Taskmaster premieres April 27th, 11pm on Comedy Central.
By Ezra Jacobs
In the ridiculous new game show Taskmaster, host Reggie Watts (best known as James Corden’s bandleader) has contestants complete creatively obscure tasks in a contest of who can complete the goal fastest.
Just how out there are the tasks? Some of my favorites included scoring a basketball shot across a pool… with no hands, and creating a video that can also be played backwards and appear coherent.
It’s entertaining to see the competitors struggle with each objective, trying to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to complete the task quickly. The lineup of participants is a good one, featuring comedians like Kate Berlant, Lisa Lampanelli, and Ron Funches, and DJ Dillon Francis. Freddie Highmore is there throughout the season as well, which I assume means he signed on before he knew that his ABC drama The Good Doctor would be a smash hit.
The competition between the guests begins to heat up once the prize is revealed. The winner will receive a personal items that the original owners will certainly hate losing. Examples: Feddie’s childhood teddy bear and Dillion’s computer that stores all his music.
Where I find the series most enjoyable is in the interactions between the cast through fierce smack talk and great one-liners.
My favorite part of Taskmaster is hands down co-host Alex Horne, whose comedy is downright brilliant. His negative approach and outlook on every situation is hilarious, as is his perfectly timed commentary which really improved the show.
TV and City 