Transformative Taskmaster | Ep08 – Jonah | The country of London

VO
Hello and welcome to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast. This week, TK is chatting with friend of the podcast Jonah about some of the unique quirks of the Taskmaster fandom. It’s a bit less structured this week, so get your tea and cuddly blankets ready for this cozy little conversation.
TK
All right. Welcome, Jonah, to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast. How are you?
Jonah
I’m very well. How are you?
TK
I’m so good. So excited to have you on here. As a brand new fan, I believe, of Taskmaster, if that’s correct.
Jonah
Very new. Yes.
TK
Awesome. You have recently not only joined the Taskmaster fandom itself, but our little group chat as we’re calling it.
Jonah
The fan forum.
TK
The fan forum. Yes. So first of all, how did you find Taskmaster to begin with?
Jonah
That is a question I wish I had an answer to because I honestly don’t remember. For years now, I have been watching other shows like Eight Out of Ten Cats and Mock the Week and QI and all that good stuff. And I honestly don’t remember how I stumbled across Taskmaster, but I do remember maybe about a year or two ago, just completely out of context, watching the task where they have to put as many things into a hanging plastic bag as they can without breaking it. And I was like, “This is amazing.” And then completely forgot about it for about two years.
So I was definitely familiar with a lot of the people that we have seen so far on Taskmaster. But there was some sort of horrible, horrible illness that was spreading across my workplace back in the beginning of the year. So just over a month ago I was home sick from work for three days straight and I was feeling completely miserable, and I thought, “I need something lighthearted and funny to watch.” And something in my brain said, “Hey, remember that Taskmaster show you keep hearing about? Why don’t we watch that?” And then that’s where it started.
TK
Nice. Now obviously for the typical fan or for people that have never seen the show before, and you’re trying to do an elevator pitch for it, it’s a Britcom kind of panel show with five different comedians every series and all this kind of stuff. But for our specific group chat, we’re obviously focused on the dynamic between Greg and Alex. So is that something that, you started watching it and then you got hooked because of their dynamic, or just because it’s a great show and you just liked the tasks? Or at what point were you like, “There is something going on here between these hosts.”
Jonah
It wasn’t for a while, actually. So I started and the first thing I loved was the humor overall. I just loved watching these people do these ridiculous things and laughing at them and their jokes and their banter in the studio and everything. And I think it took a couple of seasons, even for them, for the real dynamic of the Taskmaster and his Assistant to really solidify. And so it wasn’t until – I couldn’t give you a specific season – but quite a few seasons in that I went up to my best friend and I said, “There is something inherently kinky about this show, and I don’t even know if they are aware of it.” But I was like, “There must be a fandom because they’re going to have a field day with some of the things they say to each other on the show.” It was a gradual realization. I came for the comedy and for the tasks, and I stayed for that as well, but also very much for the dynamic.
TK
For me, I have a horrible memory. I have a memory like a sieve. But I do remember the second that it clicked with me and it was – have you seen, because I know you’re kind of jumping around with the series a little bit, but have you watched Series 14 yet?
Jonah
Oh, I actually watched all of them in order.
TK
Oh. Then who am I thinking about? Somebody in our group chat is recently going through, but in a random order. For some reason I thought it was you. Anyway, it’s the moment in Series 14 where Alex – in the show, not in the outtakes – is like, “Did you know that there’s fanfic written about us?” And I’m like, “Pause. What? Excuse me?” And I go on AO3 and I was like, “There’s no way. What?” And that got me into the little community that we’re a part of.
Jonah
I looked it up even before I heard them mention it. Before I’d even gotten to the part where they talked about it, I went, “There’s got to be fanfic on this.”
TK
Yeah, you’re smarter than me.
Jonah
So, I mean, I’m a Fandom Old. I started in fanfic in general, but in the RPF world more specifically when I was 14. So it’s been over 20 years. As soon as I recognize there might be a hint of something in anything, I’m like, “There’s a tag for it, I just know it.”
TK
Yeah, that’s totally fair.
Jonah
So I went on there and it’s somebody – I don’t remember who – somebody mentioned to me, “If you’re listening to The Horne Section podcast, the first one you should listen to is with Greg.” And I was like, “Okay.” I didn’t know anything going into it. And I just was like, “Why did I decide to listen to this one while driving?” This was the worst idea because I was crying. I was like, “I cannot believe they did this. This is maniacal. They’re out of their mind.”
TK
It was ridiculous to go from that when Greg is like, “What? You’re joking, right?” To last month in New York City when he’s like, “And this is my favorite fic title, and I’m going to read a little bit of this one, and I’m going to read a little bit of this one,” and I’m like, “Girl, stop.”
Jonah
Not even not even from his phone. He printed it. He wanted that in hard copy. He probably went home and used a hole punch and bound it together.
TK
He should have laminated it
Jonah
Laminate it, of course. Gotta have it laminated. That’s the sexist part.
TK
I just can’t believe that they printed it out, because it’s just wild to me. As someone whose fic was printed out on that piece of paper, I was just like, “I need to see what that paper says.” I’m so upset that we don’t yet have the technology where you can pause in the frame Alex is taking it from beside the chair. And you can zoom in and see what exactly is printed. Because this is nuts that you actively and willingly did this. Why?
Jonah
It’s wild to me. My other big current fandom that I’ve been in for the past six years now is Critical Role, and Critical Role has a fairly active RPF side as well. But they tend to be the kind of – it was brought up to them one or two years ago at some panel, and they were like, “We’re not really comfortable with it. We won’t read it, but you guys do you.” And that was it. Nobody else bothered them about it really ever again. Okay, they’re not comfortable with it, so we’re just going to leave them alone. And then to go from that to this is like… I’m living on a different planet.
TK
It really is. And for me this is my first RPF fandom. Because I’ve been in fandoms since middle school, and been a part of different fandom spaces. And this was not my first fic writing fandom. I had two before this, but I didn’t even consider to think that there – I knew about RPF, but I don’t know, it just kind of felt a little weird to me to be writing about real people. And I think part of that is because I have had fanfic written about myself, and I was deeply uncomfortable with it. I mean, it wasn’t bad. It was just really weird. And I was just like, “I don’t know how I feel about this,” because you don’t get to control what your character does in the fic. And so I was like, “This is not for me.” That’s fine. But then when Alex brought it up and they were both like, “This is amazing.” I was like, “Oh, okay. That’s interesting that they like it.” Not only do they think it’s funny, but they’re not making fun of it. Those are two completely separate things. I know that there are some celebrities that have found fanfic of themselves and they just tear it apart. But Greg and Alex do the opposite of that. Where they’re like, “The writing is really good. It’s good.” And I’m like, “Well, thank you.”
Out of the two other fandoms that I’ve written for, I did find that the majority of the time there’s only a couple writers that have consistent good grammar, good spelling, good pacing, character voices down, kind of thing. And coming into the Taskmaster fandom, I have been so spoiled. And not just I have been spoiled, but all of us that are part of our little community are so, so spoiled because we get literal novels. Like forty thousand words. There’s a couple that are over 100,000 words. At the New York City premiere, Alex mentioned, “There’s one we found that was 20,000 words.” I think he was talking about Jester and the King, because currently it’s about 20,000 words. Those are rookie numbers, my guy. He’s like, “They’re little novels.” That’s not – you probably have figured this out by being part of our little group chat, but I’m the person that writes quick and short – that’s my brand.
Jonah
Yeah. Me too.
TK
Jester and the King is very different for me because it’s an ongoing – it’s not even finished yet. It’s an ongoing thing. It’s got 12 chapters at the time of recording this. It’s not something that I would classify as a novel because insiders’ fun fact, Jester and the King was a plot-driven storyline up until… I forget what chapter. Eight or something. And then every chapter after eight is just a little sitcom, basically. So for me, that’s not a novel. Spaceship Greg is a novel. There are so many more fanfics that you could talk about that are way longer than 20,000 words. So don’t be like, “Oh, Jester and the King is a –” No no no no no. That’s not the one you should be calling a novel, trust me.
Jonah
I think I got prepared early in life to join this fandom without even realizing it, because my very first RPF fandom was Whose Line is it Anyway?
TK
That’s amazing!
Jonah
I think it prepared me. It was my ultimate fixation. When I was in middle school, all through high school, I’ve seen some of them perform live.
TK
Me too. They’re fabulous.
Jonah
Oh, they’re amazing. And it was back in the day, before LiveJournal, before AO3, before fanfiction.net, when we had to post in email chains on Yahoo! And that’s how we shared fanfic with each other. And I think if my parents had not only known that I was doing that, but also that me as a 14 year old was in these groups with people who were in their 30s and 40s, I probably would have had my internet access taken away. But that was the internet at the time. It was much more of a wild, wild west situation.
TK
Us millennials, we really got the best part of the internet where everything was accessible at any given time.
Jonah
Yeah, yeah, we’re all scarred for life.
TK
It’s pretty terrifying if you really sit down and think about it. We are so blessed to have such amazing writers in the Taskmaster fandom. And it’s just the quality and the output of the amount of fics that we get is truly sensational. It’s wild.
Jonah
I can’t keep up with it. It’s crazy. And I’ve never written this much this quickly before for anything. I’ve been cranking out one a day almost, since I joined. I never write this much, but it’s buzzing in my head. They won’t leave me alone in there.
TK
Yeah, it’s a really good show for finding inspiration. And the tiniest little things. Which is amazing. So basically, what I’m hearing is you binge watched all of Taskmaster.
Jonah
Yes.
TK
Very quickly. And then you joined our little group chat, which we’re very excited to have you on board.
Jonah
Oh thank you.
TK
Especially because you have been writing an ongoing fic which has eight? Nine chapters? I mean, by the time this goes out, it’s going to be much more than that, I’m sure.
Jonah
We’ll be up in the hundreds by then.
TK
It’s always exciting to find new usernames, basically commenting on your stuff and writing new stuff. And we have a couple people that do “fic watch” where they’ll be like, “Oh, here’s a new fic writer, found it in the tags, here’s a link.” And then we all read it and we’re like, “Subscribe to this. This is really good.” It’s been really exciting to read some fresh material. Not like we ever run out of fresh ideas or anything. It’s exciting when you find somebody new in the fandom that takes up the mantle.
Jonah
It’s been so exciting. The amount of engagement I’ve been getting on it has been way beyond what I ever thought. And almost immediately was invited in to the fan forum. And I was like, “I need a community because nobody else in my life quite understands. And I know there are people out there who do. Please find me, invite me in from the cold. I need a blanket and some soup. Please.”
TK
We got some hot chocolate. We’re all set up for you.
Jonah
Did you remember to make the burnt pornography? That’s the most important part.
TK
Yeah, it’s still on the stove, actually. I should probably go check on it. Just need to make sure it’s really, really burnt. Just gotta get that crispy, actively flames in your mouth. Bleh. Sounds so gross. So, how are you finding the community so far as being a new fan?
Jonah
Oh, it’s been great. I love any place where I can just dump any random, weird thought that comes in my head and people are like, “Yeah, no. We get it.” It’s not like, “You weirdo. Why are you saying this?” They don’t understand – no. I have too many random thoughts that just pop up in my head. And they need a space to lay down or else I will go crazy.
TK
Yeah, that’s real. That is so real.
Jonah
I have felt very welcomed and it’s been a lot of fun, especially getting to learn all the different things that I wouldn’t know just by watching the show itself. So people sending links to other panel shows and podcasts and things where I can learn about Alex and Greg and everybody else who’s been on the show. It’s been awesome.
TK
It’s kind of a little bit the reason why we made this podcast in the first place was because there are so many little moments on not only the show, but like you said, other stuff like The Horne Section and the Taskmaster podcast and all of the episodes that come out, and collectively, when a new episode comes out, we’ll watch it as much as we can as a group. But of course everybody’s in different time zones and has work and all this kind of stuff when a new episode comes out. But we’re always screaming at each other about, “Did you see?!” – my thing that we’re going to talk about in more depth in an upcoming episode is going to be Nick Mohammed’s reflection being edited out of any kind of reflective surfaces.
Jonah
Oh my gosh, I never noticed that.
TK
You need to go back and rewatch. Because he’s dracula!
Jonah
That’s incredible. I was too focused on how just adorable that man is. I want to put him in my pocket. I think he’s about the same height as me or maybe a little shorter, I don’t know. So I don’t know how it would work. But we’ll figure it out.
TK
That’s the thing that I’m personally – my number one obsession is the editors and how they did that for every – there’s a mirror task, and every mirror is blank of his reflection.
Jonah
How did I not notice that?
TK
There’s these little moments when they edited him out of the water and stuff like that. It’s amazing.
Jonah
Oh my God, that’s incredible. I love that.
TK
There is going to be stuff that you don’t notice that other people do pick up on. And then we scream at each other and they were like, “What? I need to go back and rewatch that.” Or we’ll drop a screenshot or we’ll drop a link to the gif sets and, what’s it called when you pause a YouTube video a certain time and then you get a time stamp?
Jonah
The time stamp.
TK
And we’ll just be like, “Did anyone notice this little thing that happened?” And even then, you don’t watch it back just once. You watch those gifs until your eyes are falling out and you analyze those gifs until your brain is falling out and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, look at how subtly his eyebrows raise.” And “His lips do this thing.” And you’re like, “Oh my gosh. This is ridiculous.”
Jonah
I just did that. Was that today? Yesterday? I don’t remember. There’s the gif set of Alex on Cats Does Countdown and he was taking off his tie and removing his shirt because they were about to do the Zumba. And my first thought was, let me analyze everybody else. Susie Dent is giving him the up and down with her eyes and I’m like, “I saw that.”
TK
Yeah. That’s amazing.
Jonah
It’s funny, I never – I also have a memory like a sieve and I have watched The Horne Section on Cats Does Countdown and then watched Taskmaster and did not connect for a while that that was the same guy. My brain just did not connect Alex Horne and Alex Horne. I was watching Cats Does Countdown going, “Wait a second. How did I forget that he’s the same guy?”
TK
To be fair, he is a very different person when he does The Horne Section versus when he is the Taskmaster’s Assistant.
Jonah
This is true. The personality threw me off. The submission just threw everything out the window.
TK
I don’t know if you’ve seen the Horne Section TV show.
Jonah
Not yet. I have it ready to go, but.
TK
When you do, you are going to be so confused because it literally takes Alex Horne, the head of The Horne Section, and Alex Horne, the Taskmaster’s Assistant, and mushes them into one person. And it is so weird. It is incredible how they do it.
Jonah
It sounds perfect.
TK
I don’t know how his brain works, and it is endlessly fascinating.
Jonah
It really is.
TK
It’s really nice to have that kind of sounding board with other people that notice those tiny, tiny details. So not only can they point out things to you that you’re like, “h my gosh, I never noticed that.” But you can also flip the script and be like, “Did y’all notice this thing?” And if people did, then they’re like, “Yes, I did. Let’s talk about it.” And if they didn’t, it’s like, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t, let’s talk about it.” Which is great.
Jonah
Yeah, sometimes you need the set of eyes that have seen something a million times, and then sometimes you need the set of eyes that’s fresh. And then combined, we can take over the world.
TK
Truly. It’s really incredible. All right, well, I know that you binge watched Taskmaster, and I’m sure you’ve read however many fics. Dozens at this point probably. So we’re going to play a game. So we’re going to play Fact or Fanfic. I’m going to give you three Greg to Alex intros. At the beginning of every episode he introduces Alex, and you’re going to tell me if you think it is a fact, if he actually said that, or if it’s from a fanfic and someone has made it up.
First one: “And next to me, hanging on my every word like a rabid little puppy, It’s little Alex Horne.” Fact or fanfic?
Jonah
Gosh. You don’t know how hard this is going to be until it happens. Because honestly, I can hear it in his voice, too. That’s the thing. I feel like I don’t know if “puppy” would be the right word he would use, but I’m going to say that it’s fact.
TK
It is a fact. That one was from Champion of Champions 1 Episode 2. It’s pretty cool.
Jonah
That’s the only multi-part one they did, huh?
TK
I think so, yeah, because I’m looking at that and I’m like, episode two, don’t they only have one? But yeah, I guess that must have been the only one that they did two episodes, because I know that Ed Gamble’s one was just the one episode.
Jonah
A disaster. An absolute disaster.
TK
Sorry for calling you out, Ed. But literally everybody knows that it was the worst moment of your life. I’m so sorry.
Jonah
I love that man. I love that man so much.
TK
He’s so great. That must have been heart wrenching, though. Anyway, okay, number two: “And next to me is a man who, on long car journeys, likes to alternate between sticking his head out the window and curling up in the wheel well, it’s little Alex Horne.”
Jonah
That one sounds so real. I want to say that one’s true.
TK
It’s a fic.
Jonah
Oh, amazing. Kudos to the person that wrote that because it’s perfect.
TK
Yeah. Let’s figure out who wrote it. It’s from Elixir, who we know and love and also helps out on this podcast.
Jonah
Oh, incredible.
TK
The fic title is called Show Them How Much I Love You.
Jonah
Oh, I’m surprised he hasn’t used that one yet.
TK
Yes. Okay. Next up. Oh my gosh. Someone is actively in the document that I’m using and changing… That’s annoying. Oh no, wait. Well you figured it out. All right. Last one. Here we go. “And next to me, a man who, when he tried to donate his body to science, was immediately turned down because they said that they had more than enough nasty little owl pellets to dissect. It’s little Alex Horne.”
Jonah
I want that to be real. I want it to be real so bad.
TK
What do you think?
Jonah
I’m going to say it’s real.
TK
It’s a fic.
Jonah
Oh my God, incredible. Oh, I wanted them all to be real so bad.
TK
Well, surprising no one, it’s by Illuminescence, who is my personal favorite fandom author. She’s definitely one of the top tier foundations of our community. But yeah, her fic is called A Striking Similarity to an Owl Dropping. Which is a great title.
Jonah
One of these days I am going to name a fanfic something along the lines of “Chunks of Meat Thrown at a Car Wash.” For some reason that one sticks in my brain.
TK
They really are just out here giving us free fic fodder.
Jonah
Yeah, for real.
TK
We don’t have to try hard. We just have to take what you threw on the ground and pick it up, and dust it off. And here you go.
Jonah
It’s the least I’ve ever had to work in any fandom to get material straight from the source.
TK
Very often I will find myself running out of time to write. I’ll be at work and I’ll be on a break and I’ll just be typing away furiously and I’ll get 500 words. And then my break is over and I’m like, “Okay, well I still need to write more because this isn’t done. But I don’t have time to keep writing.” So yeah, once they figure out some kind of technology we can use for transferring fully formed fic in your brain to paper, that’d be great.
Jonah
Yeah, absolutely. I feel like it’s an episode of Black Mirror that’s just waiting to go bad, but we’ll try it anyway.
TK
Yeah, that’s definitely true. And now I am terrified. Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about Taskmaster as compared to other fandom spaces. So we touched on this a little bit earlier, but Greg and Alex do this thing where they will not only shout out fanfic, not only will they print out a piece of fanfic and bring it on Seth Meyers’ show.
Jonah
Totally normal.
TK
Not only will they sing a fanfic on a podcast. My experience in New York was that we went to the Q&A and it was very, very, very early on in the Q&A, Greg brought it up of his own volition.
Jonah
As he is wont to do.
TK
And I don’t remember what the question was. It might have been the “Can you pick up Alex, please?” But literally it was not a question about fanfic. It wasn’t even close. And he just sat down and he was like, “You know, there’s fanfic written about us.” I mean, obviously he didn’t say that because I don’t think they know to call it “fanfic.” Unlike Ed Gamble, who for some reason does know to call it “fanfic.” Ed, do you have something you need to tell us?
Jonah
You can imagine Ed Gamble as a child sitting down and writing self-insert Lord of the Rings fanfiction, I’m pretty sure he knows.
TK
Now that you say that. You’re so right. Yeah, little Ed writing a little fanfic. That’d be so adorable. Oh man, I hope we can get him on this podcast at some point, because I want to hear what that man has to say.
Jonah
I hope so too.
TK
Anyway he just brought it up. He’s like, “This is a thing.” And we’re all just like, “Oh my gosh. This is awkward because there’s 14 of us sitting all together.” Most of us got tickets to sit together and we’re just like, “Greg, why do you do this to us?”
Jonah
It’s literally the naughty children being called out by the school teacher.
TK
Yep. It is wild. At this point they are both out here doing that of their own free will. Just, why, first of all? Don’t get me wrong, we are obsessed with you doing that. So keep doing it. But it is so weird because usually in other fandom spaces I feel like fanfic isn’t really mentioned, or if it is, it’s a very subtle thing. So for example, my previous fandom that I had been writing for was Phineas and Ferb. And surprising probably nobody, if you are aware that fanfic exists, a lot of it is Doofenshmirtz and Perry. A lot of it.
Jonah
These names mean nothing to me, by the way.
TK
It’s the mad scientist and the platypus. There’s your starting point. The creator of Phineas and Ferb has, I think, one time even remotely referenced – and it wasn’t even fanfic – I think what he said was, it was, “A specific subset of Phineas and Ferb fans, this one’s for you.” And then he posted some TikTok or something that was them two together, because the way that they are written is very much this man and this platypus have a thing going on. It’s really weird. I think that was the only time he referenced it. And I know that in the Sherlock fandom you’ve got the whole queerbaiting thing which, it never ends up being a thing. And then on the opposite side of that, you’ve got Our Flag Means Death, which is an amazing community that’s like, this show is queer. This is not queerbaiting. It is a queer-ass show. And it’s lovely. And I’m not deep enough into the Our Flag Means Death fandom to know how the actors take fanfic or anything like that. So I can’t speak on that.
But I feel like, for the most part, if you’re in a fandom, you write fanfic about the people or the characters, it doesn’t really break containment, so to speak. And so here you actively have the two hosts who are the two main people that fanfic is being written about shouting out fic titles. Greg being like, “This one is my favorite title.” Alex being like, “My current favorite is this.” And they’re all real. They are all real fanfics that people have written. And it’s like, “Why are you doing this?”
Jonah
I obviously don’t want to psychoanalyze these people because I don’t know them. And I have very specifically in this fandom, taken myself out of the more parasocial aspect. A couple of months ago, I deleted Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky, all of it, because I just didn’t want to deal with any of it anymore. And I haven’t gone back. So the disconnect between myself and Alex and Greg is a lot more vast than it was in my previous fandom. whereas I had quite a few interactions with the Critical Role cast online before, and I met them in person and everything, and so, not to psychoanalyze them, but I think Greg saying, “This is some of the hottest things I’ve ever been involved in.” I think part of it at least, is an actual legitimate ego boost. I think it makes him feel a little bit good about himself.
TK
And it should!
Jonah
And it should. Because the man is a tower. A titan. He is way more attractive than he gives himself credit for. I mean, they both are, honestly.
TK
Yeah, 100%.
Jonah
Greg deserves a little push up, you know?
TK
We gotta we gotta big up ourselves all day, every day.
Jonah
All day, every day.
TK
All day every day, baby. When they came to New York, obviously I live in California so I’m like, “There’s no way that I’m going to be flying out to London every couple months for a footie game or whatever,” which I’m so jealous of people that are just like, “Yeah, I’ll pop down to Chesham for a footie game and like, say hi to Alex. I’m like, “Okay, lucky.” Or go to a Horne Section show, bro. You have no idea how badly I want to go to a Horne Section live show. So bad.
Jonah
Me too. We’re going to save up, and we’re going to go together as the people who live some of the furthest away, because we’re both out west. We need to go.
TK
I want so badly to be able to see them. And I think to be fair, that Alex has said that they do want to come tour in the US, which I’m like, “Please, I am begging you. But if you don’t, I will come to London or wherever.”
“London” I’m using as “England. The UK.”
Jonah
How American of you.
TK
Seriously.
Jonah
The country of London?
TK
“Oh, you live in England? Oh. How’s London going this time of year?”
I will make it out there for a Horne Section show at some point. It’s hard to justify when you live so far away and it’s expensive to travel.
Jonah
Crazy. And the fact that I’m currently in limbo trying to get my passport changed and who knows if that’s going to happen?
TK
Dude, don’t even get me started. I’ve given up on my name and gender change at this point. Not to get political!
Jonah
How dare you get political on this podcast about a game show? Oh god. I just dropped my earbud. You mentioned your name change? Political podcast. Gonna get struck down. No more sponsors for you.
TK
Truly. RIP. Oh well. So I got to meet them in person, is where I was going with the story. And of course Greg is gorgeous. I don’t know why he thinks… I mean I do know why because I also. But you know what I mean. But also, hot damn.
Jonah
Come on dude.
TK
And I feel like Alex is a little less… trying to say this without sounding like a creep, but I feel like Alex for the most part, is just… I’ve heard other people describe him as I think this is how he kind of describes himself as he’s just some guy, he’s nothing special. He’s not ultra attractive. Which, we all will disagree with that. I think that’s partially–
Jonah
In the more conventional way. He’s not “conventionally attractive.”
TK
And yeah, as someone who, I have had a previous partner literally say that to me to my face: “Well, you’re not conventionally attractive, but I still think you’re cute.” and I’m like, “Ohoho, I will punch you in the face.” So I’m not trying to say that Alex is not conventionally attractive, but I think he himself has been like, “I’m just a regular guy. I think if I’m not with Greg, nobody really recognizes me.” But when I met him in person in New York City, in person up close, that man is drop dead gorgeous.
Jonah
I believe it.
TK
How does the television not grab that and transfer it to the screen because oh my gosh. And it’s not, these days I’ll watch an episode or watch something that Alex is on and I’m like, “Oh man, he’s so pretty. He is. I think he’s a pretty man.” But in person, I was like, “Good God man. Calm down. You have no right to be this attractive in person.” What is happening?
Jonah
I had a similar sort of experience years ago when I was… this was a fandom I did not actually write RPF for, surprisingly, because it’s a big deal. But I was very heavily invested in the Supernatural fandom, years ago, and I went to a few Supernatural conventions. I met pretty much anybody who’s been on the show at this point. But the first time I met Jensen Ackles in person, we all know he’s a pretty man. He’s very in that sort of, in air quotes, “conventionally attractive man.” He’s very pretty and he’s never been my type. But I can understand he’s a gorgeous man. But meeting him in person was a completely new level. I was like, “How is one human being this pretty?” I don’t understand what I’m looking at. My brain has short circuited. I don’t understand it. On screen, he’s already pretty, but in person it was like unicorns are flying out of his ass. Holy good God, man, how do you do that?
TK
Wild. It is so weird.
Jonah
I can imagine it would be the same if I ever met Alex. Because I already think he’s drop dead gorgeous. And there’s just something about being in person the way, you know, take away the screens, you get to see the actual person. It’s way different.
TK
And that’s another thing about Greg and Alex specifically is that… I’ve only met them twice, technically. I met them once when they were coming around for the selfie thing during the premiere. And then I ran into them again at the NBC studios building, but both times – I can only speak for my experience – but I know for a fact that other fans have had this type of interaction with them as well, is that they’re both so genuinely sweet and kind and we know that they’re busy. We know that there’s a car outside waiting for them, we know how tight their schedule is and they still made time to – they couldn’t talk to all of us. But I had something for them that I didn’t get a chance to give them at the premiere because there were 1500 people that wanted to have a selfie with them, but at the premiere, I got to talk to Alex, who was so sweet. I gave him a little letter. I gave Greg a letter with some fanart in it from one of our group chat people – artists, because they live in Poland and they haven’t been able to meet him in person yet. And he was just so kind, and he was shocked that this fanart was from Poland. He was like, “Oh my God, this is amazing.” And then I asked him, because I really – one of the things I wanted so bad was to give him a hug. One of our inside jokes on the group chat is, if Greg hugged me, it would fix me.
Jonah
I agree.
TK
So I asked him, can I have a hug? Because consent is important. And he was like, “Yeah, of course!” And I gave him a hug and it was so sweet and it was great. And then I pulled away and he went, “Wow, that was a solid hug.” And I was like, “Okay. I thought it would cure me but I guess it cured him–” What is happening, actually? This is wild.
Jonah
So the question is, where did you come up to him?
TK
I have a picture of it actually, I have a gif of it because somebody made me a gif. It’s still on my desktop because I haven’t deleted it.
Jonah
I’ve seen him, I’ve seen him next to John Richardson. And I believe John Richardson and I are about the same height. So now I have an idea of what I would look like next to Greg, and it both scares and excites me at the same time.
TK
Well, the thing with me was, I know a lot of people are like, “I know Greg is tall, but when I met him in person, he was so tall.” Which, valid. The man is a giant. But when I met him, I didn’t feel like he was that tall at all. And I don’t know if it was because he was bending down to talk to me. He just seemed so easy to talk to, both of them do. So easy to talk to and so genuinely sweet and kind and they listen to what you have to say and they are listening. They’re actively listening to you and everything. It’s just incredibly sweet. I know that there have been so many people I’ve talked to that have met Greg and Alex at separate times and they’re always just incredible humans. I think I’ve heard one story where one of them was a little grumpy, one time which, God forbid you have a bad day.
Jonah
Oh my God. They’re canceled.
TK
They genuinely love their fans. It is so nice because they are the type of people that are, I would say, they made it big, but they also will personalize their time with people despite whether you have two seconds or two minutes or two hours with them, they will genuinely be willing to see you, “I see you,” type of thing. It’s really refreshing because I know a lot of other fandoms where the celebrities are like, “I don’t interact with fans,” or whatever, which, if that’s what you do, that’s completely valid. I’m not trying to be like, “Oh, how dare you not interact with your fans.” But I think there’s something about Greg and Alex that they kind of realize that their fans are really special. Which isn’t meant to be a humblebrag, but we kind of are because of how our dynamic with them and the back and forth with them works because they do have a back and forth with us. They’ll shout out our fics and they’ll repost fanart online and I’ve never heard them say anything negative about a fan or a piece of fanwork or anything like that, which is incredible because it’s so easy that they could just do that.
Jonah
It’s so nice to come into this from another fandom where the creators were also like that. Everyone from Critical Role is so kind and so genuinely happy to see their fans. When I went to go see them near the end of September of 2023 and I went to see them at a Comic-Con in Oregon. And it was the first con that they had done since before Covid. You could tell they were just as excited to be there as we were. And every single one of them took the time to talk to us during autographs and pictures and everything. And you could tell they were just as genuinely excited to see us as we were them.
And also, it reminds me, this sounds like something that Greg or Alex might do, but at one point, Travis Willingham, the CEO of Critical Role, mind you, this is the man in charge of an entire company with, I don’t know, maybe 40, 50 employees, at one point was driving down the road in LA, saw a fan who was wearing a Critical Role t-shirt, stopped the car, got out of the car, and ran up to them and said, “Oh my God, your shirt!” And then he said he realized that they were probably just wearing a friend’s shirt or something, because they really didn’t seem to know who he was. And so he was just this six foot four man just running at this poor person on the street. One of my favorite stories.
TK
I can confirm that both Greg and Alex do this because – I was going to say I’ve only heard that Alex does this, but I’m sure Greg does this as well, at least when he was with Alex – but Alex will do this thing where, and he did this to some of our group members when we were in New York City when they were trying to stage door them at, I think was the Seth Meyers taping maybe. But they came out and they saw our people and walked up to them to start a conversation, which is incredible because they could have easily just been like, “Our car is here. We’ve got to go.”
But they also did that to me, because after the premiere, we found out that they were doing an interview in one of the NBC studios buildings. So we were like, “Okay, let’s go see if we can catch them really quick,” because it was our last day in New York for a lot of us. And we were like, “Yeah, we might as well.” So I’m in one building – but we couldn’t figure out which building they were in. And we kept getting conflicting answers. So two of us went to one building and two of us went to the other building, and we were like, “Message the other group if you see them, and then we’ll come over to your area.” And it was so cold in New York, my fingers were freezing off of my hands. So I stepped inside to get warm because I’m like, “Well, if they’re going to come out of this door they’re gonna have to walk through the lobby anyway.” So I’m looking down at my phone to check if they have sent a message. And I look up and there’s Greg and Alex, and I look back at my phone to see if they sent a message, and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, there’s Greg and Alex!” I’m clearly – I was so excited and I was flustered. And I was like, “Oh, hi, it’s you,” or something stupid like that. And there were other people in the lobby that were also clearly there for Greg and Alex, but because I had said hi to them first, Alex started walking up to me to… giving me a look of, “Hey, I know you want to talk to us,” but I needed to text the other people. And I was like, “Oh, I have stuff for you to sign. Go hang out with them first.” And he was so incredibly sweet that he was actively walking up to me to initiate a conversation. And I was like, “I need to send the text.” So I shooed him off to the other group. And while he was talking to the other group, I was like, “They’re here. They’re here.” So then they ran over and we got to say hi and everything.
Jonah
Oh that’s awesome.
TK
They were incredible. And at that meeting in the NBC building, I had a print that the Polish person had wanted Greg to sign, but I didn’t get a chance for him to do that at the premiere because they were going through as quickly as possible. And I wasn’t about to be the asshole that was like, “Oh, actually, can you take a minute to sign this thing?” So I was like, “I have a thing for you to sign.” And it’s, I will write this down to put on the website because it’s going to be mentioned in this episode of the podcast, but it is a print of Greg and Alex dancing together.
Jonah
I’ve seen it.
TK
It’s an incredible piece of art. They’re one of my absolute favorite artists, in the community and just in general. So I had him sign it, and then I had Alex sign it because why not? He’s there. They had already gotten Alex to sign a print. So that wasn’t the thing that I needed to do. They signed the print and Greg was like, “Oh, this is incredible. This is amazing. Look how slim my belly is.” And then I was like, “Thank you for signing this. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be so funny if you recreated this picture for me?” And immediately both of them – I know Greg says this all the time, he’s like, “Alex will do anything you tell him to.” I’m like, “Bitch, you too!” You immediately were like, “Yeah, let me get into position.” Both of them. I held it up so that they could see it. And there’s a great video out there on the socials. Maybe I’ll link it.
Jonah
I’ve seen that video before I ever knew who you were. So that’s extra funny.
TK
I’m like, “Yeah, can you recreate this picture?” And they do it and they do the faces and everything. They didn’t have to do that. They could have absolutely said, “Our car is here, we have to go, we’re so sorry.” They’re just amazing like that. We truly are really, really spoiled in our fandom not only by the fans but also by them, which I feel is really lucky.
Jonah
Honestly.
TK
That’s my story.
Jonah
It’s an amazing story.
TK
They’re both just so incredibly sweet. Hopefully–
Jonah
One of these days.
TK
I was gonna say, you get to meet them as well because they’re just so sweet. So amazing.
Jonah
The closest I’m going to get right now is, I will be seeing Russell Howard next month. I bought – I should have had it ready, I want to show you the shirt I’m going to wear. Front and center, by the way, I got front and center.
TK
Ooh, excellent. So he’s going to see it.
Jonah
Okay, let me go get it. Okay, it’s somewhere and I can’t find it, but I’ll find it eventually. But it’s that wonderful picture of Greg lying down in the Speedo. And then the graph where it has the tan is Greg and the brown is the speedo. I got that. I got that on the t-shirt.
TK
Oh my gosh, I love it. So good. So we’re gonna be wrapping up here. During our wrap up session, I’m going to ask you, do you have any fan work recommendations for the Taskmaster fandom? Is there a fic that you’ve read that is the ultimate stand out for you or that got you into our little community or a piece of fanart or anything like that?
Jonah
I can’t say specifically because I’m still very new in reading all of them, but I will shamelessly self-promote. I’m a brand new baby writer in the fandom. My username on AO3 is vetthebrave [key_to_start], which is a Critical Role reference. And I have so far written eight chapters of an ongoing Greg and Alex fic and I took suggestions from the fan forum for other pairings that people want to see that maybe haven’t gotten much love or any love at all. So, I have written a Greg and Richard Osman fic. A little short ditty.
TK
That one was really good. I read that one yesterday. I was like, “Oh, I’m screaming.”
Jonah
So there are plans for more rare pairs, as we call them in the fandom community. So be on the lookout for that. And more Greg and Alex, of course, because they have taken over my entire brain and now I have brainrot! So it’s great.
TK
We love to hear it. Sweet. We’ll definitely make sure to link your AO3 to our website and then people can check you out. I personally am very excited to keep reading all of the stuff that you have coming out because I think that you’re a really good writer.
Jonah
Thank you so much.
TK
Your style of writing is completely up my alley. I really love it so far.
Jonah
Wonderful.
TK
So excited that you’re just getting started.
Jonah
Oh, absolutely. There’s so much more in the think tank that’s going to come out.
TK
Yes. Thank goodness for that. All right. Well, Jonah, thank you so much for coming onto the podcast. It’s been a real pleasure talking to you.
Jonah
You too. Thank you so much for having me. I had a lot of fun. And, I can’t wait to… I’m just a baby in this fandom. There’s just more and more to come.
TK
Yes, there sure is. All right, I’ll see you online.
Jonah
All right.
VO
And once again, that was TK and Jonah having a lovely little chat. Next week, we’re shaking things up again with the start of Series 19 on the first of May. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.