Presented by Greg Davies and Alex Horne (who also created the programme, originally as a show for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), the first series of Taskmaster was broadcast in 2014 on comedy channel Dave, before expanding its audience after being poached by Channel 4 in 2020.
While there have only been 17 series proper, there have also been special one-off ‘Champion of Champion’ and ‘New Year Treat’ programmes, comprising one or two episodes.
The show sees (mainly) comedians take part in a range of challenges which are then marked by the hosts, usually (but not always) winning a maximum of five points per task.
Which of the more than 500 tasks set for contestants have been the best?
Here are 10 of the leading candidates.
9. Fart. Fartest (fastest) wins
Another solo challenge delivered in episode six of series 11, Mike Wozniak was challenged simply to break wind. Finding it a particularly difficult task to complete, he had a number of extended failed attempts before eventually managing the smallest of noises. Back in the studio he explained it was due to a particularly intimate health condition, revealing that ‘it’s an absolute casserole down there'. Photo: Channel 4
10. Do the most preposterous thing with this chickpea
One of the more ludicrous tasks features in episode 10 of series nine, when the contestants were asked to do something preposterous with a chickpea. Ed Gamble chose to produce a short film where he courted the chickpea, before seeing it fatally run over by a car, and enjoying the resultant humous back home in bed. Photo: Channel 4