Taskmaster The Podcast - Ep 140. Ivo Graham - S16 Ep.1

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

New series alert!! On this week's podcast Ed is joined by Series 15 contestant Ivo Graham and what a treat we have in store! As well as going through the episode task by task but they also discuss Ivo's Nando themed excel spreadsheet of tasks and we hear all about his go pro dilemmas in Edinburgh. Listen each week to hear from all our new contestants and some very special guests! 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 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can wait for clean water solutions, or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures, or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth, or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Hello, and I'm very happy to say welcome back to the Taskmaster podcast. We've had a little break, of course, having completed our historical episodes. But we are now back because, you may have noticed,

there's a fresh new series of Taskmaster out. Yes, always an incredibly happy day. Series 16 of Taskmaster has started. We have seen the first episode. If you have not seen the first episode, go away, watch it, come back. This will be spoilers galore. This is literally the the point it should just be called taskmaster spoilers that's what the show is uh we will be chatting about this first episode with the brilliant Ivo Graham Ivo Graham of course the uh rock bottom contestant from series 15 uh but he is a wonderful wonderful

man very very funny indeed and we cannot wait to talk to him about this new lineup and what a lineup it is we'll get more into depth in the lineup in the episode we'll be talking about the tasks in this first episode but it's a brilliant introduction to all of them and i'm very very excited for the series so remember this podcast comes out straight after the main show on Channel 4 has been on. That is 9pm Channel 4 every Thursday. This podcast will be out hopefully quite soon afterwards so you can immediately get another hit of Taskmaster Chat.

So without further ado, let's talk to Ivo Graham about Series 16 of Taskmaster Episode 1. Ivo Graham, welcome back to the Taskmaster podcast. Hello, Ed. Thank you for having me back as a now irrelevant former contestant. Yes. Is that how you feel now that you're watching? Of course. Look, we'll get on to the pomp and excitement of a brand new series soon. But we often like to ask previous contestants, watching the new lineup, especially the new lineup directly after your episode yes how do you how do you feel about that do you do you feel like you're on the scrap heap no but i remember dara uh talking to you on the

podcast i think about how he felt it was so instantaneous yeah you know particularly for him as the winner which admittedly was not um uh something I was sort of threatening by that point but how it was sort of you know no dwelling no dwelling for a second in the relentless churn of Taskmaster and you know on the one hand I've got to experience this fantastic thing for so long in its sort of anticipation filming chapters and in the studio and then the build up to it. So, you know, and I'm coming off the back of a summer where I've got to enjoy doing the Edinburgh Fringe and tour dates to be able to just watch Taskmaster and stuff.

So, you know, it is time. Yes. It is time. It's time to pass the torch. Although I don't think, I think the winner holds the torch perhaps. I think maybe you've got one to pass the torch, although I don't think... I think the winner holds the torch, perhaps. I think maybe you've got one finger on the torch pretending that you're helping lift it.

I went to watch a cricket game with John Kearns earlier this summer, and I wanted to take a wooden spoon to get a photograph of him passing me the wooden spoon. But the reasons this fell down were twofold. Number one, though John, particularly earlier on in his series, was very much playing that role. I think he came sort of equal last or equal fourth,

you might even say, with Fern. And I think there was a lot more dignity to it than mine, where Jack Bernhardt made one of those graphs of people's position over time on Taskmaster. And at one point, I just disappear off the graph. But that is a claim to fame in itself. You've at least done something remarkable in the history of Taskmaster. I've gone off graph.

You've at least done something remarkable in the history of Taskmaster. I've gone off graph. Could Jack maybe have expanded the axes to keep me in view? Who's to say? So I thought John might not appreciate being sort of called the wooden spooner of S14. And also, you know, what are the good people at Lord's going to say? Don't mind me and my spoon. I'm just on a relentless hunt for nostalgic content

this you are either this is what strikes me about you i've never known anyone to invest so much time and effort in into something like that to be to be like i'm gonna get a wooden spoon we're gonna make this work we have to get this photo and you will be i know you you would have been thinking about that for days beforehand right at the expense of quite a lot of professional projects i mean you say get uh wooden spoon i mean i um uh i've got i've got wooden spoons yes that was the simplest part of the operation if anything and you know one i'd be happy to have had confiscated uh at the case of Lords, assuming I've got my photograph in.

I think a photograph of me and John having our, brackets, my wooden spoon confiscated, in many ways, that's the content that I should have chased. Yeah, two Taskmaster losers attempting the simplest of tasks, get a wooden spoon into a sports ground. And also, spoons were not your friend during your series of Taskmaster, of course.

Spoons were not my friend. I may as well have tried to magnetise a wooden spoon. Apparently, the spoon's in the drawer. Yeah, that's been the one that people have... I mean, we talked about this when I was on last time. And obviously, we are here to talk about the next, or some people are calling them, current cast of Taskmaster. But I think of all the myriad failures,

the specific trying to do too much in a certain amount of time and ruining not just my own task, but someone else's task in pursuit of a sort of outside the box dream that wouldn't have worked anyway and might have resulted in personal injury that's just that's my whole thing yes in in in in one sort of short bit and that's the one that most sort of friends and family have made reference to in a sort of like this is what we live with sort of way. Since Taskmaster, I've noticed particularly, and I feel like this might be a way of you trying to redeem yourself from your bottom place in Taskmaster,

that when you've been comparing gigs, there's been a lot of setting yourself tasks of maybe chatting to someone in the front row about uh you know brand flakes and then challenging yourself to run to a shop by brand flakes and bring them back by the time the next section starts yeah and also your your show well one of your shows in edinburgh this year had a very sort of games driven element to it that you were playing with the audience is this is this an attempt to show to the taskmaster universe that you can come out on top when it comes to uh silly little games well i hoped it'd be sort of win-win in terms of uh come out on top redemption um don't come out on top more likely uh here's some more of that failure

you've all enjoyed uh but um uh i think my ember this year was characterized by me again just quite willfully making life quite stressful for myself. And I had a lot of fun doing my sort of more sort of games orientated show. But the results and the reviews were mixed. I saw Stuart Laws very early on in the fringe and he said, I've just been helping Ivo. He's trying to work out a way of strapping a GoPro to audience members' heads so they can run through the street doing games.

And then I saw him one weekend and I said, how's the GoPro going? And Stu said, yeah, we ditched the GoPro. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you could have seen him one day later and that would have been concluded. I went absolutely mad about this GoPro idea on the first 24 hours of Edinburgh. So there were various sort of games and races. And as I've discussed with you, and as you've been, unfortunately, and I apologise again, sort of privy to and disrupted by at our gigs,

such as that one in Brighton where I got all those Freddos. I'm just in such a running to supermarkets place in my life now that I was desperate to get that into the show. And so I wanted to, and I mapped this all out beautifully in a Word document that I sent to all of my agent and production team a cool four hours before the technical rehearsal and 22 hours before the first show in Edinburgh, where amongst other japes, which was slightly more planned and rehearsed,

I thought you get two audience members and the audience members were involved in the show. And I don't want to say too much, lest some of this end up in the tour, although we're still doing quite a lot of sort of town by town risk assessments at the moment. And I'm pretty sure this this ain't going to happen anywhere. So it was, could people be sent to get a specific item? I wanted to get a meal dealings. I had a bit about meal deals from a shop as quickly as possible.

And, and so first it would be the, the thrill of people nominating themselves to doing it. We, we, we all love, you know, volunteering to leave and miss quite a big

proportion of a show we paid for, don't we? So send them off and you've got the fun of seeing how long they take the fun of seeing what meal deals they return with. Possibly they didn't have to eat the meal deals at speed that also fell down the risk assessment. But I did like the twist that with the help of a technical supervisor and dear friend Stuart Laws Stu can you lend me GoPros and actually can you come to the tech rehearsal and do this thing with me because my faith in it is wobbling and what people would the two audience members would be brought into the foyer where members of the Pleasance team who were pretty baffled by all

this as well, would fit them with GoPros. And then they would wear the GoPros as they ran to local Tesco. And then as they arrived back, the GoPros would be removed. So the audience wouldn't know about the GoPros. Then we'd have the what meal deal have you brought bit of fun. And then at the end of the show, the GoPro footage would be broadcast as a little sort of closing scene

Easter egg. Now the good news is that Stu and I did this, and it took us five minutes to get to Tesco, get a meal deal and get back. And then my friend Luca, who was basically in charge of the tech and most of the sort of emotional pastoral care of the show, she was able to upload it and then play it a few minutes later. And the two of us running in split screen racing to Tesco's, it looked awesome. Yeah.

The bad news was that Stu and I have done many fringes. So we know where Tesco's is. And a lot of people at present are saying things like, but what if people just don't know where a shop is? And I was saying things like, we'll give them a laminated map. And also it was hammering it down with rain on the first night of edinburgh so or you know any sort of worries that oh what if people slip on the famous sort of cobbled hills of edinburgh en route to a uh you know shop they don't know the whereabouts of wearing gopros they could well just steal um oh i hadn't even thought of that they could just keep

running it really is one of those plans where you know you do not run out of reasons why it can't work you just what do you think about it and in the end uh that whole thing was was was was was was jettisoned and it and two people from the audience were sent briefly out of the room. But even that was quite stressful. So I was relieved every single day that people weren't trying to run to Tesco to get meal deals. Also, the guy in Tesco looked at when I'm running into Tesco with a GoPro on your head and buying a meal deal at speed is quite a self-conscious experience. speed is quite a self-conscious experience. The thought that the same person or people in Tesco staff and regular evening customers would see this every single night. And it would presumably become something they either sort of prepared for

whimsically or, you know, tried legally to outlaw. Very high. And because of the GoPro people saw me, we watched the footage, but you could see my car details as I entered that. So that's another issue. So what you're saying is there's not much chance of you taking over any of the task writing on Taskmaster going forward?

Well, you know, I've listened to enough of your podcasts with Tim to know that it is, you know, a role which he brings different levels of passion and dedication to, depending on um you know a a you know a role which he um brings different levels of passion and dedication to depending on you know right but it depends on what day you ask him about it actually i think that's it yes um yeah he never wants to say the same thing that's the issue um i uh yes he's he's he's he's he's a deliciously evasive interviewee. Yes. We have a new cast. Hugely exciting new cast.

What did you think when you heard about this new bunch when they were announced? What were your first thoughts, Ivo? Well, I think one of the things that's so... I mean, firstly, I think it's a fantastic cast. I think... I wouldn't describe any Taskmaster cast

as being anything other than a fantastic mix of people. Obviously, at the benefit of seeing them all and enjoying them all. But even beforehand, and they're already whispers of s17 you sort of you just can't wait to see how it uh how it works i have seen all five of them in at least a couple of things some i'm more familiar with than others but um what is mad i think about this sort of almost like arrogance of not learning from one's own experience

is like and also possibly this sort of slight infusion of of bitterness about them taking the uh the mantle slash crown slash spoon is that i looked at i went it's a funny combination as if like any taskmaster yeah before watching the series so it makes sense as if you know uh Boyle, Eclair, Martin, Smith, Bino and Graham are like well I guess those five would have been hanging out anyway so I may as well film yeah I think that's that's always the beauty of taskmaster lineups is that you could never imagine them hanging out together there's never they're not a gang are they but the key is they become a gang over the next 10 episodes so i'm interested to see how all that works out so i'll run through the lineup quickly because you know we're obviously

going to be talking about each one of them individually uh of course we've got julian clary we've got sam campbell we've got lucy beaumont we've got susan wacoma and we've got Sam Campbell, we've got Lucy Beaumont, we've got Susan Wacoma, and we've got Sue Perkins. What a lineup. Yes. I'd say more than ever, maybe, this is a surprising gang, though. Because Clary you very rarely see on anything like a panel show. He doesn't really do stand-up anymore. He does a lot of brilliant things,

but he sort of feels almost like a legendary person who's now slightly outside the world of live comedy certainly so to see him on this line up is absolutely exciting and fantastic and he's brilliant on this first episode and I can't wait to see what comes up in the next ones

Perkins obviously always being comedy adjacent herself started off in a comedy double act with the wonderful Mel but just great to see her in there. Campbell, now Campbell I think this is the one that most comedians were very excited about when he was

announced Yes I'm almost loathe to add to the clamour of comedian excitement around Sam Campbell. Because, you know, and obviously I've now watched this episode and have to begrudgingly say that a tenth of the way in, he's already been ingenious and hilarious because he is, you know, a pretty sort of phenomenal sort of comic brain. you know, a pretty sort of phenomenal sort of comic brain.

But it's, you know, as someone who is quite, you know, broadly, you know, I am now experimenting with my sort of unworkable, unproducible sort of shop japes. But, you know, fundamentally, I am a slow moving sort of vanilla act. And, you know, when you've got genuine live wires in in in your in your industry it does make you feel very boring when you know you're someone like the edinburgh fridge and there's a constant like you know i was very lucky to uh get to do um a couple of extra shows at the pleasant's grand this year which is a real like dream come true sam campbell was using the pleasant's grand for a prank he was doing a show where he just did 10 minutes

at the Grand and called it Bulletproof 10. And, you know, it was a funny sort of juxtaposition. It makes you wonder how he got two people to Tesco him back within that time. Don't you dare. Don't you dare suggest I hadn't even contemplated that Sam would even do the Tesco

idea better and funnier than me, of course. But yes, we're very excited to see him on the series. Wacoma, absolute legend, Susan Wacoma. One of the best comedy actors this country has ever seen. And she's a proper laugh. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how she works out on the rest of the series. And Beaumont.

Beaumont for me, I don't really know Lucy that well. We've gigged together a few times. We've not had the sort of pleasure of hanging out together too much, but I think we'll get into it in this episode. I think she set her stall out very early and I think she could, she could go down as one of the funniest Taskmaster contestants ever. Well, that's, I mean, I think they're all great. And I think, you know, episode one down, well on course.

But it's interesting to hear you go through it, almost surgically, I would say, Ed, and observing the backstories. And also the sort of grey areas as well, where like you've got, you're talking about Julian being like a legend you might not have expected to see on Taskmaster when, you know, because there is usually a sort of bit of a generational mix. talking about julian being like a legend you might not have expected to see on task and i said when you know because there is usually a sort of bit of a generational mix you sometimes hear like i'm

someone who spends a lot of time talking about like fest music festival lineups and whether like certain bands who've been going for a while are better suited or artists that's better suited to like the sunday afternoon legend slot at glass of free or whether they're like an evening headline and actually which is better and how actually the legend is obviously often the sort of most prized slot of the weekend. And similarly, you've got that. You've got some people where they're a bit more,

as you say, comedy adjacent. And then you go, ooh, I didn't know whether you were a New Year's treat contentor, you know, versus a sort of full series. And then, you know, and then you've got Sam Campbell where the question is, you know, taskmaster australia feel about this yes well i've spoken to sam about that and uh i think he is he is going to try and get on that as well of course he is he's a cheeky little imp he wants to be the first person to cross the international taskmaster

boundary oh he'll probably burrow through the centre of the earth or something. You know, Mark Silcox behind him with a head torch. Yeah, I can see it. Let's get into it though. Let's get into the prize task. The first prize task of Series 16. Always an exciting moment. And the prize task is the most wonderful

wooden thing that they've owned for a while. I guess we needn't ask you what you'd bring in. We've already discussed it at length. What, any of the spoons I've managed to hand over to Curds? Yes. Yeah, I mean, I tried to think about what I would do with this, and then it started making me as stressed as picking my actual price tasks,

which was some of the most stressful experiences of my 2022. I'm going to sell my producer out here because uh rather than me putting this in my own voice which is what i think she was hoping i would do after the prize task category on my notes uh the producer daisy has written in red by the way she's changed the color for this ivo didn't win any prize tasks yes yeah no i didn't and you know i don't even i i'm gonna consult my uh the excel spreadsheet that i sent you of my of my of my uh task records okay well um you emailed me that did you yeah i emailed you an excel document that i made uh yes uh where i've ranked every single one of my 50 Taskmaster tasks

with my score and then I've used the Nando's colour coding scheme to indicate my level of regret on it. It is fantastic, Ivo. When you sent this to me, I was like, of course Ivo's the person to do this. And it's so fun that someone has put so much effort into

documenting every task. Well, pointless, yes yes but also you lost if if someone had won i think this would be gross but the fact that you lost makes it absolutely charming yeah i um uh well you know charming is one word for um uh you know sort of putting all of one's taskmaster regrets into a um you know, colour-coded Excel Nando's document, you know, when you still haven't written a thank you letter to your great aunt. And I'm seeing her for her birthday in two weeks. But anyway, I'm looking at the prizes and, you know, I enjoy presenting my prize tasks

and I thought some of them were fun, but I can't see any that should have won, really. I think what's a bit of a shame was I did like putting a sneaky, a tiny, tiny dictionary inside a fake dictionary, which is one of those book boxes for sneakiest thing. That was the one I, you know, if I'd had to pick any of the 10, I was like, what are you most proud of? But I think that was the week where everyone absolutely brought it on the price tasks yeah and people were sort of doing sneak pranks on each other um with that you know and may have put things in our pockets oh it was a pleasure to lose that one um and i i don't think there's any i'm looking at the excel spreadsheet now which if you can make public ivo i think people would really appreciate that. I don't see any prize tasks that have been rated as extra hot on the Nando scale in terms of regret. Well, the very first task of the whole thing was the most dependable item that weighs about a kilogram.

And I brought in the wrong amount of loo rolls because Wikipedia misled me on the weight of a loo roll. And I regret that very much for putting too much trust in Wikipedia, for going against my own instincts about how much a loo roll might weigh, for implying that I've never done my own sort of manual ablutions, and for starting the whole series on a one-pointer. But yeah, nothing too bad for the rest of that. And I don't know what I've done for this wooden thing, really. I've got a few options. Sorry, I just want to read out my highlight of this whole thing.

Episode six, task three. Bash big bell with bowling ball, don't touch grass. And you've got some notes for your performance. Touch the grass, but had a great time. Disqualified. Touch the grass, but had a great time. What what's your wooden things Ivo what you're bringing in well um I probably bring in and it's you know it's a bit miserably on brand vis-a-vis being posh and uh uh you know a sort of physical uh dead weight but um I loved being the scorer for the Colts A in 2001 in cricket at my boarding school.

And at the end of the season, they gave me a miniature wooden bat signed by the team. And that has been cherished in my childhood bedroom at my parents' house alongside the screaming clay face, which I wish I'd brought in for part of the thing that makes it most uneasy every time you look at it. So that's an option. Or if I went on

the sentimental parental route, which didn't get me a lot of points when I brought in one of my daughter's puzzles, probably the wooden bus that she played with more, I'd say, than any other toy when she was a toddler

and where I allowed her to put all of the wooden figurines from her wooden bus in the bath with her but then in a bit of science which i didn't sort of anticipate or really understand they they swelled up so they now can't fit in the bus so it would be a great way of getting getting rid of some defunct passengers it's a good story as well although i mean the sentimentality did not work with greg with the puzzle so i feel like you've not learned from any of your mistakes on Taskmaster there. I haven't, although I would say in a show which is immaculately planned and produced

and an aspect of it, the prize tasks where, you know, they do have to turn over quite a lot of these different bring an item briefs. I still look back at thing you take everywhere, but struggle to fit in your bag as one of the biggest hospital passes. With the best one in the world, fuck off. It's hockey season and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything.

So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Let's get on to what the new contestants bring.

Julian Clary is straight out the gate. Straight out the gate, no messing around. Lovely table. A wooden table that is four bums from what I can work out. It's four bums. And I think the sweetest cherry on top of this cake is the fact that he had it commissioned. Yeah, it's fantastic.

It's not something he stumbled across. It's something he had specifically commissioned. He said, I want four bums on that table, please. And what a table it is. Yeah, it's really, it's it's really um uh it's it's a it's a it's a beautiful piece and uh i think just you know being able to to you know that that's again i think something you get from your from your both your cooler customers um and just slightly experienced customers is you're able to look back on a life uh not just a sort of a shambles of a 20s um and say things like oh i once had this table commissioned and it both be a perfect

sort of um you know uh item that represents you know lots of aspects of your public uh sort of comedy but also something that you've had long enough now and basically can sack off to task master yes absolutely i think i like the insight that this gives into Julian's life. And I mean, the insight is not necessarily surprising. I imagine he lives in a fabulous house with lots of incredible artistic pieces and, you know, bums pop up now and again. So it didn't shock me, but it's nice to know that some of my ideas have been confirmed. Well, our friend John Robbins has been losing his mind over the Freddie Mercury auction in the last couple of weeks. And this did put in mind quite what a fury there might be

around a Julian Clary auction. If these are the sorts of cast-offs that he can afford to flog for Taskmaster, what's in the rest of the estate? Absolutely. Not that we're wishing Julian's life away, of course, but I will be. Sorry. I'm sorry, Lansing, I wish to reply. But I will be putting a bid in for the bum

table. Who to? Who to? Sue Perkins, this is another great prize, actually, bringing in a piece of art that she claims I do have to say that she claims it's been painted

by Henry the chimpanzee I mean I think I do believe her because look she's had she's had an incredible life and she's got a lot of great stories and I love the sort of just calm way with which she delivers this story that she went to a monkey sanctuary and one of them painted her a picture i'd be i'd be over the moon

you'd be uh would you be would you be would you be bringing that into taskmaster i think you i don't mean in a sort of you know do you think that's good enough way but no i would absolutely be bringing it into taskmaster but it wouldn't have the same impact because as soon as it happened to me i'd be putting it on Instagram for the next three weeks. So everyone would know about it. I wouldn't shut up about it. Have you been to a monkey sanctuary? Have I been to a monkey sanctuary?

I have seen monkeys. I actually went to a monkey sort of reserve type thing in Japan, but it's you are in the cage and the monkeys roam free. Right. So you know, there's sort of monkeys on a Japanese taskmaster who are presenting Ed Gamble's artwork. What a, look, let's be honest.

The format works great. I think the only thing they're yet to do is rather than have human contestants have chimps. That's next surely. It's human contestants, have chimps. That's next, surely. It's kids first, then chimps. That's how they're using us. As we learn from Bake Off. I'd imagine that's coming up next year.

Do you think Sue will do better or worse than Mel at Taskmaster? Oh, good question. I think Sue, to me, at the moment, feels slightly more collected, maybe, like less crazy. But we'll see. You never know. I think she'll be very good at the prize tasks. I think it's just years of doing TV and knowing what works and years of research calls. Well, there's also that, yes, research calls, not mine, or if I may say your favourite aspect of life in our industry. Where a member of production calls you up and says,

oh, we're doing a, you know, say if they don't do it on Taskmaster, by the way, which is yet another reason why it's the best show on TV. They'll call you up and be like, oh, we're doing, say what I like to you, going, oh, can you think of any stories? And you're like, well, give me three days and I'll send you an email but I'm on the spot here but I feel like Sue could just absolutely go yes here's a story see you later and get on with the next thing and I think it's going to serve her well yes I think um and there's also that thing of uh you know Taskmaster having been an institution for a bit longer so um you you can sort of watch the show

and they come to it with a bit more insight in what works and having maybe thought for a bit longer. So you can sort of watch the show and come to it with a bit more insight in what works and having maybe thought for a bit longer about what you might do. Or in my case, none of that. Live every task in every moment like you've just been born. Sam Campbell, again, as Julian and Sue did, he's come straight out the gates

sam immediately establishes who he is uh his aesthetic absolutely no soft sell from sam here brings in a pinocchio where everything is long apart from the nose i mean absolutely haunting yeah it's and again you you um i'm not saying always that you want to hear more about price tasks or indeed that there's more is to say about price tasks i know i can wang on uh and did sometimes in an attempt to claw back any points at all in the prices but sometimes i just did not have that much to say whereas the fact that we um we didn't even i don't think we even learn like where it's from no you know Whereas the fact that we didn't even, I don't think we even learned where it's from. You know, the fact that that's, you know, it's such a brilliant comic idea like Pinocchio,

but everything else goes on when he's lied to. You know, if that's a Campbell original, has that been commissioned for the show? And fair play, you know, people like Luke in the Taskmaster prize department, they can help you along, but I wouldn't want to be told. Can you make a Pinocchio where everything is long apart from the nose? I feel like it was a Campbell original or that he had that commission because it's very him, that it feels like the sort of thing he would do

and the joke is great as well. But then what I would argue is if it has been commissioned for the show, has he owned it for a while? We've got to be strict on these things. Yes, it's not like you're cricket back from your scoring days back in 2001.

Absolutely not. Two decades worth of tragedy behind it. Yeah. If the whole school had signed his Pinocchio, then I'd be fine with it. But no, it's a fantastic start from Sam. Susan Wacoma, this was great. A wind chime from Costa Rica.

Just very earnestly presented. And then you see that look in Susan's eyes that I've seen many a time on a Taskmaster contestant that sort of says oh i've realized i've judged this completely wrong and it's the it's the first prize task of 10 well also i think you can hear julian in the background saying it's not really wooden i i think it's julian i who um i've I find myself already listening out for little sort of sliding from Clary. You know, I think, you know, we obviously, I think our cast were quite a fun cast for holding each other to account about things and particularly that in the competitiveness sort of come out a bit more in the later episodes.

But knocking up one of your two co-contestants prize toss in episode one is so funny to me. The likes of that has not been seen since Ardalo Hanlon, who just viciously ripped apart whatever he could that other people had done, mainly

because he knew he'd fucked up. Lucy Beaumont, this is what I mean. She absolutely sets her stall out early. It's a wooden picture of a boxer dog that is possessed. And there's a long story about them moving into their house and then every night she felt the ghost of a boxer dog get into bed with her. And then they found that, so it must be possessed.

Lucy believes that, right? I don't get any sense that Lucy's saying any of that for a joke. Yeah. I can't add to that, Ed. I, too, am absolutely baffled by it. And I think that sort of thing will only be fleshed out with more evidence later in the series. Yeah, I can't wait. I'm so excited.

You know, I've watched lots of Lucy's solo work in stand-up and otherwise. But I have also obviously, I'm sure many people watched a lot of her stuff with John. You know, the defining husband and wife comedy act of their generation. Absolutely. And it sort of alternates between knowing, you know, Lucy is so, you know, sometimes it feels like she's just completely in charge of that, of that whole universe. Yeah. And John's lucky to be, you know, sort of just sort of smiling and,

and, and, and quipping next to her. And, and sometimes Lucy sort of looks like it's her first time on television. And, and you, and it's,

it's, and you go, well, if there's enough of the first one, then the second one must surely be the sort of fake one. Yes. Is, is, does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I've not conveyed that very well at all i just think i think it's well someone who is clearly that in

control can put the second one on yeah when they need it and but all i know is she is just absolutely hilarious so uh but deserves one point for this picture of a boxer dog because as Greg points out, the picture is not wooden the frame is wooden Susan gets two points for the wind chime, Sam gets three points for the Pinocchio, which is the exact score I didn't expect it to get

I thought it would be five or one for something so horrific looking I imagine Sam is riled by any three pointer Yes, absolutely, that's not how he lives his life. Four points for Sue Perkins and five points for Julian Clary's bum table. I brought in a wooden table that I once had commissioned. Here is his wooden table. And we're off. Yes. Start as you mean to go on. My friend was married to a furniture maker and I suggested what I would like and he made it. About 30 years ago, I think.

And now you think you've outgrown it? Well, it was hard to part with, but I thought it might win me a point. Task one. What a start this is. Build a tower out of cans in the lab. You must put on your blindfold in this room and wear it properly for the rest of the task. Tallest tower wins.

You have five minutes. Your time starts now. Now, before we talk about this task, Ivo, during them receiving this task, there is a mention of a secret task. Yeah, that made my head hurt immediately. Yes, but if you had been told during an early task i'm assuming this is quite early in the series uh do you think you're going

to find the secret task what would have been your thought process and how would you how would you have acted on it i would have said no i don't think i'll find it and if you ask me again i'll quit the show no i think you would have well i know what i would have done i would have been tearing the house apart yeah i do think it's um the problem is you know yeah i think that would have made sense to sort of go well it must be a there must be some sort of physical quest involved and if i you know just every time i'm in a room i'm looking where i'm told not to look in the room yeah but then i think a combination of how um good and clever taskmaster and its team are and how um uh sort of generally behind the action i have tended to be in these sorts of things i'm like i'd be looking in the wrong sort of dimension like it wouldn't

be it wouldn't be something to do with something that was physically hidden. It would be to do with a different meaning in a completely different sense or something that's happening outside of the confines of the house. So I'd actually, if that would be the best thing to do would be to look for physical things in the house that were particularly unusual, nothing to do with the individual tasks you were given.

But I would also bet with near certainty that that would yield nothing. That would just be something I would do to show that I was doing something yeah well uh we will see how that develops across the series if indeed it does develop across the series and it's not just a ruse to get inside people's heads because it's in my head now and I'm just doing the podcast about it I'm so angry I also think like how what leeway would you have for essentially like tearing up the house? You know, because they're really fantastic how quickly they, you know, do these often quite complex. I mean, the Tower of Cairns, which we'll come to.

But, you know, if you also were like, well, you've told me there's a secret task. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to go and like tip everything out of every drawer in the kitchen. You know, see you in 10 yeah it's already come a point where andrew or amy or someone would be like um yeah sorry that's not a secret task and we need to go home please stop doing this um well let's talk about the can task uh because it is a tricksy taskmaster twist there is of course already an existing tower of cans in the lab uh not something that would have occurred to me immediately i'll be honest uh i'm i feel like if i'm honest with myself i would be in the gang of people walking straight into that that tower of

cancer knocking them all over i'd be crashing straight in i'm not a cautious man um i mean need i ask you ivo what do you reckon is happening with you? Impossible to say for sure. I think I'm a blunderer for sure. But I also think, as we saw when I was walking around with Frankie guiding me towards spoons, I'm quite cowardly with a blindfold on. I don't like my unexpected bumps. So I don't think I would charge into the room necessarily. I also think it's, I mean, it was cinematic seeing even the sort of slow tumbles of even half the towers from a few people. And I think, as I said to a lot of the team

when I saw a few of them last week, I think it's one of the most cinematic uh bits of taskmaster that tower crashing down that i've seen it's it's right up there with with uh with dara sort of collapsing to the floor and the garage covered of covered of you know polaroids of hands yeah just what a great image it is but i think between five of them you wanted one person to run right into them really fast instant explosion and i think I think it's a shame. It's nice that we got the halfway house, the combination of both techniques from Sue,

who crawls cautiously into the room and then slowly crawls directly into the can and knocks the whole tower over and announces what an absolute shower of shit you are. And then says, is there another tower? Oh, we dare to dream. It is amazing. And somehow trying to get points

by just sort of gathering the cans towards her and scooping them into her lap as if that represents a tower. Much like, this is much like, reminds me of Acasterters cardboard box tower in the series 7 where he attempted to say that if he sort of threw a box up a tree then that was all part of the same tower but yes an absolute disaster for Sue but again what a joy to watch all those cans cascading down yeah you think is there

room better yeah will you see anything cascade better in your life? It's the best cascade in Taskmaster history, I say. We get to see a little bit of Lucy spending far too long talking about the blindfold in a can. Where do you buy blindfolds in a can, Cesare? Yeah, good point. Eventually finds her way out of the room and just smashes the place up, really.

Again, gathers them into a little pile, but gets a six-can tower, so it wasn't all lost. She didn't give up. I felt like Sue gave up a little bit. Well, yeah. I think you've got to try and pop the cans on top of each other a little bit. Nothing against Sue.

But equally, I can also see how how once you've made the main tower, the pre-existing tower crash, it's going to be very difficult to summon up the sort of enthusiasm to do anything anymore. I don't know. I mean, it depends how early this was in the filming process. If this was actually the first task they filmed, then I would have been downhearted, yes,

but I would have really gone for it in trying to build some sort of tower Susan another one of Team Knockdown knocks the tower over has more cans remaining at the end of that which is pretty good and ends up with an 11 can tower but again very funny I could

watch people walk into those cans all day yeah if anything I do hope they've... I hope they've filmed maybe just one of the team running into the full tower. I just want to see that, really. Yeah. Now, Julian and Sam managed to basically

leave most of the tower standing. So Sam walks in very slowly, touches one can and realises that there's an existing tower, desperately tries to reach up to the top of the cans and says he's never felt such high things. Wonderful to watch this poise from Campbell. Now, what did you think Sam was going to be like

going into Taskmaster? Because personally, I think I had a preconception of Sam that he was going to be definitely funny, yes, but more chaotic and a bit more gung-ho, whereas this task seems to be suggesting someone who's a bit more cautious and someone who actually wants to win a task. Yeah, I mean, I think I've made my feelings quite clear on this subject.

He's full of surprises and I can't bear it. I mean, I think there's an intricacy to a lot of like, he makes videos online which require presumably a huge amount of technical specificity. So there's clearly a patience there that obviously will serve you quite well on taskmaster. I think that makes lots of sense. Do you think Julian had

patience or do you think he's just already exasperated with the whole thing? I'd say Julian's definitely the most exasperated cast member already. Yeah, and certainly with with Alex it's instant yeah yeah their relationship seems he does he does great he says yeah winning winning means absolutely nothing to Julian and I think that's very clear

from the off um he like he he knocked some cans away but manages to add a can on top, which I think if I was in the situation where I somehow left the tower standing, I wouldn't feel confident enough to add anything on top. I'm just leaving that alone. Whereas both Sam and Julian are putting stuff on top, and Sam even lies down. Yeah, if I've somehow managed to knock over the tower and realise that there is already a great tower,

I'm going nowhere near it not touching it but these guys they're dedicated they're braver than I am they're brave here we go, it's a good start from Sam Campbell, 5 points for Sam

4 points for Julian, 3 points for Susan 2 points for Lucy and 1 point for Sue. I think they've lost the tower there, you know. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Still got two minutes. Task two. It's the first team task of the series. It feels rare that we get a team task so early on in Task 2, it's the first team task of the series. It feels rare that we get a team task so early on in Taskmaster,

but we get to know the teams immediately. And I would have been happy with any combination for the teams on this series, I think. But Julian, Sam and Lucy and the Sous. Sous and Susan are a team as well. Let's talk briefly about the meeting of the two teams. Yes. Well, this is, you know, I don't think I'd really,

despite having watched most of them individually, I don't think I'd clock that this was such a sort of noble taskmaster tradition till I, if I may say, contributed to the tradition of unbelievably awkward you know sort of meetings that are so awkward that you would imagine they were pre-planned if you didn't sort of know that that would be

completely against the spirit of Taskmaster you know if they were like oh everything's going to be a surprise we're going to prepare it all for you just have fun oh and also here's Frankie Boyle's number. Could you plan? We like it if people have the most awkward meeting possible.

So if you could sort of test for a bit about how. No, they do somehow come about sort of very organically. And I mean. This is up there in the Hall of Fame awkwardness, though. Especially. You've got, oh, good God, it's David Baddiel from Sirius Knight. But then there's, you god, it's David Baddiel from Series 9. But then there's just... Well, yours and Frankie's

definitely Hall of Fame. And Richard Herring and Daisy May Cooper, where Daisy physically moves away from Richard when he enters the room. But yeah, Julian, Sam and Lucy. I mean, Sam's not not helping sam looks so upset that it's a team test day and then when he's told that they're a team just goes oh great

just phenomenal like it's so awkward it's brilliant and the sews the sews are a bit more they're a bit more friendly i think they become fast friends pretty quickly but it's still not it's still not the sort of natural chemistry that you'd expect you'd expect to see oh no and yeah it's no it's it's lovely it's you know it's a it's a breath of fresh air um you know compared to the uh whatever i mean obviously on taskmaster they it's a bit of intel which you might be able, but probably not prepared to give sit left to right in terms of just alphabetical names is there any system to how the teams are picked? I dare say this is something that's

speculated about extensively online Well in series six I believe there is a joke in the studio where Alex says people often ask me how we put the teams together. And in this case, it was schedule. Right.

All schedule based. I think sometimes they want people who know each other. Sometimes they do it by age. Sometimes they do it by gender. I think in our series, it was David and Joe together, obviously, and then me, Katie and Rose. It was David and Joe together, obviously, and then me, Katie and Rose. And that worked perfectly because Joe and David,

you know, couldn't give a shit. They did everything quite slowly. It was very, very funny. And then me, Katie and Rose were very over-exuberant. I think it just depends on sometimes it's scheduled. Sometimes they can see a natural way of doing it. It's just the Suze, as you know, i suppose and uh um hopefully susan's happy with that uh it's just so it's just so much more um it's so it's so much warmer it's like though

it's like oh uh those those those are the two people who um would talk to a stranger at a party yeah whereas uh you've got sam and julian you don't feel a sort of terrific relief that the deadpan energy of Lucy Bone wants to go back to the attitude decisions Let's talk about the task, part one connect the most individual parts of one person to individual parts of another person

all members of your team must be connected you have ten minutes, your time starts now let's talk about what happened here first, because as it turns out, this is not part of the task at all, really. This doesn't matter one bit. But I think it's a good insight into what they're going to be like as contestants.

The Siouxs throw themselves into it. Yeah, cause themselves physical pain. They cause themselves physical pain. They use the opportunity to torture Alex as well by claiming that he was doing it for some sort of twisted sexual purpose, that he wanted women to crocodile clip their nipples together. It's very, very funny. And they do too good a job,

bearing in mind what the second part of the task was. But very funny to watch. This is another insight into sam's mind i think because what have you got more of than hair yeah what have you got more of than hair and he suggests cutting their hair and putting them together to create like i mean you know loads of connections i think it's so smart i don't think there's many other people that would have thought of that. No. Yeah, it's, you know, you get a haircut into the bargain. You get a haircut into the bargain from, well, if you're Julian,

the haircut is either from Lucy Beaumont or Sam Campbell. I don't know which I prefer. Probably Sam, given that at some point you can hear Lucy suggesting to cut the hair, they use a saw. Right. given that at some point you can hear Lucy suggesting to cut the hair, they use a saw. Right. Yeah.

It's brilliant. And it creates an almost sort of, like it's mad watching the simplicity of the second part of the task. Yeah, it is. After that. After that. Yeah. Part two, you are now ready for the actual task. Cross the finish line with all connections still connected fastest wins if you're sam you've got to feel

absolutely chuffed and vindicated by that point haven't you well it's just you know you've they've set up a task where it's almost like yeah i mean obviously it goes without saying i wouldn't have thought outside the box at all it i would have just charged into as much clamping as pass. And so you imagine if you've got two teams, you'll be looking at a hilarious difficulty level of anywhere between six and 10 out of 10 difficulty for the actual task based on how many things they've tied up and to which limbs.

And it's like, ooh, let's see what it looks like with like one out of 10 difficulty. Just three people crossing a lawn with a clump of hair. It's fantastic. They come back to the studio and, you know, Sam compares the team to the divers that saved all the boys in the cave. Yes, naturally. You know, they may not get on immediately.

But now I feel, did you feel like when they were cutting their hair, it almost looked like accelerated bonding? It was almost like a blood pact. Yes, well, I think they suggested that blood would have been the only thing that could have been more intimate and make more connections. Yeah, it's frankly cultish. But ultimately, what is Taskmaster but a cult that has got out of hand? Of course, it was an easy win for JLS, the Natural Friends.

11.5 seconds, they crossed the line in, and the Siouxs lagging behind with 90 seconds. I think a lot of that largely is to do with the fact that one of the things that was connecting them was also attached to a massive chest, meaning box, rather than... Thank you. I'm going to get uncomfortable like Alex now, didn't mean to do that. So the connections didn't matter really at all. What they could have done is all just held hands

and sprinted across the line, couldn't they? Yeah. Obviously would have been very bold to hear part one of the task and then all just hold hands, but that could have been very bold to hear part one of the task and then all just hold hands but that that could have been the case well again if you're factoring the fact that that that would have been their first team task presumably yeah um you know even if you're approaching taskmaster in an insouciant style uh you'd be nervous to to just say to your fellow contestants should we just take a risk and just hold hands but then i'd be nervous to just say to your fellow contestants, should we just take a risk and just hold hands? But then I'd be nervous to suggest to my fellow contestants

that we all cut off a clump of our hair. Yeah, yeah. And Julian was very nervous about receiving a haircut. He's like, do you mind? This is quite a nice cut. It's so funny. So funny. Yeah, I've really enjoyed Julian's responses

to almost everything so far. Yeah. So it was two points for the Si Sous, five points for JLS. First of all, I think the idea is brilliant. It was Sam's idea, right? What have you got more of than hair? Could have done it with blood. Could have done it with bits of our blood.

Oh, well, next time. Because you say all this stuff, all the unnatural friendship or whatever, but I think it helped. Do you know the boys that got stuck in the cave? Yes. Because you say all this stuff, the unnatural friendship or whatever, but I think it helped. Do you know the boys that got stuck in the cave? Yes. The divers that saved them,

they were like all people, like, did you feel anything? They go, nothing. They're clinical guys, but they're capable of just amazing things. Did they swap hair? They didn't swap hair. They just do this diving.

And they're not like bubbly personalities, no offence. But they... They saved those boys, man. They did. Task three. Get this duck into the lake. You must not touch the beak. If the duck leaves the course, it must re-enter at the point it left the course. If your duck touches the boundary or a flamingo or a pineapple one minute will be added to your time fastest wins your time starts

now gonna say on a personal level uh this is uh a unwanted and horrific flashback to champion of champions uh where i had to get a duck into a pond what they've done is they've made that task massive aka a genuine nightmare that i've had before this is the sort of task where i would have been looking for hacks from the start but some people aren't aren't doing that so sue i think does something very similar to what i would have done i would have gone ahead and removed everything from the course in terms of the in terms of the flamingos etc and the pineapples i I don't know if I would have gone as far as Sue did and widened the boundary. So I don't think that was totally necessary.

And I think that might have been a little bit of a waste of time. It might have cost her the win here. But you've got to do some clearing at the beginning, haven't you? Yeah, I suppose so. I think I would have i think i would have cleared it uh yeah but then i think the temptation to try and biff the duck down the hill as quickly as possible would be quite overwhelming as well so i don't yeah that's the two ivos isn't it yeah some people have a devil and an angel you've got two different

ivos sat on your shoulder one of whom's going prepare ivo and the other one who's going just do it just do it. Just do it quickly. Just hope it works out for the best. Yeah. And the great thing about having two and never giving either of them complete control of the reins

is that both are always left disappointed. Now, Sue does a good job of clearing. She does it very well. She drags the duck by a rope which the rope that no one else seemed to notice was there um it was a good technique but then you see what susan did and you think sometimes it's just worth doing things quickly because she just gets the the duck from its behind says come, come on, darling. Yeah, I loved her. So funny. Immediately speaking to the duck in a Cockney accent.

Loved it. Susan's, I would use the word coddling of the duck. Yeah. An absolute pleasure. Really flexing her acting. It is. Exactly. And I'm not an actor, but you would see, you know,

I remember May on our series would characterise tasks and individual inanimate things or make inanimate things animate, like Bosco, the horrific dog for Adam and Eve. Ah, yes, Bosco. And Susan, it's just, it's bringing that extra something to today's experience, which is such a pleasure to watch. And she's very calm with it as well, but she drags it. It's very satisfying to watch that one.

She doesn't hit anything. She just drags it. And it's just, it's the perfect execution of this task. It's very, very impressive. So it was an easy five points for Susan. By quite some distance, beat Sue, who got four points.

Now the others, slightly more difficult to watch for me. A ragtag bunch. A ragtag bunch. A ragtag bunch. A lot of, I mean, it's JLS again, isn't it? Here we go. It's Lucy lamenting the British speed limit as well on the way. Oh my goodness.

Saying that Sue sort of bent the rules and what stops her from going down the motorway at 90. It's like, well, the rules. It doesn't say any way you can't go at 90 everyone in unison it does yeah yeah so funny also let's not forget in the studio lucy's already said that she can fold her legs like arms and she's got arms and arms instead of legs yeah it's it's it's it's a it's an absolutely uh i just i'm very excited about nine more weeks of this it's it's it's a it's an absolutely uh i just i'm very excited about nine more weeks of this it's a treasure it's a treasure trove we can't wait to hear what lucy's thinking um

of course sam manages uh to actually get the duck in uh but he does hit everything on the way this was more of the sort of thing i was expecting from Sam, just quite chaotic, being very funny as he does it. But who would have thought he gets a plus nine-minute penalty, but he still gets three points because both Lucy and Julian, in a cruel edit, have both touched the beak. Even on top of the fact that Lucy got 10 minutes of added time anyway, she was still then disqualified. Yeah, it's a beautiful task to watch as well. out of time anyway. She was still then disqualified.

Yeah. It's a beautiful task to watch as well. I love the revelation of where the location tasks are. Yeah. We had a lot of fun with our pulping machines and our potato conveyor belts, but

I still think there are some iconic series 14 Gwick um or series the one where they've done some of them on an airplane uh yeah 12 11 it's 11 i think and um and so now you're like oh so we've got this is it sort of like a stately home at the top yeah it's fantastic. Very exciting. And yeah, this was a beautiful way to start. Very cinematic episode all round, really, with the cans and the big duck.

I think this is the year they're shooting for an Oscar as well as a BAFTA. I think they could get there. Very cinematic with the cans and with the big duck. It's probably, you'd phrase it more sort of artfully on the sort the Oscar application. Yeah. Well, I don't think they'd put me in charge of writing it, but I think this is very cinematic with the cans and the big duck. I think my might bag a nom. It's like you're trying to name the podcast episode in the same way that

the actual episodes get named. Yeah. For your consideration, Taskmaster, the episode with the cans and the big duck. Nought points for Julian, nought points for Lucy, three points for Sam, four points for Sue, and the big five for Susan. Sue moved the boundary.

Lateral thinking. Yes. She moved the obstacles out of the way. Oh, lateral thinking. Lateral thinking was allowed. How does that make you two feel? Angry and disappointed because, no offence to you, Sue, because I like you a lot, actually. But it doesn't say you can do that. I mean, if you went through life

just always moving the boundaries, you know, like 70 miles per hour, it doesn't say don't go at 90 miles per hour. It literally does. I think that's the difference between a light entertainment comedy format and a law. And a well-established British law. So do you mean for, like, all these, you can just change the rules?

I haven't changed the rules for anything. It's the first studio task of the series, and what a studio task this ends up being. Say whether you think the next item is heavier or lighter than the previous item. If you are wrong, you are eliminated. Last person standing wins. So there's, you know, a different item every time.

You have to guess whether it's heavier or lighter than the thing on the other end of the seesaw. But there are tricks. Now, how would you have felt about this, Ivo, with the wellies situation in particular? So obviously you're going to say the wellies lighter than whatever it's balancing against. And the fact it's got a heavy chain in there, how would that have made you

feel? I think I don't know if that's in the spirit of it. I knew it i i think that i think um you know hidden hidden tasks and agendas within like the the house tasks yeah you know uh obviously um failed to spot almost any of them but nonetheless yes please that's what you enjoy as a viewer uh i think it's the live task you just it's it's a hard thing to be adding new dimensions also are you trying to spot the secrets task at the other live tasks as well presumably that's been that's been wrapped up by this point but you know if the if the welly you've got to guess the weight of might have secret weights

in it during the prize task, then what is the point in anything anymore? I know what you mean. And I did feel that, but it was, as a viewer, very entertaining. But I felt if I was a contestant, I would have been mighty pissed off about that, especially as you're not allowed to pick the things up before you guess whether they're heavy or lighter. Exactly.

Oh, you know, the famous small hoover from series 14. Was that right? Is it a hoover? Yes. Yeah, yeah. It's the extension cord on the hoover. Yeah, and it's a sort of laughably short. And, you know, listen, it's all jolly shapes.

Yes. But I think I would have luckily not been in contention for the episode by this point, because I'd have brought in a rubbish wooden thing. I'd have touched the duck's beak almost immediately. I'd have had a big Nando's excruciatingly hot level of regret next to nearly all the episodes. So it wouldn't really matter whether I thought a candlestick or a bear weighed more. But it would be an annoying thing to lose the episode to if you were in contention. Yeah, I agree. This, in Colemanman it's very exciting me though because sam as a joke and

with a real glint in his eyes says that the leaf blower and the teddy weigh the same yeah and there's sort of there's there's so much pushback from greg and alex to basically say just give an answer here because it's very funny but it's actually quite unhelpful. And then the fact that for a moment, for quite a long time actually, it really feels like they're the exact same way on the seesaw. And he was angry about that.

To be fair, he had just asked Greg if he was a child and divorced. Some excellent studio work from everyone this week. I's i think that sums sam up in this episode of can i ask a question so he clearly does want to get some info to maybe win but he just can't help that that little thing in his head going ask this ask whether he's a child of a divorce fantastic but unfortunately they were not they were not the same weight. But Sam, Lucy and Julian all get five points and Sue and Susan get two points,

meaning that Sam is the winner of the first episode of Series 16 of Taskmaster with 21 points, Julian very close with 19 points, Susan with 14, and Sue and Lucy joint bottom on 13 points. Obviously, it's all to play for ivo there's no you know first episode you can't make any predictions you can't really tell what

people are going to do later on in the series but we do ask our guests to try and make a prediction for the series so do you have any idea who you think might win this series based on today's performance in this episode um i think i'm gonna say i think i'm going to say susan susan i think there's just a uh i think i think there's there's there's there's a there's a there's a there's a there's a calmness there. Yeah. And a sort of sense that, aside from how sort of watchable she is and things like we were talking about with the duck, her ability to bring warmth to the transportation of a giant duck on a grey day. But I also think just a lot of it is about staying in the game

and learning from mistakes. So, I mean, it's pretty random, isn't it, at this point? It is, but you know what? It's a four-month point that we will stick with. Susan, that's a tick for Susan from Ivo Graham, who's been our guest today on the Taskmaster podcast. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Ivo. Of course, we get our guests to rate their experience

on the podcast between one and five points. Give me between one and five points, Ivo, in the style of the Taskmaster. I suppose to keep mixing it up because you do largely have fives. And I think I gave it a five last time. I will say that actually, and it's all down to me, it's, you know, you're a lovely friend and host um and uh you've been very very patient with me but i think that

ultimately we had to move the original date because i got myself in an admin tiz and uh today i think i've spent too much of the podcast uh ranting about mistakes in the preparation of my edinburgh show i've apologized to my friends ho podcast ranting about mistakes in the preparation of my Edinburgh show. I apologise to my friends, Holly and Yeva again, and quite a lot of other people that were dragged into it. I've made it too much about me. And I think in my own way, being slightly disrespectful to quite a lot of the S16 cast.

So just in terms of my constant level of bubbling anxiety throughout the process, it's a solid three. Thank you so much, Ivo. That's the sort of wrap-up that you want when you book Ivo Graeber. It's immediate self-hatred, but it's so erudite.

Well, I'll tell you what it is, my German Last Master podcast is red on the Nando show. Thank you so much, I Ivo thanks for having me thanks so much to Ivo Graham for coming on the podcast a great way to kick off this chat about series 16 uh the wonderful Ivo Graham uh is on tour at the moment go and check out his social media go and check out his website for details of that it will be an absolutely brilliant show Ivo is one of the best

absolutely one of the best so go and see him on tour we will be back next week of course straight after the main show on channel 4 which is 9pm straight after that we will be live with another podcast and next week our guest is Sam campbell yes sam campbell brilliant

contestant from series 16 you will have seen him on episode one can't wait for you to see what he does on episode two we'll be chatting to him all about that and more next week here on the taskmaster podcast We'll be right back. Almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials.

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