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The latest episode of NZ Taskmaster has solidified this as up there with season 7 and 11. The tasks are fantastic, and the cast is solid stuff. There's a task in this one to "Float this brussel sprout down from this balcony" that might be an all time favorite. If you're in the states, the two episodes out now are on Youtube. The only weak point is the guy they have playing the Task Master, who just kind of seems like an rear end in a top hat without the self-deprecation / school teacher charm Davies conveys. CatstropheWaitress fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Jul 15, 2021 |
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Jul 15, 2021 18:08
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The World Inferno posted:The latest episode of NZ Taskmaster has solidified this as up there with season 7 and 11. The tasks are fantastic, and the cast is solid stuff. There's a task in this one to "Float this brussel sprout down from this balcony" that might be an all time favorite. Greg tends to give more attention to 'problem pupils' and to his good friends. Jeremy Wells seems to be trying to stick closer to the fictional character of taskmaster (an egomaniacal tyrant who forces comedians to do his quirky bidding), and treat everyone with the same amount of mild contempt. Greg would definitely paid more attention to the brilliant madness of David Correos inviting other contestants to pile on.
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Jul 15, 2021 21:41
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Paladinus posted:Greg tends to give more attention to 'problem pupils' and to his good friends. Jeremy Wells seems to be trying to stick closer to the fictional character of taskmaster (an egomaniacal tyrant who forces comedians to do his quirky bidding), and treat everyone with the same amount of mild contempt. Greg would definitely paid more attention to the brilliant madness of David Correos inviting other contestants to pile on. I think you're right in general with their different styles, I just don't think Jeremy is selling his version that well. That being said, I've enjoyed the in-studio interactions in these first two episodes a lot more than the first season, so either he's getting better or I'm warming up to him. You're right that Greg is helped by having a lot of people he's friends/friendly with as contestants and he's very good at busting out his teacher persona at the right time. The times that James Acaster and Nish Kumar were pulled aside for a talking-to are both hilarious highlights for me.
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Jul 16, 2021 05:12
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Talking of the latest TMNZ: David was robbed.
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Jul 16, 2021 08:54
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LesterGroans posted:You're right that Greg is helped by having a lot of people he's friends/friendly with as contestants and he's very good at busting out his teacher persona at the right time. The times that James Acaster and Nish Kumar were pulled aside for a talking-to are both hilarious highlights for me.
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Jul 16, 2021 09:46
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Still playing catch up, so I've got some nearly two week old news from the S04E02 podcast. It seemed to contain quite a lot of interesting "things you might have missed", including the fact that Alex wears a tie in all of the house tasks he records with Mel, something he hasn't done with any other contestant before or since. I thought to myself "I'll try and catch that in episode 3", but just finished watching it and completely forgot to. Maybe I'll remember tomorrow for episode 4. Other thoughts on the episode: Best membership/subscription: Mel is skirting dangerously close to infringing on Have I Got News For You with her entry. Quite a lot of very similar entries, not much separating the top three. Camouflage: including a nice callback to the cloud subscription. This task has that enjoyable element where Greg gets to play along (and by extension so do we). I feel kind of torn by Noel's attempt here: it's very creative, but is employing camera trickery in the spirit of things? Trailer: I've been looking forward to this one, and TUGTEMESTER didn't disappoint on a rewatch. It really nails the tone, and leaves you wanting more, like any good trailer. Noel doing his impression of Greg is the absolute highlight of the other trailer. Shepherding: A sort of inadvertant individual task here. Lolly's bonus points are completely deserved in my book, the chickens looked much harder to handle. Other than that, four similar solutions, everyone went with the sausages. Fishbowls: an absolute fiasco to round off the house tasks. Lolly with a triple-underlined breaking of the rules, and then the sting in the tail with the chocolate penalty, knocking Joe from his podium as soon as he reached the top. This round is a great example of Greg's utter authority as host, shutting down Hugh's quibbling about commentary with a "It's not fuckin' point-worthy so...just leave it!" And then a few minutes later dismissing Mel's attempt to sacrifice herself for Joe. Jeremy Wells, take note! Live task: it sounds so simple, and yet, the players fall so fast. Hugh manages to get away with Sweden's..and then immediately throws the reprieve away. Surprising that this was scored as winner takes all, when it could have been points according to the order you went out, but that did bring us to the... Tie break: Noel gives us a spectacular finish here with the wine drop, after just drinking for 50 seconds. Is this the funniest moment across all tiebreakers?
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Jul 20, 2021 19:27
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I actually just today watched the camouflage task after listening to the podcast because I had forgotten it. I heavily disagree with giving Noel 5 for that. 3 at best for being funny but not following the spirit of the rules. They also mention Joe sent a tweet out to get people and Alex says he got x amount of responses in an hour. But the task was 20 minutes 
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Jul 20, 2021 19:47
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drunken officeparty posted:They also mention Joe sent a tweet out to get people and Alex says he got x amount of responses in an hour. But the task was 20 minutes I thought that you had 20 minutes to plan, which would be a bit of a get-out. As long as he sent the tweet within the time, and committed to the plan by the end, I think Alex would allow that.
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Jul 20, 2021 20:29
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I wonder if they asked David Mitchell and he declined but suggested his wife instead.
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Jul 21, 2021 19:35
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The_Doctor posted:I wonder if they asked David Mitchell and he declined but suggested his wife instead. I don't think so because in this lineup Alan Davies fills the same slot of "older, well-respected comedian and panel show veteran". Also I hope not becase I feel an entire season of Taskmaster could rest solely on David Mitchell impotently and petulantly railing against the unfair judgements of a petty and uncaring Taskmaster.
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Jul 21, 2021 19:55
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LupusAter posted:I don't think so because in this lineup Alan Davies fills the same slot of "older, well-respected comedian and panel show veteran". Also I hope not becase I feel an entire season of Taskmaster could rest solely on David Mitchell impotently and petulantly railing against the unfair judgements of a petty and uncaring Taskmaster. Does David Mitchell count as an elder statesman of British comedy now? Bloody hell.
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Jul 21, 2021 22:33
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sebzilla posted:Does David Mitchell count as an elder statesman of British comedy now? Bloody hell. He's going to be 69 next year.
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Jul 21, 2021 22:36
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sebzilla posted:Does David Mitchell count as an elder statesman of British comedy now? Bloody hell. It's the beard.
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Jul 21, 2021 22:37
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Caught up more with New Zealand Taskmaster season 1, and I'm really annoyed that they did a poetry related task where the taskmaster had to guess whose poem was whose. THAT WAS MY IDEA  Taking Heavy_D's advice about objective vs subjective tasks, we decided to make our haiku task essentially into "write five haikus about yourself as fast as you can" but then that's not scored except for a bonus point for fastest if the taskmaster feels as though it was deserved. Instead, they choose the one that most represents their personality and the taskmaster judges which haiku represents which person best.
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Jul 21, 2021 23:26
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LupusAter posted:I don't think so because in this lineup Alan Davies fills the same slot of "older, well-respected comedian and panel show veteran". Also I hope not becase I feel an entire season of Taskmaster could rest solely on David Mitchell impotently and petulantly railing against the unfair judgements of a petty and uncaring Taskmaster. David Mitchell and Richard Ayoade are my two dream TM participants. Although both in the same series would probably be a bit much. I reckon Jimmy Carr would be good as well, though probably a bit too big for the show, despite being a Channel 4 veteran
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Jul 23, 2021 07:52
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Dell_Zincht posted:David Mitchell and Richard Ayoade are my two dream TM participants. Although both in the same series would probably be a bit much. Bill Bailey is surely going to do it at some point.
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Jul 23, 2021 08:01
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Dell_Zincht posted:David Mitchell and Richard Ayoade are my two dream TM participants. Although both in the same series would probably be a bit much. Suddenly you have the whole Big Fat Quiz cast in one series. I imagine there are quite a few "big guns" that have agreed to be on the show but they're spacing them out. There seems to be roughly one person per series who's either too famous/respected for most panel shows or who are otherwise a big draw. I'm sure they don't want to be in a position where they're scraping the bottom of the barrel for recognisable faces - even if the less well known comedians usually end up being the highlights of the series.
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Jul 23, 2021 08:46
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You know who I thought would be horrible but turned out to be loving hilarious in the New Year's Treat edition? Shirley Ballas. Would love to see her in a full season. Also Rylan was pretty funny, too
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Jul 23, 2021 10:01
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Yeah I really enjoyed Ballas’ energy and think she would be excellent in a full season. I can’t believe I’ve actually made it to episodes released this year tbh
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Jul 23, 2021 13:04
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Wife and I found out about this show last year (from goons!) and absolutely love it. I think our laughing til we die moment is Nish Kumar trying to trace his steps in a field, blankly staring at the camera in the distance. Runner up is Mike's farting incident from the recent season.
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Jul 23, 2021 15:52
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Nothing will ever, ever beat the VHS tape, mainly due to the buildup to it. I respect the energy of discount Jeff Goldblum on the last NZ episode though, we need more clowning on the taskmaster. VVVV oh good it is still on the internet, it's not on Dave's Twitter anymore. Sighence fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Jul 23, 2021 |
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Jul 23, 2021 17:34
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Sighence posted:Nothing will ever, ever beat the VHS tape, mainly due to the buildup to it. I respect the energy of discount Jeff Goldblum on the last NZ episode though, we need more clowning on the taskmaster. Extended discussion of it: https://vimeo.com/302885128
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Jul 23, 2021 18:08
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Dell_Zincht posted:I reckon Jimmy Carr would be good as well, though probably a bit too big for the show, despite being a Channel 4 veteran I can’t see Jimmy being physical at all. David and Richard would be awkward and uncoordinated but I can see them engaging in it knowing that that’s what people want to see from them.
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Jul 23, 2021 18:20
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drunken officeparty posted:I can’t see Jimmy being physical at all. David and Richard would be awkward and uncoordinated but I can see them engaging in it knowing that that’s what people want to see from them. A decent number of cats does countdown interlude distractions have him performing surprisingly deft feats, sometimes even without body doubles.
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Jul 23, 2021 18:32
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God imagine Richard having to talk to a stranger like the Swedish guy
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Jul 23, 2021 19:10
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Watching Champion of Champions. Watching Katherine call her family was some pure  Also the whole of the edible masks task.
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Jul 23, 2021 20:42
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The_Doctor posted:Watching Champion of Champions. Watching Katherine call her family was some pure That one is amazing for how quickly she seemed to come to it, how horrifying it is, and the fact that her family doesn't seem to buy it for a second. A classic.
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Jul 23, 2021 20:47
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The_Doctor posted:Watching Champion of Champions. Watching Katherine call her family was some pure In terms of lateral thinking about what a task means, this is one of my favourites. Genius idea, and very entertaining (if not 100% successful) execution. Superrodan: Glad to see this is still coming along. As you probably saw in the NZ episode, there are practical difficulties in having the points depend on whether the Taskmaster can guess who wrote what - but you can still have your TM do that "just for fun" prior to the actual marking. I wondered if there's a way to work that idea you had that the contestants don't quite know the whole task when writing the haikus. Like if the prompt was something like "write five haikus about your week" - adjacent to but not specifically describing yourself, and then you have to pick the one that represents you best. Ploughing through to thoughts on Series 4 Episode 4, because I heard a rumour that Mel reveals what she did with all the wax seals in this week's podcast... Surprising photo: Greg tried very hard not to put Hugh last, but it's unavoidable. Joe had a strong entry here, but I think Lolly deserves the win because the picture is surprising on so many levels; it's surprising that she'd choose to do it in the first place, the initial look at the image give you a surprise, and then it's surprising how close she gets to pulling it off Splash: the telescope is a bit weird - although it pays off when Greg points out that nobody needed to use it. Guessing who you think will win is another one of those game theory bits that are common in these series, and it was fun even if ultimately nobody got it right. Bit of a twist here in what the definition of a "splash" is, which sinks Lolly's otherwise pretty smart effort. I think they have settled on highest splash being "the longest distance a drop of water falls after being set in motion by impact with a solid object", which is why raising the height of the bucket helps Joe's attempt. Ringtones: Lovely moment of Alex's bewildered persona Mel: '96 Alex: tries awkwardly to join in hand dancing 104 Then the whistle bit in the studio as well. The little moment in Noel's dance where they look back to watch the greenscreened fireworks is pretty neat. Mel's dance was geniunely good! And I liked Lolly's story beat. The nicest thing you can say about Hugh's is that he's approached it like he's on Strictly, on the week where you have to incorporate a lift into the routine. Portraits: Noel, ever with the creative touches, using the cardboard roll to accentuate the eyes in his work. Tricky task, and the five portraits do end up looking pretty similar. Gym: time starts when you next blink is a great detail, so good it became it's own task in Series 7. Hugh talked about this task in the podcast last week, he still wishes he didn't have to land on the mats, which stopped him from standing back up. Lovely bit of BS deflection from Joe when Greg put him on the spot; Greg was equally great at quizzing Lolly in the ringtones task, letting his teaching persona pay dividends. Interesting judging here, Mel managed to outperform Noel here by two whole points, given that they had fairly similar ideas. And I think there is something to be said for Hugh actually rising to the challenge of physically performing over the contestants who went more lateral with the task. Tower: pretty simple live task - Alex is right to describe it as "cagey". The more recent task in series 11 where they had to stack buckets had the added twist of giving the contestants bean bags (and letting them decide what they were for). Heavy_D fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Jul 24, 2021 |
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Jul 24, 2021 13:57
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Matt Heath as a cheating bastard and his professional relationship with Jeremy is starting to pay off in Taskmaster NZ. The wheat biscuits were great, and David and Guy are lunatics.
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Jul 24, 2021 14:46
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Guy is a more of a calculating type of maniac, always very deliberate in his outbursts of lunacy, while David is chaotic in a child-like way. Both are fantastic in their own right.
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Jul 24, 2021 16:17
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Tried to watch the first episode of NZ, the Alex is so horrible.
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Jul 24, 2021 16:34
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drunken officeparty posted:Tried to watch the first episode of NZ, the Alex is so horrible. He gets a lot better.
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Jul 24, 2021 18:36
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:He gets a lot better. Actually laughed at him a couple of times last episode, which is a first. I think he's getting the hang of it.
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Jul 24, 2021 22:17
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Paladinus posted:Guy is a more of a calculating type of maniac, always very deliberate in his outbursts of lunacy, while David is chaotic in a child-like way. Both are fantastic in their own right. How much David throws himself into every task is such a delight. Rhod has set too high a bar for old friend abusing the task master, so I kind of wish Matt Heath had more cleverness to his insults. Still enjoyable enough though.
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Jul 24, 2021 23:43
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:He gets a lot better. Does the master get better too? He isn’t actively bad but it’s like he isn’t even there. I only knew of Guy going into this so I’m not sure how famous Jeremy is in NZ but I keep thinking he should be the “billionaire who has everything so he forces peasants to dance” kind of thing. He certainly looks like it. Greg has the physical presence and big bombastic energy that this guy can’t try to match.
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Jul 25, 2021 02:46
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drunken officeparty posted:Does the master get better too? He isn’t actively bad but it’s like he isn’t even there. I didn't like him at all during the first series (mainly because, like you said, he's such a non-entity) but I've actually been enjoying him so far in series 2.
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Jul 25, 2021 03:49
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Yesterday was the anniversary of the first broadcast of Taskmaster, but was took busy watching the latest NZ episode to post here! Nearly caught up with the podcast, here's thoughts on episode five of series four: Cuteness: On the face of it, a prize task that could go either way. You might get four* things that are undeniably cute, and Greg has to break the tie on very slender grounds. Or you might roll something that really gets on Greg's nerves and lose instantly, and this is where Mel landed. * Hugh need not apply Slide: unusual arrangement of the task clips, showing us the prep for Joe and Lolly, then everyone else's attempts, then the payoff. Good way to build suspense, I think it really worked here. Not a task you really wanted to go route #1 like they did, the key was getting propulsion into your slide Scuba: a kind of combination task here - the "social task" of sustaining small-talk while also having to do something else. Has a different feel watching it back in the Zoom era. The final scores seemed fair even though there was clearly a lot of post-task fudging, to compensate for how much everyone bent the rules. Bathtub: another one I've been really looking forward to rewatching. I worried it would wouldn't be as funny, but it really was. The Series 11 task with the bag of salt has a strange similarity - both tasks revolve around how just one team got what the task was about. It also has to be noted just how much of a Mel move it was to pause and bandage Alex's feet. Throw: Good adjective on this task: "most unbelievable" - but hard to argue any of the attempts live up to it. The slow accumulation of toast around the toaster wordlessly tells the story. It does show how hard it is to actually do one of those viral videos. Noel was the only one that operated on the right level - it just didn't stick the landing. Sound: Really nice read of the live task by Hugh here. In fact there were loads of really fun small moments here - Noel getting distracted by Greg, Hugh being the only person not to make the sound with his mouth, then missing out on a clear victory through hubris, leading us to a... Tie break: it would have been a real shame if this tie-break task hadn't played out with Mel, and the world never saw her sweeping peas off a table into her waiting mouth. She was so glad for Hugh as well! In fairness the podcast episode with Mel did observe that she won three times during the series, so she's not gonna begrudge Hugh one victory. Incidentally, Mel's episode is well worth the listen, the story about the wax seals is actually heartwarming.
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Jul 29, 2021 23:50
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Taskmaster NZ is continuing to be excellent. The Festive Songs (especially Guy's) were amazing, and David defending his animal choice with the scroll of facts was perfect.
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Jul 30, 2021 15:03
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Humbug Scoolbus posted:Taskmaster NZ is continuing to be excellent. The Festive Songs (especially Guy's) were amazing, and David defending his animal choice with the scroll of facts was perfect. Any of those songs would fit perfectly in an Awful Christmas album, it was great.
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Jul 30, 2021 16:56
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I've not read all the posts in here yet, nor have I even seen the end of s11, I don't think, but Taskmaster (UK) is a genuinely ingenious and enjoyable series and I love it.
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Jul 30, 2021 17:56
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