Taskmaster The Podcast - Ep 92. Katy Wix - S7 Ep.4

Episode Date: August 18, 2022

This week Ed is joined by writer, actor and Series 9 fellow contestant Katy Wix! Katy returns to discuss her series 7 highlights which include the confusing box, dramatic changes of appearance and Ollie! Watch all of Taskmaster on All 4www.channel4.com/programmes/taskmaster Visit the Taskmaster Store for all your TM goodies!taskmasterstore.com Visit the Taskmaster YouTube Channelyoutube.com/taskmaster Get in touch with Ed and future guests:[e-mail] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated

category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. Hello and welcome to the Taskmaster podcast. It's me, Ed Gamble. You know the drill by now. We'll be talking about an episode of Taskmaster, going through it task by task, chatting about it all that jazz. Today we're talking about Series 7 episode four we are progressing through series seven and absolutely loving it and our special guest this week is the wonderful katie wicks katie wicks of course a brilliant comedian actor and star of taskmaster series nine one of my taskmaster alum chums so very much looking forward to speaking to katie i think this might be the

third time that she's done the podcast. She's done it a lot. She's a wonderful guest. Looking forward to talking to her. You've seen her in everything. I mean, look, I sort of rattle off Katie's CV. It's basically every good sitcom in the last, like, you know, seven, eight years, Katie's been in it and continues to be so.

And also, you know who she is. You love Taskmastermaster let's get on and chat about series 7 episode 4 with Katie Wicks welcome back to the Taskmaster podcast Katie Wicks hello it's me it's Katie thanks so much for coming back on no I love it thank you oh thank you allowing me we're talking about series seven today of course we did series nine together so whatever happens this won't be your last time on the podcast because we'll have to go into deep depths about series nine as well so yeah say what you like on this one yeah spill all the beans i love i love this series it's one of my

faves i think it's very very good very good. Have you seen the whole thing? Yeah, the whole series, yeah. I think I've seen every ep. But I stopped watching after hours. Because up until then it was just like, wow, imagine being on it. Oh god, what would I have done? And then I did it and then it was like oh i i i'll just compare now i don't want to see anyone else yeah i know what you mean well i don't

know what you mean at all i've watched all of them i do a podcast about it i absolutely don't know what you mean i'm obsessed with the thing no i will watch them i just i just got out of the habit of watching them so series seven you say it's one of your faves are there any standout individual contestants that you love or is it the gang together yeah it's the whole uh i mean i think james is obviously amazing in it um i mean i like all of them you know and i mean i can't i it feels kind of mean to pick out individuals yeah i mean it's, it's the whole vibe, isn't it? It's the whole vibe. It's the whole vibe. They have their individual flavours, which is great,

but then together, I mean, I would almost not call it chemistry because they argue so much. It's sort of anti-chemistry really, isn't it? Yeah, it's a type of love, isn't it, arguing? It's a family vibe, I think. We got on quite well, well i think overall as a group but i think if they went out for an afternoon tea things would kick off yeah maybe we're all scared of conflict as a group maybe that's what it is deep down joe brand

maybe we're just pussies sorry yeah i think the whole of series nine are absolute pussies that we wanted to hate each other but we ended up begrudgingly going for afternoon tea no we we were we were very um uh yeah there was a lot of camaraderie wasn't there there was yeah we got on we got on fine we were I guess we were all quite sort of uh I feel like we all but I also wonder if we all hid how or tried to hide how competitive we were I think I was definitely I think you did how, or tried to hide how competitive we were. I think I was, definitely. I think you did quite a good job

of hiding how competitive you were. How good a job do you think me and Rose did? Well, first of all, I think I'm very good at hiding my emotions anyway. I think I'm incredibly good at it. But sometimes when people have commented and said things like you have said something like, like I think I always get comments of people assuming I wasn't competitive.

And I think I really thought I would win it because I thought, oh, I'm, you know, imaginative and I'll, you know, come up with something on the spot. So I really kind of backed myself to do well. I didn't plan on getting ill or anything like that yeah that was a hurdle I'd say um but also I think you could you're in with a shot though like that was it was me you and Rose right until the end I think and I feel like I've said this before on on on this show but I think my one of my best friends told me the point at which I lost and the thing the one thing I could have done differently to that which meant I would have won and that really haunted me I mean it's really sweet of them to work it out but do you remember what it was I was

like I feel like I don't want to say I'm sure I've said before but then someone might go away and check I haven't checked it, I have no idea they might be talking absolute bollocks they're quite bright so I thought they were it sounded plausible they said that the moment I put I miscounted the ping pong balls in the

wheelbarrow is the moment I lost was that in the last episode? my life went that way and it could have gone this way i could be hosting this podcast yeah i'm sure that's it that would be the sliding the sliding doors moment it's a different version of sliding doors where your life's broadly the same except you're hosting a podcast i'd love to see that as a short film there's one when you're getting on the train you're going into the studio to record the podcast

or you're just going home or you're just going to prep and that's it everything else is exactly the same split screen one of you have got headphones on the other one no no headphones it's worth it.

If anyone wants to invest in that short film, Katie's ready to write the script. Let's talk about the prize task in this episode, the most confusing thing. Now, when this category came up, it actually put me in mind of one of your prize tasks which was the uh the teapot yeah yeah i know what you mean i mean that was confusing but at the same time it was very clear what i've done

maybe it was confusing why i didn't know i wasn't confusing why it was because I was asked to yeah I'm so proud of that teapot I think it was episode one wasn't it yes um like a like a professional ceramicist even messaged me to say it was really good and that that's that that's all the praise I need someone's coming that that was me done so it was worth it it's worth not winning for that moment for sure to be told that you're good at something which is not your job is heaven by by someone who is a professional in that job no i was really proud of that teapot um nobody no professional ceramicist messaged me about any of my prizes or indeed any professionals in any arena because mainly i just went on the internet and searched like gnome with a big dick and stuff so there was no what was yours what was the category in the first one i don't think my first

one was very stressful object yeah i think i had like a cd of stressful sounds or something it wasn't it when when they said this is going to be the first one we do i was like oh shit i was really hoping for mid-series on that one it wasn wasn't my finest moment. I think they bring in some OK prizes here. I mean, Jess's is the best, I think. Yeah, I agree. I thought hers was brilliant. And also just like, you know, if I saw that on holiday, I'm not buying it.

I'm sort of walking past and chuckling. So the yeah that she so i don't know i suppose kind of had the the the intelligence to to buy it's quite a savvy thing to do it's a kind of thing i guess if you're a comedian and you you sort of think oh yeah i'll you know i could use that on on yeah i'm not i'm not buying that either though i would i would take a pic i would take a picture of that and send it to someone. Yeah, at most I'd take a picture exactly. So that's kind of amazing that she took it together. I still don't know what it is.

I still don't know what it means. Is it like, I off, that comes the raven? I don't know. There could be more mistakes than that. What did it say again? It was I U F, I off, that comes the raven. I-U-F, I-U-F, that comes the raven. I mean, maybe it has a local...

But it feels like it was in a tourist shop, right? Yeah, it feels like it's for us, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Yeah, it feels like they're saying take that home and then everyone will love your I-U-F, that comes the raven T-shirt. Yeah, I mean, I could think it was like edgar allen poe but that doesn't seem right um i mean if that's the actual direct quote from uh from edgar allen poe and the translation has ruined it um but baffling i mean if we're still baffled if we're still baffled five years on i think that's pretty impressive isn't it yeah yeah it was really good um I thought I loved the wires I mean she she's been amazing that that whole series she just uh you know just

kind of got on with so sort of pragmatic and no nonsense um and I sort of feel like everything she I can't even I'm not sure if this is even true because I can't recall what she's brought in but I just like that it's kind of always the domestic sphere and something very like familiar and it's very like grounded whereas I feel like I was always trying to go quite sort of conceptual with mine she's just like the wires at the back of the telly and then like can't use that can't ask to plug plug it in or whatever she said um but it's great because that's why it's you know different different comic uh personalities uh come out in all of these tasks and you really need someone like carrie in this series because you've got rod just blowing up greg as uh every given opportunity james and phil are obviously weirdos

and actually jet jet is pretty straightforward as well like but you need carrie to be like bang observational joke there we go you know it's like the sort of raw tenenbaums or something yeah you really got everything covered so right i think i'd be like james if i think i'd be like the wit one of the weirdos in that set it's so true as well like it just was instantly recognizable and you know I had a real sort of chuckle of of recognition of like yeah yes she's very good at that just like and to be able to I think the key a lot of the time with the prize is to make them land with the audience and I know I don't think I managed this ever really is when you they come when Greg comes to you and says what's your prize you've got one line or a few words that goes bang that's what it is yeah and it's funny immediately

i love it when greg said yeah she does when greg was like it's confusing that you've still what did he say confusing you're still getting away with what he said to rod about i think he said it's confusing that you're still getting away with like this same joke week after week with the pic with the photo so he's brought in the photo already um this is only the second time I think but um Rod's obviously going to run run and run with this joke we discussed last week with Phil Wang was on the show last week and we discussed that there's no context ever given for that photo um or why Rod has it and apparently in the studio context ever given for that photo or why Rod has it. And apparently in the studio context was given, which makes it so much weirder

that when Rod and Greg were sharing a flat together in Edinburgh, they were just messing about taking photos. Is that the context? Apparently. Apparently it was just when they were sharing a flat. Oh, that's so sweet, but quite weird. Yeah. Yeah.

But it looked really professionally lit. Yeah, there was a real pose going on. There must be more photos because it felt like he was striking one pose of many. That's so funny. I mean, he looked good. Yeah, he looks great. You know, I mean, to be fair,

he's topless in all his posters as well. So it's not like he's, you know afraid of popping his top off well aren't we all and i think the confusing element here was supposed to be that the photo is upside down so it's rod paying lip service to to what the task is but really he just wants to show that photo again yeah i mean i mean i can't does he do it every week from here on in he does it a lot there's there's quite a few more i think yeah i mean i feel like you've either a commit to every week or or not i think that's well enough i think they're always to do with greg i think there's one coming up where it's a picture of greg's mum in the bath wearing a fez

that might not be a prize task though. But yeah, just utterly ridiculous. James brings in a DVD of The Matrix, which is probably not his finest prize task. Yeah, I mean, I definitely can sort of see how he got there. Yeah, I mean, I definitely can sort of see how he got there. Yeah, it's not... I think there are more confusing films out there. Like, I'd say something like Inception I found more confusing. Yes.

But I think, in a way, Greg's right in that the actual concept at the heart of the film is sort of quite gettable. Yeah. But, yeah, it is a confusing film from what i remember so yeah you're right i think i think inception is more confusing or um i don't know if you've seen the time travel film primer um which is made very low budget but it is very low budget i think it it's obviously a confusing film i think you could see in James's eyes he wished he'd put more effort into uh into that particular but the way he did his prize test he told me was

he got the list and he got the list sent through to him he was on a train or something he just went bang bang bang bang like came up with them immediately and then sent them back within like half an hour which you can sort of tell yeah well I mean I well it's funny though isn't it because I definitely had like a first like an instinctual sort of idea for everyone and then I think I probably ended up just sticking with that idea but I mean I tried to think about it for weeks on end but yeah it's awful isn't it when you know you know immediately it went in terms of like how the audience respond that you you have it's quite a shameful moment when you realize that this was this only made sense to you I hate that feeling yeah and it's like oh oh dear

because it's just doing new material basically isn't it it's like being up there doing a new joke and everyone stares at you but on tv like I remember being really heartbroken by so I bought in minute miniatures for something yes and I remember thinking oh this is brilliant and Greg was having none of it he didn't get it and then I had this mad idea remember the longest thinnest thing yeah that was great you had that whole was it the was it maybe that was the week I wasn't there to represent so maybe that's why it went wrong but maybe I was there I can't remember but the idea I had was was that they would they would print out like war and peace yeah like on one single piece of paper continue a continuous piece of paper so that's very long and very thin that

kind of is yeah no i really stand by it but i i think it got very little no i don't think it did i think that was the last episode maybe yeah i think it was the last one and i have a memory of that getting five points you know really mine was terrible I had a long piece of spaghetti. That you found. Yeah. Just a very long piece of spaghetti. I think I got two points for that and well-deserved. Let's talk about Wang. Brought in a puzzle box, a confusing little puzzle box.

I loved that box. Yeah. That was great. I loved the story. Loved it. Loved the whole haggling thing very funny it's always good yeah it's brilliant and of course gives birth to the moment of um just open the box you pussy which is one of my favorite moments in Tales of Master History so funny when he takes him aside

I mean you can tell he used to be a teacher can't you like yeah i genuinely it was so it was almost moving because it was so fatherly and headmasterly and just like the fact that it's they're sort of filmed from the back and they're just sort of off and it's just like james's body language the whole thing it's like oh it's it's so brilliant i feel like i've watched it about five times in a row um it's so sweet it's such a funny dynamic. I love it. It's lovely. And I mean, just the idea of calling someone a pussy

because they can't open a box is funny. I know, it's so funny. Also, or maybe this is later, but James's reaction to the word tits, maybe that is later. Yeah, it's a bit later in the episode. So insane. He stands up and runs around,

but like he's ducking under something. It's like incredibly wholesome. It's weird. It's like he is thrilled and also really panicked by hearing the words. It's like someone said it in Sunday school, right? He's like, I can't believe it. Exactly.

It's very sweet. James got one point for the DVD of The of the matrix two points for kerry's wires which i think this is surprising because greg is normally a big fan of kerry's straightforward approach um so that's t-shirt that's not right that's not right yeah no the t-shirt with greg on should have should have been lower i think phil's puzzle box well deserved for and i think we both agree that jess's t-shirt are you if that comes the raven does it well with Greg on should have been lower, I think. Phil's puzzle box, well-deserved four. And I think we both agree that Jess's T-shirt, if that comes to Raven, well-deserved for five points. Yeah, I mean, it's a mystery.

It's still a mystery. It's such a mystery. I love it. It's like a Dan Brown book. Oh. You want to give it a go? It's a confusing little box. It's going to be good old telly, innit? I'll just open the box, you pussy.

I don't know where that came from. I don't know where that came from. I don't know where that came from. I don't know where that came from. I don't know where that came from. I don't know where that came from. I don't know where that came from. I just got impatient. LAUGHTER How was that all of it? I'm sorry, I got over... I thought that was...

No, no, it's all right...in my head. I thought it was in my head. LAUGHTER I've just taken charge of the box. If I'd been there for 20 minutes or so, I would have understood you're getting irritated, but I still wouldn't have expected you to use that sort of language. Let's, er, you apologise and we'll leave it there.

Very sorry. That's all right. Task one. Work out what happens when you flick this switch on. You may not take the switch out of this room. Your time starts now. Such a great task. So mischievous. Loved it.

I loved watching it, but I couldn't think of anything worse than actually having to do it. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it would have taken me ages to get there because, I mean, I think of myself as quite an observant person, but I I think you know what it's like there's the level of sort of um

the sort of stimulus you're taking in when you're there it's so different obviously and you're sort of kind of pumped and you're panicked just the idea of coming out and actually noticing the thing that little thing moving yeah i just think that's i just don't i just don't think i would have got there quickly i would have i was surprised that four of them got it yeah yeah because yeah i'm the same i don't know if i would have noticed it unless i'd done what james did and ran around really quickly which is really impressive that he kept, I like that he caught Alex.

It was clear what was happening, but did it one more time just to double check. Yeah. Cause it's like a giant spot the difference game, isn't it? I used to love those. I used to be really good at them. But also I'm, I'm sort of surprised the level of production that it was literally just

Alex running and moving it. I was quite surprised. I thought it would be like guys in sort of camouflage-y gear in the grass sort of running out and running back kind of thing. You know what I mean? Like commando roles. I didn't think it was just, you know, like... Just the other man in the show doing it.

Yeah, the other man with a job just doing it. It just seemed really funny that he was moving it to me. When I first saw it, and Kerry, Phil and Jess all spot it in the same clip package or whatever, I thought, wow, have they hooked up some sort of stone turntable? Yeah. So when the switch goes on, it goes... and turns around. And then when you see Alex

doing it is a little bit of a letdown yeah no I was imagining that at first too it was like Nightmare the show yes it reminded me of that and I thought that exactly I thought that was like I could hear that like you know like on on Nightmare that sound of the grinding. Yeah. What was it? It was like a sound that always played. Like the sort of sound. Yeah. And then there was a timer on that there as well. Yeah.

Yeah. Like the sound of stone turning against stone is what I was imagining. But really it was just the man. Or like sort of Harry Potter when they have like giant chess pieces and they sort of move. That's what I was like. I could almost hear like stone moving. And then it just alex picking it up moving it slightly to the left or right obviously but it was very i mean very cheeky that they put so many other electrical things on yeah on or off the house response was so funny it kind of reminded me of like

my dad it was so it was literally like um the wires there is gaffer tape to that and then that runs to that so all you've got to do is that it was like a builder come in and gone right what you need to do is you switch off at the mains it was so funny because I feel like in our house um because my my parents they were actors they trained as actors but it didn't really work out and they worked sort of like backstage in a theatre for years and years and years. So I feel like a lot of our house growing up was held together by gaffer tape and things like that. It was like bits of set had been brought home and made into like something. So it just kind of reminded me of that, like something gaffer taped to a wall

and then just tried to make it look like it wasn't there yeah so his response was so but then it turns nasty really quickly he just he seems to take great glee in the fact that the switch would electrocute greg in the studio i don't know why he thought that would happen. Like that famous experiment. Yeah, exactly. That's so funny, isn't it?

Like rotten, rotten old pistachios, I think is the phrase that he uses. And then Greg was so quick to, to point out that he had them fixed. He had them done. Yeah. 2009 or something. But I know,

I mean, I've known Greg before 2000. I knew him before 2009 and i don't ever remember him having like pistachios yeah no me neither um but i mean very funny that he clearly rod is such is kind of a perfectionist with the task he goes into such a meditation and really wants to do the funniest thing possible even if it's not the best thing so he obviously i mean i thought that was quite a sound idea disconnect the switch and say the switch does nothing but then oh he obviously panicked that idea wasn't good enough so then went on the rant about greg's teeth that's exactly what happened but yeah i mean i really sort

of respect it as a yeah as a sort of idea because i, obviously it's not true because he was working on the basis that the switch did something electrical. So if the switch did do something electrical and he disconnected it, I think he should have got the five points, but all the switch was was a signal to Alex to manually move a thing. Yeah.

In some ways it was naughty because, I mean, I guess like I can be sort of too literal sometimes because I would have been thinking but that's not the switch doing that it's Alex doing that and yes like it would have been quite fun if it was also had been something electrical I don't know why it would have been fun I mean that's my idea of fun oh it's in there was something electrical that's really fun really fun um like it would have been quite satisfying if you'd gone if you'd found like you know a train set that was going off somewhere hidden like

i would have found that quite satisfying if it had actually been like i'm making that happen and electricity has gone through the house like you know i don't know like someone manually moving something it isn't quite the same only if the switch was powering some sort of buzzer in alex's pocket to tell him to do it maybe yeah that's that yeah yeah that would have been that would have been a compromise incredibly fun still fun um so unfortunately for rod i mean he only gets one point which i mean he shouldn't really get a point because he doesn't find out what the what what happens when you flick the switch on um yeah but it was it was a pity point and that's fine jess and um i've forgotten who it was and phil and carrie yeah they that's. Those three kind of roughly found it in the same way, didn't they?

Yes, they did. It was just, it was elimination. And then when they were going outside to look, realised after a couple of times that the statue kept moving. I thought it was still pretty quick. Yeah, even 11.49, I was thinking it might have taken me an hour to work out what was going on there. Because if you're going around every I think the I think James's technique was quite good of um

switching it off and then checking everything that's what you did isn't it but then again when Jess was like switch it off no I want it on like I definitely think there would have been a point where I would have got muddled in my own head about what I was trying to do but I was thinking I would have even made a checklist if I'd been allowed but I could imagine got like three hours going room to room well actually what really made me laugh what I wrote down was when Kerry was like I was not wandering. She gets so angry. It's so funny. It's such a funny sentence.

I was running. You were wandering. I love Kerry's energy. You were sauntering. It's like, do you remember the incredible, the hysterics we got into of watching the Tars when we had to make a cup of tea? Oh my God.

The way it was edited it was like the two older ones were like in my memory they played music like boom boom every time any team task they did for Joe and David they played old people music and David got really annoyed with it why are you playing old people music

but when they like what was the i don't know was the task something else but they stopped to make a cup of tea that's right no they stopped to make it they stopped to have a chat yeah but the cup of tea task the cup of tea task joe went to the toilet yeah that's right to be against the clog toilet is amazing oh god that was so I love so much the old people music is so I mean it was yeah the second episode was the one where I think we had to keep the team task was we had loads of clues and we had to work out what what the word was and then we had to say a word at the end yeah was we had loads of clues and we had to work out what what the word was and then we had to say a word at the end and there were loads of penalties along the way and one of

the things we had to do was make and eat a sandwich but when they were doing that they just stopped and sort of caught up yeah that's right i had a chat about alternative comedy i remember as well that was the day we like we just um all sort of met on camera and we immediately had to do that and um that that was funny wasn't it because you we were so sort of I I just honestly imagined that we'd all sort of uh you know be sitting around chatting for a couple of hours and then we might do a task but we were we were straight really did sort of were filmed going hello I mean I think I knew it wasn't it well I knew who was you know who was well I didn't know who I'd be in a team with I think I was it was um I suspected and I think I think after the way me and David were together in the studio aka I was quite annoyed with David

the whole time they were probably kicking themselves that they didn't put me and David on the team, but there might have been a murder I think we got on far too well for that like Yeah Well fastest wins, yeah Do you think there was any way you could have been more efficient during that task? Yeah, you could have gone out with a checklist. I mean the most efficient thing to do would have gone Outside and gone. It's a statue Hindsight hindsight is fine

Better thing to do would have gone out with a checklist checklist. Yeah What gone out? Said that's on that's on that's on that's on that's on then go back in maybe that I've started this tone by smashing that little Box, but you seem quite cross That was the one I hated the most this one yeah, why maybe very cross it wore me out it stressed me out it hurt my head You were the quickest of these three feel better now Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category.

And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative.

We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge Indigenous cultures. Or, 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. Task two, dramatically alter your appearance. Most dramatic alteration wins.

You may start altering your appearance when you are inside the lift and the doors are closed. You must stop altering your appearance when the doors open again. You may inspect the contents of the briefcase for five minutes before the lift doors open for the first time. Your time starts now. This is is pretty tricky 18 seconds yeah it was tricky and also i don't know maybe i'm wrong about this do you we didn't really see what was in the suitcase did we like you sort of got a little glimpse but i think i guess it was just all the things that it like a wig sunglasses and then jam and mustard for some reason. The mustard, Jesus Christ. I really wanted to see what was in the suit.

I wanted sort of more info what was in the suitcase because then I would have been able to sort of work out what I would have done. I thought it was really hard because there were no clothes in there. I mean, not even sellotape because the first thought i had was that you know like you know like in a league of gentlemen the way they like yeah i just would have thought oh you could you could do something like that something weird i think there might have been sellotape because i think jessie sellotape to make her felt tie oh yeah that's right so i think that would have been a smart thing to do to sort of

tape up your facial features like tubs i think i would have done yeah yeah um it was hard i mean james's was incredibly funny and i couldn't i couldn't work out what he was doing at first because i think he was trying to jam the lift like yeah by i think it's like the closed door button or the emergency button he was trying to do the emergency button that's right i thought he was trying to do uh doors closed button but then i think greg says didn't he that he was trying he pressed the emergency button thinking it would like the lift would that's not that's not what the emergency button is for when the lift gets stuck right yeah so at no point would you be like well I'll press the emergency button when the lift

is absolutely fine and that'll stop the lift what yeah what was so great about it was like the journey was pressing a button like realizing nothing had happened saying shit shit shit and then opening the suitcase the suitcase closing again reopening it and then the door's open so it was like it was such a beautiful journey of like it was two seconds of the plan two seconds of the plan not working two seconds of trying to make the suitcase and then and then it was time so funny just really when it came out he's only taking his jacket off but fate his facial expression suggests he's been caught butt naked that's i mean if you know that could could have, that would have,

I mean, that's dramatically altering your appearance. Well, my, I mean, my first thought, I'm embarrassed by my first thought because I thought this when I watched it the first time, would be to take everything off and push everything between my legs. When you say everything, you don't mean a suitcase everything in this i mean everything in terms of my own personal suitcase my personal luggage but would i've done that katie that's the question if it came down to it would i have would i've stripped naked and uh and and tucked i mean that's the thing isn't it like in a way, dudes have a slight advantage

in that, like, it's very different if a man does that to a woman. Yeah. I wonder if they made me do it again, though. Imagine if I did that and they went, oh, we can't use that, you've got to do it again. Oh, I thought you meant, like, you did it once, they were like, oh, we didn't get it from this angle've got to do it again I thought you meant like you did it once they were like

oh we need we didn't get it from this angle can you do it again can we film you from the back we want to see this from the back

oh my god we want to see your workings like you're on the countdown we want to see how you did this actually

Greg wants to know how you did this yeah oh god can you do it in the studio um yeah i would have i feel almost like maybe it would have been less interesting but maybe they should have thrown more stuff to play with or well no i mean it was it was perfect because it was so funny that it was 18 seconds in a way like you knew it was kind of going to be like pitiful and that was what was funny about it but I mean the mustard what was he thinking but also it's when the door the doors are fully open when he does that so they shouldn't really count that at all because it had when the doors open again it must have happened already so all that happened was he was in his pants and a wig and then he covered his face and eyes in mustard. It must have been like adrenaline.

Yeah. I wouldn't even put sun cream on like that because of my eyes. He does it with mustard. I wouldn't even put makeup on like that. I mean, I think he gets the five just for sheer force of will, right? For beating up for doing that. So let's talk about Jess, who I love the tie, but she covered it up that when she first walks out,

I've got absolutely no idea what she's trying to do. When she first walked out, I mean, she did look really different. Who got the, did she get the five points? No, she got the four. Rod got the five points for the mustard, which I disagree with, because he was not covered in mustard when the doors opened. I disagree with it, because they even said his hair looked sort of the same, although, you know, I'd be quite upset if I put on a grey wig

and someone said, that looks like your hair. I didn't notice yeah well I go to great lengths not to be great but um uh but it was nudity translucent yellow mustard and his own hair so I think that's really not fair I feel like Jess did an okay job um but it was the shirt and tie for me was very impressive. I loved that. Yeah, it was really creative and really sweet. Yeah, she, I mean, it didn't look like her

when the doors opened. So I think she did really well. Yeah, I mean, Kerry as well, I think, did a really good job. And I think she would have done better. Well, she was counting 18 seconds, what she thought was was 18 seconds but the doors opened way earlier than she thought I think what she'd done was almost enough to be like da da but she's so upset that she didn't get to finish she just started ranting and raving about how she wasn't finished so it made it look

worse that was so sweet I mean it kind of reminded me of a lot of my childhood, where I'd be like, no, I wasn't ready. And I'd be like really sort of furious. I remember if suddenly someone put a camcord on me and I was trying to prepare for some sort of performance and they'd start filming too early. That's exactly the sort of tantrum I would have thrown. Yeah. I thought it was really sweet, her standing there with that wig, trying to stop protesting and saying that she had all this other stuff to do. It was really sweet, her standing there with that wig, protesting and saying that she had all this other stuff to do. It was really sweet. She had a wig and a jacket and then, well, I think Rod describes it as a Brillo pad in her tits. Oh yeah, the famous tits moment.

And that's when James gets up and runs around and charges around like a little bull. But I think the outfit's great. She looks like some sort of nightclub owner from the 70s yeah sort of mixed with Kembala or something yeah yeah yeah she does that's a good description yeah I loved it I think if she'd not complained about the timings I think she would have got four points at least to be honest um yeah and also it's a bit it's a bit of a lesson in um if she just said this is what i plan to do i think i would

have maybe if she'd sold it more it's that classic thing isn't it you know how like you're you're not meant to say when you're on stage you're not meant to go oh this gig's going yeah but everyone does yeah because the audience don't know as soon as you tell the audience it's not not it's not normally this bad then yeah then they know um i say that every gig fit i mean i love and you're right too i i loved phil's um but it wasn't a dramatic change but I did love that he just took the piss there a bit

I think the jar of jam and the sign saying not Phil Wang made me laugh so much oh that was really I feel like that didn't that deserved more

I felt like that was kind of looked over the sign the sign was really great I loved the jam it is a change in appearance. I agree. It's like, yeah, like dramatically altering your appearance, not holding

jam and then holding jam. If I was looking at two portraits and one was holding jam and the other one wasn't, I'd be like, wow, that's a dramatic change for the painter. I agree.

It's a big stylistic change, isn't it? And also, I'm imagining that, like, Rod's comment about his physique, shall we say, that whatever he said, like, there's something... What does he say? Like, there's something else that you're... Yeah, the most recognisable thing in the series that he hasn't changed yeah i can't remember but i imagine that like can you remember at what point in the series did people start like picking mentioning that episode one choice right okay that's what i was wondering if this was like the first time it had

been mentioned okay okay it was a media he knew what he was doing do you think he well he didn't bold no i i think what happened was and we chatted to him about this last week is he went and filmed all this need to know but i do all his tasks he went and filmed all his tasks uh and then hadn't done the team task yet and he turned up the team task day and Rod and James were like, you know you can see your cock and balls in that outfit and then it all dawned on him why the crew had been sort of smirking throughout the entire process.

So he really didn't look in the mirror and think about it. Apparently not. Someone came up to me quite recently and sort of like a sort of drunk woman and she sort of said she was like gesturing at me from across the street and then she came over and said what she said i just want to know why the hard hat and i realized that i it's like that thing isn't it if you have to explain it and it's not funny anymore yeah i just thought it was funny to be dressed as a yeah and also like i felt like it was so far away

from my it was like drag to me it was like so far away from like my sort of persona or the stuff i'd wear in daily life yeah only life when else are you to get an opportunity to wear a hard hat and a high vis vest hyper masculine outfit I mean I'm not sure how far you'd get on drag race no exactly I mean if we're talking drag kings then maybe

yeah maybe so look Rod shouldn't have got the five points there I think we're in agreement but he did get the five points for Mustard Face Jess gets four points Kerry gets three

Phil gets two and James very lucky to even get one point get in the lift and press G press G yes please good luck Yes, please. Good luck.

Does it hurt? Oh, the mustard in my eyes is agony. I'm not going to lie, I'm really thinking now I should use mayonnaise. Sorry. Sorry. Task three. Make these scales read 31.770 kg. The scales must read 31.770 kg for at least five seconds fastest wins your time starts now now this this one this is fun a lot of fun this one a bit of background uh to fill in this one

this is the one task that he came out of and thought i've nailed that and i'm guaranteed five points and was being quite cocky about it before it was shown and then of course he did have the best method it was the cleverest way of doing it but he is so slow his pace I've said it on the podcast before is like Winnie the Pooh so he's if it's a time task there's going to be absolutely no chance of him winning yeah I mean you know but I get he he's he's thoughtful but he's not um necessarily speedy but I mean I no, but I get he's thoughtful, but he's not necessarily speedy. But I mean, I sort of relate to that. I feel like that's my vibe a bit. Walter was clever.

Like, I may have come up with that myself as well, I think. Yeah. Walter is such a great idea. It was really fun. I mean, I was surprised how readily everyone just wanted to get on the scales. Like, that's a really traumatizing experience for me my childhood i'm not i'm not getting on scales yeah i didn't get on scales absolutely not no not volunteering um i i loved the the i was gonna say the reveal of why but we'll come on to that i can't remember so what did um you know it the film was great.

Yes. That was the best. That was definitely the best, but the slowest. I mean, I don't know what Jess was doing because I think for some reason she had a brain fart and thought she couldn't leave the room.

The thing, it is tricky though because when Alex says, it's so infuriating when Alex says all the information's on the thing and I can totally see why, which is what she did. She read into that.

Yes, you're right. Kind of thing. Don't leave the room, which I really, you know, get it is. It's like in the moment,

you'd have to make a split decision, whether you're going to risk break, you know, forfeiting the whole thing by breaking a rule that you don't. So I, you know, it's the whole thing by breaking a rule that you don't so I you know it's a shame Catherine Parkinson in series 11 I think it was um or 10 uh Catherine Parkinson I think if you watch the series she never leaves the room that the task is set in for the whole series oh that's so like obedient and yeah I mean yeah it's so obedient and sometimes that works out

for most of the time it doesn't the last the last episode of the series there's something about put put shoes on a spider and there's a massive spider outside and she doesn't leave the room and she reads into it that that she has to flip the table and turn it into a spider so she never left the room i really can't imagine what the smell of a cruise shoes is like that's awful it is awful but i'd say it's almost more awful to keep talking about it the fact that just keeps going it stinks in here all those crooks like yeah but we didn't want to take our shoes. You were the one who made us take our shoes off and now you're saying we stink. It was unpleasant.

I mean, the spitting was unpleasant, but I sort of admired the ingenuity of that. Yes. Yeah. Rod goes all in. There's nothing, there's no shame with Rod. He just, he will gobb. But it was quite like, it was more, it's quite, what made me laugh was when, was it Kerry's that she put something on

and it's like, now who was it that starts with such a kind of low amount? Maybe it was the shoes. Yeah. Someone started with like a huge amount of effort and then they put it on and it's like it's like one pound or something but I can't remember whose that is well Kerry just starts shouting

that she needs to get heavy stuff as if that's any as if that's any revelation to anyone I'm going to get heavy stuff you've got to get heavy stuff you've got to get stuff that weighs at least 31 kilos I'm not great on kilograms I find that quite hard to imagine what I'm going to grab.

Yeah, I mean, it's a fair old weight. It's certainly more than a whole crew's shoes. Shoes is not the first thing that I'd pick up if I was trying to get any weight going, really. Although I know people take their shoes off when they stand on scales at the doctors, but I don't think they weigh a significant amount really I mean it could have been possible to uh you know put some of your body weight on it and just have stayed there yeah that's what I

think that's what people were trying to do but I think they're so sensitive that to keep it at that weight would be almost impossible because the body's constantly moving, I guess. Yeah, what I'm sort of imagining is sort of almost like doing a plank where your hands are on the machine and you just have to be incredibly still. Yeah. But yeah, it would have been a big...

I mean, if you'd been sort of planking when everyone else had been getting stuff, then I think you'd feel kind of stupid. Well, if it had worked, it would have been amazing. You'd look so zen just doing a plank with your eyes shut and absolutely nailing it. And holding it for five seconds. Yeah.

Yeah. It was fun, though. I would have enjoyed it, I think. Yes. I would have been slow, but I would have enjoyed just... It just looked like a fun thing to do. Just pootling around finding things. Yeah. I would have been slow, but I would have enjoyed just, it just looked like a fun thing to do. Just pootling around finding things. Yeah.

I would have liked to have thought I would do the same thing as Phil or have a system like Phil did. But everyone else just, including James, who does it very well just because he's quick. That's the thing. He's so fast and enthusiastic. He's nimble, isn't he? He's nimble.

He's nimble. He's a cheeky little nimble man. So he does very well. I forgot about those glasses. It's such a weird choice. Yeah. I mean, I think he came up with his outfit in the same day as he came up with the prize tasks.

I think he just sort of ticked it off. A bit like my hard hat. Sometimes I had a ribbon on it, like a sort of Gymkhana. I love the ribbon. And sometimes I carried it around and I think there were points where it was kind of useful like a bag like an extra bag. Yes. But a lot of the time I just remember the hat kind of rolling around on the grass. It's worth it I think. Without the hat it was just like one of those fluorescent vests.

Now, you talked about the reveal earlier that when you flip the number, it says Ollie, which is the name of the knight statue. Yeah, yeah. Here's something that wasn't made clear, and I wish I'd asked Alex about this. Does that mean that Ollie weighs that amount and if you put Ollie on there you get it straight away because in that case they must have made

Ollie weigh that amount so it weighs the same as as the number flips upside down it can't be a coincidence obviously but is that what they were saying yeah I didn't ever think that it meant that that's what Ollie weighed. But at the end, there's a shot of Ollie on there and it does say that and Alex turns it upside down and it says Ollie. Oh. I don't think it was made clear. So they must have weighed it and then coincidentally it'selt Ollie when you turned it upside down. Well, either that or... And then they said it's called Ollie.

I mean, it couldn't be called Ollie and also spell out. That's just too weird. Unless it was called Ollie. Yeah, maybe that's why it was called Ollie. Okay, I hadn't thought about it like that. Or they had it, it was called Ollie, and then they put extra stuff on it to make it weigh that amount. That's the only other way

I saw it, like they cheated like they sort of put coins in its head yeah, they put coins in its head, exactly and it spells out they put coins in its head end of episode just end it before the live task

interesting look, we will find that out from Alex well maybe it's like it's not quite a Derren Brown ending you know what I mean it's not yeah it's not quite as like the amount of like reverse engineering yeah yeah it's all right it's not like I'm not like blown away when ollie comes up at the beginning of the ep and i've you know i've watched this whole series and i couldn't remember why i was like oh yeah why why is it saying ollie the beginning of this episode yeah couldn't remember so i was like i was sort of delighted all over again but i wasn't like wow i hadn't thought about it the way you the way that you

pitched it that they weighed it it weighed that amount so they flipped upside down and happened say Ollie that might be what happened or it just doesn't weigh that at all and I don't know yeah it never would have occurred to me even if I'd been filming the tasks on the same and obviously I know that in the edit it's not like the the tasks that are in one episode they're the ones you filmed all on that day but if if i had just been doing the task the switch task where ollie was moving it might have occurred to me to put ollie on the machine and that would be an amazing moment i think imagine that would have been really cool well you would have been a hero

that there'd be a statue of you in the house instead of instead of me being moved by alex although you know just an extra piece of gravel and you're screwed and it's like not it's not gonna be but that would be really exciting i wonder what would have happened if like a sort of a lot like a thing would have gone off and like you know what he wants to be a millionaire

like confetti would have come down confetti and stuff and then the golden buzzer on Britain's Got Talent you win the show straight away the studios are cancelled because you've won

the whole thing it was one it was Graham Norton's chair goes back and you go flying in the air. Your legs go up.

Gone. Dead. It was one point for Jess for the Stinky Shoes, two points, sadly, for Phil, three points for Kerry, four points for Rod and five points for the speedy little nimble man, James Acaster. It's often that

quotes get thrown up that I think may or may not haunt contestants. I mean, I thought I could use heavy stuff but not as heavy as me. It was mildly embarrassing, but it was hugely eclipsed by how much does water weigh?

Live task. It's water work? Live task. It's a pretty straightforward live task. Correctly donned the most items of clothing while handcuffed. You have 100 seconds. Most new items of clothing correctly donned wins. This is stressful to watch because they're getting pretty competitive in there,

especially Phil and Rod. Oh, I mean, when the hat got kicked off. Yeah. It kind of reminded me of, like, in primary school in the playground when, like, the boys used to rush around and knock into each other and all the girls would be, like, just, like, standing still being like, oh, that's what I remember in primary school. It kind of reminds me of that.

I think I would have just been like, like, I'll do my best over here, but I'm going to stay away from all the kicking and the like. Yeah, there was a lot of roughhousing going on between Phil and, I mean, Rod starts it, to be fair. He kicks Phil's hat away and then Phil really goes for it and starts trying to knock his hat off and kicking his hat off. It gets pretty, it gets pretty violent in there. Also, I know I would have, I would have,

I would have really tried, I would have got carried away and then I would have woken up with like a dislocated shoulder. I feel like I'm that kind of a person, quite a weak, weak person. I felt bad for Phil here though because I think he was already feeling down

about having not done as well in that weighing task as he thought he was going to do. And then Rod kicks his hat away and he only gets one point in the live task yeah it was brutal it was really brutal and then everyone else gets four points and then james gets five points it's really sad yeah no it was it was it was tough i mean i think they all did they all did really well considering it was sort of like impossible. Yeah, it was. You did pretty well in the live tasks, I think,

especially when we had a few that were sort of art-based. The ones I really remember loving are the drawing on the back one. Yeah. Although it was hard. Yes. It was hard. Well, you three were very good at that. It was a weird feeling, because it was like having to sort of being on the sensation of sort of knowing you're

on tv but it also happens to like hyper focus on this really sensitive tiny thing that's happening to you yeah it's like a really weird combination of skills i remember finding out quite weird i loved the predicting whether it was a horse or something else yes of course how could I forget I loved that well that was just us watching Jo Brand for ages because she gets so many in a row

yeah I was doing quite well and then fucked it and then she was on a roll wasn't she of about 7 or 8 or 9 it was crazy bizarre um i really i remember liking the one well i only remember the ones i did wear that yeah clearly there was a throwing one to do with the egg and the something and we all did quite badly at that i think i was really confusing you so the the other art one i remember on our series

was we had to wear like helmets with visors and draw our own face onto the visor. Yeah, I love that one. Because you're a talented artist. I think anything like that really played into your hands. I'm average. I really, yeah, I really, really enjoyed that. I found that quite easy. I thought, I'll do this in my spare time.

I can't remember any I remember well like the main thing I remember every week is sort of saying if I wear a like if I wear a dress or a skirt this week will I be flashing my pants on stage in like an hour's time that was my main that was like my main concern yeah I was working out what my wardrobe was um that was like a big thing and you didn't you didn't once as far as I know I yeah I didn't I didn't once splash anything but I remember Rose and I always having that slight concern of like well you know do we do we get to wear the thing we want to wear or do we win the task like yeah this is the thing. I do remember though,

like whenever I'd win like that week, that little moment where you get up on the stage and you sort of interact with the stuff. I don't think there was a single one where I didn't sort of think, nah, I can't, I'm not gonna, I can't do anything funny to do. That is so hard that moment. Because also you sort of know it's going to be crushed by credits anyway,

so it doesn't really matter. But in the room, you're like, what am I going to do? It's like, it feels like a really bad episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway, where you're just sort of holding a thing, pretending it's a phone. Every time, I mean mean it was nice to you know i think the first time i won it was really exciting but i was sort of getting up on stage and just being like oh i don't know what to do with my hand i mean it would have been actually really funny to stand stock still and not bow and not not like even do anything with the thing.

Just go up and start a really detailed dance routine that you'd be working out. Or like, hello dancers, come on. Or like, start reading out a poem. That would be really funny. Or take out a violin. Like anything would have been better than like

messing around with the prizes hello yeah exactly well it it was a draw in the end

between James and Rod meaning there was a tie break task really difficult tie break task make the best loo roll aeroplane you have five minutes

and one attempt furthest flight wins your time starts now that is really hard and i always resent in the tie-break task where someone not cheats but finds a creative way around it because it feels like it should be everyone doing the task to the letter and rod using the leaf blower with the piece of loo roll felt felt like a bit of a cheat to me i'll say it yeah i i i think the tiebreaker should be more skill-based and less like i don't know there's just sort of luck involved a bit i suppose it's kind of skilled make a paper open but it's like i wanted something really um i don't know i mean it should just should just be like an old-fashioned race.

You always just have to race the other person, like peg it. Yeah. That would be really funny. Peg it around the studio. To have made those two just run around the studio or something. That would be really fun. Yeah, would have loved that. Like the first person to get back to their chair,

just like round, you know, past all the cameras. Or spin round, spin round 10 times and run in a straight line. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess there's so many things you probably can't do in a health and safety way to think about it. Which would be another really fun conversation with Alex

about the health and safety of taskmasters. So are you insured to do like, you know, an eating competition, for example, or? They're not allowed to let people on the roof. I'll tell you that much.

And they're never allowed to let people on the roof of the house. And apparently every series someone's asked. Rod got 22.7 metres, which is a fair, a fair distance more than James' 3.9 so wins the episode Kerry still in the lead in the series

76 points closely followed by Jess then Rod then James then Phil we're basically we're only episode 4 and that is the shape

of how the series ends so I don't know if it stays like that throughout but it's pretty close especially between second and third I don't remember

oh I do remember I've just remembered who it was was I remembered who was because I went to this person's house to get the the trophy yes again I don't remember what the reaction was to that I thought that was pretty uh inspired yeah I think so and then that's when we found out that Kerry keeps it in her garage yeah it was on its side. On its side, in the garage, on top of the shelf. And also, it was quite chipped and tatty. It was funny. So disrespectful.

But where do you keep yours? Mine's in my office. Normally, I'm recording in there. So it's normally well within the Zoom window. But then I sent mine to Space for Champion of champions uh and now i've got it back but um i've got to have a lot i need to watch that well i've just given away the only good thing i do in the episode yes it's been on ah i need to watch that because i remember herring going going on and on and on about it i'm so pleased to have finally got on. Like, is that how it works? Do I need to just start putting it

out there every time? You know. Do I need to be like, oh, come on, BBC Two, give me my own show. Do I just need to stop saying that every time? You've said it now. So you put it out in the universe and eventually it will happen.

Do you want to give us the name of the show? the show gives us just make up a title now well i do remember once being a like an award ceremony sat next to the head of a channel and and we got really drunk together and i i woke up the next morning and i'm like i'm pretty sure he gave me a chat show you know this person said i won't say it was i'm sure they said to me like you can have a chat show and then I saw them again sober about six months later and yeah we never we I didn't mention it but it definitely got agreed well then that should be yeah then that's the thing so then we all look forward to your chat show I can't wait exactly there we go exactly on the taskmaster podcast we always ask our guests to rate their experience on the podcast between one and five points in the style of the Taskmaster, have you had a nice time and how would you rate it points-wise?

I've had a lovely time. I'd say tens across the board. Four points. Four points. Full point. Four points. I thought you said tens across the board. Four points.

Tens across the board, two. No, I wouldn't change a hair on its head. I'd say five points. Five points, we're not changing a hair. Thank you so much. I would not change a hair on this podcast's head. Thank you so much for coming back on, Katie. Thank you so much.

And we'll see you when we chat about series 9 for sure I'm going to go watch Champions now thank you bye bye thank you bye bye there we are thank you so much for coming back Katie looking forward to talking to Katie again

when we talk about series 9 thank you very much for listening. That was our chat about Series 7, Episode 4. So guess what? Next week, we're talking about Series 7, Episode 5 with another brilliant special guest. Keep on listening. We'll see you next week.

Bye-bye. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising.

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