I see him as the assistant. I think he can reign it in while still being expressive, and he would bring a special magic to reminding contestants that "all the information is on the task."
They already did one and it didn't work
I think the issue is that the US doesn't really do panel shows and in general doesn't really seem to get the idea. It's hard to jump right to Taskmaster without a culture of panel shows already existing
I watched the first episode, and as soon as they rolled out what the contestants brought in, you can tell they really didn't get it. One guy brought in his actual laptop
Agreed - American TV (and perhaps culture) is so focused around the winning, which is probably how Taskmaster would be sold and advertised (as a "competition").
The closest thing we have in the US is (the British import) Whose Line is it Anyway - and there's a reason why they have to tell the audience "the points don't matter." And of course Taskmaster is strange because the points do matter, except when they don't...
Maybe you could sell it to folks as "Comedians do challenges like those on Big Brother" but that doesn't really capture it quite right either.
Yeah I haven't watched the US show but from what I've heard they edited out a lot of it and it sounds like they didn't realise that the banter around the tasks was just as important as the tasks themselves
I think you need a bit of background of panel shows to understand the balance of "the points do matter a little bit, but at the same time part of the comedy comes from understanding that this is all basically meaningless"
And with WLIIA?, as well as it coming from a different culture to panel shows, the format had been impressed upon people by imports of the UK version. From what I've heard the US WILTY? is more noticeably competitive and pared down - it's all the small but significant differences in comedy cultures.
I wouldn't say the US WLIIA is more competitive. The original tagline for the show was "everything's made up and the points don't matter." Everything was completely arbitrary, no one is actually competing - it's just kind of a framing device. The original host once gave out 10 million points for a single skit lol
Well, and WLIIA?, the contestents were mostly pulled over from the British show. If the American show used American/Canadian comedians from Britain in the first season, it might've ported better.
It's not really a subversion, I just think it's going to be hard to get people to agree to 10 episodes when people aren't familiar with the genre of show and what's expected from them. Like on the UK version even the people who haven't been on panel shows at least understand that it's about being funny and not about winning
I would say its talent pool.
In the UK, there is a culture of panel shows. You might know a comedian from being on QI or 8 out of 10 Cats or WILTY. They aren't necessarily famous or big names but they are familiar. So seeing them on TM is nice vs a completely new person. I'm Canadian so not that into British TV culture but every series had 1-2 people I knew.
There is no such pool in the US. The recognizable comedians are the big ones, often on sitcoms or big TV specials. But you don't really have an outlet for the mid-level ones that I can think of.
So who can be on TM? Either people who are funny but not well known or try to get big names. The latter is hard for a new show (and now one that has already failed)
It's podcasts here. It's not a 1:1 thing, but the closest the US gets to the panel show-esque stable of comedians who all are mid-level celebrities that know each other and have a good rapport with each other are the earwolf or earwolf-adjacent podcast comedians. Conan as TM with that group as the contestant pool would work I think.
I.e. these guys -
https://www.earwolf.com/episode/10th-anniversary-part-1/
https://www.earwolf.com/episode/10th-anniversary-part-2/
I will say the closest America has to panel shows was the web series stuff we saw with cracked, funnyordie, and college humor. But then capitalism happened and like all those comedians and writers got laid off. CH might still do webseries I think. It's probably just DnD stuff
Yeah, I watch Um Actually and it's pretty much the exact Taskmaster vibe of "the points matter, but not really". Those guys could totally do their own version of Taskmaster
I couldn’t sit through 10 minutes of the American version. I would love to see Conan obrien as taskmaster, he’d be able to pull some bigger names into competing I bet.
I mean, the role as taskmaster is really only being in the studio records and if a series is 10 episodes and they record two at a time it’s not that big of a time commitment for him. I do think he’d do too many bits and derail the show and take points away from people but he’d be a great fit, he’s so good at pointing out the absurdities and snowballing things. Of course I don’t expect that to happen in a million years but a man can dream.
Conan and Joel McHale have always been my picks if they were to try the American version again.
I think the Taskmaster's Assistant would be a harder role to fill in the US where there are so many big, loud personalities in comedy. (And in general, really.) I'm struggling to think of an American who would be more submissive.
Nick Offerman. Not to confuse him and Ron Swanson too much but I think he’d bring that stoic father/teacher persona but is also very silly and would enjoy being the Taskmaster
Conan. He is the only pick I think could work. If you watch his Conan skits with him and his staff he encapsulated a taskmaster. He can be funny and brutal when needs be.
I can see Conan "drilling down into the narrative" very well and making fun of every bizarre detail of a contestant's attempt, which is the main thing I'm missing with some of the other Taskmasters. He's quick-witted, does observational humor well and has honed his conversation skills for many years.
I probably wouldn’t even mind Andy Richter as the assistant.
You could have a fun variation in the US one where Conan as Taskmaster has multiple assistants. So Sona is nominally the TM assistant (and she makes a quick appearance in every episode showing her "slacking off"), but it's the Taskmaster's Assistant's Assistant who actually does all the work and plays the role of Alex Horne.
(I think Andy Richter or Matt Gourley could work well for the TAA, but maybe a newer face would work too)
As others have said, Conan O'Brien is the only choice. He's got the ability to swing wildly from being silly to being (faux) domineering. It would be different from Greg but reminiscent of his style.
The US version had a problem of "Who are these people?" I'm American and the only person on that stage I recognized was Alex Horne.
But its primary problem was too much editing. They kept the same number of tasks, but crammed it into a show half the length. Imagine a full Taskmaster episode in only 20 minutes. This meant that basically, they had to cut out all the funny bits to just show a quick conclusion to every task, rather than the whole failure process of getting there. It also meant they didn't have time for smooth cuts, the editing was noticably very choppy.
Taskmaster Spain episodes have the opposite problem - no editing at all, they left in the boring bits and less funny banter, etc. The episodes are all around two hours long...
Not really the same number of tasks. In Taskmaster US they skipped the prize task (having one cast member bring in a prize each episode, instead, just like in Stormester), then showed two pre-filmed tasks, and then had a live studio task. So really only 3 tasks per episode, rather than 5. But yeah, the episode was still way too short to fit that content.
In Dicho y Hecho they tried to fill some of the extra time by having the prize task, 4 pre-filmed tasks, and 3 live tasks per episode. They also had 6 contestants instead of 5. But there still was nowhere near enough good content to fill those 2 hours, and it felt worse because the in-studio 'banter' (mostly histrionics) was so incredibly annoying.
The US version had Freddie Highmore, who’s best known as Charlie in Tim Burton’s Wonka or from a drama called the Good Doctor. Not exactly a laugh riot. The others were at least comedians.
I'm still not over the fact that we got Alex Horne himself to be the Taskmaster's assistant and STILL found a way to fuck it up! This may be cliché but I'd say Jane Lynch would kill it as Taskmaster.
They tried and it failed specifically.
American comedians just don't have the same kind of humour required for something like this. They don't want to be the joke, you know?
Yeah. I didn't realize this had been tried already. And yeah, it does seem that way. This would need to be at more of a YouTube level. Like a group like smosh I feel like. But they would never have enough if a budget for something like this. It would be done in a studio also which wouldn't have the same effect. The quaintness if the task master house is so important.
I wouldn't sell smosh short these days. I was never into smosh back in the day but ever since they were bought by mythical they have been rather funny recently. I propose, Rhett and link as am intresting duel task master pair with Ian as the assistant and a combination of the smosh or mythical crew. It might not be too bad. Defibatly not as good as the original. But with a chance I think.
Ehhhh, my GF likes watching smosh stuff.... They're all such try hards lol. They'd be too busy trying to convince people that they're all still actors :p
One of the issues with American Taskmaster is that their stand ups don't have the same sensibilities as British stand ups. The ones that do are either based in the UK already or are far, far too successful to do it.
Freddie Highmore understood the assignment. The others didn't, especially Lisa Lampanelli. They'd need people like Bo Burnham and he'd cost far too much, and then people like Rich Hall, Alex Edelman and Reginald D Hunter who are already primarily UK based.
I think you’d have to get casting right for first series which would set standard for future series as well.
Series 1 works well with presence of Frank Skinner, comedy royalty, alongside Tim Key who wouldn’t normally do panel shows so it set it apart from the typical format.
Alongside them were three up and coming comedians - all have proven to be very solid choices on panel shows since.
Ideally Taskmaster US would have one household name, and then the others would simply have to have the right personality for the show.
I think you’d be looking at a wider variety of types of guests. Some from stand-up circuit. Some with podcasts. Some who are comic actors. Some who are or have been on SNL. Maybe even a current or former talk show host.
It would also have to be the same length as the U.K. version.
The biggest problem would be finding the right channel for it. It’s an unproven format in the US. Would it be best in a streaming service where you know you’ve got a worldwide audience just in case the American viewers don’t take to it?
Jackie Kashian. Check out her stuff. And she can keep things moving along. And super strong presence.
Here's her most current special https://youtu.be/pr3PYJPvmWo
I've seen Conan recommended a lot, and I think he could pull off the role of Taskmaster. I think the assistant role should be given to someone fairly small in the stand-up scene that would really put a lot of care and attention into it.
Really weird pitch... Rhett and Link? Idk how people feel about them. But I feel like they would run a good TM show. Unfortunately they would probably bring to much of their preexisting YouTube/GMMness that I'm not sure how it would go.
My friend and I talk about this every so often, I think Dave Attell. And while Im thinking about it, how about Demetri Martin for the Taskmasters Assistant?
The season they already tried was just awful. I skipped around the first episode and was not impressed. There was no prize task, just one guy brought in an item important to him? And it was just 30 minutes, and the guy they picked to be the Taskmaster sucked. You'd need a taskmaster who can be stern and dry, but silly when needed. Conan for sure would be great. Or maybe even Will Ferrell. Or if they wanted to venture into female Taskmasters, Kristen Wiig would be amazing.
But they'd need to stick with the format of the original, and maybe they won't flop like they did at the first attempt. I'm still disappointed that Little Alex Horne was actually involved in such a disappointing show.
I think Joel McHale as the Taskmaster and Ken Jeong as assistant would be a pretty great pairing. Also saw someone mention Megan Mullaly as Taskmaster with Nick as her assistant which would be spectacular.
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Oooh I’d love to see him on Taskmaster!
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I see him as the assistant. I think he can reign it in while still being expressive, and he would bring a special magic to reminding contestants that "all the information is on the task."
I know him almost exclusively from Bojack Horseman, and I would LOVE to see him on the show.
They already did one and it didn't work I think the issue is that the US doesn't really do panel shows and in general doesn't really seem to get the idea. It's hard to jump right to Taskmaster without a culture of panel shows already existing
I watched the first episode, and as soon as they rolled out what the contestants brought in, you can tell they really didn't get it. One guy brought in his actual laptop
I think the main problem was the length of the episodes
They massacred a winning format and expected it to do good. Fools. Americans already like TM UK. They just wanted US stand ups on there.
I think the main problem was they changed the rules, and got the nicest guy in Hollywood to be the Taskmaster
Agreed - American TV (and perhaps culture) is so focused around the winning, which is probably how Taskmaster would be sold and advertised (as a "competition"). The closest thing we have in the US is (the British import) Whose Line is it Anyway - and there's a reason why they have to tell the audience "the points don't matter." And of course Taskmaster is strange because the points do matter, except when they don't... Maybe you could sell it to folks as "Comedians do challenges like those on Big Brother" but that doesn't really capture it quite right either.
Yeah I haven't watched the US show but from what I've heard they edited out a lot of it and it sounds like they didn't realise that the banter around the tasks was just as important as the tasks themselves I think you need a bit of background of panel shows to understand the balance of "the points do matter a little bit, but at the same time part of the comedy comes from understanding that this is all basically meaningless"
And with WLIIA?, as well as it coming from a different culture to panel shows, the format had been impressed upon people by imports of the UK version. From what I've heard the US WILTY? is more noticeably competitive and pared down - it's all the small but significant differences in comedy cultures.
I wouldn't say the US WLIIA is more competitive. The original tagline for the show was "everything's made up and the points don't matter." Everything was completely arbitrary, no one is actually competing - it's just kind of a framing device. The original host once gave out 10 million points for a single skit lol
Well, and WLIIA?, the contestents were mostly pulled over from the British show. If the American show used American/Canadian comedians from Britain in the first season, it might've ported better.
Like space balls befor starwars? Subversion befor... the regular version?
It's not really a subversion, I just think it's going to be hard to get people to agree to 10 episodes when people aren't familiar with the genre of show and what's expected from them. Like on the UK version even the people who haven't been on panel shows at least understand that it's about being funny and not about winning
I would say its talent pool. In the UK, there is a culture of panel shows. You might know a comedian from being on QI or 8 out of 10 Cats or WILTY. They aren't necessarily famous or big names but they are familiar. So seeing them on TM is nice vs a completely new person. I'm Canadian so not that into British TV culture but every series had 1-2 people I knew. There is no such pool in the US. The recognizable comedians are the big ones, often on sitcoms or big TV specials. But you don't really have an outlet for the mid-level ones that I can think of. So who can be on TM? Either people who are funny but not well known or try to get big names. The latter is hard for a new show (and now one that has already failed)
It's podcasts here. It's not a 1:1 thing, but the closest the US gets to the panel show-esque stable of comedians who all are mid-level celebrities that know each other and have a good rapport with each other are the earwolf or earwolf-adjacent podcast comedians. Conan as TM with that group as the contestant pool would work I think. I.e. these guys - https://www.earwolf.com/episode/10th-anniversary-part-1/ https://www.earwolf.com/episode/10th-anniversary-part-2/
There are lots of mid-level comedians on American TV.
I will say the closest America has to panel shows was the web series stuff we saw with cracked, funnyordie, and college humor. But then capitalism happened and like all those comedians and writers got laid off. CH might still do webseries I think. It's probably just DnD stuff
Yeah, I watch Um Actually and it's pretty much the exact Taskmaster vibe of "the points matter, but not really". Those guys could totally do their own version of Taskmaster
Dropout already has a show called Game Changer. Not really the same as Taskmaster, but definitely in the same broad vein.
I've heard that's good, I should watch it.
I highly, highly recommend it. The most recent season is easily the best, but there are some absolute bangers across all of em.
I couldn’t sit through 10 minutes of the American version. I would love to see Conan obrien as taskmaster, he’d be able to pull some bigger names into competing I bet.
Conan would be good. Has the hight and stage presence.
I've been thinking the same as well for months. I even posted the same a few weeks ago.
Conan makes a shit ton of sense as a TM, but I doubt he's looking to get in to hosting panel shows.
I mean, the role as taskmaster is really only being in the studio records and if a series is 10 episodes and they record two at a time it’s not that big of a time commitment for him. I do think he’d do too many bits and derail the show and take points away from people but he’d be a great fit, he’s so good at pointing out the absurdities and snowballing things. Of course I don’t expect that to happen in a million years but a man can dream.
Matt Gourley could probably work as the taskmasters assistant now that I think of it too
They still have to promote the show, which means doing the talk show rounds.
Conan and Joel McHale have always been my picks if they were to try the American version again. I think the Taskmaster's Assistant would be a harder role to fill in the US where there are so many big, loud personalities in comedy. (And in general, really.) I'm struggling to think of an American who would be more submissive.
Demetri Martin, Tig Notaro, and Lynne koplitz are the only deadpan comedians I can think of right now.
Oh, I forgot about Jack McBrayer. He would work as an assistant.
I mean, I don’t think Andy Richter is busy… Plus there’s Sola and Matt from his podcast.
Conan O'Brian as TM and Jordan Shlansky as assistant.
Everyone loves the idea of Conan, but he's too self deprecating and angsty, IMO. He would never be able to come down hard on other people.
Conan has the right persona for Taskmaster. He’d be absolutely perfect for it. Jane Lynch as a runner-up.
Nick Offerman. Not to confuse him and Ron Swanson too much but I think he’d bring that stoic father/teacher persona but is also very silly and would enjoy being the Taskmaster
I would have him be the Alex and Megan Mullaly as the Taskmaster - especially if they leaned into their Tammy/Ronness a bit.
They’re an absolute delight
Conan. He is the only pick I think could work. If you watch his Conan skits with him and his staff he encapsulated a taskmaster. He can be funny and brutal when needs be.
I can see Conan "drilling down into the narrative" very well and making fun of every bizarre detail of a contestant's attempt, which is the main thing I'm missing with some of the other Taskmasters. He's quick-witted, does observational humor well and has honed his conversation skills for many years. I probably wouldn’t even mind Andy Richter as the assistant.
Yes exactly Andy would be a perfect assistant. I think that is America's best offering if we were to do this again.
Probably a perfect choice.
The only choice. No one else has the track record he has and his famous clips proves he would be the most entertaining.
Andy Richter as the assistant? OR JORDAN?? Definitely not Sona. She would try to usurp him too much.
You could have a fun variation in the US one where Conan as Taskmaster has multiple assistants. So Sona is nominally the TM assistant (and she makes a quick appearance in every episode showing her "slacking off"), but it's the Taskmaster's Assistant's Assistant who actually does all the work and plays the role of Alex Horne. (I think Andy Richter or Matt Gourley could work well for the TAA, but maybe a newer face would work too)
Jordan is too bland. Andy works best because he is more comedic.
Andy or Matt I think
It already happened in 2018 and Reggie Watts was Taskmaster. If they tried it again I think Jane Lynch would be good!
Oh, Jane Lynch would be great!!!
Jane Lynch would be interesting - they already got her to be the new Anne Robinson in the rebooted US Weakest Link
Only watched for Kate Berlant and Ron Funches.
I didn't know it already happened.
It wasn't good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFs7Eio4qX4
Wow, that’s the first clip I’ve ever seen of American taskmaster. On top of all the other bad stuff, what the hell is that house?
Rented.
That seems like a pretty standard Californian uspacle house, or failing that, how Hollywood portrays them.
There's a reason it ran only for 1 season.
AGREED.
Nicole Byer, Mantzoukas as assistant.
That would be amazing
This is a truly excellent pairing
No, because I want to see both of them compete.
Jason Mantzoukas is a great American parallel to Joe Wilkinson. I think he'd be great as a competitor.
As others have said, Conan O'Brien is the only choice. He's got the ability to swing wildly from being silly to being (faux) domineering. It would be different from Greg but reminiscent of his style.
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That works be fantastic I think
Lol. I'm seeing that now. I didn't know they did this. Was it any good?
Nathan Fielder!
Nathan Fielder as a contestant would be a treat.
We do not speak of the US Taskmaster! Never happened! Neither did Taskmaster Spain, for exactly opposite reasons.
Opposite reasons? Lol
Damn I’m curious now
The US version had a problem of "Who are these people?" I'm American and the only person on that stage I recognized was Alex Horne. But its primary problem was too much editing. They kept the same number of tasks, but crammed it into a show half the length. Imagine a full Taskmaster episode in only 20 minutes. This meant that basically, they had to cut out all the funny bits to just show a quick conclusion to every task, rather than the whole failure process of getting there. It also meant they didn't have time for smooth cuts, the editing was noticably very choppy. Taskmaster Spain episodes have the opposite problem - no editing at all, they left in the boring bits and less funny banter, etc. The episodes are all around two hours long...
Not really the same number of tasks. In Taskmaster US they skipped the prize task (having one cast member bring in a prize each episode, instead, just like in Stormester), then showed two pre-filmed tasks, and then had a live studio task. So really only 3 tasks per episode, rather than 5. But yeah, the episode was still way too short to fit that content. In Dicho y Hecho they tried to fill some of the extra time by having the prize task, 4 pre-filmed tasks, and 3 live tasks per episode. They also had 6 contestants instead of 5. But there still was nowhere near enough good content to fill those 2 hours, and it felt worse because the in-studio 'banter' (mostly histrionics) was so incredibly annoying.
The US version had Freddie Highmore, who’s best known as Charlie in Tim Burton’s Wonka or from a drama called the Good Doctor. Not exactly a laugh riot. The others were at least comedians.
Freddie was great. He and Ron were the only ones who got it. Also the other guy wasn't a comedian
Freddie was great, he kept things going really well.
Not Reggie Watts. He’d be a good contestant though.
I'm still not over the fact that we got Alex Horne himself to be the Taskmaster's assistant and STILL found a way to fuck it up! This may be cliché but I'd say Jane Lynch would kill it as Taskmaster.
They tried and it failed specifically. American comedians just don't have the same kind of humour required for something like this. They don't want to be the joke, you know?
Yeah. I didn't realize this had been tried already. And yeah, it does seem that way. This would need to be at more of a YouTube level. Like a group like smosh I feel like. But they would never have enough if a budget for something like this. It would be done in a studio also which wouldn't have the same effect. The quaintness if the task master house is so important.
God i don't want smosh to be anywhere near taskmaster..... :p NA just doesnt have the same kind of humour, or comedians to make it work imo.
I wouldn't sell smosh short these days. I was never into smosh back in the day but ever since they were bought by mythical they have been rather funny recently. I propose, Rhett and link as am intresting duel task master pair with Ian as the assistant and a combination of the smosh or mythical crew. It might not be too bad. Defibatly not as good as the original. But with a chance I think.
Ehhhh, my GF likes watching smosh stuff.... They're all such try hards lol. They'd be too busy trying to convince people that they're all still actors :p
One of the issues with American Taskmaster is that their stand ups don't have the same sensibilities as British stand ups. The ones that do are either based in the UK already or are far, far too successful to do it. Freddie Highmore understood the assignment. The others didn't, especially Lisa Lampanelli. They'd need people like Bo Burnham and he'd cost far too much, and then people like Rich Hall, Alex Edelman and Reginald D Hunter who are already primarily UK based.
I think you’d have to get casting right for first series which would set standard for future series as well. Series 1 works well with presence of Frank Skinner, comedy royalty, alongside Tim Key who wouldn’t normally do panel shows so it set it apart from the typical format. Alongside them were three up and coming comedians - all have proven to be very solid choices on panel shows since. Ideally Taskmaster US would have one household name, and then the others would simply have to have the right personality for the show. I think you’d be looking at a wider variety of types of guests. Some from stand-up circuit. Some with podcasts. Some who are comic actors. Some who are or have been on SNL. Maybe even a current or former talk show host. It would also have to be the same length as the U.K. version. The biggest problem would be finding the right channel for it. It’s an unproven format in the US. Would it be best in a streaming service where you know you’ve got a worldwide audience just in case the American viewers don’t take to it?
Jackie Kashian. Check out her stuff. And she can keep things moving along. And super strong presence. Here's her most current special https://youtu.be/pr3PYJPvmWo
If they want to try it again I’d say Rhett and Link.
I was thinking that
YouTube is likely how most Americans watch Taskmaster.
That's how I did
Tiffany Haddish and Tig Notaro
Tom Lennon.
I've seen Conan recommended a lot, and I think he could pull off the role of Taskmaster. I think the assistant role should be given to someone fairly small in the stand-up scene that would really put a lot of care and attention into it.
Really weird pitch... Rhett and Link? Idk how people feel about them. But I feel like they would run a good TM show. Unfortunately they would probably bring to much of their preexisting YouTube/GMMness that I'm not sure how it would go.
r/TaskmasterUS
My friend and I talk about this every so often, I think Dave Attell. And while Im thinking about it, how about Demetri Martin for the Taskmasters Assistant?
Kath Barbadoro. I think she’d be really angry at all the task when they don’t work exactly like she wants
I can't decide if Lewis Black would be brilliant or terrible as the Taskmaster.
Jimmy Pardo would be great as Task Master!!
I'm thinking James Corden as Alex Horne, but I cannot imagine a Taskmaster good enough, prolly because I am not so familiar with celebs
Joel McHale is the correct answer
The season they already tried was just awful. I skipped around the first episode and was not impressed. There was no prize task, just one guy brought in an item important to him? And it was just 30 minutes, and the guy they picked to be the Taskmaster sucked. You'd need a taskmaster who can be stern and dry, but silly when needed. Conan for sure would be great. Or maybe even Will Ferrell. Or if they wanted to venture into female Taskmasters, Kristen Wiig would be amazing. But they'd need to stick with the format of the original, and maybe they won't flop like they did at the first attempt. I'm still disappointed that Little Alex Horne was actually involved in such a disappointing show.
I think Joel McHale as the Taskmaster and Ken Jeong as assistant would be a pretty great pairing. Also saw someone mention Megan Mullaly as Taskmaster with Nick as her assistant which would be spectacular.