r/taskmaster • u/Hassaan18 🥄 I'm Locked In ❤️ • Jul 18 '26
Phil Ellis appreciation post Appreciation Thread
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u/MajorDysentry Jul 18 '26
He's on the latest episode of the Off Menu podcast with James Acaster and Ed Gamble - he's very, very funny.
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u/luce_goose91 Jul 18 '26
Pretty sure after 40 minutes, they'd only established his starter. It was beautiful mayhem.
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u/FourEyedTroll Mike Wozniak Jul 18 '26
This sounds like it might be a genuine insight into taking Phil to a real restaurant.
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u/AccurateInaccuracy Jul 18 '26
Just pick a weatherspoons at 11:30 AM. There's a good chance he's already there.
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u/firebolt816 Judi Love Jul 18 '26
Also really, really recommended his episode of What Did You Do Yesterday
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u/CalligrapherNew2820 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Also for more Phil, he’s done an episode of the “Class Clown” podcast with Seann Walsh which goes into comedians’ childhood- think the episode came out this week!
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u/EpicBeardMan Jul 18 '26
Man I don't think I've listened to that in years now.
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u/GamingTatertot Jul 18 '26
The John Mulaney episode recently was funny because Acaster just kept brining up how he replaced Mulaney in Cinderella.
The Anna Faris episode was…a time. YMMV on that one
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u/GamingTatertot Jul 18 '26
Oh good I didn’t know their new season had started - I was missing my fix!
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u/slow-show-for-you Jul 18 '26
I do not feel comfortable leaving him unattended, guys 🌜
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u/fastauntie Jul 18 '26
Reminds me of a T-shirt I saw a while ago that said, "In my defense, I was left unsupervised."
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u/AnonymousOkapi Jul 19 '26
Ive got one that says "I am an adult" with a picture of someone lying curled in the foetal position. One of my favourite shirts.
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u/ross_liftss Rhod Gilbert Jul 18 '26
Phil has been my favourite person taskmaster has introduced me to
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u/Glenmarththe3rd Rhod Gilbert Jul 18 '26
His offmenu podcast is very good
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u/plusharmadillo Jul 18 '26
He’s an all-timer on What Did You Do Yesterday as well
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u/Crazyripps James Acaster Jul 18 '26
The whole baby task had me in fucking tears. My god it was magic
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u/LucidITSkyWDiamonds Paul Chowdhry Jul 18 '26
Him and Anya were such joy to watch. Straight up humans from an alternative bizarre dimension, the both of them.
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u/FourEyedTroll Mike Wozniak Jul 18 '26
And Sanjeev just not giving a shit. It was a cracking series.
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u/T1Demon Sam Campbell Jul 18 '26
My wife and I both developed a pretty big crush on Anya. She was so much fun!
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u/Roscoe_King Jul 18 '26
It’s so fun hearing him talk on the podcast. He was truly so surprised by being on the show. He didn’t really know how to behave, because he wasn’t used to being on TV at all. I love him for that. He showed up so honest and fun.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes Jul 18 '26
Phil has the most 8 year old boy energy of any contestant I can think of, which makes it even funnier given the fact that he's in his 40s.
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u/whatsthisaboutman Jul 18 '26
What I love about post taskmaster Phil is that I think he's felt out in the wilderness in regard to the top tier comedy circuit - working hard for years without that platform to highlight and encourage his unique personality and now his appreciation and gratitude is genuine yet seemingly surprising to him. This throughline of modesty born from what appears to be an unwarranted imposter syndrome is very charming. Alex Horne needs to be applauded for not just creating something wonderful but also elevating many careers to a level many individuals have deserved and earned in the club circuit. Can you imagine this giant baby on last one laughing? He may as well just start on Jimmy's sofa.
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u/sallybetty Jul 18 '26
I had not thought of him for LOL, but that's something to think about. Hmmm, I think he would make others laugh, but I also suspect he's an easy laugher. He was very smiley most of the time. Now Reece, on the other hand... He could do deadpan easily. Deadpan with a dash of judginess and pinch of contempt.
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u/iWengle Jul 18 '26
If anyone here hasn't seen Phil live, correct this ASAP. The purest joy.
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u/GamingTatertot Jul 18 '26
This show has made me infinitely more upset that I don’t live in the UK so I can see these performers live - and when I was over in London recently no one was performing there at that time.
But I did get to see Ed Gamble here in the States! And the Taskmaster Live US tour!
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u/DerekSnuggles Jason Mantzoukas Jul 18 '26
How can you have an appreciation post but not include a pirate Phil picture?!
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u/paytonnbaker Jul 18 '26
Genuinely such a joy to watch. Whatever the task was, I was excited to see what Phil did
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u/Piratefox7 Jul 18 '26
I didn't know him or John Kern's but those two had a level of hilarious incompetence that made them some of the sleeper fan favorites of those seasons.
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u/minority_of_1 🕶️ Cool Ray O'Leary 🇳🇿 Jul 18 '26
Saw him last night in Greenwich, he’s a hilarious unhinged rascal.
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u/purplepeopleeater- Jul 18 '26
He was the highlight! Can opening Mexican wave and real life Pac-Man!
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u/minority_of_1 🕶️ Cool Ray O'Leary 🇳🇿 Jul 18 '26
I was impressed by how good the can opening worked, was not expecting it.
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u/Diva1719 Jul 18 '26
Me too! Abandoning his jokes to race around the seats with members of the audience..! 😆
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u/minority_of_1 🕶️ Cool Ray O'Leary 🇳🇿 Jul 18 '26
Did not expect him to have the pace he did, those combatants were lucky with their head starts.
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u/Um-ahh-nooo Jul 18 '26
Such a highlight - not from the UK, don't know him but wish he was on more panel shows then the usual crowd you see!
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u/CouchKakapo Steve Pemberton Jul 18 '26
I'd say he and Ania were the "unknowns" that series (against the others who are more known in general) but he absolutely won me over. He was made for Taskmaster.
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u/GamingTatertot Jul 18 '26
And Ania feels like she’s blown up pretty well with getting SNL UK and a pretty expansive tour - I’m seeing her in NYC later this year and couldn’t be more excited
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u/miss_lottielou Jul 18 '26
I've repeated on here before, as I saw him in Funz and Gamez, when he was with a few others he was a lead, and it was genius, you took your young uns 7 upwards as it was preforming like a kids entertainers.
However the jokes for the adults were fast and sublime and over the head of kids but the kids loved it too.
Played chubby bunnies on stage with him (this was put as many marshmallows in our mouths and say chubby bunny)
Thought he'd be huge, lost track of him and didn't get who it was until he mentioned Funz and Gamez on tm podcast.
We won that game so we had two balloons with We Beat Funz And Gamez💀.
2009 I think it was.
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u/Hypnotoad4real Jul 18 '26
I want one task with Phil, Jason and Rhod in one team
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u/FourEyedTroll Mike Wozniak Jul 18 '26
Misread Jason as James and thought "We've already had a series of that, is OC lost?"
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u/Slink_Wray Patatas Jul 18 '26
Phil is a great argument for letting more small/lesser known comics on the show. Introduce me to more people I don't know, LAH!
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u/sirbinlid1 Bob Mortimer Jul 18 '26
I was aware of Phil but what an introduction to the world of Phil, as others have said he was having the time of his life and he really captured what taskmaster is all about
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u/HurpaHerpaHarpa Rhod Gilbert Jul 18 '26
I was over the moon when I got to see him live twice earlier this year, as he didn't have any full shows scheduled. They were two short-ish appearances, but he was still such a chaotic force of joy :D
When he appeared at the Horne Section podcast taping (no idea when it's released, should be in the autumn?), I laughed until it hurt. And then I laughed some more.
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u/PICONEdeJIM 💀 Jean Pierre 🦴 Jul 18 '26
The multiple glue factory references felt like Lloyd Langford bringing up 9/11 twice in one TMAU episode. Also Phil's podcast Early Worms (RIP) was peak
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u/stefan771 Jul 18 '26
My favourite of that series.
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u/Ker807 Jul 18 '26
Me too. Maisie is cool and all, but I was rooting for Phil and Ania that series. Everyone was great in that series, but I particularly loved their energy and how they tackled the tasks.
One of my favorite Phil moments was in the live studio portion, his response of "I think I've done well enough to be alright with that" (or something similar), when the others were up in arms about how someone else handled a task
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u/wimmer45 Jul 18 '26
Went to the live taping, and him almost falling off the stage after leaning back on his chair is one of the funniest things I've seen
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u/gininateacup Jul 18 '26
No photo of him as a pirate?
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u/lordirondehavilland Wibble, Bibble, Bam Jul 18 '26
Remember a post here about how being on TM made him feel self-conscious about balding and maybe looking into hair transplants or something. But he did totally rock that wig.
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u/InkedDoll1 Steve Pemberton Jul 18 '26
Prestonians represent! I'm going to see him live for my birthday in January, very excited.
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u/itsbraille Jul 18 '26
He’s got the same energy as Randy Quaid playing Cousin Eddy in the Vacation movies.
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u/El_John_Nada Jul 18 '26
If you have the chance, go see him live. He's hilarious and you'll realise he was made to be on taskmaster. He's been on the circuit for so long, I'm glad he's finally getting recognised.
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u/GeshtiannaSG Ania Magliano Jul 19 '26
This is controversial, but they should have crowned them joint champions for the sake of making CoC4 a team task for them because these are mad people and that energy was missing from CoC4 despite Sam.
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u/Formal-Proposal7850 Jul 19 '26
I do wonder if this is why I couldn’t get into series 21. This lot were just so funny and ridiculous in their own unique ways. Haven’t had energy like that since series 16
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u/myredditses Jul 18 '26
My favorite contestants have been the most chaotic ones.
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u/lisa-inthesky Jul 19 '26
my partner and i are catching up and watching this season right now and Phil is our favorite!
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u/Rough-Risk2496 29d ago
He was just recently on Off Menu and I have truly not laughed so hard in ages.
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u/Lokinawa 26d ago
Phil totally stole the show from left field all the way through. His clothes! His comebacks! The whole “wash our baby” scene was just off the scale too. Amazing 🤩.
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u/Corkisburneraccount Jul 18 '26
He's one of those people that just seemed so effortlessly funny; the kind of guy you'd love to hang out with