Alex Horne Interviews the Series 1 Contestants (And Himself) | Taskmaster
Way back in the first series of Taskmaster, Little Alex sat down to chat to the contestants, and himself.
Here are all the interviews in full:
Frank: 0:00
Josh: 3:51
Roisin: 8:27
Romesh: 12:29
Tim: 18:50
Alex: 23:05
------------
Follow the show at / taskmaster
Become a fan at / officialtaskmaster
Buy Taskmaster merch: taskmasterstore.com/
------------
In this Broadcast Award-winning, BAFTA and Emmy Award-nominated entertainment show, Taskmaster tyrant Greg Davies (Man Down, Cuckoo), with the help of his loyal assistant Alex Horne (The Horne Section and the show’s creator), sets out to test the wiles, wit and wisdom of five hyper-competitive comedians.
Comedians that have risked life, limb, and dignity in the hope of making the Taskmaster proud so far include: Frank Skinner (The Frank Skinner Show), Mel Giedroyc (The Great British Bake Off), Romesh Ranganathan (Asian Provocateur), Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered), Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones’ Diary), Rose Matafeo (Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner 2018), and Russell Howard (The Russell Howard Hour). Unaware of what awaits them in each wax-sealed envelope, only one competitor can become the victorious owner of His Royal Task-ness’ golden head and be crowned the next Taskmaster Champion.
One of the lesser mentioned reasons for the success of the show is Alex's subtle ability to be very annoying in a stressful situation. Even in a quiet room he can wind Romesh up no problem
In a quiet peaceful nicest room possible Romesh would annoy Romesh.
I really want to see Alex and Romesh do a travel show or something where they just hang out and Alex annoys Romesh.
@@toddhollen if you haven't already seen it, I'd recommend Rob and Romesh Vs on Sky. 3 series in now and it's exactly what you described but with Rob Beckett annoying Romesh instead of Alex
@@harrysteel6912 That sounds amazing, Rob seems like a good substitute to annoy someone of you can't get Alex. They are both so good at being annoying, but also so likeable that you can't be mad at them.
The only person I’ve seen who can consistently do the same thing to Alex as he does to others is Bridget Christie. He really met his match there!
I love how everyone else is like "Greg will judge it fairly" and Roisin is oh it's going to depend entirely on how Greg's feeling at the moment. Really shows how close they are
josh sitting there with a tattooed "greg davies" on his foot pretending he's not ultra competitive LOL
It’s just Greg so it’s future proof.
Josh is actually the best competitor of all time after all he is the series 1 champion and currently (at time of writing) is the only Champion of Champion
Josh is the MOST competitive.
@@CricketEngland Can't wait for him to come back after series 25 in the Champion of Champions of Champions
Josh saying that Taskmaster won't go international has aged BEAUTIFULLY
We'll all the others are pretty shit
The British one is the best imo
It failed in the US though.
@@charismahornum-fries691 Of course it would. They had no idea what they were doing. Horrible contestants and misunderstanding of the format.
No one talks enough about how perfectly roisin performed in taskmaster. The pioneer of the clueless contestant so beautifully lacking in common sense.
The first line-up of Taskmaster sold the show so perfectly.
Her lou and jessica are my favorite contestants
I think thats a ruder comment then you realize
Alex is a master when it comes to picking the groups of 5. Alil something for everyone, & people who play off each other no matter how different they are.
I love that Frank says he doesn’t regret taking part in the show. As the first heavy hitter that signed on and that was what gave the show some street cred with studios, I’m sure it meant a lot to Alex. As Alex has said, the show owes a lot to Frank.
Apparently it isn't just that gave the show "street cred", it's what allowed the show to exist at all. There were multiple people (I believe including Greg Davies) who said they were only gonna do it if Frank Skinner joins up. Alex Horne said that in a way, getting the show started was all about getting Frank Skinner to participate.
@@CanIHasThisNamewow, I never knew any single contestant before the TM, neither am I British, so I apologise for my ignorance. But is Frank that big of a comedian/artist? Why was he so important? And who else from all of the cast can you call 'important' or 'influential'? I'm very curious to compare your estimation to my completely fresh eye perception of the contestants on the show.
@@the_doomcliff I don't think it's just about being a big deal, but rather being someone who's "made it". Frank Skinner simply was a veteran of the entertainment scene, someone who's well off financially and doesn't "need" to be on a show like that. A concern with Taskmaster was that the contestants would only be making fools of themselves for cheap entertainment, so having someone like Frank Skinner showed that the show isn't just for small time comedians trying to put their face on TV.
@@CanIHasThisName thank you very much!
Alex adds so many layers of hidden things. With the nose-touching and the fish-puns in one of the seasons, I wouldn't be surprised if by season 20 there's a compilation during the finale of "Here's how I hid the lyrics to 'Never Gonna Give You Up' across all the previous series..."
Oh my god, I can definitely see that and it would be hilarious 😁
If he does that I'm taking down the fish poster from inside my shid. Lol
I want a compilation of all the times Greg says "tenterhooks". Gotta be 100s
Josh actually did that on The Last Leg, but it was with "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis. It was awesome.
You don't know about Ken, I take it. I can't say any more......
He knows just how to push Romesh's buttons and I love it hahaha
it does not take much to be able to push Romesh's buttons tbf. but great work nonetheless
For his sake, I hope Romesh is just doing a bit, and isn't really as bothered as he seems.
@@RikardPeterson ikr? I really hope he's playing into the bit of being so grumpy because otherwise it genuinely just seems like alex is being a bit rude and Greg just picked on him
It's clearly a bit
love seeing old bonus content! it's like when you think you've run out of chips but then when you reach in you find one more
More like you finish your bag of chips then find a old bag of chips from like 5 years ago and go to throw it away but then another chip falls out and you just stand their looking at the chip on the floor and you know your going to eat it but you don't feel happy about it and you know you shouldn't but you also know only despite it getting stale it's a very dry thing so most likely nothing grew and the powder will likely never really go bad. So you just gotta hope their was nothing that crawled into the bag. Then you eat it and it's delicious but a little stale and then you feel bad after not just cause it was on the floor or old but also because you realize you don't have any more chips in the house and now you can't have any more.
Alex is the funniest person who has ever been on Taskmaster. a true understated comedic genius.
Well, it is his creation. Seeing him live is an amazing experience, he uses technology like no other. And he is just as funny.
@@YvonneWilson312 what does that mean? "Uses technology like no other"?
@@JohnGottschalk have you just assumed that they put a meaning in that sequence of words? How rude.
Who is Alex?
@@emeertz hmm?
Realistically, Ramesh‘s legacy is tree wizard. Let’s be real.
Not the Melon carnage?
@@simonmandrakejones imo that's Roisin's for naming it "melon buffet".
And how fortunate he was to find that song!
That got stuck in my head for months!
💯 % agree!!
Little did Romesh know, that his legacy would be Tree Wizard!
idk i think the more memorable moment was the absolute devastation of that watermelon
While I agree that watermelon was truly epic, just reading or hearing the words “Tree Wizard” gets the song stuck in my head so I have to agree with the Tree Wizard legacy call, 😆
"Oh ma god, it's another balloon. Tree Wizard! Tree Wizard!"
@@Tao_Tology "How many times must he test the balloon!"
@@FloraWest Maybe just one mo.... OH MA GOSH, it's another balloon. * leaps backwards * 🌳🧙♂️ 🌳🧙♂️
Holy crap, I only just realised that Alex stops the clock when each contestant touches their nose!
Yes, but did you notice that during the interview with Josh, the time on the clock changes from 8.8 seconds to 9.9 seconds later in the interview?
@@seanhorton3811 yes!! What happened there?! I was just scrolling through comments to see if anyone else noticed that
I didn't notice that. Good eye.
@@seanhorton3811 I did not. Mysterious...
And Alex is constantly touching his nose. Power of suggestion.
The only downside to series 1 was that only six episodes were made.
There was six
There was 5, I think.
@@ninagray4441 Six in the 1st, just five in the 2nd & 3rd, eight in the 4th & 5th then ten thereafter. So the upcoming CoC2 will contain far more seasoned taskers than those from the first five series.
Funny how both right and wrong Josh was about Taskmaster. It is the future/current of British tv, but has spread like big brother.
to be fair - none of the local spinoffs can really compare to the original though^^ but that original also has spread like wildfire if you ask me XD
@@SharienGaming I think Taskmaster NZ season 2 can compare to the original. I encourage you to give it a try
@@cdrrules if they put their stuff where i can access it - i just might^^ but its gonna be an uphill battle... greg davies is hard to match^^
@@SharienGaming I didn’t think the Taskmaster is anywhere near as good as Greg, and assistant is good but not quite as good as Little Alex, but the contestants and tasks are brilliant
@@SharienGaming it's on KZhead, quite easily searchable .
Literally every time Alex talks, it sounds like he's trying to trick someone into failing some insane high concept task. e: halfway through the video I realised it is infact a secret task (how long can each person go without touching their own face?). Somebody stop this man.
oh shit, only listened to it, thank you ;D
I think the task was touching their nose specifically, not just the face. That was the very first thing Alex did when Alex interviewed Alex.
based on Alex v Alex, I suppose it's qho touches their nose the quickest, no?
Roisin touched her face several times before Alex stopped the clock, it was nose.
Nah it’s definitely just nose. Roisin touches her face a few times and Alex didn’t stop the clock. 9:46 10:23
Romesh seemed to be the only one trying to make the interview funny, and he had me laughing out loud. I love his style of humor.
After watching No More Jockeys, I'm pretty sure that Key and Horne just about had each other in traction, but as far as the audience is concerned I get what you mean. Lots of Romesh's comedic persona (particularly at that point) is being extremely irritable, and lots of Alex's is being extremely irritating, so it's a perfect match for an agonising interview.
What's the humor in watching someone get pissed off? I understand if the reactions are comical and entertaining but it just seems like legitimate irritation. It's more painful than anything else
@@SomeGuy-mt4hq I suspect that early Romesh's livid comedy was a bit of an acquired taste. It *really* works for some people, for whom the joke is obvious, and *really* seems not to for you. If I were pressed to explain it, I'd say that it's all in the look and (lack of) intonation; he's just so visibly done-with-this over something so minor that the contrast is amusing.
@@clockworkkirlia7475 ok I see it, but I don't know if it's all comedy though, at least in this context. Romesh went on the podcast and talked about how he wasn't proud of how he acted on the show because he was in such a bad mood. Plus there's the consideration that it starts as a joke but then turns into real irritation, which I could see being very plausible given the setting
@@SomeGuy-mt4hq Oh yeah I do not at all think that's unlikely as the show went on, especially given what you're saying about his interview.
Would love to see a revenge series/episode where former contestants pit Greg and Alex in head to head tasks.
Never going to happen
What an amazing lineup this series was
Back when the lineup wasn't 3/5ths total unknowns who were just there because they are either not white, female or "new comics".
@@moosegoose3159 grow up lol
@@moosegoose3159 you’re the same if not worse than the ‘wokeists’ you seem to combat
@@Sam-yy6yw Your passive aggressiveness sure showed me.
@@moosegoose3159 Not sure you know what passive aggressive means.
How close did Romesh come to answering “Realistically, I think my legacy will be punching Alex Horne in the face.” XD
I wonder if he is a grouchy grump like that in reality or that is just his Persona
And did he ever think he be remembered as the tree wizard.
@@akcarlos No, that was really him. Years later, when he came onto the Taskmaster podcast as a guest, he basically spent the whole time apologizing for his behavior throughout the series.
epidermus!
@@claiminglight which kinda proves he isn't...
Can't believe Tim "hands off your face" Key went out so early in this task.
Josh slamming Rosin is my favourite thing "You have met her."
Brutal
@@zyaicob they're great mates in rl.
They should do a series where they have all the 5th placers on the show competing
In ways yes, though think about it, it would never work.
But the surprise twist at the end is that the winner is the one in last place.
maybe just one show like the New Year special or something
Yes! Those are usually the funniest people! Like Phil Wang
First crew was awesome, a pity that the first seasons were so short! Which speaks very well for how good the program was from the beginning
Romesh really is a comedic genius. He's always on game
If Alex ever used his powers for evil he could be one of the most manipulative bosses known
ah, but how do we know he isnt doing that
Alex is stopping the clock when they touch their nose. He's even touching his nose to induce them to touch theirs.
"Is it a task?" "No, it's a clock."
I've always wondered if there were interviews from the beginning. I hope they release them from the rest of the seasons!
I can't be the only one who started singing Tree Wizard as soon as he asked Romesh about his legacy.
Nope! You're not alone😁
I smashed a melon!
You know, that Romesh Ranganathan is such a hygenic comedian.
And punctual! 😂
I love how nobody including himself thought josh was gonna win yet he did so well
Alex Horne is a strange and brilliant man.
“big if” is Alex’s favorite joke
So true, he uses it all the time 😂
Josh saying “it’s not in the can yet” and “I don’t think you’ve got a Big Brother on your hands”. Little could they imagine at the time just how far and wide this would spread. Always love the show - from Australia 🇦🇺
My left & right ear enjoyed this tremendously... But never simultaneously.
Romesh regrets going on the show but I would never have found his comedy had he not.
Wait that's it? Alex tries to get them to mimick him touching his nose and the clock measures how long it takes? No wonder Romesh is suspicious.
That Romesh interview was gold
This is beautiful in so many ways (esp romesh and the clock reveal at the end). I love that there’s still amazing footage like this that I hadn’t seen. That means there must be interviews for the other early series too, can’t wait to see them!
“I’m a details man.” Followed by mixing up “is” and “does.” Brilliant.
did they really do the continuity joke? Alex talks about continuity and then immediately the clock skips a minute forward, that's hilarious
He stops it when they do something specific. It's hinted at somewhat and just straight up shown to you in the end.
@@jeromios right but on one occasion it skips forward by 1.1
They should get the S1 contestants back and film five more episodes and see what happens with the scores. Actually, they should do that with every series with fewer than ten episodes: Make em all ten! Rustle up some jimmies. Some of the original winners might get dethroned, like Bean Point Widdicombe. See what the veterans do with what they know now. More cheating from Key and Gorman. More gong from Murray. More desky from Dennis. More weird sh*t from Wilkinson, Chowdhry, Mortimer, and Phillips. It won't happen, obviously, but one can dream.
I still want them to do a pair of episodes like Champion of Champions, but just the weird ones.
Pro tip if you find this video's stereo mix hard to listen to: go to your device's Accessibility settings (e.g. Windows "Ease of Access"), there's often an Audio section where you can turn on mono audio.
Thank you! I've been having trouble hearing a lot of videos I thought I was going deaf or my phone was broken. The setting helped! Thank you for this tip!
The left/right panning reversal was designed to get us to touch our noses.
yeah I ended up setting up an aggregate device so I could swap the audio channels to match the way they were seated. for anyone on macOS you can do that with audio midi setup.
Another pro tip: don't forget you've done this if you sometimes need stereo audio I often only notice when playing a video game that I've had mono audio for the past 9 months 😆
@@daniellee4003 ya. it's worth keeping the configuration window open on another monitor or something so you can't forget.
Man the self interview must have taken so much work. It was spotless.
It helps that he stopped the clock almost immediately.
LOL just at "...no international sales at all for this..." the TV commercial for season 3 of the Finnish version started :D
I have all the respect for Alex having the concept, being able to sell it to network TV and get it off the ground and knowing that Greg would be the perfect Taskmaster and he would be the perfect Assistant. I can only hope I have the emotional maturity to recognize which position I am better suited for if I ever get into a situation like that.
I absolutely love the cuts you guys use to cover the gaps when Alex is interviewing himself. If I wasn't an editor, I would not have noticed.
Tim Key is a very clean comedian, if you ignore all the filth
Big if.
Underated assist by Barnacle Felching as Ab Ab scores.
@@J_PhD could not have done it without some superb build up play from our dear friend, Mert Aksaç, thanks Mert, keep the engine ticking over if you would
what kinda filth?
@@janmeier7433 a lot of his octopus stuff is a little on the nose and I think the goose stepping is a little near the knuckle, not that I've even seen it or heard of him doing it, but I imagine it would be a little much
Oh my, thank youuuu, this is great. What a lineup the first series was. I often go back and watch it again and it still makes me laugh. If you ever run out of genuinely funny people who want to do TM, please have rematch series because i'd loooove a 10 episode series where Romesh and Tim let their competitive sides go crazy again.
even after 13 series i still think series 1 is still one of the best
Can't believe this is being uploaded just now. Or maybe it was uploaded somewhere else? But all of it is top tier content, especially Romesh.
had me howling the whole time
The Josh one was uploaded on dave channel but the others were no where to be found (at least on KZhead) .
@@BlandBloke They were all on the UKTV website, poor quality though.
Used to like being part of an exclusive club of TM fans who knew these existed. 😆 Watched them on the UKTV website when S1 first went out.
@@kisbie Weren't they unlisted YT vids on their website? A series or two back I worked my way through all the Dave-era playlists of extras & bloopers from the original TM YT channel. There were quite a lot of repeats in each playlist (which made me think stuff was chucked in there ad hoc as they used & reused clips on their Twitter acc throughout each series) and I think unlisted and/or hidden/removed/unavailable vids too.
Lovely stuff, hope there are many more to come. Thanks!
I thought the numbers on the clocks were gonna be a code or something, until Romesh's interview 😅
"No international sales" Me an American: Yes.
Watch NZ!
You had your chance.
I'll give you your "good Will Hunting"-moment: It was not your fault, it was not your fault. (Still: you're right to be embarrased - even I as a European am embarrased about that...)
Oh man I enjoy this batch of humans so much especially Roisin and Romesh, they crack me up. I almost want to re-watch series one yet again.
Tbh I think the interviews of season 10 were the best of all the interviews. It was mad as madness gets while being extremely insightful as well. I wish they redo that style of interviews again in an upcoming season or just stick with it forever.
Series 13 was great but I think that had a lot to do with the contestants.
My favorite were season 12 interviews where they had to sing it. And it really showed the spirit of the contestants, they were all about giving everything a solid try.
I dont know which is better Alex interviewing or interviewing Alex
Anyone else notice that Alex keeps touching his nose to subconsciously make them do it so he can press the clock lol hes a genius
Never actually seen this before, brilliant!
Omg he is turning off the clock when they touch their nose! Alex keeps touching his to subliminally get the contestants to. Genius!!
The audio is balanced like I'm awkwardly sitting between them on the couch, and I'm here for it! lol Love these interviews!
This is exactly what I needed today, thanks!
I’d say the left and right stereo audio channels being swapped was a mistake, but know Alex’s ways.
GREAT!!! now that they seem to own all their content, I hope to see more of these previous interviews and used tie-breaker tasks.
what do you mean they own their content?
@@Nescent69 I meant earlier UKTV had the rights to previous interviews that's why these interviews are still on UKTV's website but they couldn't upload it on KZhead. Now it seems they've struck some deal or maybe the contract for exclusive rights has ended.
@@BlandBloke I think these & others still exist on Dave's YT channel. Recently I caught up with the CoCpt2 podcast w/AH and I'm sure in that he mentions considering uploading the unused tiebreakers and/or the contestants' efforts for tie breakers that were used but they weren't involved in come the show. You might be right on a shared deal/rights issue being cleared/settled/length of time for exclusive rights having passed or whatnot.
@@ManWalksDogs on Dave's channel they have uploaded interviews from season 6 onwards including CoC up until season 9 but they are geolocked for UK audience only. Also I'd listened to the podcast sometimes ago and in there I'm 90% sure Alex said they are in talks to release the used-but-unseen tiebreakers i.e. they are discussing terms . So ur use of the term 'considering' was wrong . (Sorry for being a pedant but if I'd not corrected, so to speak, you it would have bugged me for hours)😪
@@BlandBloke yeah your details sound right (I didn't bother checking) and I considered geoblocking after I posted, but you can always get round that with a VPN these days. No problem on the pedantry, this show brings that out in some people. I was only half remembering (even though I'd played it recently) as it was late & I was tired when I played it and was playing a game of cards at the same time. You're right though, these things always boil down to rights issues in the end.
"Yeah that didn't go completely unnoticed" 🤣🤣
Dammit, you made me check my speaker wiring :) If we're going to use a VERY stereo mic, let's at the least have the guy on the right coming out of the right speaker ?!
This is just as great as I hoped it would be.
oh my god, yes! needed these for YEARS!
Well, that was awkward! 🤣 Alex saying "I like you" to himself, was an adorable detail we can all get behind.... 🥰🥰🥰
Roisin is so effortlessly funny. A lot of favourite moments in Season 1 thanks to her and even in this video. A treasure. ♥️♥️
These were fantastic especially knowing these are the very first contestants and they have yet actually take part in the "on stage" part of the show and have no idea what Greg is going to hit them with.....LOL. And the interview with Romesh.......that was the funniest interview I have ever seen....hilarious! Plus, listening to Josh, who seemed a bit serious, and talking about how he competed in the show and how he was cemptetitive, all the while knowing he got pranked into counting the number of bean and spegetti"O"s and something else when no one else had to. Pretty funny stuff.
My right ear loved this video
Ive got it in both working, but flipped sides. And with airpods so its not like i can put my headphones on the wrong way
@@fraserdingwall9798 You'll look about as cool if you wear them the wrong way round. Eeyoooo
This is so fabulous.
That final interview though!
i'd like more of alex and romesh please.
I'm 100% with Josh! I keep thinking how I'd love to see Jack Dee do it and keep getting increasingly wound up 😂
I had to doublecheck my headphones on that audio mixing :o
stopping the clock when he gets them to touch their nose or face. brilliant. i can't recall how or if this comes up in the show. guess i'll have to go rewatch.
When Josh said "not everything, I've still got stuff left in the tank" I wonder if he was talking about a certain surprise... 😉
I'm pretty sure Jack Dee on Taskmaster would be how you make a second Unabomber.
When you really stop and think about it, this is brilliant.
Josh is actually the best competitor of all time after all he is the series 1 champion and currently (at time of writing) is the only Champion of Champion
The one with Romesh is so hilarious! love it
Interesting decision to split the audio channels left and right in direct opposition to the orientation of the speakers from the perspective of the viewer. TLDR: the voices are coming from the incorrect perceived place.
man this is amazing lmao alex is such a bastard in the funniest way possible and the series 1 cast was so iconic
I think the audio panning is switched
yeah it was so irritating, Alex was on the right side and the contestants left, even they were sitting in the opposite way on the video
I noticed Frank Skinner's long thumb nail, wondered why just that one nail would be so long, and then I remembered
What i don't understand is how each contestant knew when Alex was going to stop the clock and then touched their nose beforehand!
They only have spiritual mediums on the show. You didn't know that?
Interesting to hear Josh say he didn't see it as international sales and Taskmaster has gone international now...
Its been for years
The reversal of the audio channels from how they are sitting is driving me absolutely mental.
Season one was one of my favorites. End Alex abuse!😃
But we all love the abuse a little bit
End Alex Abuse!
End Alex Abuse!!!
END ALEX ABUSE!!!
I did not understand what the clock was actually for until Alex’s interview oh wow
Josh : "Taskmaster is the future of British entertainment television"
Jesus Christ - took me a bit, mostly because I was in another tab/elsewhere... but I noticed it later after hearing it from the interviewees a bit too often. Than thanks for SHOWING it so clearly at the end there - that you stopped the clock when they FIRST touched their faces (not their ears - those don't count)!
When Roisin says she’d bring in a lady from a bakery to compete Alex says it would ruin the show, but I was watching clips from all the series for months (w/o the intro) and thinking all the contestants were just random folks like on any game show. I was impressed w how funny they were! Guess he’s right.
I also would love to see Jack Dee for the same reason as Josh, he would hate every minute!
Funny how they recorded in stereo and put Alex on the right although we see him sitting on the left, and the same switch for the contestants!
the biggest win for all five, is they were in right at the beginning, before anyone knew what a raging success the show was going to be.
The only thing on my bucket list is to have the same self-confidence and self-esteem as Frank does.
The nose thing blew me away when I noticed it. Even the interviews for Taskmaster are brilliant.