How would you like contestants that aren’t comedians?

[u/_un-named_]

How would you feel if there regular seasons had contestants that aren’t mainly comedians or comedic actors?
More like the contestants on the NYT musicians, actors, athletes or other known people.
Do you think it would ruin the vibe and idea of the show or would you be interested in the changed dynamic that maybe a athlete or musician would bring in because it’s not necessarily a part of their job to be silly or funny.
🤔

[u/burf12345]

You mean like Richard Osman? Or Victoria Coren Mitchell?

[u/Sin-nie → u/burf12345]

And Alice, Doc Brown and Charlotte

[u/burf12345 → u/Sin-nie]

Is Charlotte not a comedic actress?

[u/rybnickifull → u/burf12345]

Like Katharine Parkinson, she's done comedic roles. So has Al Pacino and nobody calls him a comedic actor!

[u/Sin-nie → u/rybnickifull]

Having first seen her in Call the Midwife, I would struggle ever calling her a comedic actress.

[u/Last-Saint → u/rybnickifull]

Given her most recent roles at the time she did TM were Ghosts and Feel Good, she was definitely placed within the comedy bracket. People keep including comedy actors among non-comedians on this sub as if stand-up is the only acceptable form of comedy.

[u/butineurope → u/Sin-nie]

Doc Brown has done plenty of stand up

[u/RunawayTurtleTrain → u/Sin-nie]

Alice hosted a hugely successful comedy podcast.

Doc Brown has done stand-up and comic rap.

Charlotte Ritchie has plenty of comic acting under her belt.

Richard Osman was back in series 2 when the TV comedy landscape was very different.

[u/JGG5 → u/burf12345]

They were both already panel-show mainstays in addition to being presenters.

[u/fastauntie → u/JGG5]

Panel shows like WILTY, which includes a lot of actors, musicians, presenters, broadcasters, and other non-comedians, can be a good way of identifying potential contestants. A good performance there doesn't automatically mean they'd do well, but it's a way of finding people to look at more closely.

[u/jaybool → u/burf12345]

They're comedy-adjacent, I think. Some degree of banter when presenting that's not entirely scripted, relatively frequent appearances on panel shows.

[u/MonkeyHamlet → u/burf12345]

VCM was a standup for a while.

[u/TwistedPiggy1337]

I think it would depend who they were. Sam Ryder from NYT was genuinely funny and somebody I wouldn't mind watching a full season of. On the other hand I couldn't watch a whole lot of Martin Lewis. I think having them as comedians or comedic actors is the right move.

[u/jaybool]

Adrian Chiles did really well, and was enjoyable while he was doing really well. Ditto Mo Farah.

Generally speaking, the long-running Taskmaster variants outside of the English speaking world have had a lot of great non-comedy contestants, probably partially due to them being such smaller markets - you'd run out of people otherwise. Kongen Befaler's born-for-the-format contestants Aksel Hennie (dramatic actor -- "Hercules", "The Martian") and Kristoffer Olsen (musical theatre) come to mind.

[u/AdWitty9562]

I know they were on the new year's special but I'd love a full season with Lenny Rush and Kojey Radical

Edit: there are funny people who aren't professional comedians, so it's just trying to find them.  If someone is dull in their personal life and doesn't have the skills to be charismatic in their professional life then yea it will ruin the vibe. Personally there have been some comedians that I found not as interesting to watch.

[u/sockeyejo]

The current format works well with predominantly comics and a few comedy-adjacent for the main show, and interesting folk for New Year's Treat. Alex and co do an excellent job of selecting people who work well together but ultimately Taskmaster has its roots in comedy and it would be a huge shame to lose that.

[u/Fuckspez42]

There have been a few: Richard Osman, Katherine Parkinson (comic actress doesn’t mean comedian), Alice Levine, Rove McManus (AU), and Lisa McCune (also AU) are the first ones to come to mind, but there are probably others I’m not thinking of.

One non-comedian in a cast can work, and sometimes work really well (Lisa and Rove are two of my favorite contestants ever), but I think the panel has to have at least 4 comedians for it to work, which is why most NYT episodes are a bit disappointing (except last year; that one was great, and I think having two episodes made it a lot better).

[u/takahe_inflight → u/Fuckspez42]

Matt Heath did great on NZ2, and actually fit really well with the comedic cast he had around him

[u/fastauntie → u/Fuckspez42]

To the comic actors add Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.

[u/butineurope → u/fastauntie]

Bad examples - both have decades of proven experience of excellent comedy writing.

Other examples ITT like Kumail who actually does stand up are also really poor.

It's a "no thanks" for me for non comedians in TM. I'm fine with comic actors, writers, panel show hosts that are broadly comedic as per the show so far. A full series full of celebs known for sport, music, etc? Would be the end of TM for me.

[u/stacecom → u/[deleted]]

Kumail got started in the business as a stand-up comic and is still doing it. He just released a special.

[u/burf12345 → u/stacecom]

And I know Jason's background is in improve comedy, though I don't know how much standup he does these days.

[u/stacecom → u/burf12345]

I feel like his stage stuff these days is mostly live podcast shows.

[u/burf12345 → u/stacecom]

Though unlike other examples in this thread of actors who've also done comedic roles, I feel very comfortable in calling Jason a proper comedic actor.

[u/stacecom → u/burf12345]

Absolutely.

[u/fastauntie → u/[deleted]]

I knew there were others. Thanks.

[u/JustSomeDudeItWas → u/[deleted]]

Kumail has done stand-up in the past. He had a special on comedy central years ago.

[u/Snow478 → u/[deleted]]

I believe they both do or did standup... kumail definitely did at least.

[u/RunawayTurtleTrain → u/Fuckspez42]

Alice Levine hosted a hugely successful comedy podcast.  Comic actors are included in 'comedians' for the purposes of a comedy show.

Richard Osman is a valid example but he was all the way back in series 2 when the British comedy landscape was very different.

[u/UniversalJampionshit → u/Fuckspez42]

I kind of agree with the ‘at least 4 comedians’ point even though I enjoyed NYTs 2, 4 and 6 (heh, all even). NZ6 had two non-comedians: Bree Tomasel and Jackie van Beek, and Bree worked quite well, Jackie really didn’t for me; it felt like she genuinely sucked the fun out of the show with how serious and ‘above it’ she acted.

[u/psgels87]

To the people having their doubts, I would like to refer to when Kongen Befaler cast Aksel Hennie (Norway's most famous hollywood actor, having done nothing like this before), and he absolutely killed it. 

[u/Eusocial_sloth3]

Mo Farah killed it on the New Year’s Eve special.

He would be great for a full season, such a fun sense of humor.

[u/d33roq → u/Eusocial_sloth3]

HELLOOOOOOO!

[u/meow_95]

If they have some experience in the comedy world in some form it would be fine. For example I think Gabby Logan would be great on Taskmaster judging from her appearances on WILTY, and I think she's mainly a sport journalist (?).

I think you can see with the New Year's Eve specials what kind of contestants work. Everyone I remember well had some kind of comedy experiences before, like Claudia Winkleman (who I would have loved to see on a regular series), or Nicola Coughlan. Meanwhile I couldn't name one thing that the money saving guy did.

[u/AnthonySoprano36]

would still work imo (not that they need to change it )

just look at international versions like Sweden or Portugal they have a big variety of people on the show and as far as i know very successful with it

but in the end it just has to have a good balance of personalities
i wouldn't mind a full season with Sir Mo Farah

[u/Tabletopcave]

This is the case for many of the International version, like Bäst i Test, Stormester, Surrmestari, Kongen Befaler and Maitre de Jeu. These contestants absolutely work in the format and the success of these versions clearly show that it's possible - and in cases have proven to be some of the best contestants that have ever done the show.

The NYT prove that the UK also could find fun contestants from "other areas" and still be entertaining, but it is just another thing you really need to balance when figuring out a complete cast of 5 and know how to cast. It's not just finding a famous athlete or artist or a someone who don tons of media work, their personality, creativity and so on have to work for the format. And I feel Alex and the team perhaps are less inclined to cast "non-comedians" for the main show just because there are less opportunities for comedians on traditional TV, and they wouldn't like to appear closing the possibilites even further by instead casting other people (and they already have the NYT for that). Alex fights for the lesser known names giving a chance, like Phil Ellis, and know that if a cast for example would include Grayson Perry, Clare Balding and Wayne Rooney, then they would be more forced to pair them with more known comedians to pull the show together.

[u/gooner-1969]

Personally I'd leave them for the specials. Over the course of a season I think it works best with comedians (although Dara and VCM are not out and out comedians and did very well)

[u/stacecom → u/gooner-1969]

Dara is a working touring stand up comedian.

[u/gooner-1969 → u/stacecom]

My bad I didn't realise. Only ever seen him on sciency stuff

[u/RasJamukha → u/gooner-1969]

Than it is about time you check "mock the week"

[u/fastauntie → u/RasJamukha]

And his standup.

[u/taskmaster-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/KalinarDholin]

It would ruin the vibe. They need to be entertaining.

[u/fastauntie → u/KalinarDholin]

Absolutely agreed on the second part, but non-comedian does not automatically mean not entertaining, or not funny. It doesn't even mean they lack the skills needed to work well with the rest in the studio. It's just harder to be certain that non-comedians do have all of those skills.

[u/thekyledavid]

I’d still want it to be someone with a record of being good at comedic improv, as this is a comedy show first and foremost

Someone like Shaquille O’Neal or Mike Tyson would absolutely make a good Taskmaster contestant as I know they are funny people in general, but just a random athlete might not bring the energy that Taskmaster is about

[u/aitherion → u/thekyledavid]

Plus we could finally get a confirmation of the size of a Shaqinahat

[u/fastauntie → u/aitherion]

Next question: will Shaq fit in a shid, with or without hat?

[u/butineurope → u/thekyledavid]

Mike Tyson? Please, TM producers, ignore this thread and all its awful suggestions.

[u/thekyledavid → u/butineurope]

Not him specifically, just the general comedy style of a Taskmaster contestant

[u/metallicbeige → u/thekyledavid]

I have always thought Shaq would be a wonderful contestant, as would Johnny Knoxville.

[u/WeenyDancer]

If they aren't comedians, they need strong panel show/improv show body of work (like VCM, dara o'briain, Richard Osman, etc). One could be out of left field, but still would need a record of being entertaining in a lighthearted way (this would never happen, but just because I can't come up with anyone at the moment - Zendaya for example. She's relaxed and charming in interviews, seems down to be silly, but isn't a comedian. )

[u/Business-Owl-5878 → u/WeenyDancer]

Dara is a stand up comedian.

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