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You need to learn about the latest British show making its way across the pond to the U.S. Your time starts now.
That Anglophile sensation is “Taskmaster,” a British comedy panel show in which five comedians compete in silly “tasks” and are then given arbitrary points by another comedian. It’s sort of like if a bunch of kids set up ridiculous games in their backyard, graded each other, filmed it and broadcast it to millions around the world on YouTube. And somehow, all that wackiness has coalesced into a superb and consistently funny TV show, which made USA TODAY’s list of the 10 best TV shows of 2025.
It’s via YouTube where the series, which began in the U.K. in 2015, has thrived and developed an international following. That includes a dedicated U.S. fanbase that has shown up ecstatically for a limited live show tour this January, making stops in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC. and New York (a final New York show will bow on Jan. 23). Headed by the series’ eponymous Taskmaster Greg Davies and creator/”Taskmaster’s assistant” Alex Horne, the sold-out live shows confirm just how popular “Taskmaster” has become stateside. Plus, they’ve been absolutely hilarious.
“We have no idea − or rather we have a developing idea of how popular the show is,” Davies, 57, told USA TODAY in an interview Jan. 19 alongside Horne in Philadelphia ahead of that leg of the tour. “Last year when we came and did a show in New York, we were blown away by people stopping us in the streets. We had no idea what to expect. And the same was true of this [tour]. We sort of had an idea [the show] was popular on YouTube, but we’ve been amazed by the enthusiasm.”
It’s “mad,” says Horne, 47, who created the series out of a concept he debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010. It’s now a sprawling franchise with versions across the world, from New Zealand to Sweden to Croatia. “It feels like Comic-Con sometimes,” he says. “We have people dressing up as characters from the show.”
The unscripted show stars “characters” that are the heightened personas of comedians of varying levels of fame, each them competing over 10 episodes worth of tasks each season. And those contestants are getting closer to home as the show’s popularity grows: American comedian Jason Mantzoukas, known for stints on “The Good Place” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” joined for Season 19, and Kumail Nanjiani of “Silicon Valley” and “The Big Sick” will be on the upcoming 21st season, alongside “Veep” creator Armando Ianucci.
Davies and Horne say their wishlist of other American comedians includes Sarah Silverman, Mike Birbiglia, Ali Wong and Conan O’Brien, but they are down to have anyone on “Taskmaster” who understands the ethos of the show. “I think [the show] would be really fun with someone like Conan, who is used to being the funniest person in the room and the person who’s pulling all the levers and making the thing happen. It would be fun to see him exist in our controlled world,” Davies says.
In his Taskmaster character, Davies acts as a “dictator” (his word), judging comedians for their performances in five absurd tasks an episode, like “eat as much watermelon as you can in 1 minute” or “find the cheese phone using only your sense of smell” or “paint a portrait on a door with your feet” or just “hide three eggplants in this small room.” The magic of the series comes in the complete buy-in of the contestants as well as Davies and Horne (Horne’s character is a meek, annoying and sycophantic version of himself).
In the live shows, Davies and Horne have answered fan questions and then invited three members of the audience to the stage to participate alongside guest comedians. The shows so far have featured comics like Joel Kim Booster and Chris Getherd, who have been as giddy and starstruck as the audience members to get a chance to play “Sausage or Finger” and the other farcical games onstage.
“We’re relying on the audience members being funny and smart, and they haven’t let us down,” Horne says.
The short tour has already sparked calls from American fans for a more extensive engagement that heads out west. At the moment, however, Horne and Davies have plenty of work to do just with the daily grind of getting the show to air. But they’re open to any possibility for the future.
“I think it’s more fun if [the future] is not by design, but we go where we get led,” says Davies. “Alex has come up with this amazing show that people seem to like, and wherever that takes us, we’re happy.”
However, they do have one really, really big aspiration for a future “Taskmaster” contestant.
“But Prince William, we do want Prince William on the show,” says Horne.
Davies agrees: “I think it would be really funny if we could get a USA TODAY headline that says, ‘Pressure mounts on Prince William to join an entertainment show.'”
