Tuesdays, 10pm,
Dave
Better late than never for a show discussion post I think (the first episode went out a few nights ago) but the feedback I’ve heard from it has been encouraging so I look forward to catching up in a spare hour, Richard Ayoade invites three comics to come up with their own quiz rounds, the only stipulation is that the questions must have proper answers otherwise anything goes.
Is it the new Taskmaster? Let us know in the comments.
It is not the new Taskmaster. It’s closer to House of Games, but really it’s more like a less bizarre It’s Your Round. Episode 1 opened with 10-15 minutes of Bob Mortimer being Bob Mortimer, which is something that the rest of the show could not hope to match. His round also had the most playalong value (the quiz questions of later rounds were too easy to be interesting).
Richard Ayoade does his usual schtick, and I’m not sure how much more mileage there is in that TBH! It’s fun but not essential viewing.
As well as requiring all questions to have a “right answer”, each round has a maximum of 5 points on offer, and the person hosting the round also has final say on how the points are awarded, as long as there is an actual structure (so instead of simply asking five questions, they can, for example, ask four questions with the final question worth double; or award “bonus points” for a supplementary task, etc). And each show ends with a Mystery Guest, chosen by Richard Ayoade to host a round “on his behalf” – and he also plays along with every round except “his”.
It’s a charming and inoffensive format with lots of comedy potential, but it’s a format that will live and die entirely by its panel and how funny / entertaining / inventive each guest is. Get good people and the show cruises along merrily and proves to be tons of fun; get someone dull or irritating and you may as well just switch off straight away. I’m looking forward to seeing who comes up in later episodes in order to get an idea of just where it averages out.
I enjoyed it, the rounds were funny/odd enough that I was interested in what came next. But. I think there’s going to be an upper limit on the show’s appeal, partly because of its ragbag nature (which I think is going to be more appealing to a certain mindset), mainly because Ayoade’s shtick feels so much funnier when he’s a guest in a show rather than the focal point.
As such I really don’t know – it feels more like the next Hypothetical, as such it could be a decent runner if not a breakout hit.