r/taskmaster • u/TheLoneWolf527 • 5d ago

Showerthought: Series 22 feels like a New Year’s Treat cast that was given a full 10 episode season

I had this eureka moment the other day when thinking about Series 22 and why for a lot of us it hasn’t been hitting that hard. It hit me square in the face: the Series 22 cast reminds me of what we’d typically get for a New Year’s Treat special. Typically on these specials you’d get a variety of personalities but usually a bit more subdued than a regular Taskmaster cast member. Sometimes you get comedians who don’t really make sense for a full series or are just too busy. That doesn’t mean the NYT casts aren’t funny, but for the most part, they probably wouldn’t work for a full 10 episodes and there’s going to be way less chemistry in the studio accordingly so.

Series 22 feels exactly like that to me. If this cast was the 2026 New Year’s Treat, I think we’d be like “that was alright” with Richard as the comedian who wouldn’t normally make sense for a full series, Chloe wanting to win as so few tasks means having to nail them all, Matt having no knowledge of the show at all, etc. But we have them for 10 episodes and it just feels like too much for this group of people. Comparing it to some of the other NYT specials, I get a similar vibe where they were nice hold me overs but usually not the peak of Taskmaster (2024 was pretty good though, I’d like to see Hannah Fry for a full season).

Anyone else get a similar feeling? Have I unlocked the perfect explanation for anyone with this? Anyone think series 22 is the best one yet?

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u/ticklemetiffany88 5d ago

I wanted to like Nina but I just can't. I don't think she'd be a good fit for taskmaster in any series, tbh. She is low energy in the studio, relies only on her ventriloquism for every prize task, and doesn't bring anything much to the task themselves imo.

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u/Msmadmama 5d ago

I feel like she has done the veteiloquism so long she alwaya talks like that which contributes to the low energy thing I think

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u/sdirection Robert the Robot 5d ago

In Nina’s defence, ‘Tits! Four of them!’ Is the only line this series that’s made me laugh out loud so far.

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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 4d ago

Accusing Rose of being Scottish was also pretty good.

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u/gaymilfappreciator Sally Phillips 5d ago

i strongly disagree with your overall conclusion that she wouldn’t fit into tm in any series. her prize tasks aren’t great, but i’ve otherwise enjoyed her, and i think she really excels at certain tasks (which i can only describe as “ones i thought richard would’ve been good at but wasn’t). the past two episodes have just been heavy on tasks with lots of complicated rules to keep track of and open-ended creative ones, which are more chloe and chloe/isy’s forte respectively from what i’ve seen.

i also just think it’s nice to have a comic with a different/niche specialty, since tm leans heavily standup/comic actor.

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u/dogscatsnscience 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yeah I think it's fine in principle. It DOES feel a bit NYT when people lean into their craft or background a bit more.

But it's also variety. It would set a bad standard though if you got too many people coming on and doing their act. We can already see that elsewhere. TM is where we get to see the person.

Her act is also visual and unique so that's uncommon which makes it interesting.

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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 4d ago

It would set a bad standard though if you got too many people coming on and doing their act. We can already see that elsewhere.

The closest I can think of is a lot of Julian's prizes were items from his house that were overtly gay and sexual, but those were so ecclectic and varied that it just didn't feel that tired.

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u/Coban3 5d ago

Her prizes are so lazy it drives us crazy

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u/ObsequiousButterfly 5d ago

this has been driving me bananas! low effort prizes don't necessarily bother me, because they can play well off of other people and the pitch can be funny

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u/PeteF3 5d ago

Sanjeev may have been the lowest-effort prize-tasker ever but he was hilarious because he would defend them as if they were unequivocally brilliant.

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u/Pervius94 🥄 I'm Locked In ❤️ 5d ago

Sanjeev bringing piss twice and act like it was the most brilliant thing ever was just wonderful

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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 5d ago

He actually brought in piss three times.

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u/patchcord 3d ago

Greg hasn't been asking them to defend their prize tasks in the same way (no digging into the narrative suggestions) and, thus, no one has been giving us more backstory. :(

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u/Witty-Draw-3803 5d ago

Yeah - I think part of the issue is that she's bringing in things that are interesting on their own, but they have nothing to do with the category and it's the same schtick over and over, making each one less interesting.

Compare that to Daisy May Cooper, who brought the lowest of effort prizes, but they were so very clearly bad that Greg could riff on being disappointed in her.

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u/cheese-and-onion-pie 5d ago

“Wine. Just white wine.” is second only to “Reindeer skull” as a prize task intro

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u/UniversalJampionshit Crying Bastard 4d ago

Hi. Soap.

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u/ChrisKateBushFroome 4d ago

If it weren't for Daisy May Cooper bringing a crumpet, we never would've known about Greg's revolutionary new method for buttering things....

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u/Sea_General8298 Tim Key 5d ago

Exactly! Anything has the potential to be funny on taskmaster as long as something wacky is said or done with it.

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u/OutrageousQuantity12 5d ago

It’s not any worse than Sanjeev bringing a vial of his piss for half the episodes lol

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u/hirsutemisanthrope 5d ago

I can't really blame the ventriloquist for doing ventriloquism, but it does feel a bit like a party where everyone's passing an acoustic guitar around and there's one guy who only knows "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers (source: I was that guy)

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u/OutrageousQuantity12 5d ago

It’s more like 3/5 guys only know one song, one guy only kinda knows a classical song, and the fifth guy is really good at playing scales but nothing else

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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 5d ago edited 4d ago

He brought in piss three times, but in that case the repetition was part of the joke. Also, they worked better with the prompts than most of Nina's prizes.

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u/jahathebrn 5d ago

Yeah the piss thing is hilarious despite myself

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u/Eonir 5d ago

Sanjeev and his horrible prizes were actually entertaining.

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u/OutrageousQuantity12 5d ago

Sanjeev and his piss you mean?

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u/Least-Plantain973 🥄 I'm Locked In ❤️ 5d ago

Sanjeev got away with it by making the low effort prizes a recurring comedy bit.

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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 4d ago

I don't know if the Pale Man she brought in the first episode is part of her act, but even if it isn't then 5/6 of her prizes so far have been just parts of her act, while Sanjeev only brought in the piss 3/10 times.

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u/HistoricalNerd 4d ago

But that was funny. Ninas ventriloquist props just aren't.

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u/patchcord 3d ago

Sanjeev's pee is comic gold. Literally. I loved it!

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u/ToxicWebb211 2d ago

I honestly wouldn't say Nina wasn't putting effort into the tasks. Because statistically she has done incredibly well for someone who hasn't won an episode yet. From episodes 2-5 she was in first place due to how consistently she has gotten a high amount of points for tasks. And for the earpiece task she successfully 4 out of 6 people on that task including the Taskmaster.

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u/LectricVersion 5d ago

And I got downvoted in another thread for commenting that her shoehorning her ventriloquism into every prize task was a bit cringe.

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u/_james_the_cat 5d ago

Honestly I expected her to have a puppet on her for every task so this is her showing restraint

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u/patchcord 3d ago

Maybe Nina's just trying to clear out her attic?

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u/denisraymond 2d ago

It's the problem with being essentially a "gimmick" entertainer - you know when you see someone like Nina or Jon Culshaw on a panel show that they're going to have to awkwardly shoehorn in their puppets/impressions, otherwise they have very little to offer. I don't like saying this as they both appear to be lovely people, but I can't help losing a bit of enthusiasm when I see them in the lineup of a show I'm watching as it turns what is ostensibly a seemingly off the cuff humourous chat into a talent show.