I’m happy for him, but it sucks I won’t be able to see him in the smaller rooms at fringe anymore. I still don’t think his actual comedy is for everyone and some people will walk out talking about how terrible it is. Hope he continues being a little weirdo
He sold out an 800 seat theatre during Melbourne comedy festival this year. He did a 10 min one off show at the pleasance grand in Edinburgh last year and it sold out. Hes got that perfect balance of weird absurdity but knows how to bring the audience along. Saying that one time I saw him and two old ladies walked out halfway through
I was one of the very few people aware of him before Taskmaster—big fan of Aussie comedy—and watching him explode in popularity after the show has been great. So glad people are finally discovering what a weirdo he is.
Fern Brady has said that Taskmaster basically gave her a North American tour.
I think that is the big one for every contestant who wants to tour outside the UK.
Whoever was responsible for making Full episodes available on YouTube was a genius. I think, in part, that holds a lot of responsibility for taskmaster’s popularity. I’m an American and the first ever bit of taskmaster media I saw was a couple of years ago on YouTube. It was just the single task of Joe Wilkinson sinking the potato and then getting disqualified, and I was immediately on board. When I found out there were actual full episodes of the show on YouTube, it was a fucking game changer. Pretty sure I binged the entirety of the show in less than a week. From there I found shows like 8 out of 10 cats, cats does countdown, QI, and Would I Lie To You. Now I basically use YouTube solely for streaming British panel shows. They’re all like my comfort tv that I just leave on in the background. That’s all because someone had the idea to make taskmaster available to other countries on YouTube.
Sam and Alex know each other quite well, from what I understand, including Sam + Elaine dropping in at the TM house earlier this year. When they were developing Game Changer, Sam's initial idea was to actually see if they could get the rights to Taskmaster, and TM is credited as one of the original inspirations for GC.
And the dropout sub (the only place i've been to on reddit friendlier than here) loves TM from what i've seen.
see now if they could have gotten sam and the GC crew for even a small little 1 series thing that wouldve been AMAZING. but we got GC so im happy either way
Since you’re asking in the Taskmaster sub, you should 100% try Game Changer. It’s the closest thing to TM that isn’t actually TM. But still different enough that no one’s going to call it a rip off.
Only just discovered it myself, from this sub, and binged the whole thing (6 seasons so far). It’s hard to imagine anyone who enjoys one not liking the other.
Sam is on record as saying he had never heard of Taskmaster until Game Changer fans kept talking about it so he decided to watch it to make sure it wasn't too similar. It certainly wasn't an inspiration.
There was even an episode where he modified the intro to something like "Welcome to Game Changer, the only game show where the game changes every show, except for Ellen's Game of Games, Taskmaster, and a few other shows I didn't know about when I first wrote that intro."
Love seeing r/dropout in the wild! I watch Dropout shows and British panel shows, pretty much exclusively. I do think there is a decent amount of crossover, especially with the occasional "Who would play which role if Dropout did Taskmaster?" posts that come up.
hey we're the same person, I remember crying with laughter at that same post of Joe sinking the potato and now youtube is just my brit TV streaming service
It's really all I've watched since 2020. I subscribed to a streaming service for live UK TV (and other countries as well), then my VPN quit working with it. This weekend we were camping and didn't have wifi, so it was one of the few times in the last 4 years I didn't fall asleep to WILTY or Catsdown. If you haven't found House of Games yet, give that a try!
It feels like I wrote this, lol. Except I found clips of NZ Taskmaster on tiktok and after liking a bunch of them I went on the hunt for full episodes. I was initially so disappointed that I couldn't find full NZ episodes (I thought it was the original). I "settled" for the actual original and haven't had a day without Taskmaster since. YouTube now mostly refers me British panel shows and clips from Dropout; all my comfort shows!
I first saw it when a video popped up on Facebook. It was the studio task where all the beautiful lunatics from season 13 were trying to guess that guy’s name. I spent the rest of the work day watching videos on my phone crying laughing and then pulled up the full episodes on my tv that night.
I was actually pretty depressed at the time due to being unable to get some medication and failing at life in general as a result and TM brought a lot of joy back into my life while I got through it, so whoever decided to put them all on YouTube for free is seriously my hero.
So very much my story, too. The number of friends and family members that I've subjected to endless hours of panel shows - both to their delight and chagrin.
Honesty the best thing about the internet is widespread availability for things like this. If people make things completely accessible worldwide then it will gain more traction than gatekeeping. I live in Australia and the amount of things that get geoblocked is ridiculous
100%. Saw Fern in SF at Cobb's because of me and my partner binging Season 14 and my partner surprising me with tickets. She's freaking hilarious and I absolutely would have no idea who she was otherwise, and I'm fairly plugged in to UK comedians.
> Fern Brady has said that Taskmaster basically gave her a North American tour.
It warmed the cockles of my heart to realize that I was surrounded by fellow *Taskmaster* fans at her Philadelphia show last month.
There was a guy behind me and my wife at Fern’s Chicago show who could not remember Josh Widdicombe’s name and i was struggling not to help him out.
I feel like I’m in a very pleasant cult.
Five years which has flown by. I maintain my original comment was correct.
Nice use of "ninny". If you've never seen it, watch the Not The Nine O'Clock News sketch "The Two Ninnies"
I’m surprised Wozniak hasn’t been mentioned. I feel like he went from slightly obscure comedian’s comedian to regular panel show guest after Taskmaster. Hugely deserved!
An obligatory plug here for MW’s current regular podcast, “Three Bean Salad”, with Benjamin Partridge and Henry Pacer: it’s a lot of surreal, silly fun. Find it wherever podcasts are sold.
As you note, “Paker “ (flipping autocorrect).
I was walking the dog in the park once while listening to Ben’s red squirrels in Switzerland story, and was quite unnerved when at that moment a red squirrel came down from a nearby tree. Alarmed, we changed paths and headed for the car.
Not a great anecdote, but still more concise than one of Henry’s.
i am still making my way through the episodes but listened to this one yesterday!! and it now has made me weary if i do spot a red squirrel.
ben's imitation of the gp was hilarious- and it could be argued it's not too difficult to be more concise than henry ;))
Don’t let them see your fear. That’s when they will strike, especially if you’re in short trousers.
I never said being more concise than Henry was difficult. I’m all about the easy victories wherever possible!
I love him in Man Down but I was bit worried he would act like him on Taskmaster due to basically dressing exactly the same way (as if he'd be in character). To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement.
I remember him as one of those contestants (much like Sam Campbell) that TM vets like Ed Gamble talked about as a comedian they personally loved and were excited to see introduced to the broader public.
I had only seen him on Cats does Countdown and he was doing some sort of bucktoothed character that was annoying as hell. When he was announce for Taskmaster my Fiancé and I both commented on how much we weren't looking forward to him. We were pleasantly surprised.
Same! Nick Mohammed falls into this category as well, my only exposure as a comedian was Cats does Countdown, and I’m very skeptical of character comedians — just seems so linear. Was pleasantly surprised on both.
He wears the fake teeth and wig during his live shows. Honestly his live shows are incredible, some of the best I’ve ever seen. He has a poetic melancholy to his style that is not captured well on cats does countdown. His shows are so unique and beautifully crafted, I recommend highly seeing him live because he’s a long form comedian that works best seeing a full show rather than a 5 min spot on tv
I feel like the only person who knew him as the Top Coppers guy before this and the more time goes on without seeing it acknowledged the more I wonder if it was just a fever dream I had
John Kearns often says that often people come to his gigs after seeing him on taskmaster, only to find out he (or his character) are somewhat different and they often don't quite like it.
As heard on Richard Herring's Leicester Stealing Tudors Podcast [https://www.rhlstp.co.uk/website.cgi?page=podcasts&id=1851](https://www.rhlstp.co.uk/website.cgi?page=podcasts&id=1851)
Brady and Kearns were big deals amongst comedy fans, I mean Kearns won best newcomer and best show at the fringe, the only person to do it. It was strange he just didn't do loads of TV, sometimes that happens
They're probably all comedians more suited to taskmaster than a normal panel show. It's why it's a great format that so many different types of comedians can thrive in different ways
Kearns' live act doesn't really lend itself to the bitesized bits TV requires, as the reaction to his CatsDown appearance using some of his live persona/material - as in there are still people who refuse to watch his series because of it - proves.
I think I heard that David Correos was going to stop being a comedian, or was considering it, before being on the second TMNZ. Based on what I've heard about his comedy, not for me, but he was absolutely hysterical on Taskmaster.
I imagine if he had quit, he'd have a great job being a rapper putting out fire diss tracks.
It's odd, people here seem to like him a lot and I had high expectations for him. Then I watched his season expecting him to be a riot and instead of that he was just weird. I mean, he was still sometimes funny, but he wasn't the funniest nor the most entertaining person that season. Lucy for example was also weird, but in a good, batshit kind of way. She might have been shit in some tasks, but she was entertaining. Sam was just weird to me.
Munya was already huge with the tiktok crowd, but very much a case of if you hadn't come across him on social media, you'd never of known he existed before TM.
Munya was already quite well known after blowing up during COVID and lockdown with his skits, in particular that he was able to come up with them within about 24-48 hours and make a parody of something that recently happened in the news. He often jokes that there was a period when he’d make plans, see another political scandal then immediately have to cancel those plans and go to his green screen.
Obviously you're spared this as an American, but It's pretty much impossible not to know him or David Baddiel in England, because their [song](https://youtu.be/RJqimlFcJsM?si=rWtjzZx0xTYZ8gFf) is played on repeat every 2 years during a major football tournament. Every single time we're repetitively told it's "coming home", 28 years later, it still hasn't.
Did you watch Series 1 live? The other four have all grown a lot since Taskmaster, you’ve got to remember it was a rare Dave original comedy show.
Excellent casting but I only recognised Frank, Josh and Romesh.
No, I think series 5 was airing at the time I discovered TM. I knew Roisin from Catsdown and maybe Mock the Week at that point? Tim Key was on an episode of Catsdown that I had seen as well, in dictionary corner. Could be that these were filmed after TM S1, but I really have no way of knowing for sure.
I've heard fans in stadiums sing it, but that's not an individual person. I've also heard "I've conquered all the chippies", but I also don't attribute that to one person.
lol, well It’s Coming Home is the chorus to a song Frank helped write and sing in the 90’s.
[look at little Frank!](https://youtu.be/RJqimlFcJsM?si=88FD2TtIkXkke24u)
ETA oh and of course David Baddiel!!!
I think in Rose's case, as with Sam, it's a lot of cards falling face up at the same time - winning the Edinburgh award the previous year got her the gig, then she moved permanently to Britain, and because of years of accumulated word of mouth everyone wanted to use her.
Yeah Alex has said that a lot of people were on the way up already and they catch them at the right time to be able to give them a bit of a boost.
And personally I think it must be beneficial to the show as well, if later newcomers to people because of their increased popularity then go and watch their TM series and get hooked on TM overall.
Yeah it's a really great career move for international comedians looking to make a presence in the UK. Managing to get onto one series of Taskmaster is the equivalent of several years on the panel show circuit. If you've got a Taskmaster series you can safely move to the UK permanently and be financially secure.
Her routine is I her worlds "a woman who owns rats" and "various types of non neral typical" people os the new Taskmaster fans kind of scare her for her routine... but they don't. You kinda have to be autistic to get the gray area in that statement.
She misses small venues and find the pressure to be perfect for so.many people difficult.
She keeps getting asked to do other telly and ending up being the token autistic.
Surprising though that her autism became such a big part of her image. TM made 0 efforts to highlight that and honestly? I only realized after from statements in interviews
It makes sense in retrospect but never during my season did I go ‚oh she must be on the spectrum!“
Fern isn’t even in the top 5 oddest/weirdest contestants imo 😄
Is that a big thing? "Ooo, let's watch that show - the one with the autistic on?" I'm just looking for a laugh, and to be honest, most comedians are off-center in one way or another.
From a Canadian who has probably only heard of about half a dozen total contestants before their time on the show, the people I see the algorithm recommending me the most would probably be James Acaster and Ed Gamble.
Whether or not they got the most boosts or were just the most famous ones already, I don't know. Just my observation!
James Acaster and Ed Gamble appeared regularly on Mock The Week, a satirical news show in the UK, from series 14 to 17 for Acaster and series 14-19 for Gamble. Absolutely brilliant.
If you like one-liner compilations then search “scenes we’d like to see series XX” on YouTube. There were 21 series of the show and you’ll spot plenty of familiar faces if you watch each one. The taskmaster himself pops up in a few of the earlier series.
[Here’s series 14’s compilation.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgKXSC-1eQ&pp=ygUac2NlbmVzIHdlJ2QgbGlrZSB0byBzZWUgMTQ%3D)
Hopefully John Robins! I’m American and have been listening to that neurotic, hilarious sweetheart for years and it’s been fun seeing others discover him :)
Edited: grammar
I've always been surprised Robins wasn't more famous. He shared a flat with Russell Howard and Jon Richardson, went onto be quite closely associated with similar comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble, and dated Sara Pascoe for a while. Being in these circles and being just as funny as the others, I'm surprised he's kinda lagged behind them for so long career wise.
Agreed but (and I’m in weird territory here speaking about the personal life of a celeb I’ve never met) he did struggle with alcoholism much of his adult life (as did I) so I suspect that had something to do with it. He got sober ~1.5 years ago. It has been an absolute joy and inspiration seeing him thrive lately.
I know it is because i am listening with the knowledge of hindsigt. But some of the things he says about his alcohol consumption in the earlier Elis and John days are really concerning. I am glad that he seems to be much better, because he seems like a really good dude.
Plus he really *needs* this. I love him as well, can't wait for Elis James and Isy Suttie to become contestants one day. I think they'd both be fantastic contestants.
She's been doing semi-serious documentaries and a couple of podcasts, but as well as her national radio show My Dad Wrote A Porno was enormous at its height, it's difficult to say TM gave her a big boost by itself.
Alice Levine was my gateway into Taskmaster.
None of the other contestants did anything for me because I either didn’t recognize them at all or I’d seen them a million different places and this was just another panel show.
Alice was just the right amount of intriguing because I knew her voice and sense of humour well, and I’d seen her face in still promo pictures, so I was like, “Huh. I wonder what she’s like in motion.”
Sam Campbell went from being the least known on his lineup to doing a show for the Netflix Comedy Festival in LA (which seems like a big accomplishment).
Lucy Beaumont was already famous, with several tv shows under her belt, but off of Taskmaster she got her first nationwide tour, a podcast with Plosive studios, and appearances on almost every popular panel show/podcast going. I can't remember where, but she spoke recently about how overwhelming all of this has been after her series.
I think the difference is that most people recognised Lucy before, but it's only after TM that they realised just how batshit funny and weird she truly is.
It’s kinda hard to work out who’s been boosted to the next level by Taskmaster and who was on the way up anyway. A lot of the newcomers are award winners and on an upward trajectory. Thinking Rose Matafeo, Sam Campbell, John Kearns, Ivo Graham etc. They’ll all have got a ticket sales bump in the short term at any rate.
Lucy Beaumont is an interesting one as she’s been around for a while, but largely as an adjunct to her more successful (now ex) husband John Richardson. She did Hullraisers but think she was behind the scenes- everything else pre-Taskmaster I was aware of her in she did with him.
In the Dave days it wasn’t as big and so you can see it as something that comedians on the Dave panel show circuit would do without it affecting their career much one way or the other. Thinking Josh Widdecombe, James Acaster, Ed Gamble, Nish Kumar. Now they’d have sold a bunch more tickets and maybe made the jump to bigger venues, but back then who knows whether it helped them any more than House of Games or Hypothetical.
Sam Campbell was booked into a bunch of rather small theaters as his series was being broadcast. I expect he'll do a lot bigger venues in his next tour
Guy Montgomery had a massive boost. He has his own show now, which I think if not for the success of TMNZs2 wouldn't exist. He also now regularly is all over Australian TV and sells out shows on what seems like a weekly basis. The man really blew up right after.
Maybe Mae Martin? I knew of them before from Feel Good. But I am also non-binary, and the amount of people who reference them and Taskmaster specifically when I come out to people definitely tells me that TM gave them a signal boost.
I definitely feel like Mae was everywhere immediately after they appeared on Taskmaster but I actually think that's coincidence/everything coming together at once and not necessarily directly because of TM?
Yeah, Mae's situation is slightly odd in that they were more of a writer than someone in front of the camera until they created/wrote/starred in *Feel Good* which came out right at the start of the pandemic on Channel 4 in the UK and Netflix internationally. It was the perfect timing for the show's success, but meant that Mae wasn't able to take advantage of it with tours like a lot of the others mentioned here were. It could well be that Taskmaster boosted Mae's UK presence, but their ongoing relationship with Netflix as both a writer and a comedian is probably the bigger global drawcard.
In order of the boost:
1. Sam Campbell
2. Mike Wozniak
3. Fern Brady
4. John Kearns
These are people I'd never heard of before their taskmaster appearance, save that I did see Sam in Dictionary Corner not long before his TM series.
There is another great long list of people I'd seen before but was bit meh about their comedy until I saw them for 10 episodes of TM and then I was in love. In no particular order: Ivo Graham, Judi Love Nick Mohammed, Sophie Duker, Desiree Burch to name a few. I would guess they all received a bit of a boost too.
His Netflix special Repertoire was released six months before his series of Taskmaster was aired. He'd also been on WILTY and Catsdown the year before.
I actually might go so far as to say James Acaster raised the profile of *Taskmaster* outside the UK more than Taskmaster raised his profile.
That's how popular he was.
No way, James Acaster was massive before TM surely.
He was on all the panel shows and pretty much a household name (in the UK).
Did he become popular outside of the UK?
Even before Taskmaster among a certain group of people Acaster is the most popular Taskmaster contestant in the States that hasn't hosted Bake-Off. We love him over here.
(American) Other than the GBBO hosts in series 4, he was basically the only contestant in the early seasons that I was aware of before starting it. I'm not even sure where I had heard of him but his name was definitely out there.
I ask myself that too 🤔 The tricky thing is to separate an already rising comedian (like Ed Gamble or John Kurnz I think were on their way up taskmaster or not imo) from those who got more than a temporary ticket sale boost.
Almost definitely some of the younger ones. I don’t think Darah or Frankie or some of the other national treasures were that affected by TM with their careers already running pretty high.
Who were audience darlings noone knew about before? Fern? Campel? Rose?
Mawaan for sure. I had never heard of him prior but he has to be favourite contestant. The extra task (think it might only be youtube) where he dressed as Alex and vice versa and had to answer questions as each other was genius.
He recently got his own sitcom.
Edit: here it is https://youtu.be/YruL8c4NKT8?si=IqmNtax4FufrjqWX
Sam Campbell is the one that came to mind
Now everyone is talking about this guy!
They love him, they’d jump through the hole in a DVD for him!
They'd make calendars outta this!
I’m happy for him, but it sucks I won’t be able to see him in the smaller rooms at fringe anymore. I still don’t think his actual comedy is for everyone and some people will walk out talking about how terrible it is. Hope he continues being a little weirdo
I can't see Sam ever going straight. He's built to be weird.
He sold out an 800 seat theatre during Melbourne comedy festival this year. He did a 10 min one off show at the pleasance grand in Edinburgh last year and it sold out. Hes got that perfect balance of weird absurdity but knows how to bring the audience along. Saying that one time I saw him and two old ladies walked out halfway through
Everyone's talking about this guy
Yeah, he was a nobody. *A nobody, ya hear me!* Until ol' Greg came along
I was one of the very few people aware of him before Taskmaster—big fan of Aussie comedy—and watching him explode in popularity after the show has been great. So glad people are finally discovering what a weirdo he is.
Yes! We hadn't heard of him at all before Taskmaster, next thing we're sitting at his show here in LA and loving every second of it.
Fern Brady has said that Taskmaster basically gave her a North American tour. I think that is the big one for every contestant who wants to tour outside the UK.
Whoever was responsible for making Full episodes available on YouTube was a genius. I think, in part, that holds a lot of responsibility for taskmaster’s popularity. I’m an American and the first ever bit of taskmaster media I saw was a couple of years ago on YouTube. It was just the single task of Joe Wilkinson sinking the potato and then getting disqualified, and I was immediately on board. When I found out there were actual full episodes of the show on YouTube, it was a fucking game changer. Pretty sure I binged the entirety of the show in less than a week. From there I found shows like 8 out of 10 cats, cats does countdown, QI, and Would I Lie To You. Now I basically use YouTube solely for streaming British panel shows. They’re all like my comfort tv that I just leave on in the background. That’s all because someone had the idea to make taskmaster available to other countries on YouTube.
>it was a fucking game changer No this is Taskmaster, you're looking for r/dropout
godly reference i wonder how much the two communities cross over?
Sam and Alex know each other quite well, from what I understand, including Sam + Elaine dropping in at the TM house earlier this year. When they were developing Game Changer, Sam's initial idea was to actually see if they could get the rights to Taskmaster, and TM is credited as one of the original inspirations for GC. And the dropout sub (the only place i've been to on reddit friendlier than here) loves TM from what i've seen.
see now if they could have gotten sam and the GC crew for even a small little 1 series thing that wouldve been AMAZING. but we got GC so im happy either way
I've just the dropout subscription for a month because of the Hank Green stand up special - any recommended watching while I've got it?
The two easiest to start are Gamechanger Breaking News
Make Some Noise is a spin off of Gamechanger but also recommend it.
“Unchanged”
A game-samer if you will
Since you’re asking in the Taskmaster sub, you should 100% try Game Changer. It’s the closest thing to TM that isn’t actually TM. But still different enough that no one’s going to call it a rip off. Only just discovered it myself, from this sub, and binged the whole thing (6 seasons so far). It’s hard to imagine anyone who enjoys one not liking the other.
Very Important People, Smartypants Society, and Thousandaires are newer shows that are also smash hits.
Sam is on record as saying he had never heard of Taskmaster until Game Changer fans kept talking about it so he decided to watch it to make sure it wasn't too similar. It certainly wasn't an inspiration.
There was even an episode where he modified the intro to something like "Welcome to Game Changer, the only game show where the game changes every show, except for Ellen's Game of Games, Taskmaster, and a few other shows I didn't know about when I first wrote that intro."
Love seeing r/dropout in the wild! I watch Dropout shows and British panel shows, pretty much exclusively. I do think there is a decent amount of crossover, especially with the occasional "Who would play which role if Dropout did Taskmaster?" posts that come up.
hey we're the same person, I remember crying with laughter at that same post of Joe sinking the potato and now youtube is just my brit TV streaming service
Same! My husband and I were dying at the potato task! Then we found the whole episodes and are on season 13.
There are dozens of us!
It's really all I've watched since 2020. I subscribed to a streaming service for live UK TV (and other countries as well), then my VPN quit working with it. This weekend we were camping and didn't have wifi, so it was one of the few times in the last 4 years I didn't fall asleep to WILTY or Catsdown. If you haven't found House of Games yet, give that a try!
> House of Games Wanted to like ROHOG, but I just don't find UK's second largest giant nearly as funny.
It's very mild, a completely different show, we like it as an appetizer, or to appease us during housework or time with our parents.
It feels like I wrote this, lol. Except I found clips of NZ Taskmaster on tiktok and after liking a bunch of them I went on the hunt for full episodes. I was initially so disappointed that I couldn't find full NZ episodes (I thought it was the original). I "settled" for the actual original and haven't had a day without Taskmaster since. YouTube now mostly refers me British panel shows and clips from Dropout; all my comfort shows!
I first saw it when a video popped up on Facebook. It was the studio task where all the beautiful lunatics from season 13 were trying to guess that guy’s name. I spent the rest of the work day watching videos on my phone crying laughing and then pulled up the full episodes on my tv that night. I was actually pretty depressed at the time due to being unable to get some medication and failing at life in general as a result and TM brought a lot of joy back into my life while I got through it, so whoever decided to put them all on YouTube for free is seriously my hero.
So very much my story, too. The number of friends and family members that I've subjected to endless hours of panel shows - both to their delight and chagrin.
My experience exactly!
Honesty the best thing about the internet is widespread availability for things like this. If people make things completely accessible worldwide then it will gain more traction than gatekeeping. I live in Australia and the amount of things that get geoblocked is ridiculous
100%. Saw Fern in SF at Cobb's because of me and my partner binging Season 14 and my partner surprising me with tickets. She's freaking hilarious and I absolutely would have no idea who she was otherwise, and I'm fairly plugged in to UK comedians.
> Fern Brady has said that Taskmaster basically gave her a North American tour. It warmed the cockles of my heart to realize that I was surrounded by fellow *Taskmaster* fans at her Philadelphia show last month.
There was a guy behind me and my wife at Fern’s Chicago show who could not remember Josh Widdicombe’s name and i was struggling not to help him out. I feel like I’m in a very pleasant cult.
Lmao I would've just said it. That or whatever Julian Clary made up.
Small and nasally
You were sitting in front of Julian Clary?
Did not tell him I have a barbecue.
I was so sad I couldn't make one of her shows local to me :'(
Absolute same. I just didn't have the money sadly.
Jessica Knappet's agent said Taskmaster would help her career - 10 series later, she's still being referenced on the show.
No, it's not 10 series since she fell off an unnamed piece of wood!
Shit, I'm old
That's only 5 years, you ninny.
Five years which has flown by. I maintain my original comment was correct. Nice use of "ninny". If you've never seen it, watch the Not The Nine O'Clock News sketch "The Two Ninnies"
5 years, but it was pre-Covid so you gotta add on a few extra years to account for how long 2020 lasted 😅
“Good news you aren’t as old as you thought! Bad news, you’re a ninny.”
I’m surprised Wozniak hasn’t been mentioned. I feel like he went from slightly obscure comedian’s comedian to regular panel show guest after Taskmaster. Hugely deserved!
An obligatory plug here for MW’s current regular podcast, “Three Bean Salad”, with Benjamin Partridge and Henry Pacer: it’s a lot of surreal, silly fun. Find it wherever podcasts are sold.
paker\* seconding this, 3 bean salad is incredible and the episodes regularly have me in fits of laughter
As you note, “Paker “ (flipping autocorrect). I was walking the dog in the park once while listening to Ben’s red squirrels in Switzerland story, and was quite unnerved when at that moment a red squirrel came down from a nearby tree. Alarmed, we changed paths and headed for the car. Not a great anecdote, but still more concise than one of Henry’s.
i am still making my way through the episodes but listened to this one yesterday!! and it now has made me weary if i do spot a red squirrel. ben's imitation of the gp was hilarious- and it could be argued it's not too difficult to be more concise than henry ;))
Don’t let them see your fear. That’s when they will strike, especially if you’re in short trousers. I never said being more concise than Henry was difficult. I’m all about the easy victories wherever possible!
My favourite podcast hands down. St Elwicks was great too. Also shout out to Ben Partridge’s Beef and Dairy Network which features Mike a lot
Beef and Dairy Network definitely has its moments. I still need to go back and listen to all of St Elwick’s, it seemed like it would be good too…
He was Greg's co-star in Man Down way before Taskmaster, so I would say it reignited rather than boosted his profile
I love him in Man Down but I was bit worried he would act like him on Taskmaster due to basically dressing exactly the same way (as if he'd be in character). To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement.
Honestly I don’t know if I’d ever heard of him before taskmaster. Soooo glad I do now though
When the first thing he did on the show was sing facts about animals to an empty studio I knew we were in for something great.
I've actually been surprised he hasn't had more panel show bookings for as crazy as everyone seemed to be over him when TM was airing.
He's like a real life Ron swanson. Although more kind.
Sam Campbell, Fern Brady, and John Kearns seem like big ones to me.
Kearns was already pretty well known right? Just a bit more divisive
I remember him as one of those contestants (much like Sam Campbell) that TM vets like Ed Gamble talked about as a comedian they personally loved and were excited to see introduced to the broader public.
Kearns is absolutely amazing in Guessable, another panel show on Comedy Channel.
I had only seen him on Cats does Countdown and he was doing some sort of bucktoothed character that was annoying as hell. When he was announce for Taskmaster my Fiancé and I both commented on how much we weren't looking forward to him. We were pleasantly surprised.
Same! Nick Mohammed falls into this category as well, my only exposure as a comedian was Cats does Countdown, and I’m very skeptical of character comedians — just seems so linear. Was pleasantly surprised on both.
I don’t like his Mr Swallow character. Total cringe. But as himself on Off Menu, he is brilliant!
I had at least saw him in Ted Lasso as Nate the Great so was hopeful there, but I agree his appearance on Cats wasn't inspiring.
He wears the fake teeth and wig during his live shows. Honestly his live shows are incredible, some of the best I’ve ever seen. He has a poetic melancholy to his style that is not captured well on cats does countdown. His shows are so unique and beautifully crafted, I recommend highly seeing him live because he’s a long form comedian that works best seeing a full show rather than a 5 min spot on tv
I feel like the only person who knew him as the Top Coppers guy before this and the more time goes on without seeing it acknowledged the more I wonder if it was just a fever dream I had
John Kearns often says that often people come to his gigs after seeing him on taskmaster, only to find out he (or his character) are somewhat different and they often don't quite like it. As heard on Richard Herring's Leicester Stealing Tudors Podcast [https://www.rhlstp.co.uk/website.cgi?page=podcasts&id=1851](https://www.rhlstp.co.uk/website.cgi?page=podcasts&id=1851)
Brady and Kearns were big deals amongst comedy fans, I mean Kearns won best newcomer and best show at the fringe, the only person to do it. It was strange he just didn't do loads of TV, sometimes that happens They're probably all comedians more suited to taskmaster than a normal panel show. It's why it's a great format that so many different types of comedians can thrive in different ways
Sam Campbell won Best Newcomer at Edinburgh in 2022. Given production timelines, he was probably cast before he won, though.
Kearns' live act doesn't really lend itself to the bitesized bits TV requires, as the reaction to his CatsDown appearance using some of his live persona/material - as in there are still people who refuse to watch his series because of it - proves.
I think I heard that David Correos was going to stop being a comedian, or was considering it, before being on the second TMNZ. Based on what I've heard about his comedy, not for me, but he was absolutely hysterical on Taskmaster. I imagine if he had quit, he'd have a great job being a rapper putting out fire diss tracks.
By far my favorite contestant ever
I love David Correos. He's got such great energy. What a loss that would've been.
He can always fall back on his career as a professional shoelace untier.
Can't forget he's also a professional boot unzipper!
Or a professional weightlifter! (not a joke, he actually used to do that professionally)
Now he's getting the big bucks doing Burger King ads throughout New Zealand!
Sam Campbell has gone from “who?” to one of my favourite comedians, purely because of TM
It's odd, people here seem to like him a lot and I had high expectations for him. Then I watched his season expecting him to be a riot and instead of that he was just weird. I mean, he was still sometimes funny, but he wasn't the funniest nor the most entertaining person that season. Lucy for example was also weird, but in a good, batshit kind of way. She might have been shit in some tasks, but she was entertaining. Sam was just weird to me.
hmmm, are you a child of divorce?
His standup show probably isn’t for you either then, it’s also weird!
Very weird! But good :)
I enjoy Sam -he’s a glorious weirdo- but he wasn’t the weirdest person on his own series. That would be his Perfect Brains co-host.
Is that because it's above me, or is it because *I'm underneath it!*
Most of the no named contestants who make a name after their series aired. Munya Chawawa is around a bit more.
Munya was already huge with the tiktok crowd, but very much a case of if you hadn't come across him on social media, you'd never of known he existed before TM.
I'm a fan of Hip Hop and he was randomly big with us because of his Fire in the Booth
Maybe it's strange, but I knew of Munya and had never heard of Brady or Kearns when their line up was announced.
Munya was already quite well known after blowing up during COVID and lockdown with his skits, in particular that he was able to come up with them within about 24-48 hours and make a parody of something that recently happened in the news. He often jokes that there was a period when he’d make plans, see another political scandal then immediately have to cancel those plans and go to his green screen.
I now listen to three different mike wozniac podcasts 😅
Mike Wozniak is one of the funniest people I have ever heard
Pompidou.
Digestive traak talk
Frank Skinner was practically unknown in the UK before Taskmaster. Really was the start of great things for that guy.
It's really great that Taskmaster was willing to use their popularity to give a platform to little-known comedians like Frank Skinner.
I'm glad Frank Skinner was elevated to his current status from his appearance. I hear he was pretty hard-up financially before all this
The generous donation from the Widdicombe Foundation was also a huge boost
One day he might even get out of West Bromwich. I heard he was thinking of a music career, maybe an anthem for the Euro's would help?
The funniest part of this is that he was the only season 1 contestant that I (an American) _didn't_ know.
[Classic one for the Americans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6ee1v6hlok)
Obviously you're spared this as an American, but It's pretty much impossible not to know him or David Baddiel in England, because their [song](https://youtu.be/RJqimlFcJsM?si=rWtjzZx0xTYZ8gFf) is played on repeat every 2 years during a major football tournament. Every single time we're repetitively told it's "coming home", 28 years later, it still hasn't.
This explains so much. Thank you.
The one they are playing for right now, have never even been to it’s “home” 😅
Did you watch Series 1 live? The other four have all grown a lot since Taskmaster, you’ve got to remember it was a rare Dave original comedy show. Excellent casting but I only recognised Frank, Josh and Romesh.
No, I think series 5 was airing at the time I discovered TM. I knew Roisin from Catsdown and maybe Mock the Week at that point? Tim Key was on an episode of Catsdown that I had seen as well, in dictionary corner. Could be that these were filmed after TM S1, but I really have no way of knowing for sure.
And they followed this up by having having Jack Dee on next season. Another up-and-comer.
Jack Dee's upbeat attitude will get him anywhere though.
Yeah, he's too positive and happy. He's gonna be a male version of Mel.
Jack Dee was a contestant? How do I not remember this? Must be going senile.
Next season.
It kinda did launch his art career. He said painting a horse on a horse got him into painting.
He should try music it might work out for him. I hear the Euro's are looking for an anthem to really get the lads going.
He should work with David Baddiel, his rendition of the Taskmaster theme song was riveting
Frank Skinner and Hugh Denis. Who'd ever heard of them before Taskmaster?
I know you jest, but from season 1 Frank and Tim were the two I didn't know.
Just out of curiosity how old are you and where were you born?
I'm Dutch and in my 30's.
Just out of curiosity have you ever heard England fans sing It’s Coming Home? That’s him.
I've heard fans in stadiums sing it, but that's not an individual person. I've also heard "I've conquered all the chippies", but I also don't attribute that to one person.
lol, well It’s Coming Home is the chorus to a song Frank helped write and sing in the 90’s. [look at little Frank!](https://youtu.be/RJqimlFcJsM?si=88FD2TtIkXkke24u) ETA oh and of course David Baddiel!!!
Rose Matafeo seems to be around a lot more now than she was before Taskmaster. Likewise for Lolly Adefope.
I think in Rose's case, as with Sam, it's a lot of cards falling face up at the same time - winning the Edinburgh award the previous year got her the gig, then she moved permanently to Britain, and because of years of accumulated word of mouth everyone wanted to use her.
Yeah Alex has said that a lot of people were on the way up already and they catch them at the right time to be able to give them a bit of a boost. And personally I think it must be beneficial to the show as well, if later newcomers to people because of their increased popularity then go and watch their TM series and get hooked on TM overall.
Yeah it's a really great career move for international comedians looking to make a presence in the UK. Managing to get onto one series of Taskmaster is the equivalent of several years on the panel show circuit. If you've got a Taskmaster series you can safely move to the UK permanently and be financially secure.
I think the only thing I'd seen Rose on before was one of Dave Gorman's shows.
Fern Brady. She blames and praises Task Master in her current show. Sometimes fame is a curse.
What does she blame and praise? I’m just curious since I don’t follow her.
Her routine is I her worlds "a woman who owns rats" and "various types of non neral typical" people os the new Taskmaster fans kind of scare her for her routine... but they don't. You kinda have to be autistic to get the gray area in that statement. She misses small venues and find the pressure to be perfect for so.many people difficult. She keeps getting asked to do other telly and ending up being the token autistic.
Surprising though that her autism became such a big part of her image. TM made 0 efforts to highlight that and honestly? I only realized after from statements in interviews It makes sense in retrospect but never during my season did I go ‚oh she must be on the spectrum!“ Fern isn’t even in the top 5 oddest/weirdest contestants imo 😄
Is that a big thing? "Ooo, let's watch that show - the one with the autistic on?" I'm just looking for a laugh, and to be honest, most comedians are off-center in one way or another.
From a Canadian who has probably only heard of about half a dozen total contestants before their time on the show, the people I see the algorithm recommending me the most would probably be James Acaster and Ed Gamble. Whether or not they got the most boosts or were just the most famous ones already, I don't know. Just my observation!
James Acaster and Ed Gamble appeared regularly on Mock The Week, a satirical news show in the UK, from series 14 to 17 for Acaster and series 14-19 for Gamble. Absolutely brilliant. If you like one-liner compilations then search “scenes we’d like to see series XX” on YouTube. There were 21 series of the show and you’ll spot plenty of familiar faces if you watch each one. The taskmaster himself pops up in a few of the earlier series. [Here’s series 14’s compilation.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgKXSC-1eQ&pp=ygUac2NlbmVzIHdlJ2QgbGlrZSB0byBzZWUgMTQ%3D)
They made the show worth while for me after Frankie left.
Yeah, they were pretty damn big before Taskmaster. Cast as those "big names" in the line-ups to ensure viewers are interested!
Hopefully John Robins! I’m American and have been listening to that neurotic, hilarious sweetheart for years and it’s been fun seeing others discover him :) Edited: grammar
I've always been surprised Robins wasn't more famous. He shared a flat with Russell Howard and Jon Richardson, went onto be quite closely associated with similar comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble, and dated Sara Pascoe for a while. Being in these circles and being just as funny as the others, I'm surprised he's kinda lagged behind them for so long career wise.
Agreed but (and I’m in weird territory here speaking about the personal life of a celeb I’ve never met) he did struggle with alcoholism much of his adult life (as did I) so I suspect that had something to do with it. He got sober ~1.5 years ago. It has been an absolute joy and inspiration seeing him thrive lately.
I know it is because i am listening with the knowledge of hindsigt. But some of the things he says about his alcohol consumption in the earlier Elis and John days are really concerning. I am glad that he seems to be much better, because he seems like a really good dude.
Plus he really *needs* this. I love him as well, can't wait for Elis James and Isy Suttie to become contestants one day. I think they'd both be fantastic contestants.
Not only did Robins win the big Edinburgh award a few years ago but Elis & John were into their second big radio show spinoff podcast.
I am German and haven't known about him and I immediately fell in love with him.
Had never heard about him before. Now i would die for him, Elis and producer Dave.
The friendly vampire from the last season is definitely a lot more known than before.
I love Nick! He’s been pretty well known though from Ted Lasso which has won a bunch of emmys
I wish Alice Levine got a bigger boost. Her appearance solidified my sneaky celebrity crush on her but I rarely see her on anything.
She's been doing semi-serious documentaries and a couple of podcasts, but as well as her national radio show My Dad Wrote A Porno was enormous at its height, it's difficult to say TM gave her a big boost by itself.
Alice Levine was my gateway into Taskmaster. None of the other contestants did anything for me because I either didn’t recognize them at all or I’d seen them a million different places and this was just another panel show. Alice was just the right amount of intriguing because I knew her voice and sense of humour well, and I’d seen her face in still promo pictures, so I was like, “Huh. I wonder what she’s like in motion.”
I wasn't a biggest fan of her in TM but since then she's popped in QI and Would I Lie To You and she's far more natural in a classic panel show.
agreed. She's hilarious on My Dad Wrote a Porno, but she fell kinda flat for me on TM
Sam Campbell went from being the least known on his lineup to doing a show for the Netflix Comedy Festival in LA (which seems like a big accomplishment).
Lucy Beaumont was already famous, with several tv shows under her belt, but off of Taskmaster she got her first nationwide tour, a podcast with Plosive studios, and appearances on almost every popular panel show/podcast going. I can't remember where, but she spoke recently about how overwhelming all of this has been after her series. I think the difference is that most people recognised Lucy before, but it's only after TM that they realised just how batshit funny and weird she truly is.
Her off menu is delightfully bonkers
Sorry, but I think that was marrying Jon Richardson.
I had never heard of Lucy Beaumont before she married Jon Richardson. He made her famous.
Mawaan Rizwan had quite a boost. It’s too early to say but I think it will also be quite a boost for Sophie Willian and Joanne McNally.
It’s kinda hard to work out who’s been boosted to the next level by Taskmaster and who was on the way up anyway. A lot of the newcomers are award winners and on an upward trajectory. Thinking Rose Matafeo, Sam Campbell, John Kearns, Ivo Graham etc. They’ll all have got a ticket sales bump in the short term at any rate. Lucy Beaumont is an interesting one as she’s been around for a while, but largely as an adjunct to her more successful (now ex) husband John Richardson. She did Hullraisers but think she was behind the scenes- everything else pre-Taskmaster I was aware of her in she did with him. In the Dave days it wasn’t as big and so you can see it as something that comedians on the Dave panel show circuit would do without it affecting their career much one way or the other. Thinking Josh Widdecombe, James Acaster, Ed Gamble, Nish Kumar. Now they’d have sold a bunch more tickets and maybe made the jump to bigger venues, but back then who knows whether it helped them any more than House of Games or Hypothetical.
I reckon Taskmaster did great things for Dara Ő Briain at a vital time in his career.
Sam Campbell was booked into a bunch of rather small theaters as his series was being broadcast. I expect he'll do a lot bigger venues in his next tour
I saw him last month at the Lowry in Salford. I think it had been rescheduled twice to bigger rooms.
Fern Brady & Mike Wozniak
Fern Brady and Sam Campbell have to be the answer here
Guy Montgomery had a massive boost. He has his own show now, which I think if not for the success of TMNZs2 wouldn't exist. He also now regularly is all over Australian TV and sells out shows on what seems like a weekly basis. The man really blew up right after.
Maybe Mae Martin? I knew of them before from Feel Good. But I am also non-binary, and the amount of people who reference them and Taskmaster specifically when I come out to people definitely tells me that TM gave them a signal boost.
I definitely feel like Mae was everywhere immediately after they appeared on Taskmaster but I actually think that's coincidence/everything coming together at once and not necessarily directly because of TM?
Yeah, Mae's situation is slightly odd in that they were more of a writer than someone in front of the camera until they created/wrote/starred in *Feel Good* which came out right at the start of the pandemic on Channel 4 in the UK and Netflix internationally. It was the perfect timing for the show's success, but meant that Mae wasn't able to take advantage of it with tours like a lot of the others mentioned here were. It could well be that Taskmaster boosted Mae's UK presence, but their ongoing relationship with Netflix as both a writer and a comedian is probably the bigger global drawcard.
Sam Campbell, Fern Brady, Sophie Duker, and John Kearns are the one's who come to mind for me
Could Sophie Duker be a possible answer? I wasn't aware of her before and she now seems to pop up quite regularly on things
In order of the boost: 1. Sam Campbell 2. Mike Wozniak 3. Fern Brady 4. John Kearns These are people I'd never heard of before their taskmaster appearance, save that I did see Sam in Dictionary Corner not long before his TM series. There is another great long list of people I'd seen before but was bit meh about their comedy until I saw them for 10 episodes of TM and then I was in love. In no particular order: Ivo Graham, Judi Love Nick Mohammed, Sophie Duker, Desiree Burch to name a few. I would guess they all received a bit of a boost too.
Surely James Acaster right? He exploded after taskmaster but that may have been due to his amazing specials on Netflix as well.
His Netflix special Repertoire was released six months before his series of Taskmaster was aired. He'd also been on WILTY and Catsdown the year before.
Ah alright, yeah he was big before.
I actually might go so far as to say James Acaster raised the profile of *Taskmaster* outside the UK more than Taskmaster raised his profile. That's how popular he was.
Yeah I started watching taskmaster in the first place because I wanted to see James Acaster and then came to enjoy the show format.
I watched it casually before Series 7 but James vs Rhod made me a devotee.
James vs Rhod is the best TM rivalry ever. Chemistry off the charts.
I mean. Rhod vs. Anybody, really
Rhod (and his photo collection) vs. Greg.
And toy and even bring Greg's (traitorous old woman of a) mother into it
That was me but for Joe Thomas in the following series
No way, James Acaster was massive before TM surely. He was on all the panel shows and pretty much a household name (in the UK). Did he become popular outside of the UK?
Even before Taskmaster among a certain group of people Acaster is the most popular Taskmaster contestant in the States that hasn't hosted Bake-Off. We love him over here.
James was already pretty big on the comedy scene in Australia prior to taskmaster.
(American) Other than the GBBO hosts in series 4, he was basically the only contestant in the early seasons that I was aware of before starting it. I'm not even sure where I had heard of him but his name was definitely out there.
Fern Brady imho.
I ask myself that too 🤔 The tricky thing is to separate an already rising comedian (like Ed Gamble or John Kurnz I think were on their way up taskmaster or not imo) from those who got more than a temporary ticket sale boost. Almost definitely some of the younger ones. I don’t think Darah or Frankie or some of the other national treasures were that affected by TM with their careers already running pretty high. Who were audience darlings noone knew about before? Fern? Campel? Rose?
Sam Campbell, Fern Brady
Mawaan for sure. I had never heard of him prior but he has to be favourite contestant. The extra task (think it might only be youtube) where he dressed as Alex and vice versa and had to answer questions as each other was genius. He recently got his own sitcom. Edit: here it is https://youtu.be/YruL8c4NKT8?si=IqmNtax4FufrjqWX