Now that the seal has been broken when it comes to established American comedians appearing as contestants on long-running British chaos exposition Taskmaster—courtesy of first Jason Mantzoukas, who kicked the door open last year, and then Kumail Nanjiani, who’s about to gingerly step through the wreckage—the panel show’s creators are getting a bit more vocal when it comes to dream-casting their series. Specifically, creator Alex Horne and host Greg Davies gave an interview to Parade this week—timed to a current American tour, which has included guest appearances from folks like John Oliver and Seth Meyers—in which they listed some very big names that are on their wishlist for future seasons.
“We’ve talked about this,” Horne revealed when asked about “dream contestants from America,” noting that his knowledge of the American comedy pool is less detailed than the British, one for obvious reasons. “But I’ve always said Sarah Silverman or Ali Wong or Conan O’Brien. Mike Birbiglia I really like. We like the idea of having a higher status coming down to our level. So any of these people would be very fun.” Added Davies: “It’s fun to see people who normally run the show come onto our show. Like Conan, because he’s such a brilliant presence, and he’s central to everything he appears on. It would be funny to see him have to stick to the rules. That would be amazing. And obviously, we’re huge fans of his.”
Now, do we think there is a universe in which Conan O’Brien subjects himself to the sort of indignities that tend to crop up on Taskmaster, a series in which both lateral thinking and a game willingness to follow through on bad ideas is a key survival skill? Not really—but we would have said the same thing about him filming a cameo for a video game where you play a post-apocalyptic package delivery man, or making a reality show about annoying people in Iceland, so who are we to try to predict that particular, very distinctive mind?
For the curious, Davies and Horne were also un-shy about breaking down the differences between their existing American guests, with Horne noting that Nanjiani differed from Mantzoukas in that “He didn’t destroy everything. And he was very polite. Just as funny, but in a very different way. But he felt like he had Hollywood energy when he walked in the room… In the best way. He’s just sort of a star.”
