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

Taskmasterclass (task-masterclass or taskmaster-class?)

i had forgotten some of the earlier contestants completely

the studio audience was a LOT closer when they were on Dave

that taskmaster thing was a one-off, given there's something else in the slot next week.

lady parts contained quite the euphemism this week - kfc bargain bucket for one...

i've been slowly rewatching taskmaster from the beginning and am on s6 now ... this is generally not one of my favorite series as the contestants are all kind of boring but tim vine in particular is probably the contestant i find the most annoying. i googled him and of course he's been in the running for that horrible "best joke at edinburgh fringe" contest multiple times. that group task where liza tarbuck finds the answer in the first minute and then tim vine and asim chaudhry ignore her and waste time for ten minutes until she finally just does the task herself, yuck.

Yes season six is probably the weakest (not counting those early ones where the format's not established).

New season starts next Thursday!

Tim Vine has a recurring role in Lee Macks's sitcom Not Going Out, which imo is as close as UK comedy gets to its own According To Jim.

We just watched season six - the last of the old seasons we hadn't watched (we only got into the show during lockdown and had been watching the previous seasons in order of a blog my partner found that rated them), and I don't know if it's because the most recent season was such a drag but I really enjoyed it - Asim Chaudry was a great contestant, I really liked Tim Vine, the two young ones were mostly rubbish (esp Russell Howard, who was uniformly unfunny and seemed to simply want to assert he was a 'proper' 'bloke' in each task), and Liza Tarbuck was a manic, mischievous energy I very much appreciated. Not peak TM by a long-run, but still fairly strong I thought.

Excited for the new series, though.

Russell Howard, “one of the world's top comedians” (Sunday Times)

A mate of mine worked for Deliveroo a while and delivered food to Russel Howard. He didn't tip.

Alice is very pretty but alas has a politics podcast with Matt Forde so is indefensible.

I rewatched all the serieses last year and concluded that Alice Levine is the least standout contestant they've ever had (is this what the young people call "mid"?). She's not super competent or incompetent or funny or anything, really. I'm sure she's a perfectly nice person.

I have to say, I love Tim Vine. I've been to see him a few times at the Fringe, and have laughed very hard at all his very stupid jokes. He's just excellent at what he does. I can see how not everyone could like what he does, however.

he should do a politics podcast with jeremy vine

TM made me finally explore Tim Vine's standup stuff, and his brilliance at the dad-joke made me suspect if I ever caught a show of his I mighth legit die laughing - he tickles a spot within 49-yo me that only Harry Hill previously reached. Alice might have had potential but she was absolutely scuttled by being teamed-up with Russell Howard in every team task.

Don't understand Alice Levine's appeal at all, much less how she spent nearly 10 years at Radio 1 including a stint in the Peel slot.

This series of Taskmaster New Zealand failed to deliver, despite Abby Howells delivering probably the greatest ever prize task item, first up in the first episode. I suppose it was always going to be downhill from there, but it actually felt a lot like S12 UK with all the contestants being generally competent and rarely outstandingly funny.

S12 UK was great! Desree! Guz!! Morganna!!!

Hmm, I just remember it as Alan Davies and VCM being able but not really funny. I thought Morgana was great but stood out in a shallow pool.

> Liza Tarbuck was a manic, mischievous energy

the thing i remember most about her in this series was her just stomping something into the ground.

The thing where she gets Alex to plant his naked arse into a cake

That's what I won't forget

Anyway, this show is remarkable in how it's redeemed a whole slew of what I imagined were low-table DAVE panel-show dullards and proved they are actually very very very funny (tbh I watch no panel shows beyond WILTY). The TM magic failed with Russell, however.

Very few people can't be redeemed by Taskmaster, so it's quite an achievement for Russell Howard to be as bad at this as he is at everything else.

Do you guys get to see the New Year one-off specials? There's some real gold in there too - Rylan Clark and Kojey Radical and Shirley Ballas should really have done a whole series.

I liked Alan Davies a whole lot more than VCM on their series. And I concur that it's probably possible to die laughing at Tim Vine's stand up. He's the absolute GOAT at his format.

Yeah Kojey was great.

i thought it was time for a dedicated taskmaster thread: a thread for Taskmaster

I’m in!

catching up with Colin from Accounts and it's pretty good, albeit without much Colin. episode 5, the Brisket episode, especially good.

they were on Front Row tallking about it and it gave it a bit more context. all those jokes about being married, all the age difference jokes, the odd phrase here and there (Dame Edna, sleak brown dog...) all from life.

and Ludwig starts tonight, him from everything and her from everything, comedy detective show. i will give it a go but it's on bbc1

Love Colin, tho heart sank as everything went tits-up in the final ep (hoping there's a s3 to make it all good again). the episode in the resto with her mate's awful gf was excellent. it's a sharp and warm romcom but - and this is key - it also has a line or a joke or a setpiece every episode - and indeed, often several - than genuinely has me LOLing.

Still not clear if the couple also partook of the drug party in that one episode and I think they purposefully kept it vague

and Ludwig starts tonight, him from everything and her from everything, comedy detective show. i will give it a go but it's on bbc1

― koogs, Wednesday, 25 September 2024 18:22 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Watched ten minutes of this and couldn't be bothered with continuing, not enjoyable or interesting on any level.

As someone who likes wry, silly, murder mysteries based around puzzles, and Mark Corrigan trying to wing it in fish-out-of-water situations, and Anna MM being a bit sarcastic, this in theory is right up my street. Unfortunately the "case of the week" aren't fun puzzles you can work out (yet) and you don't see any of the 'main' puzzle. So it's more for people who like the idea of puzzles but not actually doing them. I'll watch them all though I guess.

Really like Colin From Accounts. Altho - did I miss something with Meggles and who she was with then wasn't? And the Rumi character at the dinner was amazing!

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2024/10/02/56722/whos_taking_part_in_last_one_laughing_uk%3F?rss

Feel like Ayoade is absolutely going to win this.

just finished ludwig, thought it was good enough to be annoyed at having to wait for series 2. ymmv.

chance would be a fine thing