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Taskmaster

Watching series 1 of NZ (I notice they have Sweden now, too) and... I've been watching Madeline in Deadloch at the same time and I hadn't realised that the only thing about her role that's "acting" is her character being hetero. She's truly bonkers. In a good way.
 
Am starting to question my assumption that Lucy being a bit dim was just a part of her act.
 
I loved it!
I'm going to see Lucy Beaumont later this month. I can't wait, I hope she says something about TM during her act.
 
I'm finding Julian Clary absolutely hilarious.

On the podcast Sam was talking about his own face "some people have what's described as a poker face, I have a Magic:The Gathering face"
 
I watched the first NZ episode. I thought it was awful. It was an object lesson in the little things that collectively make the UK one so good. Without that magic combination, the show just became really dull.
It picks up. I think the first season suffers from only having two great contestants and three rather poor ones. S2 has five good ones.
 
It picks up. I think the first season suffers from only having two great contestants and three rather poor ones. S2 has five good ones.
It also suffers from a taskmaster that is both wooden and tries to be part of the gang rather than holding himself superior to them. And most of all, it massively suffers from not having Alex Horne. Alex is the force multiplier that allows the contestants to come out of themselves and entertain during the tasks. The inadequate replacement in the NZ show just stands there doing a bad Alex Horne impression but without understanding the real nature of the role.
 
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I am not sure which season of the NZ one I was watching the other night, but I really did not enjoy it. I didn't recognise any of the contestants, which might be part of it, I guess, although I have not known all of the UK ones and have still enjoyed it.


There is a woman on there who I actively dislike - no idea of her name, and can't even be bothered to look her up.

I didn't really notice the Taskmaster - he seemed to play a much smaller role than the UK one, who is central to the show.
 
It also suffers from a taskmaster that is both wooden and tries to be part of the gang rather than holding himself superior to them. And most of all, it massively suffers from not having Alex Horne. Alex is the force multiplier that allows the contestants to come out of themselves and entertain during the tasks. The inadequate replacement in the NZ show just stands they’re doing a bad Alex Horne impression but without understanding the real nature of the role.
Oh, no one can touch Alex. But I still find it amusing enough even without him.
 
Not sure why anyone would bother with NZ content if they weren’t in NZ
I think, as a Canadian who's spent the last 20-odd years living in London, it comes closest to my own sense of humour. Albeit without the dark element (I'm reminded of a recent thread where Monkey Dust came up as one of the greatest things ever). Bar the woman from Deadloch, I don't know who any of them are and I quite like that part of it. It's good to not know from the first five minutes "Oh V. Coren-Mitchell is going to be awful at this". I don't think I'd "get" an Australian version quite as much, and I don't think the Americans even get the show concept.

(There is a Canadian version, but it's French-Canadian and might as well be made in Bhutan for all the cultural similarity it has to the rest of the country.)
 
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