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Amazing video

What a concise and even-handed explanation. Thanks for your lovely video!

describing Alex Horne as the "co-host and side kick" was hilarious

I hate all taskmasters other than the original one. There is no "taskmaster" in any of them. Greg is simply irreplaceable. Even Alex is irreplaceable. They're huge comedy geniuses. Both in size and persona. They tried to pick largest person they could find in other taskmasters, but it's not just about height. Greg is big daddy. He dominates EVERyone. Not just in taskmaster but in life. All the other taskmasters are so lame and submissive try-hards. Now about the participants. When it started the participants were almost embarrassed to be on it. Like it would ruin their career or something to be seen being dominated and humiliated. Other taskmaster participants (and even the ones in later episodes now on the original) are just so complacent and eager to be there like it's an opportunity of a lifetime for it. We don't wanna see contestants who wanna be contestants. This isn't your age old regular competition show. That's what made it different. The competition is supposed to be a mere facade. That juxtaposition of it being the most useless gameshow with the sarcastic seriousness Greg and Alex give it were key components to making it such a masterpiece.

I didnt see the American Taskmaster but I can promise you Lisa Lampinelli has been an awful person for decades. Definitely would not help get a show off the ground by including her. It's on the level of including Andy Dick, no one is going to enjoy that

I dont know why, but i've got a hunch that Thomas F. Wilson could be a good US TaskMaster... He's pretty tall, just like Greg Davies, and i think that their personalities are quite the same as well ..

Big fan of the UK version, never seen any of the others but just watched 2 minutes of a US show. Yeah, it's awful isn't it. Why would anyone like that? Why is it filmed in a huge set? it's so cringy and distant.

With few exceptions, Americans ruin great British shows trying to adapt them. Taskmaster is a show that requires time. Comedy Central cutting running time in half literally cut the shows balls off. The project turns into a Frankenstein's Creature and viewers can't figure out wtf is going on. Besides, the original uncluttered version of any hit sho is usually the best.

Craig Ferguson would be another great choice for an American Task Master. He's been around for a long time and knows all the comedians and is a great comedian in his own right. I love Conan, but his bread and butter is self depreciating humor and that's just not a great match for the position. Craig could knock it out of the park.

The length of the episode was shortened from an hour to 30 minutes?!? What in all the rubber ducks? That's halving the time. Why? How could anyone possibly have thought that was a good idea? I've watched the Danish spinoff and everything felt kinda dull. Like they just copy&pasted with almost none of the spirit. The Norwegian one was brilliant and really understood what made it fun. Until the host decided to cancel himself by being a colossal racist. That takes the enjoyment out of watching anything with him in it.

I have religiously been watching Task Master on RUclips (and elsewhere *cough*) for all of its 17 seasons, and even quite like the Australia and New Zealand spin-offs as well. The fact that I didn't even KNOW there was an American spin-off here in the US should tell you everything! Hell, I thought Series 17 was going to be filmed in the US when it was announced that Greg Davies and Alex Horne would be doing the premier from New York City! American TV execs are knob heads.

I was so flummoxed by the choice of Reggie as Taskmaster. He's obviously the US Alex. He's known as a weird multi-instrumentalist. The taskmaster should be - a taskmaster. Huge and imposing, dictatorial. Conan would be good, even more so if Alex' role was taken over by Andy Richter. Steve Harvey would also be great, his trademark silent judging of people would work wonders REALLY agree on Lampanelli. Her insult-comedy style is so incredibly dated. As crowdwork it may be fine, but it's completely idiotic to try this style of comedy in another setting.

This is a great breakdown and it saved me from having to actually watch the US version (ha) - so thank you!!

Keep scrapping. You have a great voice for RUclips. Fine-tune your craft and you’ll grow. I’m subscribing so I can watch how big you get.

Panel shows don't translate to the American sense of humor. We don't want earnest trying and relatable personalities, we want effortless perfection with a nonstop torrent of quips. Americans don't like the process, we like the result.

I've watched the first two seasons of NZ and have loved them. Decided to give the UK version a shot while I'm waiting for NZ S3. Weirdly enough, the culture presented in NZ feels more similar to the US than the UK one does.

The US is also just really bad at reality TV in all its forms. We try to sensationalize everything for some reason.

I agree with the other comment saying keeping Alex was a mistake, but I also honestly think if they had Greg AND Alex for the US show it would've worked, for 2 reasons. First, I think both American and UK audiences would react well to a group of American comedians being given tasks by 2 British hosts. It plays well into existing tropes and archetypes and it works well even as a standalone premise. Second, I think having 2 British comedians on the show, especially in the hosting role, would allow them to steer the atmosphere to be the correct level of ribbing and lay the groundwork for self-deprecating British style comedy. If Alex is alone, in the assistant role, he sticks out as out of place, and can't help direct the tone of the show. With Aus and NZ it's different - first of all, Aus & NZ have similar comedy styles, AND they're very familiar with British TV, panel shows, and the audiences would have been familiar with the original Taskmaster. So, a new set of hosts isn't as much of a problem because they know the source material well enough to adapt it. With the US, they would've needed more guidance from someone familiar with the original format.

I think a lot of these reasons can be summed up as the people in charge of this version didn't have a clue about what works in the original. It seems like even though Alex Horne was in it, he didn't have the creative control he usually has. He probably had more control in the Australian and New Zealand versions. Unfortunately doing what they've done in other countries won't work as well here in the US because the money people have too much say. I think that's why US adaptations fail so much. They need to let the creatives make a good show and the money will usually follow. Worrying too much about the money just bogs everything down.

omg Conan would have been perfect!

There was a US adaptation? (I think that says it all.)

What made you think the UK version had mostly unknown comedians??? 95% of contestants are highly recognizable and well known by a UK audience.

Apparently Alex is acquainted Sam Reich, owner of Dropout TV, which would be a great network to host a US Taskmaster. Sam Reich also has big Alex Horne energy; diabolical and underhanded. He'd make a great assistant. I think Sam would be better at crafting tasks and a format for a US audience, as well. I'm not sure they could afford Conan though.

Loved it

3:43 I agree with Conan O'brien being a good idea for a Taskaster. He definitely doesn't take things too seriously and knows loads of comedians. Something I LOVE about UK TM is that Greg and a lot of the contestants know each other from working together or other things. Considering Conan knows a ton of US Comedians, I think he'd be excellent, funny, and comedically ruthless, like Greg can be. 30 minute episodes was all i needed to hear. Impossible to cover enough with that time. And who the F is Reggie Watts? What a terrible choice. I'm so glad someone said it, Lisa effin sucks, what a B. I did not like Ian, and I haaaated Guy. Anyway, good video. 👍

1:12 Coupling! I didnt know they did a US version. I really like that show! Sucks that Jeff left. It definitely went to heck after that.

There's a balance to be struck between being competitive (without having to also fail) and trying to find a funny way of completing the task. If a contestant phones it in them failing feels lame and if they succeed it can be underwhelming. Listening to the Taskmaster podcast, it does seem that the majority of contestants actually were trying to win; part of the brilliance of the show is that the tasks are so strange that regardless of that competitive drive the brain just shuts down.

I can tell you why I stopped watching partway through episode 2. One of the contestant's personas was just to be a raging asshole all the time. (Not ridiculous mean like how Greg is to Alex, just like a run of the mill awful person.)

The closest US thing to TaskMasker is Game Changer on Dropout, rather than the actual Task Master adaptation.

Totally agree with the contestants, Lisa was aweful to watch.

The woman who created this video is the perfect example of Americans mispronouncing people's names. It seems Americans have this attitude, "I'm going to pronounce your name my way, even though that's not how you pronounce your own name." Clearly evident in the fact that you couldn't even be bothered to say Greg Davies' name correctly (Davis not daveez). As someone who apparently watches Taskmaster, you'd think you'd know how to say Greg's name, but the American arrogance overrides that. You also said Liza Tarbuck's name wrong, she's not Liz! Living in the Czech Republic, I've heard countless Americans mispronounce names, despite being told how to say it. Yet Americans have a shit-fit if their names aren't said correctly. Such extreme arrogance.

I'm American and will stick to watching the UK version.

I still haven't bothered watching any of the regional remakes & my country is one of those that makes one... Just can't imagine it working.

Slow down your narration. Practice enunciation. The intelligibility of much of what you say is compromised because you're racing through your script.

Originally clicked on the vid for something to watch as I ate, was too invested in the video that I forgot to eat lol Very concise and informative, definitely earned a new subscriber

Most of the contestants on the UK task master are normally fairly well known, while not A-list, they are recognisable either though the comedy panel show scene or via acting in a comedy. They are not really unknowns for the most part, they have been on big shows and gone on tours and stuff.

The number one reason I stopped watching the US version was Lisa Lampanelli. She can be funny, but she is often loud and abrasive. Just not what I’m looking for in a panel show. It should be an ensemble, and she made that impossible.

Great video! I've been watching Taskmaster ever since the first episode aired here in the UK and I have to agree with pretty much everything you said.

While not quite a panel show, I think the fact Americans just fail at doing panel shows is the reason - as you say points and winning are not the point but merican TV show makers don't seem to get that concept.

well, its the as with the Office... UK version was inspired, dorky, just lovely... US version was high octane, loud and often overplayed... not better, just "more". which might be a good think in an americans eyes, but really just mostly isnt.

geeze, s-l-o-w down

Another great bit of Alex Horne content is No More Jockeys on RUclips, in which he and his friends (Tim Key and Mark Watson, who have both been on Taskmaster) record their zoom calls playing a memory game and chatting. Very funny feel good show. Quite dense with in-jokes so not ideal to start halfway (although the zaniness doesn't fully kick in until a few episodes in).

As an American that's been watching Taskmaster for years... TIL there was an American taskmaster.

Have to agree with your idea of Conan O'Brien for US Taskmaster. His recent appearance on Hot Ones (the spicy wings challenge interview show) was amazing: he's got an American take of Greg Davies' mix of cocky, sardonic and vulnerable. He would absolutely make that work :)

I had to make sure this wasn't on 2X speed. Good video... but take a breath!!

I watched an episode of the US version and it just lacked the banter of the original. It felt like they were trying too hard to win whereas the contestants didn't bother trying to be taken seriously.

It's very simple. Americans think they know it all and have the worst attitudes, thus we got this shambles of a show and why Doctor Who will now be just as terrible. Not to meantion the host the chose was awful and wasn't engaging. No one knew who the contestants were and absolutely no one on that show had any right or reason to treat Alex Horne they way they did. If they wanted the show to succeed, they needed Jane Lynch as the Taskmaster and less traumatizing contestants.

One of the big problems seems to be Alex being on the US show, period. To me, it indicates the producers didn't know how to do Taskmaster and instead of finding a host who was more in tune with US sensibilities, took the path of least resistance. Tom Cashman of Aus Taskmaster and Paul Williams of NZ are the creators of the tasks in their shows; the US needed to find someone who wasn't Alex to fill the same role.

This is how art as a industry has been, even before the motion picture industry.

You have to have chemistry and culture to make it happen. (...) The culture isn't there, and the chemistry was completely removed.