Taskmaster #2 Are you a child of divorce?

As a fan of their podcast, John played Taskmaster exactly as I would have expected him to. He is hyper competitive, very heavy on preparing for things and has often had times where his bad showmanship makes him look very childish and petty.

I thought he came across fine on the show, but he was clearly in it to win it and had studied the show in depth before his tasks. Which ultimately made him a little too boring and smug.

I think if he'd leaned more into mocking how competitive he was, and had fun OTT reactions to winning tasks/episodes it would have been fine, but his quiet fake-humble "oh yes, I guess I've done well" expressions really bothered me 😅 he clearly takes himself very seriously and doesn't have the ability to reflect and realise how he comes across! You can do well and still be fun, John!! Dara managed it, Morgana managed it! He's so overly earnest.
 
I've just googled John and found this clip from a few months ago about how he feels being just over a year into sobriety. He makes some brilliant, insightful comments about how the longer he's sober, the more he has to remind himself of why drinking was so bad (recovery's such a difficult, ongoing process) but for some reason I just found the way he made those comments really irritating 😅 I think he just lacks the ability to be really engaging when he talks, like he thinks what he's saying is so important that it speaks for itself and he doesn't need to be warm or self-depricating to make the audience feel he's talking to them.



(Side note, but I've just realised who Elis James is and I loved him in Josh - I hope he does Taskmaster one day!)
 
Sigh.
Is it going to be like this for the entire series?
 

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Yes, and they both wrote shows about their break-up. 🙄

Separately, I find them both insufferable. If I was unfortunate enough to encounter them as a couple, I’d likely commit a crime.

His show about their break up is frankly excellent.

John is an acquired taste but once you *get him*, you're in!

An in to understanding him is to search for Tick Tock Robins on Spotify. It's a podcast from his xfm days with Elis and its actually such a good show. Definitely recommend it to change your opinion!
 
For goodness sake!
Why are you a “ham”, whatever the bloody hell that is, because you don’t find someone funny?!

RJ doesn’t take kindly to anyone having the temerity to hold a different opinion to her - her ‘mad angry cry’ being a prime case in point.

Clearly, it is obligatory to find RJ funny because RJ finds RJ funny, and if you don’t think she’s funny, you are ‘angry’. 🤔

I didn’t find John or Joanne especially funny or entertaining on the most recent series. Does that make me an ‘angry ham’, or is it ok to have not been a fan of either of them? 🤷‍♀️
 
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I was in two minds about the next series as I love Jack Dee but can’t stand Rosie Jones. She’s just not funny. What an immature response from her. I watched this last series purely for Nick & Steve but John made it intolerably boring! No, one person shouldn’t make that much of a difference but he did, sadly
 
I’ve been putting Elis-And-Isy-As-The-First-Couple-Competing-Against-Each-Other-(I think)-On-Taskmaster out into the universe ever since I realised how great it would be a couple of weeks ago
Oh they'd be lots of fun on the show I think! A great call.
They'd be the second couple now Elis' fellow Welshman Lloyd Langford is on the Aus one with his partner Anne Edmonds. I believe also on one of the European versions there's been a couple where one was the taskmasters assistant? But I forget which version.
(and in S1 of NZ, the taskmaster's assistant Paul Williams is the brother of Guy Williams, one of the contestants).
 
Would love Richard Ayeoade or David Mitchell. I think Maisie Adam would be fun, too. Jennifer Saunders seems game for a laugh, if they could afford her 😂
 
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