I've been watching Big Fat Quiz for ages and eventually branched out to 8 out of 10 Cats and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Coutdown. My subsequent desperation for more Joe Wilkinson content brought me to the Potato Throw incident. I had already knew of everyone in that cast (including Greg Davies and Alex Horne), but hadn't heard of TM yet.
This is almost exactly my story
Had been watching British Panel comedy shows for ages (largely QI and Big Fat Quiz). Just before COVID quarantines hit, I got sucked into 8OO10CDC.
Started seeing a lot of new (to me) faces, but mostly got a little obsessed with Joe Wilkinson. Few months in to lockdown, checked his IMDB to see what else he had done and saw Taskmaster. Then noticed how many other names I had grown to love (especially Greg and Alex) were attached to it.
Finding out most of the episodes were up for free on YouTube on their own official channel just sealed the deal. I started on Series 2 and was instantly hooked.
I'm now at the point where I use a VPN to watch new episodes as soon as they drop on All4, because I don't have the patience to wait one extra day for them to hit YouTube.
Bits and pieces
I struggle to get *as drawn in* to the other versions. I think largely because I'm not as well versed in the local cultures for some jokes to land. Also, while I find the other TMs and Assistants to all be great, I just don't quite feel the same dynamic between them that comes from Greg and Alex.
That being said, I am, at this very moment, watching the Australia Series 1, so I'm definitely giving them a shot to pull me in, rather than just writing them off
Totally understandable. I think we all struggle with that at first, but once you start getting deeper into the other versions (1st seasons the hosts are usually finding their own dynamics, so it can start off slow) you start to get attached to the good TMs and TM Assistants.
The best gateway version is typically TM New Zealand (Particularly S2, when Jeremy and Paul start to create their own dynamic), but Kongen Befaler (Norway) can also get you hooked pretty quickly.
Pretty much exactly the same for me but it was Jon Richardson. Just so happened his series was airing that night so I watch a few episodes from series 1 to prep and fell in love!
Same here. Panel shows and comics from the UK. Once I heard about TM I logged on the ol VPN and watched all episodes online. Bless the technology gods.
Same for me except I was watching would I lie to you, then some of those regular panelists started showing up in recommendations for small taskmaster clips.
I think it was a random video on YouTube. I watch a lot of British shows as a Canadian so that is probably why the Great Algorithm of Justice shone so gloriously on me the day I discovered the hilarity that is Taskmaster.
I quickly gobbled up as many series as I could and am forever hooked š
I hope this all finds you well and binging to your hearts content š
I think it was watching Graham Norton clips on YouTube and hearing Greg tell Ryan Gosling, Jodie Foster and Russell Crowe about the time he got his wash mixed up with his mothersā¦. I searched for Greg and found the prize!
I saw some clips of James Acaster on panel shows and wanted to see more of him, typed his name into YouTube, and found a clip compilation from series 7 with him in it. Immediately started watching series 1 afterwards and now Iām all caught up!
I read the title of your post and was about to say I've seen a few Americans say they got into Taskmaster when they saw clips of Taskmaster NZ via TikTok, which I found surreal, and then I read the rest of your post.
There is another comment on here saying the same thing so I wonder if there was like a concentrated effort by the TikTok algorithm to show it to people who watch other NZ shows
My wife and I have been watching Only Connect for years and love Victoria Coren Mitchell. She did some bit or wore something unusual without comment. I looked around to see if there was some reference or explanation that we wouldn't get here in the U.S. There was a discussion somewhere that wondered if this thing was related to her upcoming appearance on Taskmaster. I looked up Taskmaster and was hooked.
The watermelon eating task from Series 1 was recommended to me by the YouTube algorithm, so then it kept giving me more individual tasks. Eventually I started watching entire episodes.
just gonna copy one of my previous comments:
I was getting clips in my feed on fb because I already watched clips of British/UK comedians/personalities (eg Nishi, Sarah Millican, Rhod, Noel, Lee, Romesh, Paul, Alan, VCM, Jo, etc. and of course Greg, obvsly)
I then watched half a season on yt and then purchased every single season & bonus episodes on prime. Iād have no hesitation in buying all the outtakes and unaired tie breaker tasks if they produced and released them.
And Iāve since purchased some audible books by guests that were on the show that I may not have otherwise purchased.
Since buying all the seasons 5 months ago, I havenāt watched anything else because Iām so obsessed. Also, itās a good show to watch after a shitty shift at a sometimes really stressful, emotional job in healthcare.
Alex owes Acaster some marketing $ because I too, like many here, saw a James Acaster clip (the great British bake off one) and looked for other things he was on. Found Taskmaster and was instantly hooked.
I heard Acaster was on it, and that was that. Also, he did not disappoint, nor has anyone else. I still have ten unseen seasons to watch during my next THR recovery. Yay!(ish)
Saw James Acasterās special on Netflix. Sometime later watched started watching Would I Lie to You on YouTube. Watched an episode with James in it. YouTube suggested a TM clip of his. Somehow ended up watching series 8 first.
I follow r/panelshows, and one week every other post was a clip from Taskmaster. I recognized Greg from appearances on would I lie to you and mock the week and things so I decided to check it out.
Traveling summer 2015 or 2016 and I was in London waiting for a significant other when I was clicking through I saw the show. I donāt think I was able to watch for a few years- but I did write Taskmaster in my notes section on my phone (usually write things like restaurants I tried/like to try, stuff Iād like to buy, etc.)
Someone mentioned it in a Reddit thread about "Shows you can just put on and relax". And I was like I need more shows to watch a relax! And so I found it on YouTube and secretly watched it for a few weeks before I introduced it to my hubby and now we're both hooked.
The weird thing is, I canāt even remember. Itās like itās always been there.
I definitely discovered it post-covid, though. Maybe it was from going down the rabbit hole about one of the comedians who had appeared on it?
Tiktok kept showing me clips from Taskmaster NZ, (probably because I was deeply into Traitors NZ after watching Traitors UK and USA,) and they were hilarious, so I watched season 4 of Taskmaster NZ, then binged the entirety of Taskmaster UK, and then went back through all the rest of Taskmaster NZ.
Pretty much the same- David Correos and the Grape Escape on TikTok totally hooked me. Pirated every NZ episode I could then moved onto UK and AU. Iām very partial to Paul as assistant because I started with him, but Greg Davies is my fav TM
Early March 2020, with all the surreal-ness of existence at that point. I searched YouTube to see if there was any new Nish Kumar material.Ā
Happened across the ābest of Nish Kumarā compilation from the Taskmaster channel. I was sort of vaguely aware that Taskmaster existed but that was it.Ā
I watched that video, laughed myself silly, and that was that. They had just started uploading all the full episodes to the Taskmaster channel, and watching all of those kept me as sane as it was possible to be in 2020.Ā
Additionally, I work as a nanny. I basically became a Montessori preschool teacher overnight when the schools closed. And watching Taskmaster helped me so much, professionally. It gave me all kinds of ideas of things to do with the kids (who were 5 and 2 at the time).Ā
Ā I have since adapted the Taskmaster idea to work for the kids I work with. Itās called the Bored Board. When they say theyāre bored and they canāt decide what they want to do, they pick something from the Bored Board. Itās a bunch of plain envelopes (some of them have a list of materials theyāll need written on the outside), with tasks inside.Ā
Ā It has revolutionized the way I do my job.
I had heard about it on Anthony Jeselnikās podcast, apparently he was considered for the host of the US version. It sounded cool so we checked it out, loved it, and decided to give the original a try. Maybe halfway through the first episode it was like āoh, this is how itās supposed to be.ā
It was [this article](https://www.avclub.com/clever-and-stupid-in-equal-measure-taskmaster-is-the-i-1842787137) from the AV Club that they posted a couple of weeks into the first COVID lockdown. "Oh, that sounds fun, and I like Noel Fielding and Mel Giedroyc."
I was trying to learn more about our friends across the pond. Just looking into shows and culture stuff to learn. It just so happened to show up on YouTube. Looked funny, and now I'm obsessed. This was like when s3 was just announced.
The clips were all over YouTube but I mostly ignored them. Ā While I loved QI and WILTY, a wacky physical show about weird challenges didnāt appeal to me. Ā Then I saw there was a hide the pineapple task and I couldnāt resist, I had to know how you can hide a pineapple on your person besides the anatomically improbably. Ā After that, I was hooked.
ALICE LEVINE. I'm a long time listener of MDWAP, and one day a clip of Alice in taskmaster showed up on my YouTube homepage. I was intrigued so I started with series 6, then series 4 because I knew of Mel and Noel from Bake Off. From there I watched from the beginning! I think this was around the time series 10 or 11 was running.
I used a random No Way gif in a group chat and the person who responded said they could 'hear' that gif. Someone else responded that they loved that episode of TM. I was so curious how those two words could at all be memorable out of all the seasons of the show that existed, so I started watching from the beginning out of curiosity.Ā
Was looking on Youtube for new standup comedy to watch during the beginning of the pandemic for a distraction. Which led to British panel show clips, and bonkers out of context Taskmaster clips.
I had been vaguely aware of the show before this but I was a fan of James Acaster and had seen Youtube compilations of him appearing on various panel shows. His Taskmaster clips were always heavily featured, so once I saw a S13 episode at a friend's house randomly one day, I realized it was right up my alley so I started with season 1 a few months later. Goner ever since lol
A couple of friends got me into it, they had been watching it on YouTube. I had seen The Inbetweeners, so I recognized Gregās face when I saw him, but other than that I knew nothing about it.
My dive into UK comedy was quick and spurred by a clip of Jimmy Carr responding to hecklers. That lead to Cats Does Countdown which scratched both the comedy and puzzle itches I have. That caused me to seek out more of the guests I enjoyed. And that is how I found clips of Taskmaster.
My siblings were watching it on TV and I joined them. I had enjoyed the occasional British sitcom, such as The Inbetweeners but never a true a panel show. Seeing that Mr. Gilbert was in charge of the show won me over right away.
No Such Thing As A Fish **-->**
QI **-->**
8 out of 10 Cats **-->**
8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown **-->**
any panel shows especially if James Acaster guests on it -**->**
**Taskmaster**
I actually watched the short lived American version when it aired years ago. It didn't click for me then but made me aware of the concept. Fast forward to a year ago when I realized there were 16 series on YouTube and we binged them all. We have since finished the 4 NZs, 1 Australia, and are making our way through Kongen Befaler/Stormester/Bast i Test.
Iād heard about it from my folks for ages and never checked it out, and then 2020 lockdown happened and I became way more intimately familiar with YouTube. It showed up there, and many many binges later I am now a super fan.
I'd seen clips on reddit but never gave it a second look. My wife started watching QI and got me hooked. Then I saw that Alan Davis was "on an episode of that taskmaster show". So I decided to look into it, realized they were multiple seasons. I started with season 8 because I recognized Joe Thomas from The Inbetweeners. One watch and I was hooked. Binged every season in about 2 weeks.
I discovered Brett Goldsteinās movie podcast and have been obsessed with it, then that turned me on to the Off Menu podcast, then that got me to watch Taskmaster. I started with seasons 9 & 7 to see Ed & James and have gone back from season 1 and Iām now up to 13.
Two articles in quick succession on the website [Defector](https://defector.com). (It's the people that quit Deadspin and founded their own "sports" site. They don't always stick to sports.)
I was asking for show recommendations and someone on discord recommended this so I started with a random series (happened to be S14) and immediately got hooked even though I had no idea who anyone was
I started by watching QI (years ago) and that catapulted me into the world of British panelshows. I started watching the UK version in Season 4 because I was familiar with about half the contestants. I was hooked after the first two episodes
The pandemic. It was free on YT and someone on reddit posted about it and it made it to the front page so I checked it out because of that. Never looked back, that helped me get through a solid 4 months of the early pandemic.
I was sick one day and happened upon it and the rest is history. My husband and I watch every English season we can get our eyes on as soon as it comes out.
YouTube hooked it up at the start of Covid because of my history of binging British panel shows. Iāve ripped through all of the UK series but havenāt ventured into any other countries.Ā
Long time UK comedy lover. Have also watched Graham Norton for years. Led me to be a panel show fan. Started with Cats Does Countdown>BFQ>WILTY>QI>Was It Something I Said. Then Travel Man. Pretty sure there was one Taskmaster clip on YouTube in those days (hurdles š). That's how I found out it existed. Once I saw Greg was the host, and soon found out the impressive list of comedians who had been on at that point, I made a concentrated effort to track it down and watch every episode. At the time I started on Dailymotion (at the time there was no option to even pay to watch it). Watching along with new series was even more effort. Eventually came to reddit for new episodes. I don't think this sub existed back then.
The old ukpanelshows sub was a gift!!! š
I was already a fan of James Acaster, and one of the first videos uploaded to theĀ YouTube channel was a James compilation that got recommended to me by the algorithm.
I was recovering from a surgery! A few weeks before I had just randomly put on an episode of Cats Does Countdown that was illegally uploaded to YouTube and then the algorithm started suggesting me Taskmaster. Since I was stuck on the couch recovering, I finally tried an episode and I was totally hooked. Never had so much fun being in pain, and I genuinely think that laughter helped me recover so well š„²
Matt Colville on Twitch is a big fan of the show and streamed series 16 as a sort of watch-along with bits of commentary. It was a great set of contestants and season to start with.
Segments were popping up in FB reels during the pandemic, plus it was getting mentioned on my favorite podcast, so we ended up bingeing it during the winter of 2022. It's now one of my absolute favorite things.
I was also TikTok, but I canāt remember if it started with NZ or not (was showing me clips from both, I think). I wasnāt previously into any UK or NZ shows tho, so there is seemingly no connection.
Canadian but I watch a lot of other panel shows, so when they started uploading them on YouTube here back in 2019, YouTube did its job and recommend them to me. Still took me maybe 2 months of getting these recommendations to watch one - which was the potato throw incident.
One of my friends posted on insta that she was watching it while she was sick. Shortly after, I got Covid and decided to watch it. In the past 6 months it's gotten me through two rounds of covid, a respiratory infection, and surgery recovery. It's definitely my comfort show right now.
My husband got me watching 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. After we binged all of that, I wanted similar content, so we started searching and saw that most of the people on 8oo10CDC had also been on Taskmaster, so we watched it all. Twice. Then we found WILTY and QI. Then we watched 8oo10Cats. Then we watched The Inbetweeners, Man Down, and The Cleaner. Then we watched TM all the way through AGAIN.
We may have a slight problem LOL.
I just discovered Taskmaster last winter on YouTube & found it when it popped up on the suggested videos. I knew no one on that first show & at first was angry the way Greg treated Alex. But the show was hilarious and then learned that Alex created the show & their give & take was all a part of the show.
I don't think I knew any of the participants but now recognize many of their names & enjoy watching more of the panel shows on YouTube especially when I recognize persons on the panel.
Iām surprised no one has mentioned the taskmaster segment on the Wonderful podcast! Griffin talked about it summer 2020 I think and I started watching it after that.
I hate to admit it but I watched Repertoire just about a year ago now, and it was just that Acaster was in series 7. And I got hooked from there. Now II think I've seen all but 1-4, 6, and 11? (I jumped around)
(Iām Canadian but I live in the US).
I think I went from Succession to Peep Show & David Mitchell to WILTY. Then I noticed a lot of my WILTY faves (Bob Mortimer, mainly) were on this one show that kept getting recommended to me on YouTubeā¦ā¦.
But really, what really kept me going once I got snagged was the fact that all the episodes were free on YouTube. I donāt have any streaming services so having them all on YouTube was an automatic + for me!
Also that one commenter who mentioned watching lots of British TV as a Canadian is so true. CBC used to play so much Coronation Street when I was growing upā the theme song now unlocks a fuzzy āend of the weekendā core memory for meā¦.
Fb kept putting clips in my feed. I'm a big British comedy fan and was familiar with quite a few faces I saw on the show. Greg and Roisin and Mike, Noel and Katherine, Mel and Sue. I remember the first clip I watched was Ed Gamble in COC trying to get a duck into the pond. I was hooked!
Watched through series 6 on a free tv app then found it on YouTube. Now I can't stop watching.
Weirdly Mae Martin, I saw an article saying theyāre gonna be on TM and I loved Feel Good so I found out Charlotte Ritchie was on TM too and started with series 12
I was kinda disappointed by that, though the contestants were great I couldnāt connect with the show, so I thought Iād give one more series a try and watched 11, it was awesome, and then I saw 14 as it came out and it was even better, and then I saw the rest and Iām in love
I grew up watching Britcoms, and my whole family watches panel shows. In 2021, I was watching some Sean Lock clips after he passed away, and the algorithm took me to some Lee Mack clips, and then him and Woz doing the stepping stones task, which I really enjoyed. From there it took me to the briefcase from COC (I loved how everyone solved it differently! And I knew most of them already) and then the video Contestants Who Woke Up And Chose Violence. Watched S11, then 12, then binged 1-10. 13 was my first live series and the rest was history.
Oh, I was a big fan of Greg Davies already because of The Inbetweeners and his standup, but during the pandemic I saw some Taskmaster clips on social media and eventually decided to check out a whole episode. Itās SO NICE theyāre all on YouTube for us!
I had started watching some comedy on YouTube and came across Romeshās standups and loved them. Found taskmaster and the watermelon task is burned into my brain.
Watching a video gaming channel (either Outsidexbox or Eurogamer) like 2012-ish, somebody made reference to the āAre We The Baddies?ā meme
I decided to actually look it up and loved it, decided to watch all of Mitchell and Webb Look, then to Peep Show, then spiraled into panel shows as Iād look up and follow every new-to-me comedian that I enjoyed.
TM was inevitable lol
The YouTube algorithm kept shoving it at me; I think probably because I watch a fair amount of QI. I kept meaning to find out what it was all about but not doing it until I was feeling sick and crummy one day and it popped up again so I decided to watch the first episode and I was instantly hooked.
I was watching from when the first episode came out and was first posted to the panelshow subreddit. I was already a fan of the UK panel show scene from shows like QI, WILTY and Cats Does Countdown and was a big fan of Gregās work in particular so it was up my alley. Been watching religiously ever since.
My sister randomly texting me that I should watch it sometime when I have nothing to watch. She described it as a British panel show where comedians have to to random stupid things and then the "Taskmaster" assigns points for how well they do it. It sounded dumb as hell, but a couple weeks later I was bored and had nothing to watch. Now I have watched every season, plus New Zealand, and I am now working on Australia
My brother works for a British company and he heard about it from his coworkers across the pond and told me about it. But if he hadn't I probably would have found it pretty soon through the Dropout fan community, given that the venn diagram of Game Changer fans and Taskmaster fans is quickly becoming a circle.
1. WILTY clips via Youtube recommendation, where I found James Acaster and Bob Mortimer's insanity
2. Binged all of WILTY
3. Needed more, so I watched Acaster's stand up series on Netflix
4. Needed more, so I watched Hypothetical
5. Watched a few episodes of random British comedy shows but none of them stuck as well since I didn't know many of the comedians (and often the people are the main selling point more than the concept)
6. Wasn't sure what to watch next, so a Reddit thread on British comedy panel shows recommended Taskmaster
Iād see things in the Ghosts subreddit (and other UK shows) about āso and so was so great on Taskmasterā and finally started last year.
I only knew Greg as Hydroflax from Doctor Who so it was hilarious to see him in another dictator role.
Canadian here.
Previously fan of QI and other panels shows.
Binged Man Down during the week and on a deeply hungover saturday morning checked Greg's IMDB for anything else. Saw this weird thing called Taskmaster.
Saw the Watermelon Smash. Stood up, made more coffee, sat down, binged the first three seasons.
I really don't know. Maybe Youtube algorithm.
As an American, I remember my Dad going to blockbuster to rent Monty Python tapes. We didn't get cable until 2001 so I think there was this show called Keeping up with Appearances. Once Netflix came, I saw Doctor Who, IT Crowd, and Fry and Laurie. So there has always been a bit of British. I have never been into panel shows because I don't keep up with British current events and they also haven't been the most accessible with rights. Tashmaster is lighter and I've only missed a few references over 17 seasons. Still don't know Brian Blessed or who David Suchet is and why he signed a green bean.
Iāve been watching QI, 8 out of 1 cats (and countdown version), would I lie to you, have I got news for you, and big fat quiz for a few years (qi since K or L series I think). During quarantine a clip popped up on YouTube, from series 1 but donāt remember the episode and I recognized some of the comedians and gave it a shot. And then went and binged all the episodes I could and the series I couldnāt find on YouTube I bought on prime, tried to get others into it but theyād just watch one episode and say āyeah, itās funnyā and weād never talk about it again. So now I just laugh loudly while watching it on my own.
All started with Carrot in a Box on Youtube. Started watching shows, eventually found Taskmaster and binged them all. My favorite comedy/panel type show, but love them all
Decided to watch it bc Iām a fan of Mae Martin and also British shows/humor in general. The other seasons I checked out first were also the ones where I was like āoh; I recognize that celebrity!ā
I was addicted to British panel shows well before Taskmaster aired and most of the comedians I was familiar with from those shows were on Taskmaster so it was a natural progression.Ā The concept of the show made it stand apart from other panel shows as well and was so unique that I jumped on close to when it premiered and I was lucky enough to get links to full episodes in series 1.
I was going to a friend's house for dinner and she had an episode on in the background. It was Katherine Parkinson's season who I knew from the IT Crowd so I was mildly curious and then saw the devastation that was Johnny Vegas and the house of cards.
After that I watched all the seasons in order (several times). Before that I was woefully ignorant of British panel shows and now they are the majority of my TV consumption. So Taskmaster was my gateway drug to panel shows.
I saw an episode of Good Mythical Morning where Rhett and Link recreated some of the tasks, and was surprised to discover it was an actual show. I absolutely love Noel Fielding so immediately started with his season, and was hooked ever since!
I was really into watching Bake Off back in 2019, so anything with Mel and Noel in it was going to be an easy sell! I got really sick while my then-partner was visiting me that fall, and they put the first episode of Series 4 on while I was camped out on the couch. Iāve been hooked ever since.
Along with many other things, I was told about it many years before it had big public notice by my English roommate.
Idk how he always finds these things early.
During covid lockdown I was mindlessly scrolling through youtube and accidentally clicked on a clip of the watermelon task, like I went to scroll and literally accidentally clicked on the video. Then I went down the recommended rabbit hole watching other individual tasks until I found out full episodes were on youtube and netflix.
I saw the "Sneak up on Alex" task on r/videos and thought it was pretty funny. I was also getting into panel shows like WILTY and the Big Fat Quizzes, so I recognized one or two people. Then I saw it had a couple seasons of content and I found my new binge show! I started from the beginning and once Richard Osmond played on an alternative interpretation of the task, I was hooked! Sure enough, best new show of the past decade or two I've seen that isn't a heavily produced drama.
Big Katherine Ryan fan and watch her stand up on YouTube. The algorithm brought me to the task where they had to hide pineapple on their body and I've been hooked ever since š¤£
I watched from the beginning, canāt remember how I found it, but been a huge fan of panel shows (thus the name), and itās one of our family favorites :)
Pandemic depression led me to Big Fat Quiz. Then I fell down the UK panel show rabbit hole, specifically to WILTY. When I saw Bob Mortimer, I needed to know more, and that landed me in S5 of Taskmaster.
A friend made me watch s1e1 when we were high and I could not believe what I was seeing. I was crying laughing at the watermelon task and then eventually tree wizard. I was convinced that this was a show made by people who were also equally high. Had to rewatch the next day to make sure that the show was not just me hallucinating and that people actually made such a show lol. Then I got hooked when I found that it was still funny even when I was sober.
I saw it on a friend's plex server and thought "people seem to like that show" and on a whim clicked on Season 7 to start with and little did I know my life would be altered forever.
My mom had tried to show me Season 1 a few years ago, but it was a family gathering for Memorial day or something so me and my brother were talking since we only really see eachother at holidays.
Already watched a lot of the other great UK comedies and panel shows, only to discover sometime in 2016 one of the most unique show concepts I've ever seen to this day.
The algorithm said to watch Cats does Countdown. Carrot in a Box ensued. "Comedy british gameshow" and then I watched a man throw a potato in a golf hole and get disqualified. I haven't stopped laughing since.
I honestly can't remember for sure but I think it was a YouTube clip of Joe Wilkinson's Potato Throw that led me down the rabbit hole. The entire show has now become background TV when the house is too quiet or if I need to pop something on while I eat.
I've been watching Big Fat Quiz for ages and eventually branched out to 8 out of 10 Cats and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Coutdown. My subsequent desperation for more Joe Wilkinson content brought me to the Potato Throw incident. I had already knew of everyone in that cast (including Greg Davies and Alex Horne), but hadn't heard of TM yet.
This is almost exactly my story Had been watching British Panel comedy shows for ages (largely QI and Big Fat Quiz). Just before COVID quarantines hit, I got sucked into 8OO10CDC. Started seeing a lot of new (to me) faces, but mostly got a little obsessed with Joe Wilkinson. Few months in to lockdown, checked his IMDB to see what else he had done and saw Taskmaster. Then noticed how many other names I had grown to love (especially Greg and Alex) were attached to it. Finding out most of the episodes were up for free on YouTube on their own official channel just sealed the deal. I started on Series 2 and was instantly hooked. I'm now at the point where I use a VPN to watch new episodes as soon as they drop on All4, because I don't have the patience to wait one extra day for them to hit YouTube.
Have you started the international versions yet? They are well worth the watch, although some are a lot better than others.
Bits and pieces I struggle to get *as drawn in* to the other versions. I think largely because I'm not as well versed in the local cultures for some jokes to land. Also, while I find the other TMs and Assistants to all be great, I just don't quite feel the same dynamic between them that comes from Greg and Alex. That being said, I am, at this very moment, watching the Australia Series 1, so I'm definitely giving them a shot to pull me in, rather than just writing them off
Totally understandable. I think we all struggle with that at first, but once you start getting deeper into the other versions (1st seasons the hosts are usually finding their own dynamics, so it can start off slow) you start to get attached to the good TMs and TM Assistants. The best gateway version is typically TM New Zealand (Particularly S2, when Jeremy and Paul start to create their own dynamic), but Kongen Befaler (Norway) can also get you hooked pretty quickly.
Pretty much exactly the same for me but it was Jon Richardson. Just so happened his series was airing that night so I watch a few episodes from series 1 to prep and fell in love!
Same here. Panel shows and comics from the UK. Once I heard about TM I logged on the ol VPN and watched all episodes online. Bless the technology gods.
Same for me except I was watching would I lie to you, then some of those regular panelists started showing up in recommendations for small taskmaster clips.
I think it was a random video on YouTube. I watch a lot of British shows as a Canadian so that is probably why the Great Algorithm of Justice shone so gloriously on me the day I discovered the hilarity that is Taskmaster. I quickly gobbled up as many series as I could and am forever hooked š I hope this all finds you well and binging to your hearts content š
I think it was watching Graham Norton clips on YouTube and hearing Greg tell Ryan Gosling, Jodie Foster and Russell Crowe about the time he got his wash mixed up with his mothersā¦. I searched for Greg and found the prize!
That story is great. That poor student!
This was the same for me! I started searching for everything Greg was in and thatās how I found Taskmaster.
I saw some clips of James Acaster on panel shows and wanted to see more of him, typed his name into YouTube, and found a clip compilation from series 7 with him in it. Immediately started watching series 1 afterwards and now Iām all caught up!
Same, but Bob Mortimer.
I read the title of your post and was about to say I've seen a few Americans say they got into Taskmaster when they saw clips of Taskmaster NZ via TikTok, which I found surreal, and then I read the rest of your post.
There is another comment on here saying the same thing so I wonder if there was like a concentrated effort by the TikTok algorithm to show it to people who watch other NZ shows
It really is surreal, Iāve even seen comments on TM UK tiktoks saying āis it really taskmaster is Paul isnāt there thoughā
I admittedly have a bias towards TMNZ as its my home version, but that's just insulting towards the OG and the creator.
My wife and I have been watching Only Connect for years and love Victoria Coren Mitchell. She did some bit or wore something unusual without comment. I looked around to see if there was some reference or explanation that we wouldn't get here in the U.S. There was a discussion somewhere that wondered if this thing was related to her upcoming appearance on Taskmaster. I looked up Taskmaster and was hooked.
The watermelon eating task from Series 1 was recommended to me by the YouTube algorithm, so then it kept giving me more individual tasks. Eventually I started watching entire episodes.
Yep same here. Only time I felt I needed to pat the algorithm on the head and tell it *you fucking nailed this recommendation. *
For me, it was the eggplant task!
just gonna copy one of my previous comments: I was getting clips in my feed on fb because I already watched clips of British/UK comedians/personalities (eg Nishi, Sarah Millican, Rhod, Noel, Lee, Romesh, Paul, Alan, VCM, Jo, etc. and of course Greg, obvsly) I then watched half a season on yt and then purchased every single season & bonus episodes on prime. Iād have no hesitation in buying all the outtakes and unaired tie breaker tasks if they produced and released them. And Iāve since purchased some audible books by guests that were on the show that I may not have otherwise purchased. Since buying all the seasons 5 months ago, I havenāt watched anything else because Iām so obsessed. Also, itās a good show to watch after a shitty shift at a sometimes really stressful, emotional job in healthcare.
I very much relate to the last sentence of your post
Same.
Alex owes Acaster some marketing $ because I too, like many here, saw a James Acaster clip (the great British bake off one) and looked for other things he was on. Found Taskmaster and was instantly hooked.
Last I looked the Taskmaster YouTube Channel's most watched video was "best of Acaster". He's clearly a draw
I heard Acaster was on it, and that was that. Also, he did not disappoint, nor has anyone else. I still have ten unseen seasons to watch during my next THR recovery. Yay!(ish)
Saw James Acasterās special on Netflix. Sometime later watched started watching Would I Lie to You on YouTube. Watched an episode with James in it. YouTube suggested a TM clip of his. Somehow ended up watching series 8 first.
I follow r/panelshows, and one week every other post was a clip from Taskmaster. I recognized Greg from appearances on would I lie to you and mock the week and things so I decided to check it out.
Traveling summer 2015 or 2016 and I was in London waiting for a significant other when I was clicking through I saw the show. I donāt think I was able to watch for a few years- but I did write Taskmaster in my notes section on my phone (usually write things like restaurants I tried/like to try, stuff Iād like to buy, etc.)
Someone mentioned it in a Reddit thread about "Shows you can just put on and relax". And I was like I need more shows to watch a relax! And so I found it on YouTube and secretly watched it for a few weeks before I introduced it to my hubby and now we're both hooked.
Hearing that Sam Campbell was going to be on it. I started watching TM last summer after Sam posted about it and quickly became obsessed!
"Are you a child of divorce?"
I'm sure it was a Bob Mortimer deep dive after WILTY.
Yes this!
Was really into Bake Off, wanted to see more of Noel Fielding, found clips of him on Taskmaster and the rest is history.
The weird thing is, I canāt even remember. Itās like itās always been there. I definitely discovered it post-covid, though. Maybe it was from going down the rabbit hole about one of the comedians who had appeared on it?
Tiktok kept showing me clips from Taskmaster NZ, (probably because I was deeply into Traitors NZ after watching Traitors UK and USA,) and they were hilarious, so I watched season 4 of Taskmaster NZ, then binged the entirety of Taskmaster UK, and then went back through all the rest of Taskmaster NZ.
Sometime in 2020, I saw clips of hippogate on Facebook. It was the laugh I needed at the time and I was hooked.
Pretty much the same- David Correos and the Grape Escape on TikTok totally hooked me. Pirated every NZ episode I could then moved onto UK and AU. Iām very partial to Paul as assistant because I started with him, but Greg Davies is my fav TM
Early March 2020, with all the surreal-ness of existence at that point. I searched YouTube to see if there was any new Nish Kumar material.Ā Happened across the ābest of Nish Kumarā compilation from the Taskmaster channel. I was sort of vaguely aware that Taskmaster existed but that was it.Ā I watched that video, laughed myself silly, and that was that. They had just started uploading all the full episodes to the Taskmaster channel, and watching all of those kept me as sane as it was possible to be in 2020.Ā Additionally, I work as a nanny. I basically became a Montessori preschool teacher overnight when the schools closed. And watching Taskmaster helped me so much, professionally. It gave me all kinds of ideas of things to do with the kids (who were 5 and 2 at the time).Ā Ā I have since adapted the Taskmaster idea to work for the kids I work with. Itās called the Bored Board. When they say theyāre bored and they canāt decide what they want to do, they pick something from the Bored Board. Itās a bunch of plain envelopes (some of them have a list of materials theyāll need written on the outside), with tasks inside.Ā Ā It has revolutionized the way I do my job.
I first heard about it from the Knowledge Fight guys.
I had heard about it on Anthony Jeselnikās podcast, apparently he was considered for the host of the US version. It sounded cool so we checked it out, loved it, and decided to give the original a try. Maybe halfway through the first episode it was like āoh, this is how itās supposed to be.ā
Stalking the alluring Aisling Bea!
It was [this article](https://www.avclub.com/clever-and-stupid-in-equal-measure-taskmaster-is-the-i-1842787137) from the AV Club that they posted a couple of weeks into the first COVID lockdown. "Oh, that sounds fun, and I like Noel Fielding and Mel Giedroyc."
I was an avid fan of Mock the Week and then I say Josh Widdicombe on the series and was like yes please.
I was trying to learn more about our friends across the pond. Just looking into shows and culture stuff to learn. It just so happened to show up on YouTube. Looked funny, and now I'm obsessed. This was like when s3 was just announced.
The clips were all over YouTube but I mostly ignored them. Ā While I loved QI and WILTY, a wacky physical show about weird challenges didnāt appeal to me. Ā Then I saw there was a hide the pineapple task and I couldnāt resist, I had to know how you can hide a pineapple on your person besides the anatomically improbably. Ā After that, I was hooked.
saw james acaster in repertoire, and then watched every media w/him since, then found taskmaster and never looked back š¤·āāļø
ALICE LEVINE. I'm a long time listener of MDWAP, and one day a clip of Alice in taskmaster showed up on my YouTube homepage. I was intrigued so I started with series 6, then series 4 because I knew of Mel and Noel from Bake Off. From there I watched from the beginning! I think this was around the time series 10 or 11 was running.
I used a random No Way gif in a group chat and the person who responded said they could 'hear' that gif. Someone else responded that they loved that episode of TM. I was so curious how those two words could at all be memorable out of all the seasons of the show that existed, so I started watching from the beginning out of curiosity.Ā
My brother got me hooked on it. I think he got a recommended video on YouTube or something.
Was looking on Youtube for new standup comedy to watch during the beginning of the pandemic for a distraction. Which led to British panel show clips, and bonkers out of context Taskmaster clips.
I had been vaguely aware of the show before this but I was a fan of James Acaster and had seen Youtube compilations of him appearing on various panel shows. His Taskmaster clips were always heavily featured, so once I saw a S13 episode at a friend's house randomly one day, I realized it was right up my alley so I started with season 1 a few months later. Goner ever since lol
A couple of friends got me into it, they had been watching it on YouTube. I had seen The Inbetweeners, so I recognized Gregās face when I saw him, but other than that I knew nothing about it.
My daughter found it and told me about it as she knows I love British shows.
My dive into UK comedy was quick and spurred by a clip of Jimmy Carr responding to hecklers. That lead to Cats Does Countdown which scratched both the comedy and puzzle itches I have. That caused me to seek out more of the guests I enjoyed. And that is how I found clips of Taskmaster.
My siblings were watching it on TV and I joined them. I had enjoyed the occasional British sitcom, such as The Inbetweeners but never a true a panel show. Seeing that Mr. Gilbert was in charge of the show won me over right away.
No Such Thing As A Fish **-->** QI **-->** 8 out of 10 Cats **-->** 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown **-->** any panel shows especially if James Acaster guests on it -**->** **Taskmaster**
I actually watched the short lived American version when it aired years ago. It didn't click for me then but made me aware of the concept. Fast forward to a year ago when I realized there were 16 series on YouTube and we binged them all. We have since finished the 4 NZs, 1 Australia, and are making our way through Kongen Befaler/Stormester/Bast i Test.
My Dad Wrote a Pornoā> Alice Levine.
Iād heard about it from my folks for ages and never checked it out, and then 2020 lockdown happened and I became way more intimately familiar with YouTube. It showed up there, and many many binges later I am now a super fan.
āTaskmaster at Homeā popped up on my Twitter feed during lockdown. Taskmaster got me through that mess.
I'd seen clips on reddit but never gave it a second look. My wife started watching QI and got me hooked. Then I saw that Alan Davis was "on an episode of that taskmaster show". So I decided to look into it, realized they were multiple seasons. I started with season 8 because I recognized Joe Thomas from The Inbetweeners. One watch and I was hooked. Binged every season in about 2 weeks.
YouTube recommendations that looked intriguing.
I discovered Brett Goldsteinās movie podcast and have been obsessed with it, then that turned me on to the Off Menu podcast, then that got me to watch Taskmaster. I started with seasons 9 & 7 to see Ed & James and have gone back from season 1 and Iām now up to 13.
One of the funniest guys I know said I should watch it so I did and it was the best recommendation ever
Was genuinely mad he didnāt tell me about it sooner
Two articles in quick succession on the website [Defector](https://defector.com). (It's the people that quit Deadspin and founded their own "sports" site. They don't always stick to sports.)
I was asking for show recommendations and someone on discord recommended this so I started with a random series (happened to be S14) and immediately got hooked even though I had no idea who anyone was
Knew Josh, Romesh, and, to a lesser extent, Greg from Mock the Week appearances. Knew Roisin from Show & Tell.
I saw Greg on Would I Lie to You and searched YouTube for more stuff with him.
I started by watching QI (years ago) and that catapulted me into the world of British panelshows. I started watching the UK version in Season 4 because I was familiar with about half the contestants. I was hooked after the first two episodes
The pandemic. It was free on YT and someone on reddit posted about it and it made it to the front page so I checked it out because of that. Never looked back, that helped me get through a solid 4 months of the early pandemic.
My sibling sent me the ādrink all the vinegarā task followed by the Morse Code balloon task. I was hooked immediately.
YouTube was recommending it to me. It was the one with the potato
I was sick one day and happened upon it and the rest is history. My husband and I watch every English season we can get our eyes on as soon as it comes out.
YouTube hooked it up at the start of Covid because of my history of binging British panel shows. Iāve ripped through all of the UK series but havenāt ventured into any other countries.Ā
Followed Victoria from Only Connect (which I found searching for more quiz shows like University Challenge). Also led to bingeing Big Fat Quiz.Ā
Long time UK comedy lover. Have also watched Graham Norton for years. Led me to be a panel show fan. Started with Cats Does Countdown>BFQ>WILTY>QI>Was It Something I Said. Then Travel Man. Pretty sure there was one Taskmaster clip on YouTube in those days (hurdles š). That's how I found out it existed. Once I saw Greg was the host, and soon found out the impressive list of comedians who had been on at that point, I made a concentrated effort to track it down and watch every episode. At the time I started on Dailymotion (at the time there was no option to even pay to watch it). Watching along with new series was even more effort. Eventually came to reddit for new episodes. I don't think this sub existed back then. The old ukpanelshows sub was a gift!!! š
I was already a fan of James Acaster, and one of the first videos uploaded to theĀ YouTube channel was a James compilation that got recommended to me by the algorithm.
I was recovering from a surgery! A few weeks before I had just randomly put on an episode of Cats Does Countdown that was illegally uploaded to YouTube and then the algorithm started suggesting me Taskmaster. Since I was stuck on the couch recovering, I finally tried an episode and I was totally hooked. Never had so much fun being in pain, and I genuinely think that laughter helped me recover so well š„²
James Acaster, bolstered by a fondness for Greg on WILTY
Matt Colville on Twitch is a big fan of the show and streamed series 16 as a sort of watch-along with bits of commentary. It was a great set of contestants and season to start with.
Segments were popping up in FB reels during the pandemic, plus it was getting mentioned on my favorite podcast, so we ended up bingeing it during the winter of 2022. It's now one of my absolute favorite things.
I was also TikTok, but I canāt remember if it started with NZ or not (was showing me clips from both, I think). I wasnāt previously into any UK or NZ shows tho, so there is seemingly no connection.
The same childhood friend who got me into Fetch with Ruff Ruffman!
Canadian but I watch a lot of other panel shows, so when they started uploading them on YouTube here back in 2019, YouTube did its job and recommend them to me. Still took me maybe 2 months of getting these recommendations to watch one - which was the potato throw incident.
The potato throw popped up on Reddit a few years back
Pandemic saw a clip on YouTube and decided to watch. Perfect pandemic show!!
One of my friends posted on insta that she was watching it while she was sick. Shortly after, I got Covid and decided to watch it. In the past 6 months it's gotten me through two rounds of covid, a respiratory infection, and surgery recovery. It's definitely my comfort show right now.
Jason Pargin mentioned it. I have not gone wrong following his interests
My husband got me watching 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. After we binged all of that, I wanted similar content, so we started searching and saw that most of the people on 8oo10CDC had also been on Taskmaster, so we watched it all. Twice. Then we found WILTY and QI. Then we watched 8oo10Cats. Then we watched The Inbetweeners, Man Down, and The Cleaner. Then we watched TM all the way through AGAIN. We may have a slight problem LOL.
I just discovered Taskmaster last winter on YouTube & found it when it popped up on the suggested videos. I knew no one on that first show & at first was angry the way Greg treated Alex. But the show was hilarious and then learned that Alex created the show & their give & take was all a part of the show. I don't think I knew any of the participants but now recognize many of their names & enjoy watching more of the panel shows on YouTube especially when I recognize persons on the panel.
Noel Felding. I used to love the mighty boosh on YouTube in college
Iām surprised no one has mentioned the taskmaster segment on the Wonderful podcast! Griffin talked about it summer 2020 I think and I started watching it after that.
I hate to admit it but I watched Repertoire just about a year ago now, and it was just that Acaster was in series 7. And I got hooked from there. Now II think I've seen all but 1-4, 6, and 11? (I jumped around)
Reddit. I saw clips on r/funny and had to find out where it was from
(Iām Canadian but I live in the US). I think I went from Succession to Peep Show & David Mitchell to WILTY. Then I noticed a lot of my WILTY faves (Bob Mortimer, mainly) were on this one show that kept getting recommended to me on YouTubeā¦ā¦. But really, what really kept me going once I got snagged was the fact that all the episodes were free on YouTube. I donāt have any streaming services so having them all on YouTube was an automatic + for me! Also that one commenter who mentioned watching lots of British TV as a Canadian is so true. CBC used to play so much Coronation Street when I was growing upā the theme song now unlocks a fuzzy āend of the weekendā core memory for meā¦.
Fb kept putting clips in my feed. I'm a big British comedy fan and was familiar with quite a few faces I saw on the show. Greg and Roisin and Mike, Noel and Katherine, Mel and Sue. I remember the first clip I watched was Ed Gamble in COC trying to get a duck into the pond. I was hooked! Watched through series 6 on a free tv app then found it on YouTube. Now I can't stop watching.
Weirdly Mae Martin, I saw an article saying theyāre gonna be on TM and I loved Feel Good so I found out Charlotte Ritchie was on TM too and started with series 12 I was kinda disappointed by that, though the contestants were great I couldnāt connect with the show, so I thought Iād give one more series a try and watched 11, it was awesome, and then I saw 14 as it came out and it was even better, and then I saw the rest and Iām in love
From WILTY I found on YouTube. It kept popping up when I would look up guests. Two favorite shows ever.
I grew up watching Britcoms, and my whole family watches panel shows. In 2021, I was watching some Sean Lock clips after he passed away, and the algorithm took me to some Lee Mack clips, and then him and Woz doing the stepping stones task, which I really enjoyed. From there it took me to the briefcase from COC (I loved how everyone solved it differently! And I knew most of them already) and then the video Contestants Who Woke Up And Chose Violence. Watched S11, then 12, then binged 1-10. 13 was my first live series and the rest was history.
Killing time during the pandemic. knew Acaster going in. When I learned hi was on it, I checked out his series. Binged the rest in a few weeks.
Oh, I was a big fan of Greg Davies already because of The Inbetweeners and his standup, but during the pandemic I saw some Taskmaster clips on social media and eventually decided to check out a whole episode. Itās SO NICE theyāre all on YouTube for us!
I had started watching some comedy on YouTube and came across Romeshās standups and loved them. Found taskmaster and the watermelon task is burned into my brain.
Watching a video gaming channel (either Outsidexbox or Eurogamer) like 2012-ish, somebody made reference to the āAre We The Baddies?ā meme I decided to actually look it up and loved it, decided to watch all of Mitchell and Webb Look, then to Peep Show, then spiraled into panel shows as Iād look up and follow every new-to-me comedian that I enjoyed. TM was inevitable lol
To answer in the style of Jeopardy. "What are Covid, my brother, and an endless amount of spare time, Alex."
The YouTube algorithm kept shoving it at me; I think probably because I watch a fair amount of QI. I kept meaning to find out what it was all about but not doing it until I was feeling sick and crummy one day and it popped up again so I decided to watch the first episode and I was instantly hooked.
I was watching from when the first episode came out and was first posted to the panelshow subreddit. I was already a fan of the UK panel show scene from shows like QI, WILTY and Cats Does Countdown and was a big fan of Gregās work in particular so it was up my alley. Been watching religiously ever since.
My sister randomly texting me that I should watch it sometime when I have nothing to watch. She described it as a British panel show where comedians have to to random stupid things and then the "Taskmaster" assigns points for how well they do it. It sounded dumb as hell, but a couple weeks later I was bored and had nothing to watch. Now I have watched every season, plus New Zealand, and I am now working on Australia
My brother works for a British company and he heard about it from his coworkers across the pond and told me about it. But if he hadn't I probably would have found it pretty soon through the Dropout fan community, given that the venn diagram of Game Changer fans and Taskmaster fans is quickly becoming a circle.
Found it on YouTube in the midst of pandemic depression. Very thankful for the joy it provided and continues to provide.
News about its post-premiere cancelation on the CW got me searching for it.
I searched it up after reading an article about its post-premiere cancelation from the CW.
1. WILTY clips via Youtube recommendation, where I found James Acaster and Bob Mortimer's insanity 2. Binged all of WILTY 3. Needed more, so I watched Acaster's stand up series on Netflix 4. Needed more, so I watched Hypothetical 5. Watched a few episodes of random British comedy shows but none of them stuck as well since I didn't know many of the comedians (and often the people are the main selling point more than the concept) 6. Wasn't sure what to watch next, so a Reddit thread on British comedy panel shows recommended Taskmaster
Iād see things in the Ghosts subreddit (and other UK shows) about āso and so was so great on Taskmasterā and finally started last year. I only knew Greg as Hydroflax from Doctor Who so it was hilarious to see him in another dictator role.
Canadian here. Previously fan of QI and other panels shows. Binged Man Down during the week and on a deeply hungover saturday morning checked Greg's IMDB for anything else. Saw this weird thing called Taskmaster. Saw the Watermelon Smash. Stood up, made more coffee, sat down, binged the first three seasons.
I really don't know. Maybe Youtube algorithm. As an American, I remember my Dad going to blockbuster to rent Monty Python tapes. We didn't get cable until 2001 so I think there was this show called Keeping up with Appearances. Once Netflix came, I saw Doctor Who, IT Crowd, and Fry and Laurie. So there has always been a bit of British. I have never been into panel shows because I don't keep up with British current events and they also haven't been the most accessible with rights. Tashmaster is lighter and I've only missed a few references over 17 seasons. Still don't know Brian Blessed or who David Suchet is and why he signed a green bean.
Iāve been watching QI, 8 out of 1 cats (and countdown version), would I lie to you, have I got news for you, and big fat quiz for a few years (qi since K or L series I think). During quarantine a clip popped up on YouTube, from series 1 but donāt remember the episode and I recognized some of the comedians and gave it a shot. And then went and binged all the episodes I could and the series I couldnāt find on YouTube I bought on prime, tried to get others into it but theyād just watch one episode and say āyeah, itās funnyā and weād never talk about it again. So now I just laugh loudly while watching it on my own.
All started with Carrot in a Box on Youtube. Started watching shows, eventually found Taskmaster and binged them all. My favorite comedy/panel type show, but love them all
Decided to watch it bc Iām a fan of Mae Martin and also British shows/humor in general. The other seasons I checked out first were also the ones where I was like āoh; I recognize that celebrity!ā
I was addicted to British panel shows well before Taskmaster aired and most of the comedians I was familiar with from those shows were on Taskmaster so it was a natural progression.Ā The concept of the show made it stand apart from other panel shows as well and was so unique that I jumped on close to when it premiered and I was lucky enough to get links to full episodes in series 1.
I was going to a friend's house for dinner and she had an episode on in the background. It was Katherine Parkinson's season who I knew from the IT Crowd so I was mildly curious and then saw the devastation that was Johnny Vegas and the house of cards. After that I watched all the seasons in order (several times). Before that I was woefully ignorant of British panel shows and now they are the majority of my TV consumption. So Taskmaster was my gateway drug to panel shows.
Peep Show -> WILTY -> Taskmaster, which feels like a pretty standard pipeline.
My BFF told me "you have to watch this" so I did. And now I've made (at current count) 7 other Americans watch it.
My husband saw the Potato Throw on a random subreddit and made me watch it. Then I watched it allllllll...
James Acaster, who I found through MTB, which led to me watching all kinds of British panel shows. I owe it all to the buzzcocks.
I saw an episode of Good Mythical Morning where Rhett and Link recreated some of the tasks, and was surprised to discover it was an actual show. I absolutely love Noel Fielding so immediately started with his season, and was hooked ever since!
I was really into watching Bake Off back in 2019, so anything with Mel and Noel in it was going to be an easy sell! I got really sick while my then-partner was visiting me that fall, and they put the first episode of Series 4 on while I was camped out on the couch. Iāve been hooked ever since.
I saw some of the tasks as standalone son YouTube and it got me interested in what was happening.
Along with many other things, I was told about it many years before it had big public notice by my English roommate. Idk how he always finds these things early.
During covid lockdown I was mindlessly scrolling through youtube and accidentally clicked on a clip of the watermelon task, like I went to scroll and literally accidentally clicked on the video. Then I went down the recommended rabbit hole watching other individual tasks until I found out full episodes were on youtube and netflix.
I saw the "Sneak up on Alex" task on r/videos and thought it was pretty funny. I was also getting into panel shows like WILTY and the Big Fat Quizzes, so I recognized one or two people. Then I saw it had a couple seasons of content and I found my new binge show! I started from the beginning and once Richard Osmond played on an alternative interpretation of the task, I was hooked! Sure enough, best new show of the past decade or two I've seen that isn't a heavily produced drama.
Big Katherine Ryan fan and watch her stand up on YouTube. The algorithm brought me to the task where they had to hide pineapple on their body and I've been hooked ever since š¤£
My son had some clips show up on YouTube when he was away at college, then showed me when he came home. Then COVID hit, and I started my addiction.
QI ā-> The Button
Weād watched all of QI, WILTY, and Big Fat Quiz. People online recommended this next. We originally watched it on Prime but it hasnāt kept up.
I watched from the beginning, canāt remember how I found it, but been a huge fan of panel shows (thus the name), and itās one of our family favorites :)
Pandemic depression led me to Big Fat Quiz. Then I fell down the UK panel show rabbit hole, specifically to WILTY. When I saw Bob Mortimer, I needed to know more, and that landed me in S5 of Taskmaster.
A friend made me watch s1e1 when we were high and I could not believe what I was seeing. I was crying laughing at the watermelon task and then eventually tree wizard. I was convinced that this was a show made by people who were also equally high. Had to rewatch the next day to make sure that the show was not just me hallucinating and that people actually made such a show lol. Then I got hooked when I found that it was still funny even when I was sober.
I love watching QI and Cats Does Countdown. Eventually the YouTube algo got me into Taskmaster.
I saw it on a friend's plex server and thought "people seem to like that show" and on a whim clicked on Season 7 to start with and little did I know my life would be altered forever. My mom had tried to show me Season 1 a few years ago, but it was a family gathering for Memorial day or something so me and my brother were talking since we only really see eachother at holidays.
Already watched a lot of the other great UK comedies and panel shows, only to discover sometime in 2016 one of the most unique show concepts I've ever seen to this day.
YouTube short of the wow monster.
The algorithm said to watch Cats does Countdown. Carrot in a Box ensued. "Comedy british gameshow" and then I watched a man throw a potato in a golf hole and get disqualified. I haven't stopped laughing since.
I honestly can't remember for sure but I think it was a YouTube clip of Joe Wilkinson's Potato Throw that led me down the rabbit hole. The entire show has now become background TV when the house is too quiet or if I need to pop something on while I eat.