Have you heard of Taskmaster? It’s a British panel show of some great minor renown, and it also happens to be me and my wife’s favorite TV show. For context, Greg Davies and his assistant, the ‘little’ Alex Horne, test the out-of-the-box thinking of a group of comedians by telling them to do a variety of small and large tasks, and they have an all-around good time. The show allows for a lot of nerdy workarounds to simple asks (how does one get a hole-in-one with a potato?), creative thinking, and it has ignited a lot of the internet’s passion for statistics.
The basic appeal of the show lies in how the tasks are constructed. Tell someone to fill a bucket with water, but they can only use items with holes in them. Tell someone to paint a picture, but they have to use an onion for their brush. Tell someone to get out of a room, and build a few puzzles to give them the key. It’s constructed fun which gives adults permission to let their brains run wild, which is rare in today’s world.
This is all a lead-up to say that my wife and I have a recent tradition of running a taskmaster party for her birthday, and we have always had a great time. In 2024, our friends Yvonne, Eric, Chor, Karen, and Olivia participated. You can see a trailer here. We did a whole production of videos in the style of the show. I wholeheartedly encourage people to make their own mock Taskmaster, low or high-effort. You won’t regret it.
Leave a Reply