I didn't realize it was already time for a new season. This is the first time I'm caught up aside from the New Year specials. I wonder whose on it this season... RICHARD AYOADE!!!! I know they've...
I didn't realize it was already time for a new season. This is the first time I'm caught up aside from the New Year specials. I wonder whose on it this season...
RICHARD AYOADE!!!! I know they've been trying to get him for a long time, but I never thought he'd actually do it! As an Asian-American it feels weird to be this excited for a British show and comedian, but I am!
This was a great episode, though I still have some reservations about Richard Ayoade as a contestant, even besides the obvious problem of his friendship with noted anti-trans persona Graham...
This was a great episode, though I still have some reservations about Richard Ayoade as a contestant, even besides the obvious problem of his friendship with noted anti-trans persona Graham Linehan. I think Ayoade is too anti-authoritarian to hosts whenever he is on a show (ie. Big Fat Quiz or the like) and too close to Greg Davies. That can really work - Rhod Gilbert was a great contestant - but I feel like the rest of the cast doesn't have a James Acaster-esque person to call Ayoade out on his bullshit, and Greg's going to allow it.
Aside: I have also really enjoyed the Contestant's Ultimate Episode series. I had saved Tom Cashman's ultimate episode up for a while and watched it the other day. In the course of watching his (great) ultimate episode, I learned there was a whole series of Taskmaster AU that I had not actually watched, and actually there were 2, because I knew I hadn't watched Series 5. But I learned about Series 3 with Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo, Mel Buttle, Peter Helliar and Rhys Nicholson, and I have watched one episode of it, and I'm already super impressed with the cast. If anyone is on the fence about watching any of the other TM franchises, I really enjoy both the AU and NZ versions.
Sigh. Well, shit. I knew Graham Linehan was a massive transphobic piece of shit, but I didn't realize Ayoade was still friends with and even continued to publicly support him. That really sucks...
Sigh. Well, shit. I knew Graham Linehan was a massive transphobic piece of shit, but I didn't realize Ayoade was still friends with and even continued to publicly support him. That really sucks and makes me completely rethink my opinion on Ayoade. :(
I should maybe temper that with some more direct references to what Ayoade has said, because he is very precise in his language. He called Linehan's book "an extraordinary and chilling portrayal...
I should maybe temper that with some more direct references to what Ayoade has said, because he is very precise in his language. He called Linehan's book "an extraordinary and chilling portrayal of cancel culture" which is as far as I know true. Linehan is a good writer, and he wrote about his experience with cancel culture; I can only imagine that what he wrote was good and likely chilling. Ayoade also said the book was "brilliant account of the evolution of a comedy writer" and again, that's likely true. Ayoade also said that Linehan is "a man of great principle" which again is a very precise thing to say, because it is again inarguably true; Linehan stood on his (shitty) principles, and has mostly lost his livelihood for it.
This is not a real defence of Richard Ayoade, but I'm just saying that I have certainly seen people argue that Ayoade himself has not said anything transphobic, and he hasn't actually said anything to indicate that he supports Linehan's positions. I've also seen it argued that he gave these very precise quotes to help out the man who gave Ayoade the start of his very successful career, so it is understandable to want to pay some of that back.
I think that it's important to note that Ayoade generally doesn't publicly associate with Linehan, but does publicly associate with noted staunch LGBTQ+ allies like Greg Davies and Alex Horne (and others). All that is just to say that it's a weird old world and when we're doing the calculus on which celebrities to support with our time and attention, Ayoade is not as problematic as a lot of other people. As far as I can tell, he's not advocating for anything bad, he's just not quite done with a person that was his friend for years, and while that can be problematic, it can also be commendable in some situations (IMO: not commendable here, because giving money to Linehan in any ways is morally repugnant).
Genuine Question, besides just doing the show, how does he associate with allies - as the two you listed are certainly "work" colleagues, it isn't clear if that demonstrates any stance, and does...
Genuine Question, besides just doing the show, how does he associate with allies - as the two you listed are certainly "work" colleagues, it isn't clear if that demonstrates any stance, and does he publicly associate with actual trans people?
Personally I suspect he's not virulently transphobic but should have kept to his stance of not publicly commenting by not reviewing the book as if it could be as apolitical as the rest of his persona. But given the nature of the British comedy scene, I don't think simply accepting this job or any other, is sufficient to demonstrate "public association" with any sort of positive connotation.
That's slightly difficult to answer because Ayoade tends to be very private, so whatever perception of friendships that we have tend to be via the lens of panel shows he has been on, or stories...
That's slightly difficult to answer because Ayoade tends to be very private, so whatever perception of friendships that we have tend to be via the lens of panel shows he has been on, or stories told by other people on talk shows or panel shows. So for example, he has worked with Suzy Eddie Izzard (side note: I did look up and watch a video on how Suzy wants to be credited, and as far as I can tell, that's the proper way) in Travel man, where they travelled and spent time quite closely with each other for 48 hours in Ljubljana, but that's a professional association.
This is also made slightly more difficult by the fact that I don't particularly want to be posting things in defence of Ayoade, since I prefer my celebrities to be staunch and vocal allies. I would say that if we were playing Wavelength and the scale was problematic celebrity to non-problematic celebrity, he'd be almost right in the middle.
Yeah, I think my point, or at least my take, is that the only two stances he seems to be known for are very publicly supporting Linehan and one leaked by his in-law. I suspect he thought he could...
Yeah, I think my point, or at least my take, is that the only two stances he seems to be known for are very publicly supporting Linehan and one leaked by his in-law. I suspect he thought he could dodge the politics of backing Linehan, but I think he was wrong to break from his stance on privacy to do so without even slightly distancing himself from Linehan's views. He can't have it both ways, and if all he gives us is one statement, all I can do is read the one statement.
But as such I don't consider the associations you listed meaningful at all. And I have to give the singular public statement more weight than I might otherwise for a book blurb. I don't (typically at least) put celebrities on pedestals, and I'm not particularly a fan of his anyway, but I'd put him far closer to "disappointing person" than "ally"
I agree with your overall point, though I disagree that the other points I raised were meaningless. Also I did slightly change some wording in my post to specify that I don't consider Ayoade to be...
I agree with your overall point, though I disagree that the other points I raised were meaningless. Also I did slightly change some wording in my post to specify that I don't consider Ayoade to be an LGBTQ+ ally (changed "I prefer my celebrity allies to be staunch and vocal" to "I prefer my celebrities to be staunch and vocal allies" which is what I meant but not what I originally wrote) since he hasn't actually done much in the way of allyship. My points in defence were mostly to provide both sides to @cfabbro since I originally started out in the post by saying that I had reservations about Ayoade as a contestant and only provided one side of the situation.
By "I don't consider the associations meaningful at all" I mean "to me". Obviously you feel they matter or you wouldn't have raised them. In the process of reading and writing I came to my...
By "I don't consider the associations meaningful at all" I mean "to me". Obviously you feel they matter or you wouldn't have raised them.
In the process of reading and writing I came to my conclusion, as I wasn't set on it there, so my declarative statement is about my consideration and conclusions.
I hope I wasn't taken to be the "pro" stance for Ayoade; there are probably people who are fans of him that would actually mount some kind of defense for him. As it is, this is likely to be my...
I hope I wasn't taken to be the "pro" stance for Ayoade; there are probably people who are fans of him that would actually mount some kind of defense for him. As it is, this is likely to be my least favorite series of the show and that's going to be mostly due to his involvement.
No, I didn't think you were defending him particularly. No judgement to you from me at least. I was just working through my consideration of the situation "aloud"
No, I didn't think you were defending him particularly. No judgement to you from me at least. I was just working through my consideration of the situation "aloud"
I watched the AU version and a few seasons of NZ. The NZ taskmaster, Jeremy Wells, is terrible so far. Makes almost no jokes, doesn't have good banter with anyone, doesn't justify his rankings well.
I watched the AU version and a few seasons of NZ. The NZ taskmaster, Jeremy Wells, is terrible so far. Makes almost no jokes, doesn't have good banter with anyone, doesn't justify his rankings well.
I really enjoyed NZ, moreso than UK for some seasons (especially NZ S2). It's a very different dynamic to the UK one - the taskmaster is a lot more aloof, and the assistant feels a lot more...
I really enjoyed NZ, moreso than UK for some seasons (especially NZ S2). It's a very different dynamic to the UK one - the taskmaster is a lot more aloof, and the assistant feels a lot more actively involved in the banter - but I think that ends up working quite well. Jeremy's decisions often come across as arbitrary but Greg's are often pretty arbitrary too.
I think preferences per series are pretty personal, so I understand not liking one over the other. I really like the NZ version, but I think that there are a few things that do make it a bit...
I think preferences per series are pretty personal, so I understand not liking one over the other. I really like the NZ version, but I think that there are a few things that do make it a bit different, especially with regards to the Taskmaster himself. Jeremy Wells definitely plays the straight man, setting up jokes for the contestants who I think are a bit wackier than in some of the other versions.. Jeremy and Paul also have a different dynamic, because they don't really do a lot of the Taskmaster looking down on the assistant bit; it's more like a headmaster and his beloved head boy at a school. Another issue is that they actually have an additional ad break in the NZ version, so the overall episode is just a bit shorter, and I think that most of the time the thing that gets chopped out of the edit is some of the back and forth with the taskmaster and contestants, so if that's the thing that sparks joy, it's just a bit briefer.
Overall I think the NZ version is even more of a departure from the UK formula than the AU version, but I like it better, and I'm really looking forward to the next season of NZ where Rose Matafeo is one of the contestants.
I've been waiting for Ayoade to be on this for years! Also I think this might be the first time for few years now that I knew of them all pre show again. First episode has set high hopes for the...
I've been waiting for Ayoade to be on this for years! Also I think this might be the first time for few years now that I knew of them all pre show again.
First episode has set high hopes for the rest of the series for me now.
Tastkmaster NZ Season 7 has just started, and it's already shaping up to be a pretty good one. I find with NZ that I usually know either less than half of the contestants, but this season I was at...
Tastkmaster NZ Season 7 has just started, and it's already shaping up to be a pretty good one. I find with NZ that I usually know either less than half of the contestants, but this season I was at least somewhat familiar with all of the contestants, mostly thanks to Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling-Bee. Also Morgana O'Reilly is on White Lotus, and Rose Matafeo was famously on TM UK and was the Taskmaster on TM JR. If you can find it to watch it, I think this will be one of the better seasons of english speaking TM.
I believe she is the first to officially compete twice, yes. Urzila from NZ2 is going to be on the next season of TM Australia as well. There have been incidents where previous contestants...
I believe she is the first to officially compete twice, yes. Urzila from NZ2 is going to be on the next season of TM Australia as well.
There have been incidents where previous contestants returned to fill in for contestants in the studio when a contestant was unwell, but that's not quite the same obviously.
Great point, I'd forgotten about those. I also just checked New Years treats and double checked that nobody had been on those had gone on to a full series or alternate series.
Great point, I'd forgotten about those. I also just checked New Years treats and double checked that nobody had been on those had gone on to a full series or alternate series.
I think the in studio was filmed on May 18th... back when Ed Sheeran was only responsible for being the death knell for Game of Thrones. I hope they don't clean up after this ep. edit: they did :(
I think the in studio was filmed on May 18th... back when Ed Sheeran was only responsible for being the death knell for Game of Thrones. I hope they don't clean up after this ep.
I didn't realize it was already time for a new season. This is the first time I'm caught up aside from the New Year specials. I wonder whose on it this season...
RICHARD AYOADE!!!! I know they've been trying to get him for a long time, but I never thought he'd actually do it! As an Asian-American it feels weird to be this excited for a British show and comedian, but I am!
Taskmaster Season 22, Episode 3 - 'The butterfly centurion.' | Full Episode
I do wonder if there will be any mentions of vertigo in the out takes for this episode.
Taskmaster Season 22, Episode 4 - 'An act of self-erasure.' | Full Episode
This was a great episode, though I still have some reservations about Richard Ayoade as a contestant, even besides the obvious problem of his friendship with noted anti-trans persona Graham Linehan. I think Ayoade is too anti-authoritarian to hosts whenever he is on a show (ie. Big Fat Quiz or the like) and too close to Greg Davies. That can really work - Rhod Gilbert was a great contestant - but I feel like the rest of the cast doesn't have a James Acaster-esque person to call Ayoade out on his bullshit, and Greg's going to allow it.
Aside: I have also really enjoyed the Contestant's Ultimate Episode series. I had saved Tom Cashman's ultimate episode up for a while and watched it the other day. In the course of watching his (great) ultimate episode, I learned there was a whole series of Taskmaster AU that I had not actually watched, and actually there were 2, because I knew I hadn't watched Series 5. But I learned about Series 3 with Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo, Mel Buttle, Peter Helliar and Rhys Nicholson, and I have watched one episode of it, and I'm already super impressed with the cast. If anyone is on the fence about watching any of the other TM franchises, I really enjoy both the AU and NZ versions.
Sigh. Well, shit. I knew Graham Linehan was a massive transphobic piece of shit, but I didn't realize Ayoade was still friends with and even continued to publicly support him. That really sucks and makes me completely rethink my opinion on Ayoade. :(
I should maybe temper that with some more direct references to what Ayoade has said, because he is very precise in his language. He called Linehan's book "an extraordinary and chilling portrayal of cancel culture" which is as far as I know true. Linehan is a good writer, and he wrote about his experience with cancel culture; I can only imagine that what he wrote was good and likely chilling. Ayoade also said the book was "brilliant account of the evolution of a comedy writer" and again, that's likely true. Ayoade also said that Linehan is "a man of great principle" which again is a very precise thing to say, because it is again inarguably true; Linehan stood on his (shitty) principles, and has mostly lost his livelihood for it.
This is not a real defence of Richard Ayoade, but I'm just saying that I have certainly seen people argue that Ayoade himself has not said anything transphobic, and he hasn't actually said anything to indicate that he supports Linehan's positions. I've also seen it argued that he gave these very precise quotes to help out the man who gave Ayoade the start of his very successful career, so it is understandable to want to pay some of that back.
I think that it's important to note that Ayoade generally doesn't publicly associate with Linehan, but does publicly associate with noted staunch LGBTQ+ allies like Greg Davies and Alex Horne (and others). All that is just to say that it's a weird old world and when we're doing the calculus on which celebrities to support with our time and attention, Ayoade is not as problematic as a lot of other people. As far as I can tell, he's not advocating for anything bad, he's just not quite done with a person that was his friend for years, and while that can be problematic, it can also be commendable in some situations (IMO: not commendable here, because giving money to Linehan in any ways is morally repugnant).
Genuine Question, besides just doing the show, how does he associate with allies - as the two you listed are certainly "work" colleagues, it isn't clear if that demonstrates any stance, and does he publicly associate with actual trans people?
Personally I suspect he's not virulently transphobic but should have kept to his stance of not publicly commenting by not reviewing the book as if it could be as apolitical as the rest of his persona. But given the nature of the British comedy scene, I don't think simply accepting this job or any other, is sufficient to demonstrate "public association" with any sort of positive connotation.
That's slightly difficult to answer because Ayoade tends to be very private, so whatever perception of friendships that we have tend to be via the lens of panel shows he has been on, or stories told by other people on talk shows or panel shows. So for example, he has worked with Suzy Eddie Izzard (side note: I did look up and watch a video on how Suzy wants to be credited, and as far as I can tell, that's the proper way) in Travel man, where they travelled and spent time quite closely with each other for 48 hours in Ljubljana, but that's a professional association.
This is also made slightly more difficult by the fact that I don't particularly want to be posting things in defence of Ayoade, since I prefer my celebrities to be staunch and vocal allies. I would say that if we were playing Wavelength and the scale was problematic celebrity to non-problematic celebrity, he'd be almost right in the middle.
Yeah, I think my point, or at least my take, is that the only two stances he seems to be known for are very publicly supporting Linehan and one leaked by his in-law. I suspect he thought he could dodge the politics of backing Linehan, but I think he was wrong to break from his stance on privacy to do so without even slightly distancing himself from Linehan's views. He can't have it both ways, and if all he gives us is one statement, all I can do is read the one statement.
But as such I don't consider the associations you listed meaningful at all. And I have to give the singular public statement more weight than I might otherwise for a book blurb. I don't (typically at least) put celebrities on pedestals, and I'm not particularly a fan of his anyway, but I'd put him far closer to "disappointing person" than "ally"
I agree with your overall point, though I disagree that the other points I raised were meaningless. Also I did slightly change some wording in my post to specify that I don't consider Ayoade to be an LGBTQ+ ally (changed "I prefer my celebrity allies to be staunch and vocal" to "I prefer my celebrities to be staunch and vocal allies" which is what I meant but not what I originally wrote) since he hasn't actually done much in the way of allyship. My points in defence were mostly to provide both sides to @cfabbro since I originally started out in the post by saying that I had reservations about Ayoade as a contestant and only provided one side of the situation.
By "I don't consider the associations meaningful at all" I mean "to me". Obviously you feel they matter or you wouldn't have raised them.
In the process of reading and writing I came to my conclusion, as I wasn't set on it there, so my declarative statement is about my consideration and conclusions.
I hope I wasn't taken to be the "pro" stance for Ayoade; there are probably people who are fans of him that would actually mount some kind of defense for him. As it is, this is likely to be my least favorite series of the show and that's going to be mostly due to his involvement.
No, I didn't think you were defending him particularly. No judgement to you from me at least. I was just working through my consideration of the situation "aloud"
I watched the AU version and a few seasons of NZ. The NZ taskmaster, Jeremy Wells, is terrible so far. Makes almost no jokes, doesn't have good banter with anyone, doesn't justify his rankings well.
I disagree, I love both AU and NZ! I just think his vibe is different in the way that all of them are a bit different. I think it still works
I really enjoyed NZ, moreso than UK for some seasons (especially NZ S2). It's a very different dynamic to the UK one - the taskmaster is a lot more aloof, and the assistant feels a lot more actively involved in the banter - but I think that ends up working quite well. Jeremy's decisions often come across as arbitrary but Greg's are often pretty arbitrary too.
I think preferences per series are pretty personal, so I understand not liking one over the other. I really like the NZ version, but I think that there are a few things that do make it a bit different, especially with regards to the Taskmaster himself. Jeremy Wells definitely plays the straight man, setting up jokes for the contestants who I think are a bit wackier than in some of the other versions.. Jeremy and Paul also have a different dynamic, because they don't really do a lot of the Taskmaster looking down on the assistant bit; it's more like a headmaster and his beloved head boy at a school. Another issue is that they actually have an additional ad break in the NZ version, so the overall episode is just a bit shorter, and I think that most of the time the thing that gets chopped out of the edit is some of the back and forth with the taskmaster and contestants, so if that's the thing that sparks joy, it's just a bit briefer.
Overall I think the NZ version is even more of a departure from the UK formula than the AU version, but I like it better, and I'm really looking forward to the next season of NZ where Rose Matafeo is one of the contestants.
I love Chloe already, they're great!
I imagine Richard is going to be this season's chaos gremlin.
Taskmaster Season 22, Episode 2 - 'This is food glue.' | Full Episode
The understated but still very obvious joy at correctly guessing the height of the tower.
whoa, whoa, whoa
Just started the episode tonight, everyone is a delight! And it's obvious that Greg is just delighted by them all, which is always so fun to see.
I love that one cut of young(er) Alex.
quick edit: still sad that Nina Conti retired Monkey.
I've been waiting for Ayoade to be on this for years! Also I think this might be the first time for few years now that I knew of them all pre show again.
First episode has set high hopes for the rest of the series for me now.
Tastkmaster NZ Season 7 has just started, and it's already shaping up to be a pretty good one. I find with NZ that I usually know either less than half of the contestants, but this season I was at least somewhat familiar with all of the contestants, mostly thanks to Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling-Bee. Also Morgana O'Reilly is on White Lotus, and Rose Matafeo was famously on TM UK and was the Taskmaster on TM JR. If you can find it to watch it, I think this will be one of the better seasons of english speaking TM.
Thanks, that was a pretty good episode. Think Rose is the first ever to do a 2nd season?
I believe she is the first to officially compete twice, yes. Urzila from NZ2 is going to be on the next season of TM Australia as well.
There have been incidents where previous contestants returned to fill in for contestants in the studio when a contestant was unwell, but that's not quite the same obviously.
*not including Champion of Champions
Great point, I'd forgotten about those. I also just checked New Years treats and double checked that nobody had been on those had gone on to a full series or alternate series.
Yeah I think those don't count as they're intentional (one off) repeat players but I didn't want to miss them
Oh nice, she was really good at it (in being funny, not in scoring well)
Her dynamic with Paul Williams was pretty funny, so I'm excited to see how she reprises that with Tom Cashman.
Season 22 OUTTAKES - Part 1 | Taskmaster
Taskmaster Season 22, Episode 5 - 'You're nice.' | Full Episode
I think Richard was genuinely disappointed in himself with that one for a change.
Taskmaster Season 22, Episode 6 - 'To void an oblong.' | Full Episode
I think the in studio was filmed on May 18th... back when Ed Sheeran was only responsible for being the death knell for Game of Thrones. I hope they don't clean up after this ep.
edit: they did :(