Taskmaster Series 15 Cast Revealed: Here are the five comedians set to appear opposite Greg Davies and Alex Horne in 2023 - including Frankie Boyle

This week sees the conclusion of series 14 of the show that sees comedians challenged to complete a host of strange tasks – and the cast of series 15 has already been confirmed.

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.

Series 14, featuring Dara Ó Briain, Fern Brady, John Kearns, Munya Chawawa and Sarah Millican, came to a conclusion this evening (December 1).

Next up in the Taskmaster universe will be the traditional one-off New Year Treat episode on January 1, which will see the tasks taken on by comedian and journalist Amelia Dimoldenberg, Countdown queen Carol Vorderman, Radio1 DJ Greg James, Olympic Champion Sir Mo Farah, and Mercury Music Prize & Brit Award nominated pop star Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem).

Looking even further forward, series 15 has been confirmed for next year and, while we don’t know the exact dates yet, the cast has been revealed.

Here are the five comedians who will be completing to lift the single greatest prize in the history of television: the Taskmaster’s golden head glued to a small plinth.

Frankie Boyle

One of Scotland’s most famous and controversial comedians, Glasgow’s Frankie Boyle worked in a mental health hospital and trained as a teacher in Edinburgh before becoming a fulltime standup comedian in 1995. He attracted a wider audience when he became a regular panellist on the BBC’s Mock the Week in 2005, and his four years on the programme saw him become notorious for edgy jokes which often attracted tabloid attention – and also saw to him sell out huge tours across Britain. Since then he has made a number of other television shows including Channel 4 sketch programme Tramadol Nights, Frankie Boyle's New World Order and Frankie Boyle's Tour of Scotland. Boyle has also published a number of books, and this year his first novel, Meantime, was nominated for Bloody Scotland's Debut of the Year award for crime writing.

Jenny Eclair is one of five comedians to take on the challenge of Taskmaster's 15th series.

Ivo Graham

Eton-educated English standup Ivo Graham became the youngest ever winner of comedy competition So You Think You're Funny in 2009, while still studying at Oxford University. A year later he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2010 Chortle Awards and in 2019 was shortlisted for the Edinburgh Comedy Award. He’s appeared on numerous television programmes, including The Stand Up Sketch Show, Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, Live from the BBC, Russell Howard's Stand Up Central, Richard Osman's House of Games, and Have I Got News For You. Graham has also supported Josh Widdicombe on tour, co-presented the Dave travelogue British as Folk alongside fellow comedians Darren Harriott and Fern Brady, and is a regular on radio show Fighting Talk.

Jenny Eclair

Standup and presenter Jenny Eclair became the first woman to win the Edinburgh Comedy Award (then known as the Perrier Award) in 1995. Eclair is perhaps best known for Grumpy Old Women, the BBC2 show she developed and starred in which also became a popular theatre show, along with Loose Women where she is currently a regular panellist. Other television credits include Room 101, Pointless Celebrities, Tipping Point: Lucky Stars, Celebrity Fifteen to One, and QI. She’s no stranger to carrying out stressful tasks on the telly, having already appeared in Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (where, like Matt Hancock, she came third), Celebrity MasterChef, and celebrity diving show Splash. Eclair has also hosted her own radio show on LBC and has written several novels and non-fiction books.

Kiell Smith-Bynoe

British actor and comedy performer Kiell Smith-Bynoe is best known for playing one of the leads in the BBC One sitcom Ghosts. His co-star Charlotte Ritchie appeared on series 11 of Taskmaster, finishing in last place. Other television appearances include in Whitechapel, Stath Lets Flats, Man Like Mobeen and Enterprice. Smith-Bynoe is fully trained in improvisational comedy, performing with improv troupe BATTLEACTS!, including at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Earlier this year his Channel 4 Comedy Blap, Red Flag, was released. Taskmaster isn’t his first foray into the world of television challenges – he appeared on the 2021 BBC Christmas special of The Great British Sewing Bee.

Mae Martin

Canadian-born non-binary comedian, actor, and screenwriter Mae Martin’s comedy career began in their home country, where they were part of comedy troupe ‘The Young and the Useless’ and wrote for sketch show Baroness von Sketch Show, winning two Canadian Comedy Awards. They moved to London in 2011 and have produced a number of standup shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which led to her BBC Radio 4 shows Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Sexuality and Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Addiction. Her show about addiction, called Dope, was turned into half-hour Netflix comedy special which led to her Channel 4/Netflix series Feel Good, for which she recieved a BAFTA nomination for Best Female Comedy Performance.