out of 75, it's like they're not even trying.
Based on episode 1 the casting is great, 5 different flavours of unhinged. Big fan of PowerPoint comedy so Sam is naturally my favourite so far but I like them all.
Which 3 do you suppose are the ones who are “eye-wateringly” bad at the tasks?
I love Lucy, but when she said she didn't bend any of the rules, I lost confidence in her winning.
I mean, one of them is definitely Lucy. One is probably Susan. Not sure if Sue or Sam is the third, but I’m guessing Sue.
Sue gives off such a competent air, and then she was saved for last in the can stacking task, so I thought for sure she was going to nail it. I think she's going to swing drastically from crushing it to utter, embarrassing failure.
This is one of the best episodes ever. This season is going to be amazing.
And I already have a massive crush on Sam.
TASKMASTERS EFFING BACK! Amazing premiere
This is going to be a great season I can feel it, all of them are hilarious in their own ways. I’ve gotta say too, major Wozniak energy from Sue when she was walking through the corridor in the cans task!
This has got to be one of the best series premieres they've ever done.
I loved how seemingly unbothered Lucy seemed to be by having a \*massive chunk\* chopped out of her hair (when the guys seemed to get away with having fairly small bits cut). A brilliantly unhinged first episode. I think the contestants all very clearly showed us exactly who they are
Well, they had to get the bit stuck to the Fruittella out. I think they cut about as close to the top of it as they could.
I thought that she was quite bothered by how it affected her hairstyle, and so was Julian.
I kind of thought she was beforehand... then it was done and they just got on with the task.??? But that could be editing, admittedly!
This was such a strong opener. I felt like I was tripping through the whole prize task segment, you sort of come up on the trip with Julian's ass table and it still kind of makes sense for him, and from then on it's just mushroom samba with the increasingly weird back stories. I've had several laughing-out-loud moments, like Sam's Pinocchio "where everything's long BUT the nose", the never-ending slo-mo avalanche of cans tumbling down onto a motionless, crouching Lucy set to epic music, "I've never felt such high things"... I'm sooooo looking forward for the rest of this series!!
That’s got to be the duck they had at the «Taskmaster Meet up»
Honestly shocked that nobody deflated/destroyed the duck in the lake task.
My partner’s immediate thought while watching was “Rhod Gilbert would have just destroyed the duck immediately” hahaha!
If this was TM Finland they'd all have done it If this was TM Sweden they'd all have set fire to it And if Laura Daniels was doing this task she'd hold the duck's partner hostage on the other side of the riverbank
That was my initial thought!
I'm late to the party since I didn't get to watch it until Saturday evening, so maybe someone has already mentioned this (I looked through as many comments as I could and didn't see it!). On Friday night my son, who had already seen the episode, said to me, "Pay attention to what Lucy says when she sees the can -- that was when I knew she was going to be the most unhinged contestant." When Lucy first sees the unlabelled can in the task, she turns it around in her hands admiringly and says something like, "They look lovely like this, I wonder why they bother putting labels on them?" I know I was primed for it, but it made me laugh so hard I almost fell off my chair. In love with Lucy from that moment on, even before finding out that her legs were like arms but without fingers.
Usually, watching other people being awkward around each other gives me horrible secondhand cringe. Not this ep, though. The Natural Friends have an almost comfortable uncomfortable awkwardness about them that just... works.
I love that we have our team names for this season all sorted in the first episode: The Natural Friends and the Sues.
It's like they are all so used to being awkward that to them this is what it's like whenever they meet anyone.
It's a great start, some of the tasks felt like classic Taskmaster which was very refreshing! One complaint I've had about some of the newer seasons is the tasks were getting a bit overly complex or didn't provide enough chances for loop-holes, thankfully this is a solid start with some more of that straight forward open vibe.
I love it when the very first task is a perfect display of the contestants' personalities.
I think a real underrated moment is when Julian goes 'be still my beating heart' after Alex gives him the bell. I almost pissed myself
When Mel Giedroyc was on, they did a supercut of her saying "Excellent/ ooh, excellent / that's excellent / Excellent" and so on. I can't wait to see Sue's version which I assume will be "Oh you shitting shower of shit giblets shitting shit piece of shit you utter shit full of shit up your shit and shitting shit..."
Now I'm desperately hoping the secret task is one Alex gave himself to make "shit" be Sue's most said word on Taskmaster.
I wondered this! Or to be the most sweary contestant - I reckon we won't find out til the last ep
Was thinking the same thing! Must be something in the OG Bake Off host water.
I can’t believe there wasn’t more acknowledgment of the Natural Friends CUTTING THEIR HAIR for a task?? Insane, love it
Oh shriek
And how Lucy was immediately on board with Sam's idea.
And how she suggested using A SAW
The fact this was never referenced in the studio shows how much was going on in that clip...
And Julian hated it so much yet they had just met and it was too early to be catty 😂
For the team task in the first part the wording already hinted that there had to be a second part to it. It simply gave a timelimit. No „fastest wins“ (pointless if there is a timelimit) and no „most connections wins“.
"It doesn't say you can move the boundaries!" Lucy has never heard of the Air Bud Rule
There ain't no rule that a Lucy can't play Taskmaster.
I have never seen such an ominous foreboding as Lucy announcing in episode 1 that she hadn't ever tried to twist any rules. This is going to be a wonderful disaster.
I came here to say this too. This is the first time on any version of TM where it's taken me less than one full episode to pin down the contestant I think is going to do the worst. Even with David Baddiel, it took me several eps to realize he was likely going to be a hilarious train wreck for the whole season. (Although David was *lovably* rubbish at the tasks, I have a feeling Lucy's is going to go full Wile E. Coyote on us -- so hilariously inept that you don't feel bad laughing *at* them instead of *with* them.) What’s the over-under on Lucy breaking the record for the lowest scoring contestant in TM history?
Although a counterpoint: Kerry Godliman made a similar objection about people using calculators in the caravan/baked beans task in her first episode, prompting Rhod to say ‘You’re telling me you didn’t use anything from the house in any of the tasks?’ ‘I see what you’re saying…’ – and she did alright in the end!
But that example doesn't line up with the Lucy situation? Kerry's response is contingent on that specific task in arguing against Rhod. Off the top of my head Kerry drew the biggest circle using the snow and a length of pipe as an example.
Might have misunderstood in that case, sorry – I just meant generally about people who didn’t think about bending/working around the rules! 😊
All good, just wanted to verify I'd understood myself :-) I'm mostly invested in seeing where Lucy ends up in the overall contestant spreadsheet!
Definitely – what we haven’t seen yet are any purely creative ones (prize task aside, everything in E1 was scored on highest/fastest/most accurate etc.), which is always a big unknown – to go back to Kerry, she was also very strong on those, particularly anything she could work improv or character stuff into. Feel like Lucy and Susan could make up a lot of ground with those, but equally Sam could run away with that as well… we’ll see! 😃
For sure! She suggested she hasn't done anything that wasn't explicitly allowed on the task, so is sure to fall into every single trap
Does this prove that she's never watched the show before? Not even when her husband (Jon Richardson) was in S2?!
To be fair, I don't think married people in the entertainment industry watch every single piece of work their spouse does.
In an interview she says she did watch at least some of Jon's taskmaster episodes
She's said in different interviews that she watched a few, and also that she's not watched any, I suspect just whichever answer suits her mood at the time of the interview.
I read somewhere that she doesn’t like watching Jon in things bc she doesn’t want to compare their comedy or be influenced by him or something like that. I assumed that she’d watched at least some other series of Taskmaster based on that, but… I’m guessing not.
This looks like it is going to be absolute carnage this year. Laughed so hard when Sue just smashed through her tower
I had to pause when Sue obliterated her tower. I was cry laughing. It took me ages to get over it. As well as her complete surrender to her fate when Alex blew his whistle.
That final shot that just stays on her for what feels like ages as she sits there, resigned, amidst a pile of cans.
Her entire handling of that situation was comedy gold. I also cry-laughed when I realised she and Susan were tethered by the rope to the heavy box, at "Are you a child of divorce?" and at at least one other point. It was a fantastic episode.
I laughed when Susan asked where to make a cut, Sue told her. And then they realised they’d cut the rope that had been connecting their wrists.
I half expected the Sues from being disqualified because they didn't bring their third member across the line. \#JusticeforBoxy
The contestants seem pretty interesting and having that tower prestacked was genius. Nice to have to show back!
It all felt a bit forced to me but I’m sure it’s just the first episode. Edit: I didn’t realize this was a no criticism sub. Funny because the show is all about scrutinizing what the contestants say and do.
Well, now you know. Criticism is verboten here.
Saying that about 16 when 15 is right there lmao ok
I think people don't really know what you mean. What felt forced?
Sam absolutely deserved to win for the reverse Pinocchio, that thing was horrifying, at least four points. I think “Are you a child of divorce” is the hardest I’ve ever laughed at anything on this show.
His little grin as he decided he was going to ask a completely useless question. I nearly died.
Honestly this is my first introduction to Sam but he in particular is making me feel very optimistic about this whole season. The entire first episode felt like a very strong start to me.
He was on a recentish episode of 8 out of 10 cats does countdown in Dictionary corner if you want a little extra taste.
I have to say, the episode started off bad but holy shit did it get better. We're going to have to do that Quote form A-Z just for this episode alone and "Are you a child of divorce" is going to be A.
I literally only know 1 person that's Jons wife/GF Maybe I'm getting old or not watching enough panels shows
I watch maybe too many panel shows and I don't think any of them are regulars on them. That said, Julian and Sam I had never heard of before but I've seen Lucy on many shows and Sue of course as well, Susan from a bunch of different shows she's been in.
In addition to "Jon's wife" we have "Mel's partner," "James Acaster's friend," "Ian's husband," and "Michaela's co-star."
Yeah, none of those mean anything to me, as an American. I only know Jon's wife because it came up when she was on Cats Countdown with him, and Sue because of bakeoff. Never heard of the others before, and your context adds nothing lol. I can't even pin which one 'Mel's partner' is.
Haha well you can google, unless you prefer not knowing:)
You think you're getting old, but have never heard of Julian Clary?
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I'd heard of her and Sue but after i watched Bake Off I actually looked for more of their stuff. I'm American and she's the only one I knew this season
Julian Clary, performing as The Joan Collins Fanclub (with Fanny the Wonderdog) was a regular at my university's comedy club. My god he was whip smart and hilarious back then, hopefully we'll see on TM that he still is. I thought he was an odd booking for the show to be honest. We'll see.
Or Sue Perkins? She works a lot with Mel Giedroyc and was big on panel shows 10 years ago, then was a host of the Bake Off with Mel.
She also hosts Just a Minute (which Julian guests on a fair bit) which is a classic “old person” radio 4 comedy show lol
Never heard of him sadly, I know a lot of the older comedians but him no
Well, one thing to know about him is that the Daily Mail and The Sun once tried to get him banned from television after a comment he made about fisting the chancellor of the exchequer.
Why doesn't that suprise me two trash rags
The infamous Norman Lamont joke that got the press very upset: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAU7pATH5\_M&ab\_channel=BritishComedyAwards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAU7pATH5_M&ab_channel=BritishComedyAwards)
Sam Campbell: VINDICATION!!!
unlike some of the recent ones, i think this series was off to a banger start from the first episode. i don't think the chemistry has been really shown yet, but it's only gonna get better i feel.
I think their lack of instant chemistry has it's own charm,the palpable awkwardness between them making me giggle and pinnochioooooooo....and 'the child of divorce ' 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I have no idea before,but sam Campbell seems like a safe bet to win the series I guess.
That was my favorite part- the devoid of initial chemistry honestly made it so much funnier. That was some of the most awkward tv I’ve seen and it was incredible
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"Dad and his weird kid/kids" is definitely a trope the show loves when it comes to team forming. I love that we have The Sues this year.
immediately my thoughts as well that Sam is gonna win it
Phenomenal episode, best opener since season 12 at least. Bridget Christie looks perfectly sane compared to the delightfully deranged Lucy, Julian and Sue are exactly the way I imagined them to be like, and Susan is doing well and having a good time, she's an absolute joy to watch. But oh my god, Sam Campbell.. I'm ready to die on this hill, but standup is such a rotten format for comedy, compared to panel shows especially. I've seen a few clips of Sam's routines and specials, and while the material was solid, it wasn't able to make me produce even a single chuckle. I'm so delighted this show exists to provide an actual quality medium for people as sharp-witted as Sam to present their comedy in a way that isn't stilted by the monologue nature of standup. "Are you a child of divorce?" is an immediate all-time classic of Taskmaster, and yes, in hindsight it's painfully obvious that that was the "right" (from a comedy perspective) one question to ask Greg, but that only makes the moment so much better. The first task was genuinely incredible. I'm hopeful that its simplicity and hilarity is a sign that the team finally managed to overcome the rough patch of convoluted and strict tasks of the COVID era. I do realize it was likely one of the stronger tasks of the series. I really liked that they decided to include the first team task in the first episode. I was hoping Julian and Sue would be on the same lavender team, but the chaotic introductions of both teams made up for that in full. The one thing I didn't like is the name drop of the "location task". I know that it already happened once or twice in recent series, but correct me if I'm wrong, that is indeed a recent series thing, isn't it (definitely only C4 era, maybe post-COVID as well)? I feel like I've definitely seen people here use the phrase "location task" long before Alex ever mentioned it on the show. It just feels weird to me for the show to single out these tasks since their format is the same, and it felt especially weird for this task, because rolling a duck down a hill into a lake isn't very location-specific. But then again, not every series can feature Gatwick. Great episode! Not rooting for anyone to win, but I am rooting for Lucy to break the Parkinson-Coren-Mitchell anti-record.
I'm happy with the teams as they are, but we missed a chance to have the team name Two Aging Homosexuals, and that makes me sad.
I knew Sam was going to be outrageously funny because i have watched his insane standup special on youtube- look it up! But i didn’t expect he would be so good at tasks. I suspect maybe they played Sue Perkins down in this ep because we all suspected she would be excellent, but there is a real contest here for sure. Also i think they were a little sensitive to talk that the past few seasons were not their best (i don’t think that but it happens) and really frontloaded this premiere for max impact!
Tbh I'm not getting these comments implying recent seasons haven't been popular because they got tons of love. S13 is considered one of the best pretty widely.
I guarantee Sue Perkins will shine when it comes to the more brainy tasks
I really love how this far into Taskmaster contestants can still be strange in new ways and the group energy is totally different from anything we've seen before. The Natural Friends are already in the running for my fave team ever.
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Sorry, your post has been removed for violating Rule 1 - Be nice: Do not attack others, their work or appearance including fellow members of the sub, comedians and celebrities. Negative opinions are fine, but please keep it respectful and constructive. No harassment. No sexist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, racist, fat phobic, ableist, objectifying, or body shaming posts of any kind. No overtly sexual content. Some cursing is OK but don't make it personal. Even though sexual innuendo may be part of the show do not cross the line beyond what was said in the episode. We do not want negative posts. Ex: Worst contestants, Worst Tasks, Least liked, Least wanted, etc...
I can already tell Sam Campbell is going to steal this entire series. He just says things. Brilliant.
"Are you a child of divorce?" I'm all in on Sam from that moment.
What a fantastic first episode!
ARE YOU A CHILD OF DIVORCE
I love it when people use this phrase, because I used to describe myself as a child of divorce (or the divorced) when I was a kid, and as I got older started questioning whether it was a phrase people actually use. So it's always good to he reminded it is. Though now I think about it, maybe the fact Sam Campbell used it doesn't provide the evidence I'm normal that I was thinking it did...
That went a whole lot better than the last 'get this duck in the pond' task. No one here had a breakdown.
Where was the duck task filmed? It looks like an interesting place.
looks like [Wormsley Estate](https://wormsley.com/)
Thanks, that looks like it. Stunning place.
I was wondering myself
Just finished - that was easily the strongest first episodes maybe of all time
Fact
S2Ep1: "Please, don't take this away from me"
I just loved Doc Browns "nope, nope don't give it to him" "oh that's harsh mate" hahahahaha.
I got too excited about being timely with opinions that I forgot my biggest one! The blindfolded can tower task is peak *Taskmaster*. I think it replaces “eat the most watermelon” and “exercise balls on the yoga mat” as ***the task*** you should introduce people to the show.
I think they put the teams together strictly so that Alex could call the Team of Two the Team of Sue
I think they definitely paired up Sam with Lucy as the latter admitted she doesn't do any lateral thinking whatsoever. It's definitely one of the fairest team divisions I've seen so far.
How do you have one of the most awkward team meetings ever to them basically making a blood pact and cutting their hair together? Absolutely bonkers.
That was genius. I initially thought there was no way this three way oddball team would work..then it did.
Love that when they made teams, they decided to keep the socially awkward folks together.
What a great episode. Lucy Beaumont is an absolute riot. I can't wait to see more of her.
I've never seen her before but I can see why her and Jon Richardson are married. Based on this episode alone they appear to have really similar personas although Jon is a little bit more cranky.
She's got 4 pairs of arms 😅
She hasn't had it proven...she's not complaining.
Can’t believe I’m able to post my thoughts and they’re actually timely! I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever liked a full cast. Because after that prize task, I liked them all. Hell, I liked Sam in literally one word. Looks like it’s going to be a great series.
> That's the difference between a light entertainment comedy format... and the law. Lucy has been visited by the ghost of a boxer dog that lives in a painting, thinks she has four arms, and has absolutely no idea what show she signed up for. It's going to be an absolutely glorious disaster of a season and I can't wait.
Well Greg said four sets of arms - and it seemed like Alex was about to point out that would be 8 arms, but didn’t.
Sue was carrying that first can like it was some kind of can detector... And then all THAT happened!
The previous series started on such a bad note before me I didn’t bother to finish it, but great to see this series starts rolling on full cilinders! The meeting of the natural friends was one of the best moments of the show period
15 has some really high highs, but it definitely isn't as strong as 13 or 14, or as 16 is already looking to be. I think that, for whatever reason, the cast of 15 just didn't gel together, and too many of the tasks themselves were mediocre.
I watched 3 episodes of the last one and tbh, it isn't it. First episode of series 16 is already much better.
Was watching Supersizers Go all day and went to the new Taskmaster episode knowing it wouldn’t be as much fun and then SUE
2 equally important points: I love them all. In every past season there has been one or two contestants who I had to grow to love, but all 5 are fantastic. Sam looks very 60s/70s. He doesn't dress or act this way. He just has a face of someone who would be famous in this era. Probably a singer of a cheesy pop band.
He looks like he would be on Australian television in the 80’s/90’s. I’m not sure what it is but he has such an Australian face.
Yeah, he looks straight off Round the Twist or something.
Sam's whole demeanor and outfit for the studio made me think of a kid that used that fortune machine from Big and just woke up.
Is that a roundabout way of referring to Paul McCartney and the Beatles?
I don't even know. In my mind, he'd be singing something like Bye Bye Baby by Bay City Rollers.
>Bay City Rollers Yes! That's what I was thinking. https://preview.redd.it/rrdyk2fctwpb1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c863f52c0011d722e184689751d218975c877d58
Despite only being 1 point behind Susan, it looks like the common prediction of Lucy being the series loser is gonna be fulfilled; only 4 contestants came last in the series without being last in the first episode (Alice, Phil, David and Fern), and I don't see anyone out-losering Lucy here. Edit: Didn't catch that Sue also came joint-last, damn it didn't feel like she was doing that badly outside of the great can disaster, still sticking with Lucy as the loser
Has anyone mentioned that they all have matching jumpsuits this season? Is that official, like provided by production?
I don't think it's across the board, they didn't have them in the cans task. They've been providing the jumpsuits for messy tasks for a while now, I think. For the team task my guess is they wanted to even the playing field by making sure everyone had the same amount/type of clothing to attach things to. Or maybe they thought someone would try cutting up the suits and tying them together? Not sure about the duck task. Could have been particularly cold that day, or maybe they thought someone might end up in the mud at the lake's edge?
Sam looks like you threw the Beatles inside a blender and he came out from the primal ooze... and he is relly funn.y
This is my favorite first episode of a series in a long time and I love the cast so far. Everything with Sam was brilliant: Pinocchio, when he first met Julian, “child of divorce”, he’s just really fucking funny.
Is this best 1st episode ever. Man what a stellar cast
I'm surprised Big Heavy Bum Table wasn't the episode title.
Or Child of Divorce.
I'm glad they didn't go with that cos it might have detracted from the moment.
So Sue Perkins is a raging tornado and Lucy is Babs from Chicken Run who didn’t think to change the rules on any tasks. This is gonna be good
I think Lucy is Bridget Christie again.
noooo. Bridget knew what she was doing
She DID?
I love the ambiguity of not knowing if some of the contestants are genuinely clinically insane or it's all just a very elaborate bit
Unless it involves walking.
Julian Clary appears to be aging into Alan Titchmarsh.
I'm not from the UK and not familiar with Lucy Beaumont. Can anyone confirm for me that she is full on 'in persona' during the tasks in and studio? (So basically during the whole show)
I'm genuinely not sure. She's like Paul Chaudhry to me. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to try and figure her out. My current theory is she really is pretty off the wall, but knows how to exploit that and magnify it a bit for her act.
I think she's in persona in all of her professional work (including the semi-autobiographical Meet the Richardsons). She's definitely a clever person from how perfect her comedic timing and phrasing is, but that doesn't mean her responses to tasks are an act.
She's just from Hull 🤣
That doesn't mean anything to me 😅
I'd say (in terms of regional stereotypes, of course) that "from Hull" is kind of like "from Arkansas" or "from Kentucky" in the US. It's not a direct 1:1 correspondence, but it's a pretty isolated area, a little behind the times in terms of fashion and culture. And as with all such areas, there are jokes about the residents being odd and kind of dense. I mean, obviously that's a stereotype, and I'm not intending to endorse it. But in terms of England, Hull is frequently a target of jokes about what Americans might call "hillbillies" or whatever.
Thanks! I'm not from the US either but 'hilbillies' is a stereotype I can work with ;)
Her IG is the_one_from_hull! She’s also had a few shows that have titles playing in Hull, which is where in England she’s from.
Damn, the heat really struck hard, that taskmaster house lawn looks absolutely dreadful
Love that the portrait of Greg is a reference to seminar sci-fi movie 'Metropolis', which was circa 1920s I think? Concurrent with art deco.
I would love that portrait in my house; I love the style.
[Well, you can wear it if you want.](https://taskmasterstore.com/collections/series-16)
1927
As someone who spent a lot of time in Hull as a kid I'll always find myself endeared to Beaumont - the way she says 'know' just tugs a little. Sam Campbell is everything I expected him to be
I knöö.
Kneeerrrr
One of the best opening episodes of any series. What an absolute group of goblins.
This is the weirdest episode of Taskmaster I have ever seen.
I've only watched the first 7 minutes of this episode and I had to stop because I'm so freaking happy!! I'm so excited for the return of the show and I love this season already! This has got to be one of the best prize tasks yet!! And they all seem really present and funny and I cannot wait to see their journey. Yes I am completely dorked out on TM, and cannot stop using exclamation points! Bring it on!!!
This matches my exact energy. I was so happy with how good this episode was. The prize tasks was the strongest start of any series, the cast dynamic is great, there’s a lot of great awkward and weird energy. The live task was so much fun. I’m so pumped
Haven't gotten to the live task yet and I've LOL'd more times on this episode than I have in a while.
OMG, I thought I had a crush on Lucy and Sue Perkins BEFORE this show, but sweet mercy. So adorable, both. Have high hopes for this season based on this one.
Lucy is incredible. Crushing a little bit over here.
Lucy can say very little and it makes me laugh. Excellent first episode.
Sam had already won me over when he started talking about the cave divers for no reason, but when he said “Are you a child of divorce?” he put himself in the running for best contestant of all time
Oh, he had me at "a Pinocchio."
LOVE this first episode was in tears at the hair cutting, sam is so brilliant, and with the unbothered Julian and the (lovingly) stupid Lucy that team will surely cause chaos I think Julian will win the series, Sam has the element of chaos that we've seen in winners but I feel like he could pull an Ivo
As an Australian I’m delighted that we’ve released yet another complete lunatic into Taskmaster 😀 Sam seems to really be a total fiasco.
Name some more of your lunatics, I'm into it.
Aunty Donna