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?

We are watching them all on catch up so only on series 8, but I cannot agree with you more re. the highlights from 4 and 7. Mel and Desky!
Series 8 so far is painful to watch as iain Stirling keeps having big old strops when he doesn't win ... Not in the spirit of the show Iain!

Series 8 is the only one I never rewatch. I don’t find Lou Sanders funny at all (although she clearly finds herself hilarious).

So many gems in all other series, hard to choose a favourite. Mike Wozniak, Bob Mortimer & Liza Tarbuck firmly at the top of my fave contestants though.

Really looking forward to this next series, especially to see how Steve P fares - I think he’s ace.

I'm just reading Lou Sanders' autobiography and yes, she does find herself very funny - luckily I do too!

I hated Iain Stirling the first time I watched S8 but strangely both he and the season have grown on me. I think it's that he genuinely wants to win so much and that is both entertaining and a tiny bit endearing. He was so heartbroken when his volcano didn't work! And it is sort of hilarious how genuinely humiliated he is when he realises how colossal of a dick he is during group tasks. There are a few classic moments in that series, including he and Lou screaming at each other in the hammock, the Grandmother's Footsteps game, and the blindfolded mobility scooter course which never fails to make me laugh until I'm nearly sick.

I think you can do anything on Taskmaster as long as you actually engage. The one contestant I genuinely hate, and the main reason I never rewatch S1, is Roisin Conaty. Nothing is more boring than watching someone on TM who's just phoning it in.

Sandi seems very unclear what a woman is these days

Iain Stirling exhibited classic ASD to me- not a big old strop.

Ed Gamble caring so much is also funny. He will be gutted he didn't win CoC.

Wang displaying his wong suddenly shot into my mind. Such a shapely scrotum.

Ed Gamble caring so much is hilarious.
Please allow me to recommend this video on his stages of Taskmaster anger.

"It doesn't matter how handsome the grandfather clock is - the pendulum draws the eye"

I got sent the screenshots! They called you a TERF !

Both of them have been Taskmaster contestants.

Yes I know they have! (In the past). It was hard for them to get Taskmaster going in the early days, when it was less well known, so they needed big names. Now it's so well known they can afford to cast those not so high profile.

Yes, but at a time when neither of them were particularly big names. That first series with Romesh on it, it was the fact that they'd gotten Frank Skinner on it that convinced Dave to commission it, Romesh just wasn't particularly well known.

Give it a few years, and we might be whinging that some of next series line up are on bloody everything.

I'm looking forward to this series. I love Sophie Willans and Steve Pemberton. I'd seen Sophie on a chat show and heard her talk about her life and Alma's not Normal. We've watched that about 4 times now. Hilarious and poignant in turns. Steve Pemberton is just a genius. He's a brilliant writer and Inside No 9 has some classic episodes. A quiet Night In had us falling about laughing and The Twelve Days of Christmas is heartbreaking!! I envy people who haven't seen them yet. Steve was also brilliant in Happy Valley as the accountant in the first series.
I've watched the New Zealand Taskmaster, not that impressed and also the Swedish version with a slightly different format, although some of the games were the same. They had a special guest for each episode, which was a good idea.
Roll on Thursday!