Buck for a comedy show with a celebrity cast, but it doesn’t have to be LOL: Last One Laughing? Then we have a bully-free alternative for you that has even more seasons under its belt
What have we not learned about people from movies and TV? In China they eat dogs, white boys don’t cut it, Japanese are better lovers – and British comedy is superior to comedy from Germany in most cases, unless it involves Loriot.
But humor from the UK is no longer just about Monty Python and Rowan Atkinson. If you want to experience the country’s current comedy scene, there’s no getting around the TV sensation called Taskmaster, which you can also legally stream for free in Germany. Fans of LOL: Last One Laughing in particular should take a look across the Channel
Learn more about the British LOL alternative Taskmaster! Your time starts now.
Great Britain admittedly has its own problems, and not just since Brexit, but comedy is demonstrably not one of them. It hardly needs to be subtle or even witty to be charming, fast-paced and funny, as the comedy panel show, which has been running since 2015, proves with its fluffy, light entertainment.
Stand-up hunk Greg Davies, known from series such as Man Down, Cuckoo and the British version of The Crime Scene Cleaner, leads through the format as a suspicious taskmaster. Each season, the strict show dad sets five celebrities a series of silly, sometimes impossible, but mostly creative tasks, for which they have to justify their solutions in front of a live studio audience. The taskmaster awards up to 5 points for the most successful solution to the problem presented. So far, so good
(Cast of season 5 Taskmaster)
The tasks range from “Fill this egg cup with as many tears as possible in 20 minutes!” to “Write and perform the best song about this strange woman!” to “Destroy this cake in the most beautiful way!” Thinking outside the box is usually rewarded, but it is often not done fairly. Yet it is the whimsical, subjective judgments of the Taskmaster that make the show so unpredictable.
There is a bonus task at the beginning of the show, the prize task, in which the participants have to bring a themed gift that is as relevant as possible. And at the end there is a usually very physical studio task, which was recorded not weeks before in the Taskmaster House outside London. This is where most of the show’s segments are created, milking every bit of comedy gold juice out of the material thanks to clever editing.
It’s not what it sounds like … (okay, it is a bit)
At first, it sounds like a relatively ordinary game show where celebrities make a bit of a fool of themselves for us. And that’s true to a certain extent with Taskmaster, but it’s not the heart of the show … which also applies to LOL. It’s currently in its 17th season and it’s becoming clearer and clearer who can do the tasks competently, who is completely out of their depth and who is the most entertaining to watch
(Scene from Taskmaster)
In particular in group tasks and in the face of god-host Greg, interesting dynamics arise. Above all, you can tell that Davis and his “little” assistant Little Alex Horne (actually the brilliant series creator of the format and 1.88 tall himself) have created a pleasant environment in which the talents are happy to participate despite pre-programmed embarrassments. You can hear this again and again from former contestants in the podcast for the show .
Who is taking part in Taskmaster?
Of course, we’re talking about the comic crème de la crème of the British stand-up scene, entertainment industry and beyond: people like backend goth Noel Fielding, also known from The IT Crowd, Feel Good star Mae Martin or current Ted Lasso audience favorite Nick Mohammed, to name but a few. But don’t worry: the whole thing also works perfectly without being familiar with the charming contestants beforehand.
Just don’t necessarily start with season 1, when the format hadn’t yet completely found its feet. Season 4 or season 7, for example, are great highlights that are perfect for a taster. However, you should start at the beginning of a season, as there is a certain dramaturgy in the development of the respective cast over the episodes
Explanatory video on the topic of Taskmaster:
