In a media (and reality) landscape that just keeps on being terrible and adds to our deteriorating mental state, it’s the rare, almost entirely positive thing that can help raise our dopamine levels. Routinely, for years now, the most happy I am while watching television comes from sitting down to an episode of Taskmaster. Just 10 weeks of sublime silliness as comedians and personalities—most of whom from the UK comedy scene—compete for supremacy in a ridiculous contest. Now, with its 22nd season just on the horizon, we have a trailer of what is to come.
Like the past few seasons, Taskmaster series 22 brings together a mix of people familiar to me and not. On the more familiar end we have Richard Ayoade and Matt Lucas. Ayoade is an actor and filmmaker who most recently played Two-Boots on Maul – Shadow Lord. Lucas was on Doctor Who and (no one’s favorite) cohost of The Great British Bake-Off. The other three members of the cast all occupy different parts of the stand-up world. Chloe Petts does comedy, Nina Conti is a ventriloquist, and Isy Suttie is a musical comedian.
One of the best things about the show, in addition to Greg Davies and Alex Horne being the best, is that we get to spend 10 weeks with people we may not already know very well. And then it leads, inevitably, to looking up their work elsewhere and we get to enjoy new things in our lives. Humor and joy begetting humor and joy. Fantastico.
Season 22 of Taskmaster will premiere on September 3 on Channel 4 in the UK and everywhere else in the world on YouTube. If you haven’t already seen this show, you have hundreds of episodes you can watch there. All the information’s on the task.