Andrew is obsessed with a UK gameshow called “Taskmaster,” where comedians are assigned and filmed doing a series of increasingly bizarre tasks and then harshly, arbitrarily judged. (Never heard of it? It’s all on YouTube!)
The show is bonkers, and Andrew loves it. He wants to be on the show. He wants to write the tasks. He wants to judge the tasks. So for his birthday this year, we are letting him do JUST THAT.
We're throwing him a birthday “episode” of Taskmaster, where he gets to do a bunch of tasks... and then he gets to judge his friends doing those same tasks.
We’re going to cut all these tasks together and show them in a “special live episode” on September 26 that Andrew will judge and we will invite you to watch on Zoom (at a CA and UK friendly time).
Excited? Good. Read on.
Great, we have answers.
“How many tasks should I do?”
As many as you want! Even if you can only do one, we are still psyched to include it (though we can’t speak for how Andrew will judge you for this decision).
“Everyone’s got so many birthdays these days!! How long will this take?”
Honestly it’s up to you! We have estimates of the timing of each task below, but something is better than nothing—even if you wanted to whip something out in 10min, we’re happy to have it.
(Again, though, can’t save you from Andrew’s judgment.)
“Can I learn more about the task before I decide I can do it?”
Kind of. Part of the fun of Taskmaster is that contestants read the task, then immediately do it. We’ve included some information on the tasks page to help you plan which tasks to do and where/when, but we want you to wait to read the task itself until you’re filming yourself and ready to start!
“Do you have any tips for filming myself?”
Duh! Set up your smartphone camera in Video recording mode, preferably using the rear camera and in landscape (horizontal) orientation. If you have an extra friend (or camera/tripod), an extra close-up camera angle is AWESOME but not required. When you’ve got your props/phone out and are ready to start the task, press record, open the task link, read the task aloud, and get tasking! Please film the full duration of the task.