Rolling UK Comedy Thread - "Ricky Don't Lose Larry David's Number

Sophie Duker is too committed. eating a whole slab of butter and basically outlasting the tongue task. frightening.

I quite massively fancy her.

The two contestants I had slightly negative opinions of pre-series, Ardal and Judi, have both been pretty good. The Taskmaster effect.

Pretty sure I'm not alone in thinking this series is well named as I've been trying to avoid this cunt for years.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/jun/10/avoidance-review-romesh-ranganathan-may-make-you-feel-seen-in-the-worst-way

After I posted I literally turned on the TV to see an advert for that show (for the umpteenth time), followed by the new version of The Weakest Link, which is presented by ..... AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHH!

No Taskmaster next series contestant reveal?

Will come after Champion of Champions I expect.

next taskmaster:
dara o'briain
fern brady
john kearns
munya chawawa
sarah millican

i like fern brady, not wild about the others

Fine with all of them except Millican.

Munya's viral comedy raps are pretty good as viral comedy rap goes.

As always, I'm underwhelmed by the lineup reveal, and as always it'll probably turn out to be good.

question team last night had a round on take away food and one of the places was four hundred rabbits pizza. question for mike, if he sees this, is that the place around the corner from you?

three months pass... ilx really does hate comedy

There are a few branches of 400 rabbits; one of them is the one you're thinking of, koogs.

Watched the new Philomena Cunk, bored of her joke now, just felt like "why am I watching this bad history documentary that doesn't even make me laugh?"

There's a new series of Ghosts, I quite like that.

ilx really does hate comedy

UK comedy

ILX's fave type of comedy

youtube.com/watch?v=SqSiaH5A3WM

400 Rabbits is a very SE London reference (I think our SE19 branch was the first), and there are a lot of Dave-employed comics in SE London ime :)

(I tend to avoid Dave Originals as they all look pretty terrible to me, even if I sort of like some of the ppl involved. But I recommend the dirty vegan sourdough and the garlic bread).

Not entirely against UK comedy of course; I did watch a 1975 episode of Rising Damp last night, after my usual Bob’s Burgers double-bill, and that was good.

The election one or the fitness one? Both funny and cringe-inducing at the same time.

It was the one where Philip bets Rigsby he can’t go without food for 48 hours.

Extra edge from knowing that the bigoted landlord was played by an old-school Scouse Tory and his liberal do-gooder tenant was a loosely aristocratic member of the WRP (de la Tour).

Rossiter was an Evertonian so that redeems him greatly in my eyes.

Cunk drives me crazy because Diane Morgan is so good, and her character is so pitch perfect, and the writing is just terrible. she deserves so much better. though after awhile you do start to think - this is your baby, Diane. raise the bar or try something else.

she did do that Mandy thing that made me a chuckle a few times.
and i'm totally bored with Cunk now.

Rossiter was an Evertonian so that redeems him greatly in my eyes.

In one of the episodes last night, Rigsby mentioned Tommy Lawton in a discussion with Philip and Alan about how football was so much better in his day. However in another episode it's implied he's a Leeds Utd fan - the series is apparently set in Leeds, though that's never stated - which makes me think the Tommy Lawton line came from Rossiter.

Almost certainly! I have a 1978 EFC match day programme somewhere in which he goes on about Lawton at some length.

mock the week into its last 3 shows before it gets shitcanned (or moves to Dave) and there was very much an end of term quality to last night's. you all will hate it.

taskmaster new season looks promising

The last series was excellent.

New series of Ghosts is a bit flat maybe? It's perfectly watchable, just feels like it could with something new.

My 8yo just started watching it and is obsessed, but also scared by the plague guys in the basement

Quite liking new Ghosts, haven't seen any drop in quality, episode 4 is a highlight.

Ghosts certainly not as good as it used to be. It's the writing - they're trying to cram too many different storylines into each episodes, and as a result they rarely conclude satisfactorily.

Still a nice watch though. I feel like Alison and Mike are my mates. I've had a real soft spot for Charlotte Ritchie since I spotted her campaigning for Labour in the same area as me on the day of the 19 election.

The usual Taskmaster arc indifference to scorn when the lineup is revealed, to liking them all by the end of the first episode. It's a format that really does bring out the best in its contestants.

Having said that, Munya Chawawa seems really quite odd.

My partner and I talk about the Taskmaster laundering effect. There are comedians I hated on sight or only knew from occasional grating panel game appearances who I am now 100% stans of as a result of this show. Who knew Rhod Gilbert could be so funny??

Didn't launder David Baddiel for me tho his persona being "confused old fogey not knowing how any of this works" was tbf the best case scenario (also the season he was in had one of the greatest casts).

Yes there is the odd exception.

There's often an older cast-member who can't rise to the occasion or doesn't seem to try. I ultimately found Alan Davies and Hugh Dennis endearing in that role, but yeah, Baddiel did not bring much to the table at all.

watching last night's i might go off dara if he keeps up like that (winning!)

First ever whitewash

Last episode of Ghosts was a bit of a let-down, the old we're-foreshadowing-something-or-are-we?!?! is an old trope and they didn't bring a new twist to it, agreed that it's stronger when they focus on one or two stories and don't feel the need to keep all the characters busy all the time.

I've had a real soft spot for Charlotte Ritchie since I spotted her campaigning for Labour in the same area as me on the day of the 19 election.

She's also very good in Mae Martin's Feel Good

She is. And also obvs Fresh Meat.

Does John Kearns "work" on Taskmaster? Saw him live once and don't think I've ever laughed harder.

John Kearns gives good Taskmaster, yes. It's a very winning combination from a viewer's viewpoint this year.

Who knew Rhod Gilbert could be so funny??

Anyone who's ever seen him?

I mean that's the thing, I'd never seen him, beyond the occasional clip from a panel show.

Taskmaster is just a fantastic vehicle for comedians to comedy.

shades of Battleship Potemkin in dara's 'ooh, my baby' last night, i thought

The two that scored the lowest in that task were easily the most entertaining.

i think the way they keep building shortcuts into the tasks (like the grapes last week) encourages the people to cheat in ways i don't like. enjoyed the classical songs round, munya could probably do that as a career.

friday night live revival tonight, not sure i can be bothered. mainly because ben elton.

but his last live stand-up & sketch show went so well

(axed three episodes in, eleven years ago)

on radio 4 this morning he was talking about his 100+ show tour that he's just finished (@ 2.5 hours a night, kill me now)