Taskmaster The Podcast - Ep 113. Series Producer - Andy Cartwright - S8 Ep.4

Episode Date: January 12, 2023

It's an extra special treat this week as we have out first ever behind the scenes guest on the podcast. The brilliant Andy Cartwright (AKA Andy C) joins Ed to discuss ep 4 of series 8. As well as talking through the tasks and Greg's point scoring Andy also reveals why he has a personal connection with this particular episode. The pair chat about the hammock task, what constitutes a toilet roll and Andy reveals the results of some unseen tie breaks from Series 9.Watch all of Taskmaster on All 4www.channel4.com/programmes/taskmasterVisit the Taskmaster Store for all your TM goodies!taskmasterstore.com Visit the Taskmaster YouTube Channelyoutube.com/taskmaster Get in touch with Ed and future guests:[e-mail] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Disinformation makes it harder to find information you can trust, especially on social media, and it could lead you to make choices that aren't good for you. Learn how to spot it at Canada.ca slash disinformation. A message from the Government of Canada. Hello and welcome to the Taskmaster podcast with me, Ed Gamble. Very excited this week to be talking about Series 8, Episode 4. Another great episode in Series 8. We are cracking along with these old episodes at a terrifying rate. We always have a special guest of course we do and today our very special guest his first time on the podcast

the wonderful andy cartwright or andy c as he's otherwise known one of the two all-powerful andys behind the scenes at taskmaster producer of. Wonderful man. One of the first people you meet when you first get asked to do Taskmaster. You have a chat to Andy. He takes you around the house on your first day of doing tasks. He has been working on Taskmaster since series one. So there is no better authority

to chat about the behind the scenes stuff in Taskmaster. Even better than Alex, in fact, because he can give us the behind the scenes goss about Alex, which Alex will not do. Very excited to speak to Andy. There's a very special reason we are speaking to Andy C for this episode as well, which will become clear when I chat to him.

We've already recorded the episode. I know it's great. So to give you a little warning up top, there's a little bit of background noise going on, but, and I like to think this is a positive reason, Andy was recording it from the Taskmaster house, from a secret location in the Taskmaster house. So that should at least give you some sort of excitement. So you can hear planes going over and things like that. And now and again, Andy D, the other all-powerful Andy, and Alex Horne were knocking on the window to try and distract Andy.

So see if you can hear any of that going on. But very excited to speak to Andy C. This is Taskmaster Series 8, Episode 4, with special guest Andy Cartwright. This is very exciting. Would you please, for the listener, Andy C, introduce yourself? Hello, listener. You've got more than one listener, haven't you? No, but that's an old-school radio thing where you have to refer to the listener as a solo person to make them feel more connected. If I say listeners, it feels like I'm not speaking directly to people.

I'm a professional broadcaster. I'm television, not radio. Yes, exactly. Sorry, I'm very sorry. I'm the series producer of Taskmaster since series one, and it's very nice to be here. I've never done a podcast before. I don't know about you, Ed.

Oh, I've done a couple. This is my second podcast. Excellent. But it's very exciting to have you here. You are, of course, one of two Andys who've been working on the show since series one, Andy C and Andy D. And the younger, much younger one. The much younger one with much more normal hair.

If you want to check out Andy D's hair, there's, I believe, a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube where Andy D appears. And there's lots of comments about how big his hair is. Is that correct? It is enormous you do have to turn your laptop on its side to get the full experience I'm making fun of Andy D a little bit because he was the one who dropped you in this he specifically messaged me to say oh you should get Andy C on this episode of the podcast for reasons that we will come to, Andy. We will get there. But very exciting to have you on.

You are our first proper behind-the-scenes guest. I mean, obviously, we've had Alex, who works diligently behind the scenes but can't help but step in front of the camera. So you're truly our first proper person who works in the belly the belly of Taskmaster well that's very exciting for um for me so thank you and us and us and you um good uh so you've been on since the first series I mean how's it when you when you look back on that first series does I mean it's been a long time now hasn't it it's but it's two series a year so it's kind of insane does it feel like it's been a long time or does it feel like a bit of a blur it does feel like it's been a long time now hasn't it it's but it's two series a year so it's kind of insane does it feel like it's been a long time or does it feel like a bit of a blur it does feel like it's been a long time

i listened um to your rival podcast um yesterday which had um our excellent editor tom perry on it and he was talking about series one and it's really weird to think how we were kind of put together and you kind of come up with these silly bits and pieces and everything from the seal to the font to finding the house. And it never felt very real. And then suddenly you've been here a long time and you never trust it's going to work until you're in the studio and people laugh.

And then suddenly there's 15 series and it's very nice. It's very exciting. Was that something you worked on for quite a long time then like the language of the show the the seal and the font and all of that it's so it's so distinctive and we i think as a viewer we sort of take it for granted now we're like well that's the taskmaster look but how how long did you spend working on all of that sort of stuff i think we were just uh me andy and alex sitting in an office at avalon for a little while and um i don't know just all sort of pieced together quite nicely just uh and fortunately we all got on and all kind of agreed with each other and got excited about the same bits and pieces and then yeah but you weren't you weren't sitting there going through

every single font uh on microsoft word, we knew we wanted to type right, so we slapped on da font and found the best one. Perfect. Yeah. There's a bit more work than that, but only just. Only just, yeah. A bit more work than that. I mean, the amount of people who've been on since Series 1

is fairly unusual, I think, for a TV show, right? Would you say that's that's part of the success that it's quite a tight-knit team who who know how to do it and have been on it since the beginning yeah I think so so a lot of people have only been on since we've got Andrew was our runner in series one and he's now our assistant producer and then we've had most of the people have been on since about series uh four or five um and then a few joined us a bit later on but yeah we don't swap about much which i think it's nice because i look at other shows and they've got so many people working on it yeah uh yeah i think we all get on well we all get it everyone's nice and funny and silly

and hard working and loves working on the show. And yeah, I think. Yeah, I think, I mean, as someone who's been on the show, and I think a lot of other comedians who've been on the show would say this, it makes it a lot easier to do when you arrive and there's no, there doesn't seem to be any faffing. Everyone knows what they're doing. It's an incredibly slick machine. You give us a little tour around the house on our first day.

Is that always you? Is that always your job to take the contestants around on the first day? Yeah, generally. I've missed only about two or three due to either having babies or being in the edit or something. But, yeah, no, pretty much everyone. And I think it seems slick because we do the same day five times yeah and for each of you so that always helps so we yeah we always apologize if somebody's doing the first day with

us when we're doing the tasks for the first time that takes a bit longer and we feel really sluggish and embarrassed but then after that it seems smooth so well that was normally me i think that happens to me maybe three or four out of the five days I'll be honest yeah it was let's throw let's throw Ed to the wolves and see if this works but even even then it was a slick operation Andy oh thank you Ed only yeah that's only because of diary not um not to um it wasn't you were trying to you were trying to sabotage me and luckily I managed to break through and still and still be victorious you did very well thank you that's the only reason we got you on to be honest I just wanted everyone to come on here and say You did very well. Thank you. That's the only reason we got you on, to be honest. I just wanted everyone to come on here and say I did very well and most people don't oblige.

So we're talking about Series 8 today, Series 8, Episode 4 specifically. I'm going to put you on the spot now, Andy. Do you have any fun Series 8 facts that you can give us? Some behind the scenes tidbits or titbits? I never know which it is. I was thinking about meeting up

with people. So we always try and meet up with the comedians before we start. I remember meeting Paul Sinner in a nice restaurant in central London, and he had some food on him from a previous lunch. We met with Joe Thomas. We met up with him at his agent's office, and he was incredibly sweaty and chiggy.

His agent had to go out and get him some tissues to wipe his brow. And he was very apologetic. I can't remember what he'd been doing but he was very funny and then afterwards we went for a meeting about tasks and we were sitting in a cafe with all of the tasks spread out on us on the table and he walked in to get a coffee and oh no i had to hide it if he'd seen any of those tasks when he walked in for his coffee do you reckon you would have cut him from the series no i don't think it made any difference no i agree i think he still doesn't really know what happened

but uh what's all this meeting business i don't think i got a lovely meeting i didn't get taken out for lunch i had a chat with you in the lab which is what i also did with sean gibson i remember giving you i was put through to you on a call. I remember it was very Avalon formal. Yes. I think you and, I had a chat with you and Ian Sterling on the same day. So that was two series.

Yeah. Very good. I also had Sean Gibson was on a phone call in the lab and she just talked for about an hour about TV shows and asked me if I'd seen Killing Eve, which was hot at the time. That really dates it.

I think there's a Chinook going over us. Wow. Just for a bit of listener insight, we won't say exactly where you are, Andy, but you are on the Taskmaster House grounds, aren't you? I am indeed. You're within the complex, which means occasionally a Chinook flies over because it's in a war zone. And occasionally you get mildly distracted

because Alex and Andy D are knocking on the window to distract you. Yeah, they might be quite annoying. Yes. That's okay. But that's what we like, a bit of texture. I will get my own back i think when you have those initial meetings with people yeah do you think you then you get an insight into what sort of

contestant they're going to be before they've done any tasks so obviously you met paul and he had food on him you met joe and he was really sweaty sean talked about telly yeah do you think you then get a little spark of oh i can see which way this might go i think we do actually yeah i think that was um a shape of things to come i look back for my first email from you if that's uh remotely interesting no that's gonna be so embarrassing i mean you can do it but it fills me with absolute dread and good good good i would say there was a very little punctuation oh yeah is that you well don't be faffing very little punctuation. Oh, yeah. Is that you?

Don't be faffing around with punctuation, you know? Okay. Get to the point. First email was about price tasks. Yes. And it said, I'm about to buy three Kevin Spacey films on Laserdisc for Best Defunct Thing. I'm not sure. Has that ever been on the podcast?

I don't know but i yes for best defunct thing i bought three kevin spacey laser discs because they're defunct on multiple levels um and then i was i bought that i think i bought them you did um and they arrived at my house bought them off ebay french copies french copies even better uh and then was gently uh gently told it's probably not not right for the show well weirdly what happened was i got the okay from the channel and then then i went on holiday and then and then andy d and alex emailed you and said we're not sure about kevin spacey yeah and so and you changed it there you go yeah i mean look to be to be fair they were probably right i'm glad it would have it's not sometimes there's thing you've got to think about the mood in the studio and you've got to think

about the tone of taskmaster which has developed into a wonderful fun loving show for the whole family and maybe uh a kevin spacey laser disc was not the thing to bring in although having said that we're all looking forward to seeing frankie boyle on the show that's very very true who did bring in some kevin spacey oh no i don't know what i did with those actually so sorry that's that um yeah no i guess uh meeting up with meeting up with the comedians it's always slightly awkward and we all say it's a good time to find out um if the agents have been bullshitting or not so all the agents say they absolutely love taskmaster they are desperate to be on it and then you meet up with them they go i'm not gonna lie i'm not i i was told it is a really good thing to do or they say i've seen that there's a really good youtube clip i've seen and that's generally what happens

not with me though not with you, you're the genuine article the genuine article, yeah I have heard stories of of say, I mean we won't name names but people in the press saying how much they want to do Taskmaster and then when they arrive for their first day it becoming rapidly clear that they've never watched a second of it

yeah but sometimes I think that's to people's benefit. Like, I don't think you necessarily, to be a brilliant contestant on Taskmaster, have to have watched a second of Taskmaster. Definitely not. You just need to attack it as you would attack it. Sometimes seeing too much of it,

you can get in your head a little bit, I think. Completely. If we had five contestants all looking for a trick to every task and looking for on the it would not work yeah and it would be fairly tedious if everyone was uh yeah the same so yeah that feels like something you've tried to stamp out in in recent series and not stamp out but certainly the tasks have some more caveats on them because you know that people are going to come in and look for the loophole so you need to shut those off as quickly as possible yeah the wording's got longer and sometimes we put it there to stop them breaking rules but then we

take those lines out of the read in the edit to make it interesting a tighter. A bit tighter. But we also still love a shortly worded task. Yes, absolutely. I would say that none of the contestants in Series 8 I would have necessarily worried about finding the best loopholes. Apart from maybe Ian. I think Ian was definitely there to win. But anyone else, I'm not, I don't think this is necessarily,

and this is not an insult, the smartest bunch. No, well, I couldn't possibly. No, I don't, I don't,

I don't wish to take your opinion on this, Andy, but this is simply my opinion, but it's a fun bunch. I thought they were an absolutely brilliant bunch. I loved, I loved this suit, this cast. They were, yeah, very, very fun and very, very nice. simply my opinion but it's a fun bunch i thought they were absolutely brilliant bunch i loved i loved this suit this cast they were yeah very very fun and very very nice i remember

paul sinner bought like everyone like there's a huge um hamper full of really interesting personally selected things for to say thank you to everyone. He was really sweet. He was really, really kind. They were all so lovely. They were a good bunch of eggs. Eggs, yes, eggs. Well, as the series producer of Taskmaster, you can only use eggs, aubergines or pineapples. That's the rule.

Good. Although, are there any upcoming new sort of little additions to the world of Taskmaster anything that is going to crop up again and again such as the egg or the aubergine I think there's a

I think series 15 will see a lot of callbacks yeah and there's a few little interesting bits around the house to discover I would say you've not given away too much there I better not

you've got Alex standing at the window leering over you I do like this job I've got to be a good boy I did find it interesting watching series 8 back for this episode at how it did feel like it was a bit choppier. And I think that's because, interesting fact,

not very interesting fact, with Dave, we had a 44-minute show. Yeah. And with Channel 4, we've got 47 minutes. Oh, wow. So i feel like it really kind of rattled through the prize task quite quickly and um yeah yeah those three minutes very important i mean especially in the in the last series that was on tv you you couldn't have done munya's uh prize tasks in a 44 minute show could you? No. I mean, when we see, we give a tiny little briefing at studio

to all the contestants before they go on. One of them is not to give anything away, so if they know they've done well in the task or badly in the task, don't say anything until their effort's been shown because it might be there's a twist or it might be they haven't done as well, etc. The other thing is we say,

when you introduce your prize task, please can you say, I've brought in this. Introduce the item and then chat about it as much as you want to afterwards. And it rarely, rarely, rarely goes in. I think there's occasionally a good half an hour monologue that needs to be chopped up. Yeah, absolutely. there's occasionally a good half an hour monologue that needs to be yeah absolutely so let's get stuck into this episode the prize task it's a great prize task i think i think i've

forgotten about this one it's such a funny one uh best present for a doctor um which is which is lovely it's another quite short it's quite a short one but genuinely odd it feels like a proper a proper alex prize task this one yeah yeah i think uh i can't remember lots of ideas go around for the prize tasks and then we slowly shrink it down to the 10 yes remember where this came from but i mean alex's dad's a doctor so there you go and his mum definitely dad doctor doctor dad i'm not sure about sheila so really this prize task should have been an open goal for paul sinner shouldn't it because you know he is the qualified gp i mean it's been it's been a few years since he's been a practising GP, but this should have been an absolute open goal for him.

But he gets the one point with, I think, the weirdest fake beard I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, it looks like he made it himself. Yeah. So was that something he brought in as opposed to... Because sometimes, to ruin a little bit of the magic, sometimes you can come up with a thing Yeah. So was that something he brought in as opposed to, because sometimes to ruin a little bit of the magic, sometimes you can come up with a thing and have an idea and then the production team will help you realise that idea.

But the fake beard, was that something? I mean, I think it looked like it was made of wool. I don't know. I couldn't. I looked back through emails um from uh all the contestants and that was his idea he said a very he did it quite neatly in an email all all the ideas in one go yeah and we said yes so i think he probably made that himself but there's a chance we might have just thrown something together i think he probably owned it how do you own that that thing is not commercially available it's absolutely terrifying and the idea was that it's it's to stop being bothered as a

doctor on a plane he said on a plane yeah how's he getting on the plane wearing that and also how would that is that just meant to stop you looking like a doctor then yeah apparently but i think maybe he was saying that because he has because he is famous anyway maybe people would know he's a qualified doctor and then if he doesn't put his hand up they'd be like this guy from the chase um is a doctor and he didn't put his hand up whereas in reality what would they do if they had he had that beard on would probably be pointing him saying this man from the chase with a weird wool beard is not admitting he's a doctor and he put it on after he got on the plane because otherwise he wouldn't have been allowed on so in the beard from test master yeah

wearing the beard he advertised on a very popular panel show um yeah i mean it's it is deservedly one point but i feel like as a doctor he could have really talked himself around a little bit but instead he offers up points to everyone else much of the annoyance of ian yeah and then it yeah and then got taken down for it got taken down uh as did as did ian i mean i actually think ian's night out party kit is actually probably a present that a lot of student doctors might like i think he thought it through. I think there was logic there. And I think he would have got two or three points

had he not gone turbo on the competitive stuff. Yeah, early in the show. Yeah, he kind of set the tone for himself, didn't he? He really did. He did that thing, which he's done in previous episodes, but he's so into the show here that he really wants to do it and he likes being the angry guy and he is very funny and but he does that thing where he says a sentence that anyone else would just say normally but he does it halfway

out of his seat he sort of stands up he's on his haunches he's like no no no no and it is it's quite exciting to watch, I'd say. Yeah, he goes for the Scottish stereotype, I guess. Yeah, I suppose so. Yeah, well, I guess sometimes he thinks it's going to work, but yeah, as you say, I think he just gets carried away, and he just gives Greg the opportunity to pounce. But we love that. We absolutely love it. We need people to get carried away.

We need Greg to take them down. It's fantastic to watch. So it was need people to get carried away we need greg to take them down it's fantastic to watch so it was one point to in and one point to paul very funny denouement to that argument um yeah that doesn't seem to annoy paul at all no no he doesn't care but he's got i did find out sean offered two things up if you really know so she offered uh and we so she went with the name badge with the star rating system ala mcdonald's yeah which was our preferred one yes um which so that quite often the comedians offer up a couple of options and we um we say we think this one will work better sometimes it's because it's too similar to the other things too similar to another person's object yeah sometimes

quite often it's because it's not appropriate or legal. So Sian's other idea for best present for a doctor was a sanitiser kit for dirty patients. What does that even mean? I don't know what you mean. This is pre-COVID, of course. Yeah, so she was actually ahead of the game, really. Yeah, yeah.

So I don't know what that would involve. Did anyone ask her follow-up questions? Yeah, just bleach or some sort of spray to wipe patients down when they came in? I think we just went, yeah, go for the McDonald's stars. I thought it was good. It doesn't really feel like a gift for a doctor. It feels like quite a lot of doctors would be annoyed. It feels like a sort of reinvention of NHS policy.

Yeah, I guess you picture a doctor's got everything they really want and need. They've probably got a nice car, alcohol if they want it. They probably haven't got a five-star badge. No. So I guess that's I guess her system was if it was a bad doctor to give them one or two stars or if they hadn't been going very long

one or two stars but imagine the chaos if patients started arriving at their new GP and they only had one star yeah and it does look like they might have just come off a shift at McDonald's and they need a bloody good star yeah and it does look like they might have just come off a shift in mcdonald's yeah so and they need a bloody good sanitizing yeah if they had one star from mcdonald's and then they

were coming in to do an operation yeah that'd be awful not what you want um lou brought in a herb garden and a bottle of whiskey i think yeah i think lou just picked a nice gift for everyone yeah yeah i think so yeah i felt like she uh she ran out of steam with this one a little bit um i'd love a herb garden and a bottle of whiskey i think that's that's the perfect gift but it doesn't seem to relate to doctors necessarily and i think that might have been fairly last minute yes yeah you can always tell i mean there's 10 things to get and you get them all at the same time on a list of of what you have to go and get so it's quite a lot to receive so yeah there's some way you're just like yes this definitely this definitely but then there's I think there's

always going to be two or three with everyone where they drop the ball a little bit yeah I think so we give it so we give them I'm sure this has been said before but we give them, I'm sure this has been said before, but we give them over the prize task as a task on the last day with us at the house. So generally there's two or three months before we see you at the studio for them to think about it. Some people sit there right away and write down and say, this is what I'm going to do. Other people leave it very last minute. But it's all part of the, yeah, it's good.

And you can always tell when the last minute people uh yeah but it's all part of the yeah it's good and you can always you can always tell when the last minute the last minute people rock up yeah you can always tell when they bring in things like a chair from the dressing room etc yeah um let's talk about joe's bmx uh yeah because again a prize for everyone uh but a gift for everyone but also a brilliant gift for everyone and crucially i think joe appealed to Greg with this one. Yeah. Well, this is off the back of last week's grape. Yes.

That's the prize I reference most to people. We have this weird thing where we try and push for, you want something they can celebrate with on the stage, ideally. At least one of the prizes they can do something funny with. But I found a grape really, really funny. The grape was great. But the grape followed tomato, didn't it? Yeah, I think so.

When you get things through like that, when Joe's sending through his prize tuss, and one of them's the smell of a tomato stalk and another one's a grape. Yeah. It must be so hard to not go joe that these are going to absolutely bomb mate when you know at the back of your head that it's going to be really funny when they get torn apart yeah i think that it's always sometimes you'll say

you know we need something else but if if other people have got really good big things then you think it's quite funny you know that he's going to say something really funny about it or be slightly downtrodden. Or just start sweating. Or start sweating, yeah. But the BMX was great. I think anything like that, Greg absolutely loves. He probably immediately went home and bought a BMX and put it in his flat. Bicycle, great, excellent bicycle.

I love that. Greg once gave Andy D one in his flat. Bicycle, excellent bicycle. I love that. Greg once gave Andy D one of his bikes. Really? Just brought it to studio one day and said, you have this one. And there you go. Is that a nice gift or is that Greg having a clear out? I think it was a bit of both.

Yeah, I think so. And then I think Greg had got a new electric bicycle. Of course. Of course. He's got all that gear. Greg had a smart car. Did he? Isn't that interesting? Unless it was a lie. He had a smart car. He had to get rid of a nice Porsche he had.

Because he basically broke himself trying to drive it. But he fits really well in a smart car and he i can't that must be a lie i hope it isn't i fell for it yeah i'd love to see it though i don't think he's ever put his feet out the bottom like the flintstones he did all right yeah it makes more sense now um it was one point for both ian and paul three points for lou four points for joe and the big five points for Sian.

OK, next up, Joe. Joe. Just best present to give anyone... ..a BMX. BMX is a call. Tick. Doctors are called as well. Yeah. Why shouldn't they have some downtime? Why shouldn't they have some down time? Why shouldn't they have some down time? Yeah. And taking a few leaps and skids and... And I'm beginning

to think this isn't your BMX, because you don't know enough BMX terms. I know the term. Wheel. What does BMX stand for, Jim? It stands for bicycle, my excellent bicycle. I believe. Task one. Get this loo roll through the toilet seat.

You may not lower the toilet seat. Fastest wins, your time starts now. And the toilet seat, of course, is suspended above them. When this task was put together, I guess you're hoping a lot that people don't see the toilet seat and end up using the toilet seat in the taskmaster toilet or is that not something that you'd even consider that people would do i think since this task we do uh but we this genuinely uh we didn't think anyone would go inside i thought they might think about it instead of trying to throw through it but we didn't think anyone would go inside. We thought they might think about it instead of trying to throw through it,

but we didn't think they wouldn't see it. Yeah. From what I recall. So it was a very pleasant surprise that Ian and... Ian and Paul. I mean, it's amazing. Yeah, I guess if you're just in a rush to do something, it's fastest wins.

Some people just don't look up. I'm not a fan of looking up you know um so i might i might not have seen that and it makes sense that you you didn't necessarily think that people would use a toilet because the toilet is not a location in the taskmaster house really it's very small you can't really get a camera in there people very rarely actually uh actually do anything task based in there um yeah so the fact that they actually tried was was amazing and this so this is ian trying to find a loophole this is why i'm saying he's the guy on he's the guy on the lineup trying to find a loophole tries to claim that a card the cardboard

bit in the middle the cardboard tube which is what i'd call it is the roll and that you can put that through the toilet seat uh without lowering the toilet seat did you how did you feel when he got the five points well look i i respected him doing it because i think fast very yeah he did it very fast and i i like it when people take the risks of finding the loophole and then obviously just think i'll argue it in the studio if i have to i did it a couple of times people do it all the time and i i like it when people do that but the cardboard bit isn't isn't the role is it if you if you run out of toilet paper and it's just a cardboard bit you and and someone says oh would you throw out someone says oh can you throw

out the cardboard tube can you recycle that cardboard bit no one says can you throw the roll out because the roll is the roll right there's nothing rolled there i would agree so the fact that greg seemed to dispense with a the fact that it was a roll or not and b whether the whole thing went through because everyone everyone gets points in reality only joe should have got points because he was the only person to get the whole toilet roll through that toilet seat um do you want me to call greg i know that's the only answer to this yeah you know these things have happened it is greg's decision but you know i'm here to absolutely tear those decisions apart it makes me feel good yeah well i think he probably felt like he'd given Ian enough of a dig yes and then and then the bonus point for Joe felt like

he was gonna win and then he probably forgot about taking Ian down points wise but um he's under a lot of pressure yeah oh yeah he really looks like he really looks like he's under pressure yeah it really is Yeah. Oh, yeah, he really looks like he's under pressure. Yeah, he really is. I think he finds it. Yeah. It's like he's working on the stock trading floor. He's so stressed out the whole time.

He is. He is. That's why you never see his legs. Poor Paul. I mean, he has the same idea as Ian, but tries to stick to the rules more and just has an absolute disaster. He pushes the toilet paper behind the toilet seat and then said it reminded him of school,

but no one... Greg mentioned that, but absolutely didn't follow up on what he could have meant. I'm assuming in the studio, I mean, having been in the studio, these things go on for hours they do and i think how long did it say paul last year i think he was 14 minutes 13 minutes he did yeah toilet paper behind the toilet seat i think there's a really funny really long edit of that

yeah just him going and going and kind of i think he probably talked about school and he just he was just kind of doing some very yeah just a monologue about toilet roll the whole time while the rest of it well the seat was swinging outside but um it must be really hard to lose to lose those bits because obviously the i mean the edit it must be a tricky thing because you've got a brilliant editor who is so well versed and a huge shout out to him because it almost makes the show doesn't it the editing is of such a specific

style and there's jokes within the edit and the way he edits it is absolutely amazing but it must be so hard for you guys all sitting there losing bits that you love yeah I mean it's always hard but it must be so hard for you guys all sitting there losing bits that you love. Yeah, I mean, it's always hard. Even you get three extra minutes with Channel 4 and still we're losing.

You have to cut big sections and cut down VTs that you, you know, we spent a long time crafting for the studio. And then you think you're going to have to hack a minute out of that somehow to um yeah get down to time but um and also losing losing whole tasks as well because obviously you overshoot you have you have tasks that you don't use do you have any memories of one task that you were the most upset to to have to lose and not include in the show for whatever reason i really struggled to look back at i think we've done something like 450, 500 tasks. Wow. And so I can't really...

I guess there's always the option as well of using them in the next series, right? Yeah, that's the main thing. I mean, we always say it's the long ones, that it's the biggest setups that don't make it. So for this series, there was a whole murder mystery task in a train carriage yeah at the location

which was amazing and it had a it had a cocktail menu with all previous contestants names wow um made as cocktails and there's a dead body on the floor and they had to solve this crime but um yeah that never made it and that never came back so that's probably i think we started to edit it but it was just too big too big too complicated yeah and everyone kind of got to the same point in it you know everyone sort of got the same sort of time working out the crime so yeah and then that means it's not gonna make it but it looked lovely it was in a big yeah a big carriage on the station and it's very funny that it's those things that are the things that don't make it.

When you look at it on paper, you go, oh, brilliant, a murder mystery in a train carriage. That's going to be absolutely fantastic. It's going to be hilarious. And then you look at, everyone has to sit on a train carriage and guess what Alex is wearing.

And you're like, oh, that's actually the one that's going to make it because everyone does something different. It's snappy, it's quick. I've got a little fact about that task, if you're not great so the parrot task yes so the parrot costume was uh from a task that never made it in series one oh wow um so uh all of the that's our first series and we've got frank skinner and timkey and romesh and roshin and josh and they had to put that on and try and get the most autographs in the shopping centre location. Ah, yes.

I think they weren't very happy about putting on a parrot costume. We thought this doesn't feel totally right. It feels a bit like a prank show. feel tonally right it feels a bit like a prank show yeah i think i think that's one of the smartest things that taskmaster did was uh removing that element of interacting with the general public because it had to be tried and there's some funny stuff the high-fiving a 55 year old was great um but i think it just makes a lot of comedians quite uncomfortable like you you want you want embarrassment but you want them embarrassing themselves more than anything else right yeah and so yeah it just felt a bit yeah yes yeah but the parrot costume got used and that's the important thing exactly thank you

um it was one point for paul sadly again uh two points for sean who uses a long stick very smart um although you're in danger of lowering the toilet seat there i'll tell you what i would have done i would have been taping the end of that toilet roll as soon as i got it that that would have been taped down so when you throw it it's not there's not gonna have a big stream or a big tail coming out the back but that's always um joe smashed it got four points uh lou didn't get it all through but still got four points very controversial uh and Ian, even though he only did the cardboard tube in the

indoor toilet, got five points but probably good to get his mood up bearing in mind later on he has a full existential crisis Can I just say very quickly Paul put the paper through the toilet seat which was the only bit that Ian said

wasn't the toilet seat Well you say that he put the paper through the toilet seat, which was the only bit that Ian said wasn't the loo roll. Well, you say that he put the paper through the toilet seat, but did he? Because what I saw was a man painstakingly pushing loo roll behind the toilet seat. Oh, yeah? And you said halfway through, I wrote this one down, it reminds me of school.

Detention was very unusual punishment is I think as a toilet roll was the whole thing do you yeah cuz it is no we are not oh because there's the roll yeah she said can you nip out and get some new roll roll, and you came up with a load of those... I would go, I would go, thank you very much. Hey, hey, hey, hey. I would apologise for not using the correct terminology. I would use those cardboard rolls to wipe my bum as a protest. Task two. Now, this is probably one of the main reasons we got you on today, Andy C.

Make the best thing to engage a toddler. The toddler will have five minutes with your thing. Most engaged toddler wins. You have 30 minutes. Your time starts now. Please tell the listener who this toddler is, Andy. Well, we cast her. Yes.

She's my lovely little daughter. Oh. she's my lovely little daughter oh she was born during the making of series 4 I think she was born during series 4

she appears on series 8 how old is she now Andy she is 5 6 in about a weeks time so she was 2 during this um but we did genuinely try and cast it yeah so we had um we had a day where so we filmed all the tasks back in november or something and then uh the following january february we got uh two children in um but i think they're just a bit uncomfortable in the house.

Yeah. And they had to have their parents in the room while they were playing with the items, so it didn't really work, and they got upset or something. So it was a bit tricky, but Nell was the right age, and she'd been to the house a few times,

and she knew Alec. X, Alec? And yeah, it just meant uh we we we got her in and it worked fortunately and she got paid the same as the other two children that didn't make it yes you'd like to know how much that's her that's that's for her you know she got 50 pounds 50 pounds that's not a day or a day or for the whole job it was all in an hour and a half I think did the whole thing

so of course that makes sense I'm ignoring the magic of TV because I'm thinking it would be they make the thing and then on the same day you bring Nell in and see if she's engaged and then she comes back on another day

when the other contestant is in. Of course, you simply took all the things that they'd made and then after the five days brought Nell in for an hour and a half to be engaged. Yeah, and we did have to, everything was, we just kept apart from, pools was very easy to recreate. Yeah, I'm sure it was, the ecosystem

of the rubber ducks. I think we had to remake the JoDo because that had been four months. Yes, dried out and cracked and stuff, I'd imagine. The JoDo, not something that lasts very long. I mean, she is so relaxed in this situation.

Yeah, she's good. She was a very sweet little fish yes yeah and amazing that alex doesn't change his persona for children in any way whatsoever no he's really good yeah i don't know if you ever heard his uh alex horn breaks the news yes podcast that he used to do but he had his son on that and he was very much the same with him in the section and it was really funny so we knew that bit would work with a toddler and then um like a lot of the casting of across the series all the series um if you have an extra and they're quite often kind of connected to somebody on the team yes have you you've had other other people connected to you on the series. We have. We've had

Hugh in Series 3 who is the ex what's he called? Anethetist. Yes. That's my wife's kind of sort of grandfather. Yeah.

I thought Nell was the star here for me. I mean everyone did a good job but Nell was the star here for me. I mean, everyone did a good job, but Nell truly the star. Particular highlights was just her running in and running straight past the Jodo. Were you in the room as well? She did. She ran to me there. She was running to you. Yeah, of course.

Yeah. Which is nice. Nice to have a hug on set. Yeah, of course. Yeah. You're not going to get one from Alex, are you? The guy doesn't hug people. No.

The Jojo seems to go down quite well. I mean, it's tricky, isn't it? Because Nell just seems very happy to just play with anything. And then when she's asked if she likes it, she just says yes, because she just seems quite happy. I think she'd probably like coming in and there being a new one to play with each time. It's probably quite interesting. Yeah, I think so i think she sat with vicky in the little green room that you were

that you're usually in and then yeah then just go can you come in and say hello now and then pop in play with the thing and then uh have a chat and off she went alex would uh as as you should always ask the child um just a straight question, are you engaged? That's... Are you engaged? Yeah. Clearly no idea what he meant. Just say yes to the man and you can get out of the room quicker.

Yeah. I mean, I was watching it thinking, what would engage me? Would it be... I found Ian's puppet quite scary. Claire the puppet. Yeah. Looked like it could come to life because of a witch's curse. But Nell didn't seem to

mind. She's not an easily scared child by the looks of it. I guess children don't mind horrific things like Punch and Judy, which are grim and those horrible dolls are terrifying and horrible when they're lying in the room and you're going in the night

and it's just like that. But children don't notice that. That fear happens over time. Even Luz, I mean, Luz was, you know, she lynched a duck, essentially. Yeah. The duck was hanging from the ceiling like a pinnacher, as Lou said, which is very funny in the studio when Alex said, you call it a pinnacher, and Lou said, yeah very funny in the studio when Alex said you call it a Pinochet and Lou said yeah

because I'm French she's still got no idea what Pinochet relates to or where it's come from in her brain just the whacking Nell really got into it though the whacking of the duck to release the sweet she enjoyed that one it did engage her but as Greg said not necessarily

in the most healthy way hopefully she was calm for the rest of the day after that the puppet called Claire Jo made Jo Do of course which she seemed to enjoy

Paul made as you alluded to a quite simple replica of an ecosystem of rubber ducks being attacked by a toy thresher shark which Nell immediately

walked in, stood on, and splashed the water everywhere. Yeah, that was good. That was great. When that happened in the filming, then you think, yeah, this will make it. Yeah. But again, I think as a child, or me now, if I'd done that, I would have burst into tears immediately.

Well, they're used to wetting themselves at that age, I think. Yeah. Happened quite a lot. But If I'd done that, I would have burst into tears immediately. Well, they're used to wetting themselves at that age, I think. Yeah, it's true. It happens quite a lot. But she enjoyed smashing up the tray and moving things around. I think, but she just asked to do things again quite a lot, especially Sean's exercise video, which I do have a problem with, Andy,

because the task was to make the best thing to engage a toddler I do not think it was necessarily the video that was engaging Nell yeah it was the iPad itself I think you could have been playing multiple things on that iPad and she still would have said again and kept going back to it because she doesn't get involved in the exercises she's just enjoying the colors on the screen and having a little TV there right i mean children are quite happy with a lock screen yeah just trying to just tapping in the code till it freezes the ipad so yeah i'd agree i guess sean's argument would be that she made an exercise video and it doesn't matter what what else happened that if she hadn't made one then there wouldn't have been an ipad in the room then what was in the box seems slightly over the top yeah the better thing made it harder to engage with i think yeah but i know she made the exercise video but i don't think that was the thing that

was engaging i think it was the i think it was the ipad itself but look now loved it it was five points to sean five points to paul which i think is generous, but I feel like we're already at the stage where, why not throw Paul a few more points, right? I think so. Jodo got four points. Ian got four points for his puppet Claire. And Lou, the only one with three points

for the duck hung from the ceiling. I asked Nell to re-watch and say what she'd vote for today. I don't know if this will be remotely clear. Hello, I'm Nell, and I'm five, and I think Jojo could have won. So, I don't know if you could could you hear that yes hello i'm nell i'm five and i think joe doh could have won and then a big raspberry and then a big raspberry

so that's uh that's where she's she she really liked the joe doh she loves play dough oh wow well done joe um so unfortunately unfortunately sean and paul uh don't get a look in with with five-year-olds um it's all about the joe dough so there we go perhaps we should uh go back and and fiddle with the points um i mean i don't know how long taskmaster is going to run for you know we've if there's you know another 10 15 years in this maybe uh there could be a task in series 35 make the best thing to engage a teenager Oh god, that would be grim wouldn't it

A lot harder I'd say Yeah, just bringing the dark web It never occurred to me I'd have to make a moral judgement I mean the child was engaged It never occurred to me I'd have to make a moral judgement. I mean, the child was engaged. The child was engaged in hitting an animal with a hammer. Here, the doggy on the head.

Also, there were sweets inside, and I don't think you really guided her. It was supposed to be like a piñata. Although you call it a pinnache. Oh, yeah. Because I'm half French. I mean, she enjoyed hitting the ducky, but, yeah, she didn't spot the sweets, because I don't think there was anything guiding her to it.

She did look in at the sweets at the end. And then she thought, I don't want to be part of any of this. I don't want to be part of the butchery of this wine. She didn't think she was allowed sweets, because she looked in and hinted and went, oh, sweets, and then I just went, bye now. Task three, the team task. Put the most weight in the hammock without anything falling out of the hammock.

If anything falls out of the hammock, you are disqualified. Most weight in the hammock after 10 minutes wins. Your time starts now. A controversial task, Andy. As close to controversy as taskmaster sales i'd say i'd like to i think we should come out of the gates here and back we gotta back in up here because i think i'm not saying that anything that anyone did was right or wrong i'm saying that you

know i think he's very very harsh on himself and because he's so sad in the studio and you can see it in his eyes he's gutted that he had an argument with lou or that he was shouting or being bossy and i think he makes it worse by doing that i think then people watching it might have gone oh maybe maybe he's being a bit horrible maybe we should be mean to him because of that and i think it caused a bit of a flap online when I don't think it should have done. Ian is a lovely man, as you know, as you can attest to. He is very good friends with Lou.

Sometimes when you're working with Lou, there is a fun thing you can do where Lou does something mad and all over the place and you tell her off. I've done it many times. Check out Outsiders, World's Most Dangerous dangerous roads coming this year it's just it's the fact that lou then pulls back and tries to do the task and ian carries on

being bossy to her it's yes it's a it's a tricky thing and i think we need to revise history and uh and free in from the shackles of his own existential meltdown well i don't think we filming it on the day i don't think we thought anything of it at all. And even in the edit, we thought it was playful. Yeah. But I think Ian probably worried too much. Yeah. And so he felt really bad after the show

and he kept apologising to everyone. And I think he, yeah, I don't think it was like that i thought it's fun when you're arguing the task yeah it's like um yeah like james and rod and phil yeah i think it's uh yeah yes it's it it's a tricky one it's a tricky one but um he's a lovely man ian uh and you know what he cares about taskmastermaster and so does Lou. They wanted to get it right. But I would let that all happen again just to see Paul stood behind a barrel being quiet.

Episode title. Yeah, Barrel Dad. Absolutely fantastic. I really liked seeing those three work together. And of course, the complete opposite, Sean and Joe

just so relaxed there's some lateral thinking going on there they have ideas I'm not sure that the lateral thinking that they went with was acceptable again I think they got away with it slightly the removing of the hammock from

the joists and laying on the floor I don't think those things are in the hammock, I think they're on the hammock from the joists and laying on the floor. I don't think those things are in the hammock. I think they're on the hammock, Andy. Yeah, probably. They get away with it. They do.

I mean, they get three points, so they don't quite get away with it. It should have been five if the things were actually in the hammock. But it's a tricky task. It is a tricky task. I love the bit where Sian suggests taking the hammock off and Joe does one of his patented starting sentences that he never finishes. He does that so much. He goes, ah, I like this.

And then it just stops. He does it all the time. He did it so much on the podcast last week. He's so good at it. And he kind of lets you finish a sentence in your head. Yeah. And it's very clever. Yeah.

I'm not sure he's doing it deliberately, to be honest with you, Andy. I think that's just his personality. What a brilliant contestant. Yeah, they get three points, and it's nought points because the book falls out and this is what people should remember from this task not the argument between Ian and Lou or the back and forth it should be Lou dropping the book and then that isolated

frame of Lou's eyes after she drops that book it's absolutely hilarious she wears it completely on her face it was nought points sadly for Ian, Lou and Barrel Dad and three points for Sian and Joe. We had spent a good seven minutes.

Not seven, that's the number you made up. You said that in quite a petulant manner. Yes, that's why I suggested it. Seven minutes. Yeah, so... Thank God Daddy was there watching on from behind the barrel. In my defence, I came up with the idea that we actually had to put the things on the hammock in the last minute,

otherwise they would fall out. Oh, if it wasn't for Paul Sinner, it would have been me and Lou in a hammock, screaming at each other. Just so I like it. You actually did that thing that small children do at one point, went, please, sir! That has upset me. No end.

That is a horrible insight. You know, as the barrel dads will tell you, these kids have got to make their own mistakes. Let's have a live task. I was so excited when this live task came up. I lost my mind the first time I saw the end of this, when Lou gets the victory. Choose a hoop that

you think you can throw a frying pan into. Choose a distance from which you can throw the frying pan into that hoop. If you choose the big hoop, you have one attempt. If you choose the medium hoop, you have two attempts. And if you choose the small hoop, you have three attempts. The person who throws most of their frying pan into their hoop from the longest distance wins it feels like a classic a classic taskmaster live task there's throwing there's distance there's aim you're using the nap it you know it's there's a lot going on there you've got

to make a decision a tactical decision and look it doesn't go great for a lot going on there. You've got to make a decision, a tactical decision. And look, it doesn't go great for a lot of people. Paul, very cleverly, is the only one to put a hoop near him. Nearly misses it. Nearly misses it. Somehow, nearly misses it. Because he should have just put it straight in front of him, really, but he did put some distance on it.

A little bit, yeah. Yeah. But still. in front of him really but he did put some distance on it a little bit yeah yeah but still and this actually started off as a house task oh really a bit of trivia

so I think it would have been for series 7 it was going to be pick an item put the hoop somewhere and pick an item yeah and yeah

you have one throw but then I felt it was a bit limited but it would be good in the studio environment so yeah and it was really good and yeah you have one throw but then i felt it was a bit limited but it'd be good in the studio environment so yeah yeah and it was really good and yeah it's all about building up to that moment and wow i mean yeah just incredible that i mean lou lou throwing that in from that distance it's incredible it's incredible i mean she seems surprised there's a very extravagant celebration i mean nearly we nearly saw another tumble from the napper.

You might have had to have renamed it the Saunders. No. Well, I really like her. You can hear her excitement when she's running around doing that. And she goes... Which is quite nice. But, yeah. Absolutely brilliant work from Lou.

Amazing work from Paul. Nought points for all the others for being too ambitious and that's that's a lesson to be learned meaning it's uh Joe Lou and Sian tied uh at the end on 15 points where we go to a tiebreaker which is whip a bottle off a barrel while standing behind a rope fastest wins how many how many tie breaks do you shoot per series so i was just looking so i think two made it this series and we've done four um now we're doing three i think three's enough and if we needed a fourth we'd just come up with a studio one yeah so yeah there's a yeah they made two and obviously this is a three-way a three-way one so i don't i can't remember how many there were in your series but we played them individually into

studio should have played three separate 30 second vts into studio and so in that i think you're just seeing how amazing sean was yes you can't really tell in a three-way yeah bt but we still have those somewhere um but yeah almost immediately did you you released some recently right some tie breaks on youtube i think because i think there's a lot of people out there who know that there's unused tasks and unused tie breaks sat there in the Taskmaster vault. And they are absolutely desperate to see them. Yeah. I think we were,

yeah, we, we do have plans. Yeah. Um, but yeah, there's loads, I guess quite a few of them.

Like we've just, we, we do use them again. Yes. I think one won't make it. So I could tell you. Yeah. I think one was using a future suit.

It's like, there's one, uh, one of the tie breaks I did was standing in the living room, and they've got a point north. Right. And closest to north wins. That's great. So it's not very exciting, but it's quite nice. It's good for a tie break, though.

Yeah, it's good for a tie break. But Sian was amazing with the whip. She did it so quickly. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, like a full 40 seconds before anyone else managed it, which is incredible and deserved to take home the victory. Thinking in terms of tie breaks, I can only remember the lasso one, which made it as a full task in the end.

Yeah, apologies. Devastatingly. And then I remember one where I had to shout into a decibel on location yeah to make the loudest the loudest noise and i definitely would have won that one uh and uh then of course the one that was on the last episode of series nine which was use a condiment to keep the poppy toy down and whoever keeps it down longest longest wins i was gonna uh i could i could find out who was the loudest person that would be great um i'll try and do it quickly imagine imagine

having andy's hard drive he's got he's got all that information just at his fingertips here we go studio series nine Series nine. Tie break winners, Doc. So, noise. Is that the one? Yeah, I thought so. Yeah. So, you were beaten by one person for noise, and that was Joe Brand. Yeah, there you go.

That's the only person that could beat me. That's incredible. Yeah, if you think of that noise that she made in the back of the car at the end of jerusalem i guess it was it's probably the same noise tell me the tell me the rest that who won the rest of them bubble wrap you did what was the one that uh so it's how many you popped out of 11 438 balls and uh you wow you won ed you uh you popped in 20 of them and the next person down only did six percent of them oh yes joe brand this is great this is like winning all over again uh breath breath do you remember that no was it saying taskmaster for as long as possible in one breath i think it might have been.

Yeah. Does that ring a bell? Yeah, that rings a bell. Saying the word Taskmaster in one breath for as long as possible. So you won that as well. Pleased to say. Nick Rose was second there. Yeah.

26.9 seconds. Wow. That's such great news. And Sellotape tiebreak. Does that ring a bell sell a tape tie break i didn't realize that was a tie break we there was definitely one where i had to unfurl a roll of sellotape or get it as far away as possible so your tie break was say which is longer the sticky tape on this sticky tape or the toilet roll on two toilet rolls fastest correct answer wins uh so rose won and she just said the right answer straight away in one one second smart you did everything and uh you did get it right but you took 241 seconds so it was a victory for sean in this episode lou is still on top of the series but sean is second

uh lose 12 points ahead i mean it's it's a fairly i think this is one of the only series where it's been fairly cut and dried this early on um yeah you know there's a way to go yeah a long way to go but but we know lou wins um and then paul languishing at the bottom with 51 points um now andy with our guests um we often run through the lineup for series 15 and ask for a prediction on who they think is going to win i'm obviously not going to do that with you you have a huge amount of inside information so do you have a little tease for us for Series 15? Any little sort of crumbs that you can give us? Exclusive crumbs?

Well, it's a tiny crumb, I think. But the team dynamics are very interesting in the series. Okay. Which is a very small tidbit, I realise. When you say very interesting in the series. Okay. Which is a very small tidbit, I realise. When you say very interesting... Yeah. Do you mean they work well together or it's an absolute disaster?

They sometimes work well together. Sometimes. I'm very excited. Do you know all of the comedians well? I mean, is ish I guess well look I know that May is is a fantastic sort of

escape room fan and loves games and loves all of that sort of stuff so I think they're going to be they're going to be excellent I know Ivo very well he's a disaster I know Kyle he is a lot of fun

and I'd be very I will still be very interested to see how he does I'm not sure how he'll be in Taskmaster I've actually not met Frankie but obviously I'm very excited and I can't wait to see what he does and then I've supported Jenny on tour a couple of times

and she's fantastic and she's absolutely just she does not hide what she thinks and she's just, she's full on attacks it so I'm looking forward to seeing that I think that's what you need for Taskmaster I'm very excited and I hope I'm bang on

with my predictions but we'll see and also a little tease is that you make a small appearance Ed So I'm very excited and I hope I'm bang on with my predictions, but we'll see. Good, good. And also a little tease is that you make a small appearance, Ed. That is a good tease, actually. Yes. That's a very good tease. Oh, I didn't know if I was allowed to give that tease, but I'm taking that as a nod from the top there.

I make a small appearance in some sense. Yeah, You certainly do Andy thank you so much for coming on the Taskmaster podcast We always ask our guests to rate their experience On the Taskmaster podcast between We always ask our guests to rate their experience on the Taskmaster podcast between one and five points. Five? Yes! Come on, this has been a day of victories for me. Apart from the sellotape task.

This is brilliant. I'm addicted to podcasting now. This is it. You're just going to have to sit there and just do podcast after podcast. You're going to have to leave Taskmaster. Oh. One. do podcast after podcast you're gonna have to leave taskmaster oh oh one thank you very much andy c thank you very much indeed take care

thank you very much to andy c for coming on the show uh as i think i said during the episode he was very much dropped in it and suggested as a guest by Andy D. Hopefully we can do the reverse one day too. But we will be back next week to talk about Series 8, Episode 5 with another special guest. I've been Ed Gamble. This has been the Taskmaster Podcast.

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