fun but expensive live version of the beloved comedy show

Sometime in the early 90s I formed a team at my elementary school and filled out the application form to enter the children’s fantasy TV game show based on Jeopardy. Knightmare. We weren’t selected, they didn’t even respond to us. It was devastating.

But what if you could just pay to be on your favorite game show? I don’t mean to sound dirty: Taskmaster the live experience it doesn’t mean you drop channel 4 (although it’s not cheap – more on that later). But it’s a superbly immersive recreation of ‘Little’ Alex Horne’s delightfully wacky game show, currently in its 18th series, having blossomed from cult Dave beginnings to a full C4 mainstay.

Or rather, it’s a recreation of the fun part: the ridiculous, clever, infuriating tasks that happen in the so-called Taskmaster House, as opposed to the part where the season’s comic contestants sit in court of the Taskmaster, aka Greg Davies.

Given that anyone willing to pay £50-£100 for a ticket to Taskmaster the live experience will surely be familiar with the source material, then you can afford to avoid getting bogged down in context or rules or undue focus on the contestants. We are here to make some Taskmaster games because we like them Taskmaster and thinks it looks funny.

The key is to do it funny too I’m not going to spoil what any of the tasks actually entail. But while they’re kind of ridiculous, they’re not necessarily particularly hilarious on their own. Unlike the show, you can’t rely on the contestants to be funny. But Taskmaster the live experience However, it captures the humor of the show very well. This is achieved in part thanks to some very clever video and projection work that heavily integrates a pre-recorded Davies and Horne into the proceedings. But also shout outs to our live guide. Called Little Little Alex Horne (like all the guides), he was nominally there to keep us from walking down the wrong path and to make sure we understood the tasks. But ours was also a lot of fun in its own right, a perfect intermediary between “our” Taskmaster and the brightest TV.

It’s also worth noting that while I think it would be unethical to do the show a second time (it would give you a huge advantage), there are currently two completely different challenge sets available (called Melon Buffet and Absolute Casserole) and a plan to introduce new ones if the show has a long enough life.

If it was £25 to go I would be begging you to come down. From £50 to £100, with the only difference being whether you’re considered to be attending a peak or peak time show, I’m more skeptical. I didn’t pretend to have a view of their profit margins, of course that was expensive to do. But unless money is no object or you’re a total Taskmaster obsessive, it seems pretty thin to drop £200 for a couple of tickets. Yes, the prices are comparable to the top end of the West End, but West End shows also have cheap seats.

Anyway, you know your budget better than I do and maybe my cynicism is just a function of my unique rather casual self. Taskmaster fan I would pay £100 to continue Knightmare? Unfortunately, it probably would