Taskmaster The Podcast - Ep 24. Richard Herring - S11 Ep.1

Episode Date: March 18, 2021

Taskmaster returns for Series 11 and here is the companion podcast to enrich your TM experience. On the podcast this week Ed is joined by comedian, writer, podcaster and Series 10 Champion - Richard Herring! The pair discuss the new line up and go through the show task by task... what impressive thing would YOU have done underneath the table? Enjoy!You can watch Series 11 of Taskmaster each Thursday on Channel 4 at 9pm.Get in touch with Ed and future guests:[e-mail] Visit the Taskmaster Youtube channelwww.youtube.com/taskmaster For all your Taskmaster goodies visit www.taskmasterstore.com  Sales, advertising and general enquiries:[e-mail] the podcast is produced by Daisy Knight for Avalon Television Ltd 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 welcome to the Taskmaster podcast. It's Ed Gamble here, your loyal host and host forevermore. I'm not relinquishing this podcast to anyone. More discussion about that later. We're starting with series 11, new episodes of Taskmaster. As you know, if you've been

listening to the podcast in the past, we have been trawling the back catalogue of Taskmaster. We've done series one and two, but we are putting a pause on those old episodes now to tackle series 11 week by week because it started it started if you're listening to this straight after the main show on channel four it started on the 18th of march uh 9 p.m thursdays on channel four and we will be going through each episode bit by bit with the special guest as we always do and i'm very excited about this new lineup uh charlotte ritchie jamali maddox lee mac mike wozniak sarah kendall very excited to see what they bring to the show so we needed a special guest uh who is as obsessed with it as i am and this week's special guest is Richard Herring, champion of Series 10, of course.

A lot of people suggesting that he should be taking over this podcast now. That should be part of the Victor's Prize for winning Taskmaster. Not going to happen. I'm sure during this interview he will try and wangle that out of me but I will cling on to this podcast. You will have to kill me to get it out of my hands and even then I will haunt the goddamn podcast I will I will be a ghost I will fly into the internet and then I will fly down Richard Herring's microphone I will go in his mouth and I will do a

wee so watch out Richard so let's have a chat to Richard Herring now about series 11 episode 1 welcome to the Taskmaster podcast Richard Herring welcome back to the Taskmaster podcast we've decided to let you back on well I'm assuming that you're handing over the you're the first guest that I'm now that's what that's why I'm doing the first one right there's been a lot of rumors that that's what's happening today that this is the handover ceremony because uh as as the the reigning champ that you now get to take over the taskmaster podcast but it's i mean let's see at the end of the episode let's let's do the episode and then we'll see if you've earned the crown or not okay great can't wait now obviously we're here to talk about um talk about the first episode of series 11 uh we had a lot of a lot of emails in and i wanted to ask you as well richard because

i've been in this situation before how does it feel seeing new people take on the task do you feel do you feel jealous do you feel sad that it's your time's over i was surprised how weird it felt like just even watching the opening titles and suddenly going oh i'm not why no because you see those open titles so much yeah in the studio and then watching the shows again so you sort of get used to it being you and then sort of go oh that's a bit weird i'm not they they've changed the opening titles uh and yeah it's sort of a weird thing i mean i like i like the show so much that obviously it's you know i'm aware that it changes. But there was an odd little feeling of, oh, it would be nice to be there.

But yeah, no, it quickly passed. But I think weirdly the opening titles was the weirdest bit for me. And then I thought, yeah, actually that makes sense that they have taken me out of the opening titles. It would be nice to be in the opening titles forever as a sort of tribute to how good you were. I mean, if they did that with every series, they would then be the longest opening titles in history, just everyone they've ever had. No, I had a similar thing when your series came on,

because it was actually such a long time in between 9 and 10 that I mean, obviously got to hold the crown for quite a long time. But then it was because it was on Channel 4 and because it looked so different in the studio it wasn't as jarring i think you know but it brought back lots of happy memories of doing all those things but yeah it was you quickly you're just going to get used to it being the the new people which i think that you know it's a difficult transition period i think for the fans as well isn't it they often in the first one you'll see tweets whichever series it's a difficult transition period I think for the fans as well isn't it often in the first one you'll see tweets whichever series it's going they haven't got the magic

they've lost the magic but it takes you a while to establish who the characters are although I sort of feel in our first one our first one was so crazy and so much nutty stuff went on it was sort of immediately quite anarchic and this one is a slower kind of more gentle introduction to the people, I think.

I think people have established themselves quite quickly, though. I mean, we'll go through each person, but I feel like their characters have been teased out fairly quickly. But I see what you mean. It's sort of a chatty... All I'm saying is they're no serious game. They're okay, but most of us will be mourning the loss yeah definitely definitely and then and then of course mainly mourning the loss of series 9

I feel like it would be helpful as this is the first episode of series 11 for us to chat about the new lineup and go through the sort of initial thoughts for everyone. So we've got Charlotte Ritchie up first. I'm very interested to see how Charlotte gets on this series, because I think like Catherine in your series, there's already that slight bewilderment and regret in the first episode. I think it's really difficult you know i think she's i've seen her say that she's not you know you're with comedians and she's used to being very funny with other people's stuff but i she's yeah i mean katherine's the obvious uh comparison though i think uh charlotte might be a little more kind of clued in. I thought she was good in this episode. I thought she was a bit unlucky

with some of the stuff. Yes. And she was almost the most imaginative. I think in the Catching the Rat one, which we'll talk about later, she had the best imaginative idea of doing it, even though it went wrong for her. And she's got, you know, I like it.

It'll be interesting. I don't think she's got it. You know, I like it. It is the... It'll be interesting to... I don't think she's probably got the same... With Catherine, it was that sort of slight higher status thing that she had that Greg was able to really kind of... Chip away at, yeah. Dig in. Dig in. Definitely.

Whereas I think Charlotte's already quite, you know, yeah, fair enough, and quite sort of aware that it might not go so well for her. But, you know, she could be, she could be, she could do well, I think. Yeah. I'm not going to write her off.

Yeah, there was definitely a few moments in this episode where you can see that she's a very creative thinker. And I think obviously that really helps in Taskmaster. There was a moment when she, she's the first person to present her prize task, obviously, which is all her bedding. And we'll get to the prize task.

But Greg says, Greg just immediately goes, you do know it's supposed to be good. And you see her face drop and sort of go, all right, that's what's going to happen, is it? I'm that one. The realization was fantastic. Let's move along the line to Jamali Maddox. I can't wait to see what he gets up to this series.

I love Jamali. I think he's going to be great. He was very on the attack right at the beginning. And unafraid. And it's great. And Greg actually didn't quite know how to cope with it, I think. So I'm really looking forward to that, if he'll challenge him. And we'll talk about Lady B later,

but he's quite cheeky in criticising other people when he's just done the same thing. And nobody seemed to notice it. So I think he's going to get away. He's going to get away with a lot lot and i think will be good value and yeah i don't know it's uh it's it's it definitely the sort of funniest attempt at some of the tasks yeah i mean he's again the most the biggest failures but but also i think he's gonna be good he's already so antagonistic with with greg and alex during the tasks i think uh and i i think he's going to be good. He's already so antagonistic with Greg and Alex

during the test, I think. And I think already he's an example of one of these contestants who genuinely doesn't give a shit. Yes. And that's always fun to watch. Just really, really doesn't care in quite an aggressive way, which I love.

But then he's going to argue and he's already dobbing people in. He's already trying to go, excuse me. I would go, when he doesn't want Lee to get the points, which I think he was right about. You know, I think he's second-line.

He's just like dragging people down with him. Regardless as well, I think. I don't know if there's any gameplay in there. It's just, this will be fun to try and make someone else lose. And then Lee Mack. Of course, people very excited to see Lee Mack on Taskmaster. People have been asking for him for a long time.

He says he's doing it because it's his kids' favourite show. Yeah. I mean, his approach to quite a few things was very similar to what I would have done. But he is a sort of similarly guy in his fifties. There was a couple of things where we had the exactly the same idea as we have, as, as we're approaching it.

But yeah, I think, I think in a way, you know, he's usually so, you know, knockabout and looking for the jokes and, and I think he's taking it a bit more seriously than that.

It was funny too, but it's he's, he really wants to win. So I think he's taking it a bit more seriously than that. He was funny too, but he really wants to win. So I think he'll be definitely in with a shot of winning, but I feel Greg was a bit kind to him with mostly as well. So it's when you start thinking, is there a little bit of friendship getting in there, knowing each other? A mutual respect might change things a little bit of friendship getting in there knowing each other a mutual respect might uh yeah might change things a little bit but you know greg normally relaxes into absolutely

destroying people after about one episode so i think it'll be fine yeah and i think when he took the piss out of lee's costume and lee was actually quite and trying to defend it i think that's the you know i hope they sort of start going for each other because i think the two of them they're both so naturally witty and uh quick that i think i'm looking forward to the badinage between those two if they can start uh falling out a bit more it's interesting to see lee in a studio environment as well where it's a new thing for him because obviously when you see lee on like would i lie to you he's like the king of it and he's on every episode and he knows exactly what's going on.

But it's almost like, not nerves, but he's just approaching it in a slightly more gentle and cautious way because he doesn't know what's going to come up on the screen. He doesn't quite know his way around the show. I think it's a very difficult show for everyone. So it's interesting when actors say, oh, no, it'll be easier for the comedians, but the comedians are all out of their comfort zone as well.

Yeah. And also you're put in a situation with two very dominant hosts who are very funny and absolutely in control of the situation and it's hard to know where you fit into that comedically you know it's hard to kind of join in with it and it's hard to it's hard to chip in the jokes there's a lot of people there so yeah it will be interesting to see how he settles into into the role um mike wasniak i i mean i tweeted at the time when they announced mike i couldn't wait to see what he got up to because i mean people might not know mike as well as uh as we do uh he's been on the circuit for for a long time and he's a brilliant actor and

writer and all of these things um and i think he's built for this show in that he's very well put together but he is insane yes and i think this for you know again this first episode he was i suppose you know he was he was trying slightly different stuff and um the the prize task was really interesting and good and you know i think that's yeah i think that whole idea of him being a 70s sitcom character trying to do the stuff is probably bang on yeah from greg uh so i'm really looking for i mean you know it's it's really hard to call this series and i think any of them could do well uh you know and there's ones i want to do well mike's one of the ones i want to do well and i think he will do well but he's he's yeah there's sort of a calmness to him but some it is exactly that it's that sort of

bank manager yeah calmness but then Frank Spencer comes in and he starts twitching and going insane um so so I'm really yeah again it's sort of the potential is the is the tantalizing thing about this first episode because there's there's lots to love about this episode and there's lots of great stuff in it, but it's sort of like thinking, oh, God, I can't wait to see where this is going to go. And even the final task, which we'll talk about later, but where they all sort of started sabotaging each other immediately compared to how everyone was in our first,

where everyone was trying to help each other in our first time. Yeah, it's very different. So it's very exciting that there's that competition there and Greg and Mike know each other very well because we all wrote Man Down together so we've spent hours and hours and hours together in Greg's flat writing and I think it's clear to see that Greg is still baffled by Mike

even though we spent all that time together he thinks he's hilarious but can never get into his mindset and it's hard to get underneath his skin you know i think there's ways in for greg with the others and it's really hard to know how to take mike down because of it's a really weird status he's got yeah he's neither high status or low status he's just something else he's just a different entity and i'm not sure you can damage i don't know i'm not sure you can harm him through words no no and he's he's such a he's such a good yes ander as well that anything you do he will totally run with it until you're like 10 minutes down the line and you're like mike you

weren't on board with this at all really were you you're just just a nice man um and sarah candle finally very excited to see sarah on it as well what a what a brilliant uh comic she is uh and storyteller now as well. I don't know how Sarah's going to do because she's very no-nonsense but also very creative. So I don't know which of those paths she's going to take. Yeah, it's hard to know. I think she's a bit, again, like I was,

a bit sort of straight down the line with stuff, I think, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I always think the prize task and the end task are the other ways to really tell who's going to do well and I think she did she I think she's put some thought into the prize tasks yeah uh from from this first one and I think her performance in the final task if she can do well in both the first and the last task it sort of doesn't matter what happens in between a little bit I think think, because there's a lot of, there's a,

I think it's won or lost in, in the studio really this, this, this tournament. And I, yeah, and I, I like her.

She's just, she's really funny. I've, I've known her really well. We shared, uh, our flats in Edinburgh for about five or six years. And, uh,

and you're from, uh, the, the Australian festivals from the, from the nineties, I guess, or the early two thousands. And,

um, yeah, she's, she's so brilliant and she's so funny and uh you know she's a she i've seen her talk about this in another interview but as a mum she's sort of you know used to doing trying to do different things at the same time so taskmaster when you're a parent of young kids i think is sort of it's just a bit like carrying on where you left oh that interesting yeah and trying to she's she's talking about trying to make cereal while you're cleaning cleaning shit off something else or whatever and you know it is it's sort of like being being a parent is like being in a never-ending task or an 18 year long one um so I think she's gonna I think she's gonna do well I really want her to win I have to say that she's my she's my best friend out of everyone in there yeah but I just think there's going to do well. I really want her to win, I have to say. She's my best friend out of everyone in there as well, but I just think there's...

I love her attitude. I love the fact she's trying. I think the thing at the end where she says, you know, obeying the rules can be fun, I think that probably sort of shows what kind of competitive attitude she's going to be. Yeah, great. I don't know if she is going to be too imaginative.

I don't think she's going to take too manyative i don't think she's she's going to take too many leaps of imagination but then that i think that again can be that's a good tactic to so i think she's got a very good chance so let's let's run through their prize task the prize the prize task was best thing you can carry but only just uh a lovely a lovely category um charlotte brought in all her bedding which like we say didn't go down well with greg but i thought it was quite a nice piece of sort of whimsical observation yeah it's hard to carry all your bedding but you can do it you can do it but it's hard to do it so i think if she committed to it she might have done a bit better but often again

when greg just decides that's the last place yeah and puts a bet on it there's no way she's really gonna come out i think i would still put it last actually i think they were all really good prize tasks but i think it was it was more imaginative than it was given credit for and i think if she just said no you know it's hard to carry because it's big it doesn't have to be it doesn't matter how heavy it is it's really hard you know it's hard bedding is something it's very hard to even like one at a time it's quite hard to manipulate you know so it's i thought it was it was nice and you say you thought they were quite good prize tasks i i don't feel like they all did a great job. I feel like they were actually, I mean, sure,

compared to your series, they were amazing. That's where I'm going from. I think they at least all came up with a different idea of it. And I think Sarah was a bit unlucky that she wasn't allowed to do her original thought. Yeah. But then it was, so, I mean, that's, so she tried to get the stop sign in that she'd't allowed to do her original yes yeah um but then but then it was so i mean that's so she she tried to get the stop sign in that she'd stolen essentially but that's one of the rules of taskmaster in the dressing room there's there's a little sheet up saying the rules of

taskmaster don't discuss any of the tasks with your contestants don't break the law okay yeah fair enough is one of them i mean it's sort of it's sort of such a pranky thing and i know it is breaking the law it's such a sort of pranky thing. I know it is breaking the law. It's such a sort of pranky thing to do to steal a road sign. It sort of doesn't feel illegal. But of course it is, kids. Don't steal. It's a terrible thing to do.

Jamali brought a slightly hot potato, which I really enjoyed as well. Yeah, I thought... Again, I think he was done down in this. I think that was... Yeah, he got two points for that. And I think that was an imaginative, you know, I wouldn't have thought of that. I wouldn't have come in with that as an immediate thought to get something that's a bit hot is nice. But here's what I think has been lost in the prize tasks over the last couple of series.

No offence, Richard, is the element of them actually being prizes has been forgotten so yeah they might all fit the category in a clever way but do you want to take that home at the end of an episode a slightly hot potato um i think that's true one of my thoughts for this um was like to buy a bar of gold. Because I remember an episode of Johnny Ball's, think of a number or whatever, it was one of his science ones where he said it was impossible to carry a bar. He put it on his back or something and said,

if that was real, I wouldn't be able to carry it. But then he said, it is real, I can, but only just. And I think like, also, I guess, I don't know how much a bar of gold costs. Quite a lot, I'd imagine. Yeah, what do you think, 20 grand? Or do you think it's like 100 grand? I mean, it would be a brilliant prize.

Yeah. And then insist the person who won took it. Yeah. So there were fun ways of fitting the category. So Lee's was his kids, but he said, I can't give my kids away, so there'll be just representations of my kids. He should have just put his kids in there

I did that was my again my when this came up my first thought was the thing that my daughter who's six yeah I can just carry her up

you know it's that thing when you're a parent you know there's going to be a moment when this is the last chance I can carry them I can just about carry my daughter upstairs yeah but it's hard

and it would be really hilarious to have her at the end sort of way and give her to her to jim harley maddox to have to look after forever you know and maybe she'd find a way home yeah and well that's up to her though right but yeah i don't i suppose that is it is technically illegal to uh i suppose that's a crime as well yeah yeah but you know so okay fair but it would be a very it would be funny i mean that's what i think the idea of bringing a person in for some of the ones i've watched would be you know if you could if you have a really famous if you knew paul mccartney enough to bring paul mccartney in as your prize

you know i mean it would be such and it would be such at the end there would be great yeah and a waste of his valuable time as well but so yeah so i i think that if it had been his actual kids yeah i think that would have been awesome and they would have loved it and i think we i think everyone would have accepted that that that he probably would you know well he'd have to win yeah he'd have to win that would give him more of a boost to win the episode, or not. Mike went with a tune, which, when he said it initially, best thing you can carry but only just, I was like, oh, here we go.

Here we go. It's just like, he's just being clever clogs. We get it. You can carry a tune but only just. But the fact he then did that song makes up for it massively, I think. I think so. Although it feels a bit like shoehorning in some material maybe i don't know if that's a song he wrote especially for taskmaster i mean can you imagine trying that in a club yeah he would but i think it was definitely the deserved winner i think that was you know it was an imaginative use of the of the title and funny and you know and ballsy as well yeah really ballsy in an empty studio

with everyone staring at you in silence i could not have done that no so i think i think he was a deserved winner and it was yeah and again i don't think i don't you know the fact that i thought that that my and lee's thoughts were identical is often a bad sign isn't if you think oh that's the first thing and then oh yeah someone else has thought of that because it's sort of too obvious but yeah it's uh so i think i don't think anyone else would have thought to do that yeah and and i thought it was it was funny so i think you deserve to win um i i've written down uh that that song was a perfect introduction to mike as a man from the past but the past of a different planet. He feels like he's come to the future,

but from a completely different universe, that guy. Facts about animals, prawns are cannibals. If there's an elephant in the room, then you're in the wrong room. Cutting an earthworm in half Makes you a sadist I think it's worth repeating That prawns eat their babies And monkeys eat monkeys But who gives them monkeys?

Monkeys And if you squash a wasp It releases a chemical from the wasp That attracts people who tell you facts about wasps Task one is do the most impressive thing under this table with one hand. You must be looking at the camera and waving your other hand throughout the task.

You have 15 minutes to prepare and a minute in which to do your impressive thing. Absolutely classic panic task. This one fills me with fear. Just the idea of being asked to do this. Yeah, I don't know what I... I mean, in the end i kind of thought um i you know i'm doing a lot of ventriloquism and puppet shows so maybe i would

have done something with a puppet yeah a craft that a puppet somehow and then that's under the table and it would have been that would have been rubbish though richard you know it would have been rubbish yeah yeah it would have but i feel the thing like the that most we would they were much stricter on the rules in our series, and I feel like hardly anyone did the waving properly at all. Yeah, I agree, yeah. And that was the big thing. And, like, in fact, Lee put both hands under the table at one point.

Yeah, and looking at what he was doing. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't make a difference to Lee's because he promises a feast and then got brought in with him Diet coke and a banana and some bread and peanut butter so why you would promise a feast and then get those ingredients but he got three points for that this is absolutely that's what i mean about you know the lemac effect it was very funny it was while he was doing it was very funny but he wasn't waving he was using both hands and the result was awful the idea i agree with with Greg that the idea was good.

I think I would have done something similar. I would have tried to cook something under the table. On a flame, you know, somehow get a little gas canister thing, if there was one around, or anything. Just try and actually cook something. And chop, you know, it had to be chopping, and it had to be more than a banana that wasn't even in a piece of bread.

Yeah, that was awful. I mean, that should have been one point, really, I think. Yeah, or zero point. I mean, I think, you know, I feel he would have been disqualified in our series for many transgressions. Charlotte attempts to coin roll on her fingers i mean another massive panic from her having to what when you find yourself watching a youtube tutorial during a task you know you've

picked the wrong thing i think what but again just what you know bravado to it just go oh that could do i don't know how to do it i i sort of think you know she should have had she should have got something just for attempting that for something she'd never done as well totally um it i i sort of think you know she should have had she should have got something just for attempting that for something she'd never done as well totally um it was i thought it was great and she waved well yes good waving and you know and she sort of obeyed all the i don't would did they have to do it for 30 seconds or do they just have 30 seconds because she didn't do the full 30 seconds she had a minute you have a minute in which to do your impressive thing so i think you've just got a minute window and you don't have to do it for the full for the full minute yeah so she so she as you

know she didn't she didn't break the rules she was she wasn't like amazing yeah but it's kind of quite nice to see that thing done slowly so used to seeing it done fast so let's see how it actually works so used to seeing it done well it's nice to see it step by agonizing step now this i mean we're coming to the injustice here jamali does a cushion spin yeah which i think is genuinely impressive yeah i think it's by far the most impressive thing in there but greg's arrogance that he can do it means that he initially gives it two points. Yeah. Which is just, it's so wrong.

And then even later on when Jamali proves to him that Greg couldn't do it, he only gives him one bonus point. I think it should have been five points straight away. Yeah, I think, do you think the little man thing confused it a little bit? Because he can do it just on his finger. Yeah. And I think you sort of think, oh, you know, that's, yeah. thing confused it a little bit because he can do it just on his finger yeah i think it look you

sort of you sort of think oh you know that's yeah i mean i think if they just got brought the cushion out straight away and said let's do it and i don't know why they waited so long they're just gone here's your cushion you do it and see if you can do it i think he would have been more impressed and it was super impressive but again at but more impressive not under a table. Maybe the table made it look a bit constricted. And when he threw, you know, and Kendall challenges him to throw it, and he does throw it, and it carries on. It's astonishing,

but obviously he couldn't do that under the table. So yeah, that's what I feel. I feel in these first two tasks, Jamali should have been a lot higher up. Yeah. I think Mike's one was uh was was very impressive well yeah mike played the taskmaster theme tune on a balalaika um it was impressive that he was playing the playing that under the table but could you recognize that as a taskmaster theme tune

i think if he'd said before he said this is it's the taskmaster theme tune because the second time i watched it 100 but the first time i watched it it felt like it could have been just any old crap but when i watched it a second time i thought god yeah that's you know it's not for a man not being able to see what he's doing yeah i mean i'm presuming he found that instrument somewhere you know on the wall or something of the i think so i mean the house greg said it was a communist theme isn't it if he brought it with him but uh but i don't think he did bring it with him on the off-jump. I'm taking one into the Champion of Champions just in case. But yeah, I thought it wasn't a bad crack at it.

And it was, again, I think I didn't... Did he do the waving properly? I put was he waving, but great skill. Yeah. So there was a lot of there was a lot of that which i think it has to be that right yeah i think you have to move that you have to move the hand i mean yeah charlotte was the best at the waving i think but as alex said she spent a long time practicing the waving when she should have been working on the coin walk

really um sarah now sarah's was great i loved sarah's because i think she very cleverly i think she says this as well she realized that she wasn't going to be able to do anything genuinely impressive so she just drags Alex into it to humiliate him which is always going to get you points but I mean four points is probably more or less fair one way or another three or four but yeah I thought it was funny I enjoyed it and

didn't you know it didn't matter that she didn't do it well because that's funnier I do think it would have been funnier if she'd done it perfectly if it was perfect makeup and he looked beautiful but i think that would have been uh quite i mean that would have been impressive as well but almost impossible yeah um but a hard a hard task i think to kick off the series i'd have just had a wank well at your age that is impressive I'm doing it now And it's It doesn't

Shouldn't do that way around it Or it'd take too long Imagine them cutting back to the studio as well Going what was Richard doing We didn't cut to anything under the table there Richard had a whack Richard's now leaving the studio. He won't be part of the rest of the series.

It's certainly the best ever example of spinning a cushion on top of a doll I've ever seen. Can you spin a cushion? Of course I can. I don't think you can. Do you not think? I know because I can hear the hater in your tone. I know you can't do it and that's what haters do.

You can't do something. You sit on your chair that's been custom made and you look down on little people. You know what? We're not having it anymore. All right? Wearing black, looking slimming. We get it. All right?

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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 task two catch the rat most ingenious catch wins you must be at least three meters away from the rat when you catch it the rat will run over the green in 30 minutes another another fun task i would i would have

enjoyed this one contrary to the first task i think i think i would have enjoyed this one i i think i i i didn't like the ones where you you've got to find stuff from the from the shed and work out what you can do with it yeah but yeah i think i'd have done better that with this one than again my immediate thought was mousetrap and And I think Lee's was the best in this one. Yeah. But I would have gone a bit further with the Mousetrap. You know, it seemed to me what you remember from Mousetrap, if you remember Mousetrap, is the guy jumping into a pool

off a board and stuff like that. I just feel like if there'd been a few more references, obviously in half an hour, that's quite hard to do. And you need to get something else to capture the rat other than the bath. But I think him somehow jumping into the bath setting off something else. In the end

if he'd hit the ball into the thing and that had made it go that would at least have been something he just clobbered. It was the best one but again I found myself going the same way as lee would have gone and and attempting that but you sort of you know i know i can't i'm bad at making stuff so i can imagine in my mind oh wouldn't it be amazing if you recreated the board yeah but how i would do that is another option and i'm not sure i would have even thought of

propping up the bath and making that fall i found a it was a small rat so like a bucket or something that because in mousetrap again the chap yeah it sort of clatters down doesn't it yeah clatters down so you know i agree with you i would have had the same problem in that i can envisage something in my head but there's no way i can actually pull it off in real life i think it's when you realize that comedians aren't engineers uh no but he given that given that he did brilliantly you know i think it was there was more than one part to it. Yeah. And it was a mousetrap in that elaborate way. But it's also because it's not even an engineer.

You've got to be an engineer with rubbish that's in the shed, which doesn't fit together and there aren't clamps. So it's really hard to make it work. So I think he did the best there yeah although charlotte's was charlotte's was great but obviously against the rules so yeah so charlotte's she camouflaged herself on the mat and as soon as she did i thought oh that's brilliant that's such a good idea and the rat drove onto her and she grabbed it and i thought brilliant it's going to be five points because I'd immediately forgotten about the three metre thing as well yeah I'm not sure

anyone else really obeyed three metres is quite a long way and I'm not sure anyone was three metres away again this is where I think the it's not that he's not being as strict on the rules as he was with us where we all got disqualified from tasks I feel there was at least two disqualifications

Jamali was right Jamali who went on about disqualified from tasks i feel there was a at least two disqualifications jamali definitely was right jamali who went on about said excuse me i don't know have you forgotten you asked them to green screen out your hand mate you've gotten that bit where you were right so they if they were if they both got if she got nothing he should have got nothing yeah i agree i agree for sure but I'm not sure any of them were I mean Lee went in at one point and then came out again at the point the mouse was trapped

he was probably three metres away but yeah it was, it did seem a little unfair for her not to get even just a bonus point for being their most imaginative, which he admitted she would have won if that hadn't been the rule. Yeah, totally.

No, I hadn't thought about that. But yeah, Jamali is definitely just right next to the rat when he catches it, right? Yeah, I don't know how he got away. And I don't know, the audacity, I admire him. Yeah. Because the audacity of daring to point that out without going, oh yeah, I forgot about me literally standing right next to him.

But I guess he's was you only picked up on charlotte doing it because her her technique was good like so you just noticed that little flaw in it whereas jamali's was so rubbish across the board that you don't even notice that he's massively breaking the rules as well um yeah so it was one it was one point for uh for jamali uh nought points for Charlotte, sadly. Three points for both Mike and Sarah, which I think is fair. And the big five points for Lee. I mean, yeah, definitely out of all of the

sort of similar techniques from everyone, really, and his was the best one. I agree with that. But I did have a big advantage in that I also have had an infestation of rats at my house, and that is exactly how we caught them. Task three, deliver all the plates to alex when delivering the plates you must travel by bicycle scooter or hoverboard for every plate broken you'll have 20 minutes added to your time fastest wins you may start moving the plates three

minutes from now a lot of fun this is the sort of thing when i would have got really excited about richard and then as soon as it came to the reality of it i would have hated it well it's sort of more difficult it's sort of simplistic in a way isn't it because there are only a few things you get it's basically your choice of vehicle there's a couple of other uh you know whether you wrap up the plates or whether you stuff them down your trousers in an attempt to in an attempt to kind of get them there but it's basically which it's i guess the hoverboard is the hardest one to maneuver the easiest one to carry plates on yeah so that's if i think if you if you i think i might have just gone right i'm going to commit to the hoverboard and i'm going to spend three minutes really mastering that do you think you

could do that as best i can so you could master the hoverboard i best I can. Do you think you could do that? Do you think you could master the hoverboard in three minutes? I think once, it felt like Mike did it during the task. I think if he'd spent three minutes doing it before the task, I think he would have been straight, because it just took him a little while to get going. If you could actually, yeah, because, you know, I think Sarah said she should have done them all in one go, but I'm not, you know, I think that's the thing. If you attempted

to travel that with that many plates on a bike, you'd have gone very slowly or definitely dropped them. I think lee again was very lucky here to get away with the yeah so let's let's talk about that i mean he used he uses the swag bag method with the with the tablecloth which is i think i think most people would probably go for that uh to try and get as many over as possible i mean jamali makes a papoose and manages to... I mean, that was the most frustrating thing to watch. He must have known they were spilling out the back

and he just carried on anyway. He didn't give a shit. But it was just so comedic because they fell out straight away and then just bit by bit and then at the end. It was just like, you couldn't have... If you were turning that into a cartoon, you couldn't have made those plates fall in a funnier way.

And then just to go back and do the second one so if he just spent a bit more time yeah he would have saved himself three hours oh man um so uh before we talk about lee actually let's just cover the others quickly because they're pretty straightforward uh charlotte used the scooter and did uh five minutes 12 seconds jamali as we say smashed up so many plates and had uh three hours added to his final time um sarah used the bike again quite straightforward just wanted to get it done from sarah but i think mike was also trying to get it done but also looked absolutely hilarious while he was doing it it's a well it's a you know i think using a form of transport you've never used uh was a. It was definitely the sensible one in terms of moving them all at the same time. So I think, provided you can carry all those plates, which he obviously can.

But it was so slow. I think it was slow. It was like two soups. It was. But I'm glad someone did it. All three were used which is i yeah i don't know because i guess with a bike you're sitting down you can crook of the arm i think scooter's probably the worst choice because i think it's very hard to move that and that's why

it took charlotte so long because she couldn't actually physically move do a scooter and and was it motorized though this was a sort of motorized scooter though yeah i think so got it going yeah Yeah, but... Even so, you've still presumably got to be touching the handle. So you've got to have... She did the best I think she could with the scooter. But yeah, I think bike was probably the best way to go. And yeah, what Lee did was probably the best way of doing it.

They must have... Production must have been punching the air when Mike chose the hoverboard. Yeah. Because that must be the worst if they laid out all those options and then one of them doesn't get used. It must have been punching the air when Mike chose the hoverboard. Yeah. Because that must be the worst, if they laid out all those options and then one of them doesn't get used. It must have been just going,

Mike, have you considered... And it was a bit unfair that he was in the rain, though. That was everything else in lovely weather. He was like... There's so much rain, you pick up a plate and it wasn't even just a few drops. They'd presumably dried them all at the start uh so yeah i think i feel he should have got some maybe a bonus point for for doing it all in the rain um so lee so let's let's talk about lee now

because there's a bit of controversy here he did he did the swag bag method delivers all the plates and then says i've done it and then decides to try and juggle three three plates and smashes them so you you feel like some fell no some fell out before he jumped so like he put them on the table said i've done it and then three fell out of the onto the four two or three fell onto the floor right out of the out of his package and i sort of feel i mean they're on the table just about but i feel they have to stay on the table and also maybe even they have to be taken out of the sack and put on the table.

I mean, you know, technically, it's difficult. Technically, they were on the table, but they were on for such a short amount of time that I sort of feel they have to stay on the table and gravity has to take its effect and then we see where we are it's interesting, I think Greg wouldn't have wouldn't have counted it

and Alex was given the decision and he did allow that, so it was down to Alex but yeah, it's a difficult one to call but it sort of feels wrong that plates were broken and he still won I suppose, I don't think the juggling ones

matter. No but also because Alex said that he would give him bonus points if he could juggle it so I think they'd be in a tricky position if they then tried to take points off Lee for juggling them. No I see what you mean but I think in that short period of time where he put the plates down

the clock was stopped and then they fell off so you've got to go with the clock i think i'm not sure it's difficult it's a difficult one there's a marked contrast but you often attempt the wheel skid as you arrive at a table very exciting and then the rest of the time you look like you were going at the pace of a little old lady what i find really depressing about it is that i know i'm being visually boring so i'm trying to zhuzh it up by putting my foot out occasionally oh come on you shouted lives for living yeah because i knew that i was boring the crew senseless first studio task of the series

stack your buckets so they're taller than you then put a beanbag on top of the series uh stack your buckets so they're taller uh than you then put a beanbag on top of the buckets you may not leave your spot at any point fastest wins uh when you're finished put your hands on your hips for two seconds um i mean yeah like you say very different vibe to your series yeah but also i mean what when going into that you would think this is lee or mike has won this. Sarah was like four points behind or whatever she was behind. You think there's, you know, that's it. We've got, it's a two horse race.

So one of the most exciting conclusions to an episode of Taskmaster that someone could come back from that far behind and win it. But yeah, I mean, just because, I guess that was why why i love that they gave them the extra beanbags and didn't and said just in case you need them and didn't say so you can throw and they worked out oh we can throw them at each other yeah it's like because that's a proper like experiment to do on like monkeys to see if they're evil yeah yeah and they and they quickly realized that's what you could do with them you know and it's and it's sort And to be the first to do it... Lee basically had screwed up anyway because he stepped off the mark straight away more or less.

So he would have been disqualified anyway. But to be the first one to do it is very risky because then if you destroy everyone else's one, they're not going to go, oh, well, well done, gonna they're gonna attack you back so sarah kept out of it and that was the absolute correct the right technique yeah it was sort of reminiscent of my i was the only one in the first task about everyone else was helping each other passing balls to each other in that first task we did and i was the only one who was not only ignoring all that but kicking off

any ball that wasn't my color off the stage and so she was sort of doing the same same as that uh just keeping herself to herself and that was the the correct way to go with that and uh and because she didn't get involved no one was chucking stuff at her until it was too late yeah it was it was a good technique so she was the only one to get any points she got five points everyone else got zero a wonderful moment with charlotte in this as well this is part of her realization of the first episode how this is going to play out uh in that when everyone was chucking the beanbags at each other's towers you just had to go oh guys guys but i think there's a there is a bit of sort of it's a bit more macho vibe to the three guys

who were in in our one who i think were were less sort of alpha male attempting maybe maybe between lee and jamali there's a little bit more yeah let's chuck stuff around at each other i think uh whereas i don't feel there was that male competitiveness in our in our but in your series no matter how alpha any of you were, Daisy would have crushed you with an iron fist. So I think that's the very good point. Yeah. So the first episode, we've got Charlotte at the bottom with five points, seven points for Jamali,

17 points for both Lee and Mike, and then Sarah at the top with 18 points. I mean, it's obviously, it's the first episode, all still to play for so you you want sarah to win i think i want sarah i think she's my favorite and i i really like her as a comedian and a person and um you know i know it would mean a lot to lee to win and that but i don't think you can be that taken into that i i like all of them though i have to say so there's no there's no one uh i would be disappointed to see to see you in but i think um it would just there'll be i think especially with that slightly boysy feeling to some of it i think it would be

nice if uh if sarah could triumph over them i and i think she might just have the necessary mindset to do so because it's that thing you know especially with these when it's over 10 and and everyone's gotten some very varied approaches because they've been picked to be very varied i think that being sort of straight down the line getting three or four points for most tasks and doing well in the studio i think is the kind of key to winning it and i think she might have have but i think it's very open I wouldn't even I think Charlotte's the least likely to win at the moment but I wouldn't

even discount her because I think there was just flashes of you know and everyone has an episode I think in the 10 where they sort of it's just it's not their week and they come last or fourth or whatever you can't judge it and I think that the rat catching task makes you think yeah maybe maybe there's come last or fourth or whatever this might have been hers you can't judge it yeah so she and i

think that the rat catching task makes you think yeah maybe maybe there's maybe there's something here if she's as long as she reads the card properly i feel like jamali might be able to um just bully his way to the top as well i feel like if he's it feels like he might he might get the better of greg yeah i think he deserved more points than he got from this episode but i think that you know it's sort of it always slightly balances out certainly over the course of a series but i think like the couple of tasks he did he should have got a bit more but one task he should have got less so it's um it sort of balances out but i'm surprised he got so few points in a way yeah um and i think

i mean again i think his if his price tasks if he's thinking outside the box as he did in that one, he's got a good chance of picking up some points with the prize task. Definitely. And, yeah, we'll see. Having all been competitive in that first one, they might actually realise that's counterproductive, given what happened to them. So it might actually calm down a bit in the other ones.

We'll see. So, actually, speaking of prize tasks, let's move on to the emails. We've got a question here from hunter uh hello from florida question for richard and ed how much prep time did you get for the price tasks uh based on the wide disparity of thoughtful carefully selected items versus whatever was in my kitchen before i came to the studio i can't tell if you have five minutes or five months uh thank you i mean you get a long time if you want to i think you know but i again when i think i said this last time i think i was so keen to uh do you know to be a good boy i got the list and did them pretty quickly but we got the list uh you know four or

five i think it was meant ours was a bit weird because the studios got pushed back because of covid yeah to what they would have been it would have been two or three months but it ended up being four or five months so i guess i could have come back and said oh actually i've thought something else and i guess even during the studios you could go oh i've realized all the ones i've got coming up a crap can i change it for this because some people were bringing in things on the day and i think sarah probably brought in their fridge on the day uh for this one but so you do get a lot of time to think about it and um if i had my time again i would that's i would certainly have spent a lot more time really thinking about it so yeah i you do get time so if you're ever on taskmaster use that time yeah and i i it's if you want to win i think it's the difference between um you know especially if it's tight

that you can really make the difference but then you say that um i think someone recently did uh someone's done loads of stats for taskmaster and one of the stats they did which is quite interesting is who would have won each series if you just based it on the prize tasks um right and david baddiel would have won series nine really yeah he always did very well in the prize tasks uh because he got a chance to think about it and that's where he excels when he's given a bit of time he's a very clever bloke he can think about it he can think about what's going to work if you say do this now david his trousers will immediately fall down yeah it's not just that it's definitely not just the prize task but i think the prize task can give you the because

of that because you do get time to think about it and that does suit different people but also you know if you bothered if you use those months to do something that takes three months to do and yeah and you know then you'll definitely get four or five points whereas if you if you just go to your kitchen and pick out a you know a chip or whatever rubbish we're putting in then yeah you're not going to get any points so it's you know it's sort of like you're discounting yourself from getting some points if you don't yeah give it for sure this is from sarah in rochester uh my question for richard uh out of all the champion of champions contestants who do you think is your biggest competition now we've

not really talked about this yet richard no, you know, I sort of feel very relaxed going into Champion of Champions because I think everyone's so good that I don't really see one person as being the obstacle to me. I think I'm the worst one out of the five. But I still think I can win.

Yeah. You know, I don't know. I think probably, I think Lisa might win yeah i you know i don't know i think probably i think lisa might win it yeah but uh you'll certainly be the most competitive yes um i mean they're all but they're everyone's very good everyone's very good i mean it's the when it's not it's a different beast because when it's not chosen to be this is five people who'll compliment each other, when five people who've done well at it all come to it,

they're all going to be coming at it, not necessarily from the same point of view, but from a winner's point of view. I mean, it could be the most boring thing to ever happen. Exactly. It absolutely could be. So I think my role might be just to be the duffer who screws everything up in this one, which I will happily take. I'm really, really delighted to get another go at it.

I feel I was so nervous and tense with it before that it was very hard to... I really enjoyed it, but it was really hard to relax and just think about what was going on. So I think I might come at it as a slightly different angle and just go, I really want to have fun with this and I'm going to take things a bit more slowly, but we'll see.

I did think that the last time and I still just blundered into whatever first thing popped into my head and ran around until things were done. It just depends what the things what we're asked to do. So it's if you get a bit of luck and it's something you if it's a memory thing or if it's, you know, there's just if you've just got some little edge on something that you've done before then it's uh then that can make all the difference yeah but yeah it's i think it's going to be super entertaining and i'm really looking forward to i think i know everyone a bit but lisa tarbots the only person i've met her a couple times she's the one i know least but i know everybody in this series whereas in the last series i sort of knew off people and met johnny and catherine but i wasn't like big big mates with with anyone johnny was sort of the closest

to the person i was mates with and it'll be nice to be in a group of people that i largely know and i think that will change the dynamic so i'm massively looking forward to it's going to be a lot of fun uh but i wouldn't it's going to be it's about well who would you who do you think it's gonna i i kind of i kind of agree agree with you. I really don't know because everyone is good, like you say. I think Lee's is definitely in with a big chance, I think. But then Kerry is absolutely amazing as well. And if Lou hits it right, she's the most unpredictable. But if she just has a good day, then we're all in trouble, I think.

So, you know, it's sort of a bit of a not you basically i think anyway i think it's not me but i think i think by everyone being so good i might just i'm gonna try and win it obviously but but i'm also i'm much more in it for the the shits and giggles this time than i was yeah with the series i did really want to win and i was you know i was doing stuff to win and I think the way to go into it is to try and do your absolute best of whatever is put in front of you and the comedy will come from that. You don't need to think, oh, how can I make this funny

or if I do this in a silly way at least I'll make people laugh. Because if it's artificial, it's not funny. The funniness comes from you are absolutely shit at this and you're trying your best the one where I had to speak backwards absolutely shit

not funny except that you're absolutely awful and Daisy's going to be furious with you so that's where the comedy comes from so I'm going to do my utmost of my best to do well but uh i just also it's just like a little gift at the end totally having done the series let's go here have another have

another little go at this it's and this will unless they do a champion of champion of champions yeah then this is this is it isn't it this is our is our last go. Oh, so sad. Yeah. Well, speaking of Daisy, actually, this is from Barry in Glasgow. Question for Richard. Have you had much public reaction to your and Daisy's on-screen feuds? Well, I don't know. You know, I'm confused about how real they were. She, I think, I don't think,

we've slightly communicated on Instagram and stuff. I posted a picture of the hippo at some point and she liked it. I think you maybe commented on it. And yeah, I mean, people are confused about how real it was. And I think in the moment for her, I think it was fairly real. I was and I was certainly a couple of moments where i was you know intimidated and scared uh but i but i i loved it's i really want to do like a sort of almost a sort of updated 1970s sort of carry-on sitcom where i play a husband and just live in constant fear with her but i don't know if that ever happened I'm hoping I can get her on my podcast

and we can talk it all through because aside from a few little messages I haven't seen her weirdly we've both, I think she's hurt a leg and she's had a baby and she's had a baby she's had a lot come out of her I've been a bit unwell this year

so we've both had a bit of a time this year but yeah it was such good TV unwell this this year so it's uh so it's we've both had a bit of a time this year but um but yeah no it's it's it was it was such it was such good tv i think and those the the sort of journey of those two characters through that and the way they kind of played it out yeah you know we did lots of good stuff together that's the thing there was low and in fact in the early prize test we were really you know the the early drawing one we were really tuned into each other and getting very obscure things from each other so that hippo thing was more of an aberration really

and and i think the dance thing was a great one and melon so it's not that journey that the singing and the dance one was the karaoke one was a great challenge um so i'm hoping uh we will see each other again be friends but uh who knows it'd be really funny if it's genuine on her side i thought more people would be upset she didn't win and like obviously a few people were her fans were but it was sort of a mixture of i what i heard it's like people i loved her and i kind of would have been happy for her to win because i thought she sort of did deserve it really i think she's such an amazing character. And it would have been really interesting to see her amongst the champion of champions. So even I slightly regret that she didn't win.

And you and Four, it would be great to see a TV show which was you versus Four. It's a TV panel show with the vast majority. As it is, you're the only person with two testicles on the whole panel. Do you think you you're gonna start to get more work on panel shows now you've only got one testicle i hope so i think it's a i think it's a disability i'm hoping i'm getting a parking spot yeah near the shops because it's harder it's hard to walk for me now uh and yeah hopefully that i can make it into a thing. Even as a white, middle-class, Oxbridge-educated man,

I can now say, no, but you can't. Hey, I noticed TV is not letting the one-balled men on anymore. Well, as soon as I'd heard that, obviously my initial thought was, I hope Richard's okay, I hope he recovers quickly. But then my second thought was, this takes him out of the running for champion of champions surely i'm gonna i'm gonna use it all the way through i'm just gonna be like tiny tim sitting in the corner i've only got one ball please give me a point Richard this is your second time on the Taskmaster podcast

you'll know that we ask you to rate your experience on the podcast between 1 and 5 points I think you might have given us 5 the first time I think I did, that us five the first time. I think I did. That was very generous of me. Very nice of you. Thank you. Am I taking over the podcast?

Have I done a good enough job? You've done a smashing job. Is it your decision? You've done a smashing... It is my decision, weirdly. The system doesn't quite work. You've done a smashing job and I think you've been a lovely guest on today's episode. I think, why don't we let me do this series

yeah and then sort of series three to nine and then we'll see what happens after that and then i will give this experience a three because the disappointment of not taking over what and just because everyone everyone either gives you five or zero that's true in fact nearly everyone gives you five because what kind of needy's true. In fact, nearly everyone gives you five. Because what kind of needy thing is this? How was it? Yeah. So I'll give you three just to give you something to work to because this is the beginning of the series.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, that's fair. And there's no way to go, is there? So I'll give you five. Just five, five, five, five, five. Give you three. Just try a little bit harder next time for the next guest. I will.

I try harder for other guests. Yeah, good. Thank you very much,ard thank you well there we are what a first episode and what a great chat about it uh thank you very much richard uh for coming back on the taskmaster podcast i'm sure we'll see you again soon at some point uh but not hosting i think i've made that very clear uh keep watching taskmaster series 11 episode 2 be next week uh thursday 9 p.m and then uh forevermore until it's finished it's 10 episodes 9 p.m thursdays channel 4 catch up on all four if you miss it there uh look at the taskmaster youtube channel

youtube.com forward slash taskmaster go on the taskmaster store there's so much content out there for you uh but just keep enjoying it email us taskmasterpodcast at gmail.com with your questions for me and my guests and we will do our best to answer them but for now see you next week this podcast will be released 10 p.m uh straight after the main show on channel 4 and we will see you then goodbye okay take it away mike no You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice r need with Uber Eats. Well, almost almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats.

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