New Taskmaster series

[ChedderGorgeous]

AIBU to have never heard of any of the contestants on the new series ? I love taskmaster so trust they have picked a line up that "works" but my god they seem to have run out of people who are in any way famous.
Had to Google the whole cast. From what I can see :
JOANNE MCNALLY – Irish stand up apparently
JOHN ROBINS - Seems to be a Freddie Mercury impersonator who doesn't look anything like him. Also 5live presenter ?

NICK MOHAMMED - Mr Swallow??!
SOPHIE WILLAN – stand up it seems STEVE PEMBERTON - used to be in 'Benidorm' which I have heard of but hate.

Anyone else scratching their head?

If Tony Hancock was on this series it would be a ratings winner.

You’re not alone OP. I recognised Steve Pemberton’s face when I googled but the name meant nothing to me. Never heard of any of the others.

Do you like Radio 4 @ChedderGorgeous ?

@ChedderGorgeous you didn’t hear Steve Pemberton on The League of Gentlemen when it first started out, on Radio 4? It was a big success there before it moved to TV. And 'Inside No. 9' has been going ages now (brilliantly).

@Quebeccles I think @ChedderGorgeous mainly likes panel shows on R4. Oh, and Hancock’s Half Hour. Maybe the sketch shows in the Friday night slot, but that’s just a guess on my part.

True that 😁

JOANNE MCNALLY – Irish stand up apparently

Has been on "Alan Davies - as yet untitled" and "Backstage with Katherine Ryan"

I didn’t recognise any of the names but I recognised two out of five faces when I googled. I agree they are running out of people, in the first few series every contestant was very well known.

What's wrong with Sandi Toksvig, @ChedderGorgeous?

I have never watched a badly cast season of Taskmaster, so even if I don't always recognise them, I trust that the show creators know what they are doing. As PPs have said, some of my favourite cast members have turned out to be the ones I hadn't heard of before. Plus, most of the "familiar" comedians tend to be over-used on other shows, so it's really great to have a platform for lesser known talent!

I agree. It's so refreshing to see a show without the likes of Kathleen Ryan or Romesh Ranganathan!

I think this will be a brilliant line up. Agree that my favourites often end up the people I didn't know well beforehand. My least favourite series was series 6 which arguably had some of the bigger names in Russell Howard Liza Tarbuck and Tim Vine but it didn't gel for me.

What's everyone's favourite line up out of interest? I loved the James Acaster/Kerry Godliman/Jessica Knappett/ Rhod Gilbert/ Phil Wang series, and the Bridget Christie/Judi Love/Ardal O Hanlon/Sophie Duker/Chris Ramsey one.

I've heard of 3 of them. Which is about standard for the Channel 4 series. And is great. Because I've discovered some people I've found fantastic. Mike Wozniak for example, never really paid attention to him before but he was fantastic.
They don't need to be massively well known, a couple of recognised names (Steve Pemberton is a huge name really) and then some smaller names works. The less well known tend to be some of the funniest. And even when they aren't, there's plenty to carry the series through.

@Wheretogo123

Acaster series is probably my number 1

numbers 2, 3 4 are the Mike Wozniak, Bob Mortimer and Hugh Dennis series.

There's nearly always one I just can't take to. Last time it was Lucy.

My favourite is Jenny Eclair because she had such enthusiasm for the game and the challenges. I've always loved her and good to see she is as I imagined.

My favourite show where I liked all of the players was the very first one. After that there was always one I felt a bit meh about.

Oh I love that this ended up on the alexposting FB group.

But only for half an hour

I think it's angering people that I don't just like one thing ! For example I also was made aware of Daniel Kitson through a friend of a friend and having seen him live, now love him !

That bore Alan Davies! Combines looking smug with gainful employment on QI imo! Went to a good private school near me though!

I share your tastes for contestants I didn't love. Tarbuck making a very special cake which entered Alex was one of the best moments on the show though tbf. Tim Key was excellent with anyone for me. But then again he is co creator.

I liked Lucy and her quirky take on things. I also liked the fact that everyone on the show seemed to love Eclair and her 'ways'.

Nothing. I probably preferred her to Fry on QI but for whatever reason I didn't like her on the news quiz. Maybe it was because she was known to be a lib dem campaigner and jokes therefore had that political slant.

My favourite serieseses are 7 (Acaster, Knappett, Godliman, Gilbert and Wang), 9 (Baddiel, Gamble, Brand, Wix and Matafeo), and 4 (Lycett, Adefope, Giedroyc, Fielding, and old Desky). But there are priceless moments in every series.

Moments that will forever live in my head rent free:

• Mel Giedroyc snorting the M&M during the "exotic sandwich" task
• Jess falling off the stage projection, Greg's very audible "shit!" as he leapt to his feet, and the fact that ever since the projecting portion of the stage is referred to as "the knappett"
• Greg's little teacher talk with Acaster
• the drawing-on-each-others'-backs studio task in which Ed Gamble came pretty close to murdering Baddiel

Said exactly the same to my DH when I saw the line up the other day!

I don't think Sandi T is lib dem, she was a founding member of the women's party. Sadly they don't actually support women though.