Tag: Fic links (Page 2 of 2)

Lewis: Hello and welcome to Transformative Taskmaster, the podcast by fans, for fans and about fans. This week, TK is chatting with Horne Section trumpet and banjo player Joe Auckland. They’ll be discussing The Horne Section TV show, Taskmaster appearances, and trumpets. A lot of trumpets. And stick around after the interview to see TK in the hot seat to discuss some behind the scenes workings of the podcast.

TK: Welcome, Joe to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast.

Joe: Oh, thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

TK: Thanks for being here. So we’re just going to dive right in, to the questions that I have for you, so I know that you and Alex and Ben have been friends since childhood. So how did the Horne Section come to be? Because in, the first mention of it was in 2010, in Edinburgh. But were there any, like, performances before hand, or was it just like, a funny idea that had just been brewing for a while?

Joe: Yeah, pretty much that. Pretty much an idea. Well, an idea which had been brewing for quite a few years that, you know, we didn’t see each other that often, I suppose, well, Alex, I saw barely. I didn’t see Alex that much at that point. But whatever, it would be like family Christmases, that kind of thing. We would all say, we should really do something with the, you know, you coming in on these and we’re also puttering about, you know, just chopping away I suppose and we said that every year for several years. And, and then Mark, Mark came onto the scene and is a bit more dynamic, perhaps. I don’t know. Anyway, he kind of, he really liked the idea. Ben and I were in a band with him, and so he was like, you know, which is a great opportunity, we should make it happen. He was, he kind of kickstarted it. We did a few warm up shows in London, but then basically went to that Edinburgh with two songs? I think maybe we had two songs and like an idea for a game, and that was it really? Yeah. It was. It was incredibly loose. The first incarnation of it, was, very dependent on guests, very guest heavy, very improvisatory and great fun, actually. Still some of my favorite such moments. But, my first Edinburgh, I think, especially as there was no expectation at all at that point. We just kind of thought we’d go up for a bit of a laugh and see what happened, and then suddenly, you know, sort of, went very well straight from the off. People came and people talking about it. And we had like the biggest names at the festival as guests. And because Alex wasn’t, although Alex was, well known in kind of Edinburgh at that point, he wasn’t on telly or, you know, he was on or even on the radio and particularly at that point. So he was he was still kind of feeling his way a bit as well, like so we were all sort of slightly taken aback about, how well it went initially. But like, we should probably do some work sort of, you know. Yeah. Formalizing it or just developing a bit.

TK: Yeah. That’s cool. Did you, do you remember what two songs they were?

Joe: There was a song. Yeah. That did we have sort of a finale song called Sidemen, which was by Joe Stilgoe, who was in it only for the first couple of years or something like that. It was kind of a barber shop-y thing. So that was, that was the the end of the show. We’d all come back out and sing this song about being sidemen. What was the other thing? We had. We, yeah, we basically I think we had an introductory song we played at the beginning to sort of set the evening up, and then we had a few stings and things to bring guests on and off, and maybe a couple of like, we had some romantic music, but, you know, we had a few things to fall back on. But but yeah, in terms of our material, it was very, very limited. As it was.

TK: So, yeah that’s cool. So was it always going to be The Horne Section. Because that is just what made the most sense. Or?

Joe: As in the name?

TK: Yeah

Joe: Yeah yeah I think yeah I think it was probably one of those things that was partly came about because of the name. Is that true I don’t know. Sort of feels like, yeah, it was like the name was a bit of a gift. So we should definitely do it.

TK: Yeah, it definitely works. So how long have you been playing trumpet for?

Joe: I started trumpet when I was nine, so I’m now 47.

TK: Nice. Happy birthday, by the way

Joe: Oh, thank you! Thanks very much. So, yeah, so long time

TK: Is, is the trumpet the instrument that you knew you wanted to play, like, when you were that age?

Joe: Pretty much. I think I actually wanted to play the French horn, but they didn’t have a French horn at school, and they did have a trumpet. And, yeah, because actually Alex played the French horn back then as well. Yeah. I’m sort of glad I didn’t end up playing the French. I mean, lovely instrument, but, kind of, not much use outside of an orchestra.

TK: That’s true, yeah

Joe: Yeah. Whereas the trumpet a bit more

TK: More versatile. Yeah.

Joe: Yes, exactly

TK: Nice. So, so this is, a Taskmaster specific fan podcast, and we’re going to be talking a lot about The Horne Section, but, so for Taskmaster, you were on the show a couple times, so you did a live task with Mark playing Midnight for the Series 4 Episode 3, live task. So that, that was just like a brief cameo there. And then you also had the make an instrument with Jenny Eclair task in Series 15, Episode 2. So how like, what’s the difference between being on, like, Taskmaster and doing that with them between like that and doing a Horne Section like live show?

Joe: I guess it’s quite a lot less involved for us being on Taskmaster. I’ve had a great time, actually every time I’ve done anything Taskmaster related. And I’m not just saying that, it’s been brilliant fun. They’re, they’re really lovely, production crew. And, you know, everyone’s very welcoming, and it’s it’s quite it’s sort of relatively pared down as it’s not a massive crew. It’s, it’s a nice little family. And yeah, it’s good, it’s good. Vibe really, it’s been great. Mark and I got a bit drunk before we did that Midnight thing, and then we were like, sort of drunk, but I don’t think they, either didn’t notice or didn’t mind.

TK: Yeah, I just rewatched it yesterday and it sounded fine to me.

Joe: oh good, good. I think it was one of those things we had like a little rehearsal at like 2:00, but then we filmed it that evening or something, and we were in the middle of nowhere, and there was a pub, so, yeah. One thing led to another, but, yeah. And the thing with Jenny Eclair, it was great fun. I love her, she was, yeah, she, yeah, she was brilliant, but that was very brief. I think it was probably in the Taskmaster house, for that, for the thing with Jenny, I reckon I was in and out within a half an hour, 45 minutes.

TK: Oh, wow

Joe: So it’s really just like you kind of get in there and you do it, and then you leave it. Yeah. So it’s it’s pretty straightforward. Yeah.

TK: So had you met her before then, or were you aware of her before then?

Joe: I was aware of her. Yeah. I don’t think I ever met. I don’t think oh, yeah. No, no, because she did our, we’d done stuff with her before, hadn’t we. Sorry, my memory ‘s hopeless. But yeah I was yeah very much aware of her. Yeah. Really like her, she sort of reminds me a bit of my mum. [laughs]. She’s, she’s. Yeah she’s kind of a more eccentric version of my mum. So it’s quite I was quite pleased but I’m not sure how we got assigned which guest we were going to work with, but I knew. I was quite pleased with the sax as well. I was like, yes, brilliant.

TK: That’s awesome.

Joe: I’m properly proud of that

TK: So speaking of, television shows, the second series of The Horne Section TV show comes out in May, which is really exciting. So what was it like being a fictionalized character of yourself on a TV show, and what are the differences and similarities between your character and real life?

Joe: I’ll start with the second bit. The differences and similarities are minimal. I like to think I’m not not quite as, as sort of off the pace as the character in the, the Horne Section TV show, but in all honesty probably not far off. Yeah, the character is a maybe a slight, very slightly exaggerated. I suppose what Alex did in writing it was take the, the parts of us that you found amusing and slightly exaggerated them, basically. But yeah. No, not a great deal, really. I mean, the yeah, it all felt quite well felt sort of natural, but it’s also, I think, surprisingly difficult to do if you have no experience of acting. Even to portray yourself. It’s like, in the heat of the moment with it, and there’s lots of people shouting directions at you because I was, yeah, took a bit of get used to it.

TK: Yeah, I bet

Joe: I think there were, there was talk of panic attacks. I don’t think anyone actually had one, but

TK: That’s good.

Joe: But, but yeah, it was the, I think particularly that, the first series, the first few days were sort of rubbish and the headlines very much like, you know.

TK: So was recording the second series a little easier then?

Joe: Yeah, much easier I think, because partly because the fact that there was a second series meant that, you know, they had some faith in it and that we would, it was, we were being asked back. So it was like, well okay they know what they’re getting this time. Whereas I think, I think the first time was a bit like, do they, are they aware that none of us can act? Are they, do they know what’s going on here? And obviously they did know that. But, you know, until you get used to it.

TK: Yeah, that’s cool.

Joe: With the reality of it, I suppose

TK: Yeah. I the thing that I love the most about the Horne Section TV show is, as a musician, when you watch movies and TV shows and you can tell that they’ve hired an actor and not an actual musician that knows what they’re doing, and so it’s really refreshing to watch, like actual, like people playing their instruments and like, you know, that that’s not, you know, if a facsimile, of somebody’s acting it out, it’s really refreshing.

Joe: The opposite scenario, the only bit that does actually look convincing is when they’re playing the instruments, unlike the rest of the entire show.

TK: Yeah. There was a bit of a running gag in the first series, which I feel like it kind of died out or it just like, never came back and made an appearance. But the running gag was like, oh, we can’t drive a car. We’re musicians or we can’t do this, we’re musicians. I really liked that.

Joe: yeah, I think a lot of musicians, or, a lot of artistic people in general are pretty useless in many ways. You know, everyday tasks. I mean, driving might be, slightly overstating it, but.

TK: So going back to the the fandom side of The Horne Section and Taskmaster, do you have like a favorite memory or a funniest memory of, like, interactions with people from the fandom that have come to a Horne Section show or they recognize you from the TV show or Taskmaster or any of the above.
Joe: I had a good one the other night, actually, where I went out with, like a mate from from back from my kids school, I don’t know, him that well, but we we went out and, we were into some of the same music, so we went into, and he brought a couple of his mates, and, we had a good old, good old night of it, and lots to drink and everything. And I’d got on particularly well with one of his friends, and I’d probably chatted to him for about three hours, and we were just about to leave, and he, and he turned around and looks at me and goes “you’re in Alex Horne’s band, aren’t you!?” I’ve literally been sat like I am with, you know, like face to face with him for 2 or 3 hours chatting, then suddenly very drunk, yeah. That was, I mean, quite funny, that sort of. Yeah.

TK: So how often would you say you get recognized by just the people off the street?

Joe: Oh, probably 4 or 5 times a year or something, which is perfect, I think, because, because I really like it. But it’s, it’s really nice what happens rather than in any way annoying. You know, it’s brilliant. I reckon that’s about right. Like once every 2 or 3 months and you, you know, always enjoy it rather than. Well, I don’t know [mutters something]

TK: Yeah, I can

Joe: My, when I was on my second date with my now partner, and this was before we been on telly, this was like, quite early days. Someone came up to us in the pub and, and recognized me, and I still think that’s, that’s probably, I think a big part of the reason I got a third time with them. Yeah. Served me well.

TK: Yeah. Celebrity status.

Joe: Yeah

TK: Yeah, that’s really cool. So with your interactions with the fans, especially, like, after Horne Section shows and stuff like that, like live shows, how do you find the, the fandom in general? Like, it’s a pretty chill group of people. Nice. Nice people.

Joe: Yeah, I think all are, yeah, they generally are really, really lovely, slightly quirky people, I really like them. Often after the tour shows here, Mark and I will we’ll be selling, you know, tote bags and stuff in the, in the foyers after. So we chat to quite a lot of people these days and yeah, there is, there’s, I mean it’s it’s a relatively broad thing age wise.
I think it’s a relatively broad thing in every way really. But I’d say that, yeah, the, the one thing that that ties them all together is that they’re, they’re generally like very, very nice, and slightly quirky and, and and slightly odd, which is brilliant.

TK: Yeah. Perfect kind of person, I think.

Joe: Well, exactly. Yeah [mutters something] for better.

TK: Yeah. That’s awesome. Yeah, yeah I have, I have a bunch of friends that go to Horne Section shows fairly often because they live over there. And I’m always so jealous because I live in California.

Joe: Right. Yeah, yeah..

TK: Well, hopefully one day y’all can come over here and.

Joe: Well, there is, there is some talk of that. Yeah, there’s Alex and Greg and they go have going over for a bit, there are things happening. So yeah I think yeah I think that that doesn’t seem as, as absurd a suggestion as it would have done. Even a year or so ago you know.

TK: Right. Yeah. So, do you is it, I don’t know if you’re allowed to even answer this or even if you know the answer to it, but do you know if there’s like, tentative dates or years?

Joe: I, I, no there aren’t

TK: No idea.

Joe: No, no. It’s purely a having seen what’s happened with Alex and Greg, it’s purely like, okay, well if yeah, maybe that maybe there is a, there is an opportunity for us there as well, you know. But yeah it really hasn’t no, I’m not being secretive.

TK: Yeah. Yeah, more just one of those things of like we’d like to and we probably can make it happen at some point.

Joe: Yeah, exactly

TK: Developing stages. Cool. Has, have you gotten any, like, physical gift from a fan that’s particularly memorable.

Joe: Gift? I don’t think so. We did get some really sweet sort of miniature instrument keyrings quite recently.

TK: Yeah, nice

Joe: Yeah, they were. What else? Oh, there was someone who made an amazing crochet blanket. And it was huge. And it was. It was kind of the current tour poster. I think, it was at the previous one. But it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. Yeah. Completely like beautifully made. And they brought it along and they’d been up all night the previous night to finish it. Came to the show in [mutters something] But yeah, just came out into the foyer, and unfurled this huge blanket and held it up for us and the detail in it. Yeah. Absolutely incredible. Yeah, that was pretty special. Yeah.

TK: That’s cool. So who has the blanket then?

Joe: I think I think they still have the blanket.

TK: Oh, okay.

Joe: Yeah. Yeah. They just wanted to show it to us I think.

TK: Nice.

Joe: Yeah. Because it taken like 200 hours or something. You know, it was like, Yeah. It was like bonkers. Bonkers thing, like.

TK: Okay, so we, we don’t really have, like, a proper games section. But I do have, I do have like a little bit of, of a game for you.

[trumpet music]

TK: So the game is going to be it’s quickfire questions, and you’re only allowed to answer with one word.

Joe: Okay

TK: Okay. And there’s only like seven. So it’s going to be pretty short. Okay. So first question have you ever played in a pit orchestra for a musical?

Joe: yes
[ding]

TK: Which musical?

Joe: Singin in the rain I mean, a few, but the West End I did Singin in the rain.
[loud incorrect buzzer]

TK: Oh nice. What’s your favorite musical?

Joe: oooh, uhh, Matilda. Went to see Matilda with the kids recently. That was. That was very.
[loud incorrect buzzer]

TK: Nice. Best genre of music?

Joe: Best genre? Oof, uh Bluegrass. Bluegrass

TK: Nice.
[ding]

TK: Favorite trumpet mute?

Joe: [laughs] Harmon mute.
[ding]

TK: Yeah!

Joe: Gotta be

TK: I was like, there’s no other answer. What mouthpiece do you use?

Joe: It’s a Yamaha. I think it’s a 14…B?

TK: I didn’t even know it went that high

Joe: Ah, maybe that might be wrong. I’m going to check. Talking of talking, trumpeting, I went to see, Wynton Marsalis last while I was at while was over
TK: Oh that’s awesome

Joe: The Lincoln Center. [hums] It’s so it’s so battered. I can’t even tell, I can’t see at all, I’m afraid
[loud incorrect buzzer]

Joe: I don’t know if you can see it, it’s absolutely hammered.

TK: Oh, wow

Joe: It’s very. Yeah.

TK: Looks like you’ve dropped that thing a lot.

Joe: Yeah, I think I used to. When I was teaching I used to use it to, you know, when kids get their mouthpieces stuck in the trumpet.

TK: Yeah. Oh, you, yeah, yeah.

Joe: bash, bash it

TK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe: Sorry, not sure.

TK: Oh, man. Okay. Two more questions. Best trumpet player in the world?

Joe: Miles Davis, if they’re allowed to be

TK: Yeah

Joe: Deceased
[loud incorrect buzzer]

TK: Yeah, yeah, totally. And then this is a two parter question. The first part is, do you have a tattoo? And the second part is if you don’t have a tattoo and you had to get a tattoo, what would it be?

Joe: I don’t have one.
[loud incorrect buzzer]

Joe: But if I did almost get one and I knew what it’s going to be like, I don’t know if you have this in America, we have, we have this sort of classic picture of like three ducks sort of flying in a row, which you might find this picture in like pubs or it’s not even like a specific version of this picture. It’s just kind of a classic image of like three ducks. And and so I thought I would either get three ducks flying in a row, but then one of one of the band said, why don’t you get three dicks instead? And then and then it could be a funny story about how you ask for three ducks, but you got three dicks, so it’d be either three ducks or three dicks.
[loud incorrect buzzer]

TK: Right, that’s amazing. Would the dicks have wings on them, you think?

Joe: Oh, that’s an idea, combine the, yeah, combine the, yeah, yeah, I think they would.

TK: That’s amazing. Okay, great. Well you did pretty shit with answering them with just one word, but that’s okay.

Joe: Oh, yeah, yeah. Forgot about that, yeah, yeah [laughs]

TK: That’s all right. So you have written a lot of songs for The Horne Section. Or is there like a list somewhere of all of the songs that you’ve written, do you keep track of, like which songs each person has written specifically?

Joe: Not really, no. No, no, we don’t really I think we we probably all know. You probably know the ones. You probably know the ones you wrote yourself, right? Yeah, no, no, we don’t really, no.

TK: Who, who writes the most songs in the band. Do you think?

Joe: It’s probably me, I think. Yeah, we all go through phases where we. Yeah. You know, people go through phases with writing a lot and others aren’t, and vice versa, you know. But yeah, I think probably over the years I’ve probably written, I would say my, my approach to writing is if I’ve had an idea, I’m gonna write the song and I’m gonna finish it. So I’ve got a lot of songs. I would say I also have a lot of songs that I probably shouldn’t have bothered with, but I think my only. I find it very hard to know if they’re going to come out any good or not, really. So I just so I do them all. And then with Alex’s approach to this, well, all of our approach to this, especially with the podcast, is for once it’s done, it might as well go in.

TK: Yeah.

Joe: Which means that, you know, that kind of there’s very little, self-editing, at our end, I would say, on that front. I think some of the others will be a bit more discerning with their own ideas, they’ll sort of have an idea, maybe write half a song and think well this, this isn’t going great and leave it. Whereas I will always finish it. And, and therefore there are a lot of them.

TK: Yeah, yeah I, I definitely find that relatable because my output of songs has been ridiculous in the past and I just, I also like I’ll just start one. I’m like, well, I’ve already put work into this song, so I’ll finish it.

Joe: Yeah exactly throwing bad money after good.

TK: Right. Do you have a favorite song that you’ve written?

Joe: Uhhh. There’s one in the. There’s one in the new TV series there. I think my favorite one that I’ve written is one called Blessings. I think. I don’t know, yeah. I’m not sure really. That’s definitely one of them.

TK: Nice, mine is Chris Hoy, for some reason right. Yeah. It’s such a banger. Anytime it comes on my, my shuffled playlist, I’m like, I just crank that shit up. [laughs]

Joe: Oh. Good. Well, thank you

TK: I love that one. Okay. So I had a question from one of my friends about The Horne Section TV show specifically for you. The running bit of your head being magic. When kissed, did you get consulted about that, or was it just kind of an off the cuff thing that Alex did?

Joe: It’s true.

TK: [laughs]

Joe: Yeah. No, I can’t. Yeah, I think, I think that was just. No, I think that was just Alex. Yeah. I don’t think it. I can’t imagine I would have been consulted. I mean, I was delighted, you know, if I hadn’t been consulted. Yeah. I would wholeheartedly approve.

TK: Nice, yeah, I was going to say if it’s true. That must be really annoying. Just lights turning on and off everywhere you go.

Joe: Yeah, yeah.

TK: You have to start wearing hats all the time.

Joe: Happens, happens a lot.

TK: I have another another question, from one of my friends. So since you released the song groupies, what is it like to actually have groupies?

Joe: It’s very nice, as I say. Yeah, we would. All the people we meet during The Horne Section are very nice and are very lovely and quirky and interesting and. Yeah. Yeah, it’s really nice. Yeah.

TK: Nice. Sorry. These these questions are like, not at all, connected to each other. So my next question is who who came up with Jorge and Jesus?

Joe: Oh, Will

TK: Oh yeah.

Joe: That’s, that’s that’s from the depths of Will’s imagination. Yeah.

TK: And did he, did he ask you to be the other half of it, or did he ask around?

Joe: He did, yeah

TK: He knew that he wanted. He wanted it to be you?

Joe: Yeah, I think he. Yeah. Yeah.

TK: Nice.

Joe: Yeah, yeah. We have a bit of a suppose slightly like minded. Suppose we perhaps at the odder end of the. Well, I don’t know if that’s always true. We certainly used to be. Like the odder end of the thing, comedy wise I think. We had a little duo, which we used to perform, very occasionally for a little while. I think we were only [mutters something] ten minute slots. Just at open mics

TK: oh, that’s cool

Joe: new stuff. So there was a period where we were doing quite a lot of writing together, and we worked together for that

TK: And then, you have recorded an audio book with Tim Key, is that correct? The incomplete Tim Key.

Joe: Yeah.

TK: So what was that like to record an audiobook.

Joe: Yeah. Well I just played some, some music for it. I don’t, I don’t have I don’t if you know it. He just wanted to add a bit of, some backing to his poems essentially, you know.

TK: Cool.

Joe: So, uh yeah I played.

TK: Did he reach out to you specifically? And he was like, I definitely need, like, trumpet for this or whatever.

Joe: Yeah, that was quite a lot of banjo, actually. Yeah. Because yeah, like possibly like a [mutters something] bit easier to, to performance poem over.

TK: That’s true

Joe: There is trumpet on it as well. Yeah. It was great fun. It was great fun. But it was, it was very loose, very unprepared. We basically jammed up into it in a he basically read the book occasionally says [mutters something] try and come up with something, so I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t necessarily know, like the flavor of the poem or whatever

TK: Yeah, well I feel like you and the rest of the band are pretty good at just taking very vague instructions on you know, like, give us something folksy or give us something that you’d hear in an airport lounge because Alex does that to you guys all the time on the podcast. You know, he’s like, give us a jingle and you just have to make one up on the spot.

Joe: Yeah, yeah, I guess we’ve yeah, we’ve got quite used to doing that with Alex. That’s been the way I suppose. Yeah it is. We were discussing earlier on that first, that first Edinburgh that we did was, was good for that kind of thing because we had, we would have like 2 or 3 guests every night from the show. And that would be kind of the way they work with us every night we’d be like, yeah, you know, I want this mood, or I want this genre, or I want something that sounds like this. And so that was a yeah, I suppose that was how we perhaps refine those skills if they are refined.

TK: Right, yeah, I think you guys are fabulous at it. Improvisation is always terrifying to me. So I.

Joe: Right,

TK: I don’t like that

Joe: Right, yeah, I think it’s a really hard thing to do as an adult, I think it’s something you have to start doing as a child, really. Yeah, something you don’t question as a kid. You just kind of, yeah, mess around, mess around an instrument, see what happens. Whereas as soon as you, I think in adulthood that sort of thing is much harder [mutters something]

TK: So did it, were you already doing a lot of improv before that? And you were kind of like, yeah, this is fine. Or did it really stress you out at the beginning?

Joe: It was never particularly stressful I don’t think. No, I think generally it, The Horne Section has never been hugely stressful for any of us because we even when things go badly because you’re working with comedians. They always make it fun and actually, like, you know, if it’s not very good, they’ll have a bit of fun with it. And that’ll make it really funny, you know? So, you feel like you’re at a bit of a win win situation. If it’s good that they’ll be impressed if it’s bad then that’s a bit of a gift to them.So, yeah it was never never felt stressful, really, no.

TK: That’s good. Yeah. One of the one of my favorite parts about The Horn Section podcast. Which, we have a new series out right now, which is fabulous. Is that I love hearing when all of you crack each other up in the background. And you’re just, like, all laughing at each other. It’s just so funny. It’s, like, very wholesome.

Joe: Yeah, we do have a lot of fun together. Yeah, no, it’s brilliant. And I think increasingly we’re just pinching ourselves that we get to do it more and more and, you know, you can make a living out of it and all that.

TK: Yeah. Yeah, definitely seems like a really fun gig.

Joe: It is. It’s the most fun. It’s brilliant

TK: That’s cool. All right, well, we’re going to, wrap up our time here. So thank you again so much for coming on. We have The Horne Section is currently on tour through June of 2025, coming back in September through November. It looks like according to the website.

Joe: That’s right. Yeah.

TK: Yes, I don’t know where in the UK you’ll be because I live not in the UK. So look it up on the website.

Joe: Pretty much everywhere. I mean, obviously not everywhere, but we’re covering a lot of, we’re covering the whole, the whole country

TK: Yeah, so cool. And then the second series of The Horne Section TV show is coming out in May, which is exciting. And, currently the The Horn Section podcast is out, has eight episodes, I think per new series.

Joe: Yeah, I think, I think that’s right. Yeah, think we’re on number three or something this week or this

TK: Yeah, yeah. This week will be number three. As of the time of the time of recording this.

Joe: Yes, in fact, I listened to the one that you were on this morning.

TK: Oh, yeah.

Joe: It’s come out great. It’s really, really good.

TK: Sweet, yeah I’m excited to hear, the version where I can actually hear you guys and understand what you’re saying.

Joe: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because actually it did. It felt slightly chaotic at the time for that reason. But the, the end result is not all. It sounds really great. Really natural. It’s great. Yeah.

TK: Sweet. Yeah. I’m really excited. Cool

Joe: Yeah, brilliant

TK: So other than all of those things, is there anything else going on that you’re gigging for doing that you want to tell people about?

Joe: Ehhhh, Not particularly. I mean, I’ve got. Yeah. But other, sort of jobbing gigs that I do are all sort of going on, playing with Madness, actually we should be coming round to the States. In May

TK: Oh!

Joe: You know, Madness?

TK: No 🙁

Joe: British Ska band from the 80s.

TK: Oh, that sounds cool.

Joe: Yeah. Yeah. So that. Yeah, they’re they’re also talking about it. Yeah. So bits and bobs are the other, other things and. Yeah. Jobbing away but. Oh always hoping for more Horne Section

TK: Yeah! Awesome. Well thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It’s been a pleasure to talk to you. One trumpet player to another.

Joe: Yes indeed, we even talked mouthpieces.

TK: Yes.

Joe: Not that I was much help, but

TK: Yeah, I was like, it’s got to be a Bach five C or seven C, and then you’re like Yamaha 14. I’m like a 14? What even is that a bucket?

Joe: It’s I tell you what, it’s pretty much a Bach three C okay, by, made by Yamaha.

TK: Interesting.

Joe: and slightly, the rim isn’t quite as harsh. It’s a slightly gentler on the, on the chops.

TK: Nice. It’s not made of gold is it. Because I know gold is softer.

Joe: It’s got a gold plating

TK: Oh, okay, nice, cool

Joe: Comfortable

TK: Yeah, everyone else listening to this like. What are you talking about?
[both laugh]

Joe: Apologies for that

TK: Well, it’s what you get when you put two trumpet players in a room together I guess.

Joe: Absolutely, yeah. It was interesting to go to the pub after that Wynton Marsalis thing last night. Absolutely full of trumpet players

TK: That’s awesome

Joe: Yeah, yeah, it was nice.

TK: Speaking of which, what trumpet do you play on?

Joe: It’s a Kanstul

TK: Oh, never heard of that.

Joe: Kanstul, l. I think that from LA, actually, So. Anaheim.

TK: Oh, yeah.

Joe: They, sadly went out of business, like, in the last couple of years. I’ve always played their ones. I think they’re great. Yeah, not that many people play them [mutters something]

TK: Yeah, well, you sound great on it, so keep doing what you’re doing.

Joe: What do you play?

TK: I play on vintage conn something something I don’t know. I got really lucky because I went, before I went to college for it. My dad bought it for me on, like, eBay, which, like, don’t do that, people.

Joe: Right!

TK: Don’t buy it on eBay! But I really lucked out because it’s a really nice horn, so.

Joe: Amazing

TK: Yeah, I got I got real lucky for that. But I was like, are you sure you should be doing this?

Joe: Yeah yeah yeah

TK: Because usually you’re supposed to go in somewhere and actually pick up the horn and play on it.

Joe: You got no idea, really.

TK: Yeah, but it was 700 bucks, and I’ve been using it ever since high school, so.

Joe: Wow. Amazing.

TK: Can’t complain. Yeah.

Joe: Certainly not.

TK: Yup, all right, well, thanks, Joe, for your time and.

Joe: Yeah. Pleasure.

TK: We’ll see you online and go, go on The Horne Section on gigs and I will hopefully see a Horne Section show at some point I’ll make it happen.

Joe: I’m sure you will, yeah, yeah, that’d be great, yeah

TK: All right. Cheers, Joe, thanks

Joe: Cheers. Take care.

TK: All right. Bye

Joe: Bye Bye.

Lewis: Hello, TK, it’s my show now. I’ve taken over.

TK: No! Give it back!

Lewis: So we have some time to feel at the end of an episode, and you’re going to tell us a story, and it’s quite a good

TK: Oh? Is that a threat?

Lewis: Yes it is.

TK: You’re going to do this and you’re going to like it.

Lewis: Oh, I think it’s a threat to the viewers. So yeah, you’re going to tell us, exactly at least as well as you can remember, because it’s been wild. What has gone on in the last. What is it, three months that have led up to this moment.

TK: Oh my gosh. Okay.

Lewis: Yeah, right, so, so for context, it feels to me like it was three days ago because of my bizarre sleep schedule. But the episode with Alex Horne just went out yesterday.

TK: Was it seriously yesterday, oh my gosh

Lewis: Yeah, it was, it’s Wednesday, so it was yesterday. It feels like three days ago. But so much

TK: It legitimately has felt like a Thursday all day to me. Like I’m not I’m not even joking. I said that to my work colleagues. I was like, it feels like a Thursday. And they’re like, no, it’s a Wednesday.

Lewis: So yeah, I only know about half of this because I’ve been able to pick it up and bits and pieces. So I’m looking forward to hearing everything as well. It started with The Horne Section’s Patreon didn’t it? So where did the idea to buy that Patreon tier come from?

TK: That is a good, that’s a good question. I’m not sure if I actually remember the like, I kind of remember the answer, but so basically what happened was that I got tickets to see the New York City premiere of series 19 for Taskmaster, and I had been waffling on whether to get the Patreon tier or not, because it’s it’s not a small amount of money.

Lewis: How much was it?

TK: One thousand American dollars

Lewis: I thought it was 500.

TK: It used to be 500.

Lewis: It went up, ah

TK: yeah, no, it used to be 500, they bumped it up to a thousand. I don’t know why. Because, they told me that I was the first person to ever get it, but, yeah, so, yeah. So I was waffling on it because, like, it’s one of those things where it’s like, I would really want to do this, but I grew up basically with the mindset of, like, save your money whenever you can, you know, like use coupons for everything, like try to save money here or like go thrift shopping, stuff like that.
So I’ve never really treated myself to anything big before. And it’s something that I’ve recently started to like, actually do now that I’m well in my 30s. And, you know, like, I have a stable job and stable income and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, you know, like, I there’s no reason that I can’t do this, you know?

Lewis: Yeah

TK: Because again, like, I even, like, I get vacation time at work and I take it to go work somewhere else, like, I take two weeks of vacation to go work at a summer camp in Michigan. So, like, I never take vacations. I’m always constantly working. Like, very much Alex Horne core of like, I’m a workaholic. Like, that’s what I like to do. I like to keep busy. So, yeah, so stuff like that. I never really got into the habit of doing. But then the New York trip was coming up and I was like, I think I, you know, need to go to New York to see them because they don’t come to America very often. And, on the back of that, maybe I could run into Alex and be like, hey, like, I want to come on your podcast because the thing about their podcast Patreon tiers are that a lot of them basically say stuff like, wow, that’s a lot of money.
We can’t really give you a whole lot for it. Are you sure about this? So I wanted to tell him in person, just so you know, if you see $1,000 drop into your account, that’s on purpose. And so that was one of my goals going into the New York premiere.
So I decided to do it in January, for sure. But then the question became, when do I do it? Because I didn’t know when they were going to be recording the podcast episodes. I didn’t know when the podcast was going to come out at that point because they hadn’t announced it. I didn’t know pretty much anything scheduling wise.
And so I was like, maybe what I’ll do is I’ll tell Alex that I’m going to do it and that I’ll wait until March or something. Yeah, I don’t know why I thought March it was for some reason or another.

Lewis:
Probably because that’s when we thought series 19 was going to be coming out?

TK:
Yeah. So I went to the premiere. I did run into Alex, I ran into him twice. The first one was at the premiere, and it was when him and Greg were going around the whole theater saying hello to people as quick as they possibly could. Which was the best that we could do during the situation. And so I saw Alex and I was like, just to let you know, in a couple of weeks, I’m going to buy a Horne Section Patreon tier. And I think I forgot to say that it was the episode tier. And so afterwards, after the hype had winded down, I was like, oh my gosh, I think I actually forgot to say the most important bit of this!

So then the next day, my flight was going out in the afternoon, and just for funsies, me and a couple members of our online community went to the NBC studios, because we knew that Greg and Alex were having an interview with one of the people in the studios. And that was a whole other story, because there were two buildings. So we split up our group and we were like, we’re gonna text each other if they show up either here or there, because we kept getting conflicting information. It was very stressful. So I ended up in one building basically by myself. And I was looking at my phone, and I look up – and there is Greg and Alex. I look at my phone, I was like, oh my gosh, it’s Greg and Alex, okay? They’re here, they’re here!
It was actually very sweet because I clearly was there for them, because I like looked up at them and I was like, oh, hi!

And Alex clocked me first, and there were other people that were also waiting for them. And so Alex went up to me, you said hi to us first or whatever. And I was like, no, I got to text my friends that they’re here, no, no, no, go talk to those people for a bit! I have stuff for you to sign, I need to get my stuff ready. Because I was also wearing my coat and my scarf and my hat, and I was like, I need to take all of this off so I can get a good picture without me being in all of my winter gear. And so I was like, they’re here, they’re here! So they came over, all of us were in the same place, which is fine.

So then the people that they had been talking to left, and then Alex looked at me and I was like, yes, I have stuff, I needed Greg to sign a print, and then I needed to talk to Alex.
And so to Alex, I was like, just so you know, – oh, and by the way, this was when they were leaving because their car had gotten there – and I felt so bad, because one of my friends got-

Lewis:
Yeah, I saw the photos.

TK:
One of my friends got to meet them, but then my two other friends didn’t. And they had met them at the premiere and stuff, but I felt so bad but anyway. But they were like, don’t feel bad, you had stuff to tell them and to do with them and stuff like that. Plus we got that awesome video of the dance pose! So, I don’t regret doing that. But as they were leaving, I was like, Alex, by the way, I’m gonna do the guest Patreon tier level of your podcasts. Just so you know, it’s not a mistake. And he’s like, are you sure? And I was like, yes, I’m definitely sure.
And he was like, okay. And then he said, we’re recording in February and March. So that’s perfect timing. And I was like, oh, okay, great.

So then they left and we all went back home, and then I was like, okay, well actually, instead of waiting for March, if they’re going to start recording in February, maybe I should just buy it now. And so I bought it early February, I think, or something like that. Because I also wasn’t sure, sometimes Patreon is weird because it’ll charge you on the first of the month, but then sometimes it’ll charge you on the day of the month that you subscribe, it depends on the creator. So I did the thing where you subscribe or whatever it’s called.

And then, eventually I got an email from Alex and again he was like, are you sure? And I was like, yes, I’m sure. That’s literally why I found you and told you that I wanted to do this because I knew you would ask this. So then we emailed back and forth for a bit and it was basically trying to figure out what our schedules were like and what was going to line up and, and what would make the most sense and what format we would be doing it. Because originally it was supposed to be on something called Riverside or something, I had never heard of it, but it was a podcast streaming website service software. I don’t know. So I signed up for a Riverside account and then that ended up not working on the day. So the day of I think I waited a couple hours actually.

Lewis:
I think I remember that. Yeah.

TK:
Yeah. Because I was so excited and I was ready to go. And they kept emailing me, Alex and Joe Walker, who is their production manager.

Lewis:
I think he does a lot.

TK:
Yeah. So I’m not sure what exactly his title is, but Joe Walker. So they kept emailing me back and forth being like, we’re so sorry. We’re running into so many technical difficulties. And so it was this whole thing because I was super hype. Now, for a bit of context, Alex had told me prior to this that he would send me a Horne Section podcast episode, and then him and me would just sit down and listen to it before it goes out. And we could do like a director’s cut type of thing, get my feedback and we can see what’s going on. And I was like, that’s fine with me. So yeah.

Lewis:
I remember something about that as well.

TK:
So that’s what I was expecting. So I’m sitting there, waiting. And I was like, man, they’re having a lot of technical issues for me, and Alex watching or listening to an episode. So finally, I connected to Riverside, but it wasn’t working on their end. And then what I ended up doing, I think, was FaceTiming Joe Walker. And I guess that ended up being what we used, but I think the place where they were at, their internet was really bad. Their Wi-Fi just was not good. Which is unfortunate because it’s the studio that I think they record a lot of stuff at. And it sucks that the technical difficulties were so bad, because I had a ton of fun doing it, but it was really hard to hear them for a lot of it.

And I know that they also have since taken down the Patreon tier of being guests on the podcast. And I feel really bad because I didn’t like want that to happen, obviously, but it’s not like anyone could have done anything about it, you know? It’s not like it was anybody’s fault or anything. So finally, Joe Walker’s on his phone. I’m getting a face full of painted black nails. And I was like, that’s so sick, man. And he’s like, hello? I was like, hi. So we did the whole like, I can’t hear you, and then he, I don’t know if it was on his phone or on a computer. He switched me over, I’m not sure.

He put me up on a stand, basically, so I could see the room, and the whole band is there, and I was not prepared for that. And I fanboyed for a second! And then I got myself under control. I was like, oh, it’s the lads, hi lads! And they were like laughing about it. And I was like, okay, we’re good, everything’s fine. Professional. Here we go. So yeah, despite the technical difficulties, it was a lot of fun.

It did suck because for most of it, they had to turn their video off. But I had my video on for the whole thing because it didn’t seem to affect their internet with me doing that, and they could hear me. I mean, you heard you heard the episode. I think it’s when I say decisions and the s at the end of decisions is choppy, and that’s pretty much it. But you can hear me at the beginning being like, yeah, I heard you say something about Patreon and then it went boop-boop! Because I heard Alex start to say something about the Patreon. Something about like, oh, you’re our first Patreon guest. And all I heard was Patreon. And I’m like, I mean, I can guess what you said, but there’s no way of knowing. So the rest of the time was really fun. It was great. It was very cool to see their process. It was so fast. They did it so fast!

Lewis:
Yeah, it seems like the episode was in real time. Also for context, that episode dropped the same day that our episode dropped. It was like a proper little collab between the two of our podcasts.

TK:
I’m so tired, but in the best way possible. So basically, Alex was there on his laptop and then all of the band were in their own little sections, and they had their own mics and stuff like that. But what I assume happened is Alex on his laptop had, probably much like what I have for my for our podcast, not a script, a list of bullet points of: we’re going to do this next and then we’re going to do this next and stuff like that. So yeah, it went by very quickly. And before I knew it, he was like, well, it’s the end of the pod! And I was like, oh my gosh, okay. But yeah, it was it was a completely lovely time. And every single member of the band was just so warm and welcoming and hilarious and good. Amazing.

Lewis:
So now that you have heard Sticky Streets in context, what are your thoughts?

TK:
I still don’t understand it. Yeah, and it was so funny because when Alex was like, so TK, you’re not going to have context to this. So like you can listen if you want, but you know, if you don’t want to spoil it for yourself, then you can take your headphones off and we can queue you back in. But the problem was they weren’t on video. So I was like, I’m not going to know when you’re done, you know? So I’m not going to waste your time by you emailing me because I’m over here being, what did you do? And so I listen to it and I was like, I have no idea what’s happening right now.

And now that I’ve listened to the rest of it, I have no idea what’s happening right now. I literally have no clue what the heck is going on. But it was really funny and I enjoyed it a lot. And then it was one of the funnier moments of the podcast, and I’m glad that they kept this in, was Alex was like, so, okay, did you listen to that? And I was like, yep.
And then they all just like cracked up. And I was like, I don’t know what to tell you, man. I’m so confused.

Lewis:
Yeah. So I was in the Discord because I have really weird sleep hours. So I was in the our group Discord when that happened. And I remember that was when it was an odd demographic that’s usually in the server at that time of day. And so everyone was like, who the fuck is Richard Madeley? Which I’m sure did not help you either.

TK:
I know, you get to a certain point with these boys, especially with Alex, that you just stop questioning whatever it is that they’re doing. And you just have to trust that they are going to go with whatever they’re going to go with, and it’s going to turn out however it turns out.

Lewis:
Well, luckily for all the Americans and South Africans and Australians that were in there, I am addicted to British television. So I was at least able to give some context. But I don’t think there’s enough context in the world to make Sticky Streets make sense.

TK:
Yeah, I agree, it’s just so befuddling to me. No matter how many times, it almost feels like a magic spell? You start listening to it, and then your mind just melts, and then you stop listening to it and you’re like, huh, I don’t remember the last two minutes of my life.

Lewis:
Yeah, I mean, I love it, but I’ve always been into that really weird avant-garde shit anyway. So I think it’s hilarious. I can also admit it doesn’t make any sense. Every episode there’s some new weird bit of lore-

TK:
Fire boots! Fire boots!

Lewis:
Yeah. And there’s definitely a continuity, but all of it just comes from nowhere. So, you mentioned on their episode as well, you have recorded a few Horne Section / Taskmaster albums yourself up on Bandcamp. Tell us about those.

TK:
So I have… two… I’m hesitating because I technically have three, but I don’t really want to talk about the third one. I have two Taskmaster and Horne Section related albums. I forget which one I did first. I could look it up, but I’m not going to do that because you could figure it out. But anyway, I did a taskmaster fan album, and that was all just original songs written and performed by me. I forget if my partner did any of those. I think he might have helped with those. By the way, that’s my partner you hear at the very end of the podcast, I totally forgot that he was in on that. And then I was like, oh my gosh, that’s great, and I sent it to him. I’m not sure if he’s listened to it yet, but I forgot who did the role of the dog in this song it’s really funny, really cute.

He’s a musician too. He has his Master’s in saxophone performance, and he’s a music teacher. So sometimes I get him to do stuff that I can’t, hit the low notes or play guitar. But anyway, so I wrote a Taskmaster fan album. And the top, the number one first song on that album is called Little Alex Horne. And Alex purchased it from there quite a while ago, when it first came out, for 5 USD, which he did not need to do because it’s free. It’s available for free. And also, by the way, thank you so much to everyone that has been purchasing my songs today, because I’ve gotten like seven emails that have been, like, cha-ching! Bandcamp is gonna send you money because people are buying your Taskmaster and Horne Section albums.

Lewis:
Oh, that’s awesome.

TK:
That’s very sweet. Thank you. And then he emailed me after that and he said, I’ll have this at my funeral. Thanks. And I was like, normal things for me to be getting emails about. Cool. Just Alex saying stuff, like he does. So the Horne Section covers album, I was like, I am just so obsessed with all these songs, and I just really want to do covers, because I like doing covers. So I did Three Great Covers and Eight More Covers, and then there’s also Two More Covers in there that I added recently because I did Chinese Five Spice, which they played my episode.

Lewis:
Which sounded really good, by the way.

TK:
Thank you. Arranging that was fucking hard. I don’t know how barbershop quartets do it. Little known fact, barbershop is my favorite genre of music, I could never get enough of it. And, and I was like, oh my gosh, I hear it in my head. I hear Chinese Five Spice in barbershop, and I know I can do it. It was fucking difficult, dude. And then I also did one of Less is More. So that’s up there as well. But anyway, I had a lot of fun doing those. And I think the Horne Section before Bluesky happened, they Tweeted at our Instagram? I don’t know, I’m not trying to be on socials all the time.

Lewis:
I think it was on Bluesky.

TK:
Or maybe I was like really early on in Bluesky days. So they reposted it or whatever you call it on Bluesky. And I was like, oh. Cool, cool.
So yeah, it’s been pretty fun to just like writing music and being stupid.

Lewis:
There’s been, a theoretical question list for a while. How does that fit into the genesis of this podcast?

TK:
Like a question list for..?

Lewis:
It started with Alex, and I think it’s…

TK:
You just mean like all of the questions that we have for guests?

Lewis:
No, not that one. The one that started in the main Discord. That was just…

TK:
What main Discord? There’s no main Discord. You mean the podcast Discord? Because that’s the only Discord I know about. Except today, the Horne Section was dropping a link to the Horne Section Discord. And I was like, you are being a menace on main right now, Mark Brown -I don’t know what his middle name is- but…

Lewis:
Our little group had for… it’s still there, a theoretical / hypothetical list of questions for Alex, 90% of which where just unhinged. He said- yeah, that one, so how does that list relate to the genesis of this podcast?

TK:
So I’m now aware of… (So sort of every sentence I need to click my tongue like this for some reason, like a Valley Girl thing. I don’t know how long I’ve been doing this.) Anyway, I think it started as a ‘Greg and Alex get interviewed all the time by all these people, and they’re never asking the questions that we actually want the answers to.’ What we want to do with this podcast is we want to ask our guests questions that we don’t have the answers to. But also, we want to have the guests feel like, ‘thank goodness this is not another podcast that clearly has done no research on who I am, what I do, other podcasts I’ve been on, and I’ve already answered these questions’. The one I keep bringing up is ‘how do you come up with ideas for tasks?’ In his fucking hot tub, do your fucking research! I was about to say, we’re so sick of hearing about Alex and his hot tub, which is not true. But, you know what I’m getting at, right? We’re sick of him having to answer that all the time because it’s so repetitive.

Lewis:
A funny joke, but it’s boring just as an anecdote.

TK:
Right. And so we want to be the podcast that asks interesting questions, questions that guests haven’t heard before, that really gets them thinking about stuff and being like: oh my gosh, I’ve never been asked this, and really engaging with what we want to ask them about. So yeah, it’s kind of our goal here, I think.

Lewis:
I don’t know exactly, but I think I have the gist. But where did the idea for this podcast first come from? Because I feel like it sprang from that list.

TK:
I think it was a couple different things. So there was one member of our server, of our group chat. Goddamn it!

Lewis:
I think at this point everyone knows it’s on Discord.

TK:
Anyway, so there was one member who… I think she had brought up the idea a couple times before, but like months apart, just as a joke idea. But then she was at the New York City premiere. Well, a bunch of us there were, like, 14 of us. And we watched a couple of interviews that Alex and Greg were doing while they were in New York, and while we were in New York. And we were like, they’re just going on whatever fucking podcast, we should just make our own podcast and ask them to come on it, and they’ll fucking do it. And so it started as – not really a joke, but pretty much a joke – we might as well make our own podcast.

But then after New York, and I don’t know how relatable this is, but something that I do a lot is I’ll go to a convention or a premiere or a show or whatever, and I will become so inspired. I’ll be like that DND thing, you gained Bardic Inspiration, right? You have heroic inspiration now, and I feel like I need to do something with it. And so when I came back, I posted in the chat, I was like, fam, if we actually want to do a podcast, I don’t mind being the host. I was a teacher for 13 years, and I’ve grown very used to public speaking, it doesn’t bother me having my face put out there, having my voice put out there. I don’t really like listening back to my voice, but who does, you know?

Lewis:
I don’t mind it. Also for context, I’ve been doing YouTube off and on since about 2006, right.

TK:
And I definitely have not. I went on one podcast episode in my life before we started this, and that was the extent of that. So, yeah, we all were super hype directly after the premiere, because not only those of us that were there, we were buzzing about it physically. But we were also chucking every bit of information we possibly could into the group chat. And then everybody else was getting hype over it too. So I think as a collective group, we kind of were like, we could actually do this, we could actually make this happen. So then we were like, okay, well, we’ll need an editor and a couple people step forward. I had already, volunteered to be the host, and then Amanda immediately was like, I can be on an episode, you know? So she was on the pilot episode of this podcast. Go listen to it, because her voice is incredible. I could listen to her speak for hours, days at a time, and nugget like, I love a Scottish accent. And her voice is great.

Lewis:
And there may be more opportunity to do that in future, which by the time this goes out, it will either happened or not, right?

TK:
Yeah.

Lewis:
I did enjoy the entire team collectively just losing its shit because you a horn player has never heard of Madness.

TK:
I mean, there are a lot of brands out there… no one has ever heard of my trumpet brand. Like, literally no one has heard of a Vintage One Trump.

Lewis:
I said Madness, as in the band.

TK:
Oh, Madness! No, I definitely didn’t know. I know Our House, and that’s pretty much it.

Lewis:
I’m so jealous you get to go, that seems like such a good live gig.

TK:
The problem with being a professional musician, aka I have a Bachelor’s in music education, is that I don’t know shit about current artists or whatever it’s awful.

Lewis:
I’m going to really call you out because they’ve been around since the 70s.

TK:
Newer artists, you know what I mean? I am also a 300 year old vampire, just like you. Yeah, we’re twins separated at birth, actually.

Lewis:
We got even more twinnish after I set my hair on fire. So, yeah, when you see me in a few episode’s time, I’m going to look very different, because that was recorded two months ago.

TK:
I totally forgot that that’s how timelines work, but that’s really funny!

Lewis:
Yep. I’m actually going to have hair and what am I? Episode nine?

TK:
I’m not sure if we’re allowed to talk about this, but didn’t the Taskmaster YouTube channel just post a thing about the caravan? But then I think they took it down really fast?

Lewis:
Did they? I saw that it was posted…

TK:
I mean it might be reposted, I’m not caught up with the chat…

Lewis:
I woke up in the middle of something weird.

TK:
Yeah. What happened in the video was like, Alex was like, this is a video that Greg definitely sent me in 2016, or whatever the year was. And it’s clearly Greg today, beard, glasses, a completely different looking guy.

Lewis:
Totally white hair.

TK:
Yeah. It’s like… I don’t think that’s how time works.

Lewis:
But, yeah, well, we, we get to pull a similar thing because I was a dumb ass. I miss my hair.

TK:
Well, we should probably wrap up, because my partner just got home. But do you have any other questions, or were those your main ones?

Lewis:
Well, I’m going to wrap it up. It’s my podcast now!

TK:
Goddamn it! Fine! Somebody else can do the work for once!

Lewis:
I think this will have hopefully gone a ways towards settling any discomfort, odd feelings, rumors. Is there anything else you’d like to plug?

TK:
OGo listen to the Horne Section Podcast!

Lewis:
It’s very good.

TK:
Yeah, it should be all out. Go listen to all of Sticky Streets in a row and see if you can make heads or tails of it.

Lewis:
Cool. Well, thank you. I guess it’s an odd situation.
Well, we will see you next week. The YouTube schedules may be changing a little bit, maybe they have by the time this goes out, we’re still tinkering with things. Anyway, thank you for watching. Outro voiceover now!

TK:
Majestically sees us out with their cover of Less is More.

VO
Hello and welcome to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast. This week, TK is speaking with Little Alex Horne about fic, fandom, and everything in between. We can’t quite believe it either.

TK
Welcome, Alex Horne, to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast.

Alex
Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be on this wonderful podcast. The transformative one. Thank you for having me. It’s very nice to get an invite.

TK
Wild that we got you so early. We’ve only been a podcast for a few weeks now, so it’s pretty exciting.

Alex
Well, it’s exciting for me, too. I mean, I do have a policy of saying yes to most things, but also, you’ve been on my podcast, so this is only fair.

TK
That’s true. And I had a lot of fun being on your podcast.

Alex
Despite the technical difficulties.

TK
There were a lot. I was talking to Joe [Auckland] because he was on this podcast last week. We recorded and we had a great time, and he said that he listened to my episode and it sounds really good. And I was like, “Well that’s good, because from my end it sounded like shit.”

Alex
Yeah weirdly, it sounds fine. I mean, the good thing about our one is that there’s six people anyway, and then you’re there too, so there’s always something going on. But you added a nice element and something a bit different. So it’s all good. But that podcast is in the past now. This is where we are.

TK
Yes. Here we are. I don’t know how to segue into this, so I’m just going to say: let’s talk about fanfic.

Alex
Let’s do it. Finally.

TK
Now, you are no stranger to fanfic yourself, writing it-wise, because on The Horne Section podcast, I assume it’s you that writes Sticky Streets. Is that correct?

Alex
Yeah, that is correct. Is that what that’s classified…?

TK
That’s what it is, Alex. You’re writing fanfic. Yeah.

Alex
Well that’s interesting. I never thought of it like that. I just thought that I was scribbling a story down as quick as possible. But I guess you’re right. It’s a fantasy world about a real person, in this case, Richard Madeley. So I’m writing fanfic about Richard Madeley. Interesting. And Jon Bon Jovi.

TK
So that’s what we call RPF, which stands for real person fiction. Which is, as you know, what a lot of fics are about you and Greg, is RPF. But before we get to that, there are sometimes little fanfics about you in the Taskmaster universe, such as the one you did for the live task in the New York City premiere a few months ago and the musical chairs task in Series 15. So it’s like, “Alex goes about his day and blah blah, blah.” I think usually Greg reads it, and then once the contestant hears a certain word, they have to do something like pop a balloon or whatever. Who writes those stories? Is it you?

Alex
I see what you mean. Yes, it would be. Sorry. There’s so many things going on. Because there’s, yeah, these fictional stories out there about me and Greg. But you’re talking about the stories which are within tasks. So these are the real things in the show, but they’re also fiction. A combination of me or a member of the team, like Andrew or Jenny or Amy. So, someone from our little, very small production team. Depending on the time available. They’re very talented. And also they can absolutely do it if I don’t have time. And if that’s the case, I will then potentially edit that or I will write it and they will edit mine. So it’s collaborative.

TK
Nice. We don’t have a lot of them. But there are more than one. So I had to bring it up.

Alex
No, it’s funny. Yeah, it’s a good – I’m glad people notice what we’re up to. Often I find other people know more about the show than me.

TK
Well, yeah. But also, we’re the ones that are rewatching it constantly, multiple times. And making gif sets and fan videos and art and fics and doing research on making spreadsheets and stats and everything.

Alex
I’m so sorry. [He was letting podcast dog in.] Yeah, I don’t rewatch it, except I have to occasionally because we do sort of, compilations at the end of a series now. And yeah, occasionally something comes up because I see somebody else’s edit on YouTube. What’s it called when they do an edit to a song? That’s got a name, hasn’t it?

TK
Oh, it’s usually like an AMV. So, like a music video type of thing.

Alex
Some of them are so brilliant. And I’m sort of taken away into, “Oh, this is a good program. Oh, there I am!” Which is really nice. But then you catch yourself that you realize you’re watching yourself, and that’s not… never that good.

TK
Oh, because it’s just weird or because you don’t like watching yourself?

Alex
I don’t mind watching myself, but there’s better things to be doing with my time, I think. And it’s definitely narcissistic. Other people’s – fans’ – work. I mean, fanart has obviously, you’re involved in that and there’s such talented people out there, including yourself. But that was the first sort of experience I had of other people creating content around the show.

TK
Was the videos or the art?

Alex
The art – it was drawings first and then the videos. And people making their own version of the show as well, and often editing it for weeks. And yeah, some high quality stuff out there.

TK
So your first exposure to fanworks was through art and then videos. But when did you find out about fanfiction and how did you find out about it?

Alex
That’s a very good point. I don’t have a specific moment when I remember seeing it, but I know the first time Greg and I dealt with it was on The Horne Section podcast, where we read out a story, and I think it was immediately before that. I think Greg was coming on the podcast, so I Googled – you know, whenever we have guests on the podcast, I would just be Googling their name and seeing what comes up – so I think it was that. I think I Googled him and me, and there it was, this stuff, and I had no idea it was there, and once you’re aware of it, it’s hilarious and fun and, you know. It’s not really shocking because nothing’s shocking, really, is it? It’s just words. But, yeah, let’s say it was around then. So I don’t know when that was. Six, five, six, six, seven years ago?

TK
Yeah, I don’t remember exactly what date that episode came out. Obviously I know which one you’re talking about, but.

Alex
But pre-COVID, I think. Maybe? Maybe not.

TK
So you Googled “Greg and Alex,” and then you found that poem, and you just decided to roll with it?

Alex
I just decided to go with it because I guess I thought it was fair game in that – I don’t want to offend anyone who’s spent the time writing these things, because I do hopefully normally say, “There’s good stuff there,” – But I also think, I suppose if they’re using my name, I can use their stuff, you know, if I’m the person in it, I can read it out.

TK
That’s fair. Yeah. That totally makes sense.

Alex
The podcast is a bit of a Wild West anyway because we play, don’t tell anyone, but we play in songs by the Beatles sometimes and no one seems to mind. But they definitely should mind. So, yeah, I don’t know, if it was telly, we would be asking permission, and so on, but it feels like it’s fun to just go for it and then we read it out on the podcast and then somebody gets in touch and says, “Oh, that’s my thing. That’s great that you mentioned it.” And it seems quite a positive, collaborative world. So hopefully we haven’t upset anyone by alluding to them. And we’re not trying to treat them too frivolously. But I don’t really know what – I mean, you might be able to help me – I don’t quite know what the point of them…?

TK
I know what you’re asking. So, I’ll say that normally when people write RPF (real personal fiction), it’s kind of a community thing, weirdly. The number one rule, pretty much, is: don’t share your fic with the people. And that’s not because you’re not allowed to read it or whatever. It’s not written for you, if that makes sense.

Alex
I get that.

TK
It’s written for the fans. And so, you know, we have this online community that we just talk about the show and we talk about the characters of you and Greg on the show, and you give us all these weird bits of lore that the Taskmaster and the Assistant go through, and we’re like, “This doesn’t make any sense. Why don’t we write about it and do all this thinking about it and turn it into our own transformative works?” And it’s fun and it’s creative and you share it with your friends and they all go nuts for it. And so it really helps to build this sense of community. And you write hundreds of thousands of words for fun, which is nuts.

Alex
Yeah, that all makes sense. And it’s, you know, it’s sweet and sort of innocent.

TK
I mean, we’re not doing it maliciously or anything.

Alex
Oh, no, completely. But I do know what you mean about how you’re not writing it for me and Greg and also you’re not sending it to me and Greg. I guess it’s hard nowadays to not see some of it because of the way people get in tou-, you know, it’s so easy to get in touch with everyone nowadays. You know, you @ someone in and say, “Have you seen this thing?” But, I can’t imagine many people taking it the wrong way. And you know, to some extent, what me and Greg are like. And I think it’s pretty clear, you know, we’ve put ourselves up as figures of fun anyway, so you can’t be too precious about your personas. It’s just funny. I guess once you go on telly, you are handing over a bit of privacy and it’s the choice you make. But I know we both think it’s great. And fully support the community.

TK
Well, thank you. We appreciate that. Now, this is an interesting thing for the fandom because normally when you write RPF, the people that are in the fics don’t engage with them at all, which is totally valid. But you and Greg have made a point to bring it up multiple times on the show and in the New York City premiere and different podcasts and all this kind of stuff. And every time – oh, and Seth Meyers. And every time you do, it’s – podcast cat, don’t.

Alex
Aw, podcast cat! My podcast dog has left us. She’s gone to another room.

TK
That’s too bad. We’re always so thrilled when you bring it up because it is normally not something that happens with communities like this. So it’s just hilarious that you guys think it’s fun and funny and good writing. And you guys treat it with, I’ve said before, a certain kind of reverence, almost, of like, “This is funny, but it’s not bad,” you know what I mean? Which is a huge difference between, some celebrities could easily be like, “This is shit, I don’t want to ever think about this again or look at it again” or whatever. But you two seem to really roll with it, which is really refreshing.

Alex
Well, that’s good to hear. Yeah. I mean, I should stress, we’re not reading it every day.

TK
[chokes on their tea]

Alex
But when we dip our toes into it, we like what we see. It’s funny, but yeah, in the same way as I don’t watch myself on YouTube, I also don’t read about myself online unless it’s for a purpose, I suppose. I guess one weird thing is when you’re a parent, you do think, “Oh God, there’s so much of me out there,” on the show anyway, but then, my kids are teenagers now, pretty much and they’ll find what they find and hopefully take it in the right way. There’s no point thinking about that sort of thing. There are worse things.

TK
No, that’s definitely true. So you said you don’t read it every day, but to what extent do you actually read these things? You’re not out there reading full length fics, are you?

Alex
No. Some of them are really long. No, I mean, to be completely honest, what’s happened is, for example, The Horne Section podcast was, discovering this stuff for the first time and thinking, “Oh wow, let’s find something that’s the right length to use in a podcast.” And then with Seth Meyers, it was similar. It was, “Okay, I think this is interesting and funny,” and it sort of just shows the impact that our stupid TV show can have, the ripples it can have, that we didn’t expect. So then it was a case of finding some titles and stories that weren’t unsuitable for TV. Some are. And again, which had the right tone. So it was more harvesting it for that, but also enjoying the research. So, reading a bit more than I needed to do, but also you are reading it for that purpose, if that makes sense.

TK
So some of the Seth Meyers fics you brought up, one of them is 20,000 words long. You didn’t read that whole thing, surely?

Alex
No, I don’t think I did, but I sort of got the gist. I read the beginning and the end, and they’re pretty rich… things. You want to read it in small bites. So there was a certain amount of panic at that point of, we had to have stuff to say to Seth. So we’re looking at juxtaposition of titles and yeah, so no, I didn’t read the full 20,000 words. So apologies to the author.

TK
Great. So are you and Greg doing this together or are you doing it separately and coming together and being like, “Hey, I found this title that’s really good. What do you think?”

Alex
Yeah, it’s very much like how the show works on this occasion, in that I went away and did the stuff and sent my favorite bits to Greg, and then he hand-picked his favorite bits of my favorite bits.

TK
Right. So as far as we know, Greg’s not reading anything.

Alex
I can’t talk for Greg and his habits. I don’t know.

TK
One day we’ll get him on the podcast and we’ll ask him.

Alex
He’s definitely got the links to things. I reckon he’s dipped his toe in, but I don’t know. His enormous toe.

TK
Incredible. Earlier you said you weren’t surprised that there were fanfics of you two out there. So had you been aware of fanfiction before Taskmaster fanfiction or…?

Alex
I don’t know, probably not. There’s not a lot that surprises me because lots of weird things happen with the show and just anyway in life. So I think that’s why I wasn’t surprised in that – we’ve met a lot of people who’ve got tattoos of us on various places. And I guess that’s a similar vibe. And we are also aware that we slightly fuel the flames a little bit with moments in the show, and that’s all quite fun. And we’re often described as fairly homoerotic relationship or frustrated, which we think is just funny and very happy to play up to that. So yeah, I don’t think it came as a huge shock.

TK
Now that you’re aware of fanfic, do you play into those roles more because of it or has it not affected that at all?

Alex
I don’t think we do. We definitely don’t deliberately. I mean who knows, subconsciously? We do know the moments that get a bigger reaction online than others. And it would be easy to dwell on that more. But I think we are always just trying to be funny. So the first rule is just: is this going to make people laugh? And also it is true that Greg doesn’t know what I’m going to say in my bits. I know roughly what he’s going to say but I don’t know how he’s going to react. Everything he says that isn’t scripted is reacting in the moment. And I don’t know how he’s going to react to my bits. So we don’t have a meeting and go, “Let’s try to play on that for a bit.” So no, I think it’s pretty organic, whatever happens. I don’t think there’s a deliberate ploy to get more stories written or to particularly tickle one community because it’s obviously quite niche. But then it is a niche show anyway, it’s a culty thing.

TK
There’s this joke that we have in the community that is something Greg used to say. I don’t think he really says it anymore. And he’s like, “I just don’t know where these people are getting these ideas from.” But then there’s so many examples of shit that you two do and it’s like, “How are we supposed to interpret this any other way?” And I think at this point he’s kind of – I don’t think he’s able to say that anymore, because I think you two have just done enough stuff that, there’s no denying that it’s fodder for fic writers and stuff like that.

Alex
He has a slightly different relationship with the show to me, I suppose, because he’s all about the studio bit. And at that point he is running the show and it’s all on his shoulders. But I suppose I have to live through it throughout the year a bit more so when you talk about Taskmaster lore and all those bits and bobs around it, I think I’m more aware of those things than he is, probably. And one thing I do love about the community is something that myself and a guy called Dan Trelfor who works on the show, we’ve talked a lot about doing an origin story of why Greg is in charge and why I’ve got this job, and why these people are doing these things for him. And there’s definitely a crossover there with stories that are written. And I like the idea of taking the stupid things we do seriously and trying to explain a reason for it all.

TK
Not to preemptively ask what the lore would be, but do you have an answer for that? Because clearly there is a character for you and Greg on the show. Did you come up with those characters on purpose or did it just kind of naturally evolve into what it is today?

Alex
Very much natural evolution. And I don’t think we have got a clear idea of, you know, if you think of Batman being this billionaire who’s trying to solve the evils of the world, I guess there’s some sort of thing where Greg has somehow been bestowed this title, and he has to wear a suit and he has to sit on a throne. So, yeah, I think in the back of my mind, there is a reason for all these things. And Dan and I are going to hopefully put it into some sort of written form at some point. But it’s ludicrous and it definitely wasn’t there at the beginning. It’s just sort of naturally arisen.

TK
Interesting. Have you seen Greg’s current show/tour?

Alex
I have not. No, I’m going to go see it at a certain point with lots of the Taskmaster team. So no. I’m biding my time. I’ve heard lots of great things.

TK
Have you heard about the bit where he mentions you?

Alex
No. I do know he mentions me, but I don’t really know what he says.

TK
Cool. Well, I’ll be interested to see what your thoughts on that are when you find out. I won’t spoil it for you.

Alex
Yeah, it’s funny, that. Tim Key’s got a show at the moment, which, I think I’m mentioned in that. Or at least I was, and I didn’t know I was going to be, and I was in the audience watching. I go, “Oh, oh, that’s interesting.” But I think whatever it is, because Tim and Greg are good friends of mine, that he could say anything. It wouldn’t bother me, I think.

TK
It’s an interesting choice of words, I think. But anyway, going back to: the website that you found the original first Horne Section podcast fic on, you have been using that same website for your research into picking out fics for Seth Meyers and name dropping titles on the show and everything. Are you aware of the tagging system on that website?

Alex
No. I’m not aware of how a lot of that works. I mean, there’s some, awful lot of words and, yeah. No, please educate me.

TK
So there’s a tagging system where, basically you put tags in the fic so that people can know what the fic is about, like what it has in it. So if I write a fic about working with shelter animals, my tags would include: cats, dogs, shelter work, or something like that.

Alex
Makes sense.

TK
There’s a tag specifically for you. It’s called: Alex Horne, Do Not Read. Which obviously, you’ve skipped past.

Alex
I think it crossed my mind I shouldn’t because it said “don’t.” But it’s also crossed my mind that I probably should if it says “don’t”.

TK
There are variations on the tag now, so there’s Alex Horne You Can Read This, Alex Horne Do Not Read, Alex Horne You’re a Little Shit if You Read This, Alex Horne You Owe Me $50 if you read this.

Alex
Oh, that’s interesting. I mean, they need to focus – yeah, people like me aren’t reading the tags.

TK
Okay, well, that’s good to know.

Alex
Because I’m not familiar enough with the system, I suppose.

TK
So, are you reading summaries or just titles?

Alex
Titles, and then I’m either in or out. Because that’s how I do it with books. That’s how I read things.

TK
Fair enough. Well, we’re glad that you like the stuff that we write.

Alex
So I could use the tags to search for Alex Do Not Read.

TK
Yeah, I guess… Now I feel like I shouldn’t have told you that.

Alex
I could have worked it out myself probably.

TK
You can use the tag system to search for Alex Horne Do Not Read or any other specific tags you want to find if you were so inclined, I suppose.

Alex
Good to know.

TK
Before we move on from fanfic, there’s something that we like to do as a writing community. And I kind of mentioned this earlier that we’re a community that kind of feeds off each other and gets a lot of inspiration from each other and all this kind of stuff. And often we’ll do this thing where we offer each other writing ideas or what we call “writing prompts.” And so it’ll be like, “February is Valentine’s Day theme prompt,” whatever. Or Christmas prompts or whatever. “Write about Greg and Alex having a wonderful Christmas time.” That’s the prompt. And then you can just do whatever you want with that. So if you were to give the community some themes or prompts to write, what would you give us?

Alex
Well, I guess I would have said “origin story,” but I don’t want – we often have this thing where I’m really worried about plagiarizing other people and nicking their ideas. So maybe avoid that because you’ll get cross when we write this book and you’ll think we’ve nicked the ideas. But it’s a good question. I’m just gonna let podcast dog back in. So just general themes. Here she comes. I wouldn’t mind reading people’s creative takes on how the tasks are come up with, or how I come up with – how they’re tested. You know, I wouldn’t mind a sort of extreme version of that. And people, losing limbs or whatever, you know, in the testing process.

TK
[laughing] Oh my gosh! Okay.

Alex
I think the mundane – I like the munda-, we’re in the Taskmaster house most of the year. There’s people in there right now, even though we’re not filming, beavering away. And the idea of that being sort of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-style house, I quite like. I don’t know if that’s enough of a theme, but task testing, I’d go with. We’ve just had Mothering Sunday. I’d avoid that. Pancake Day is always the funniest day of the year here for me. We did a good Horne Section song about Pancake Day. I wouldn’t mind reading what Greg and I get up to on Pancake Day.

TK
Cool. Well, expect a lot of Pancake Day fics to drop at some point. So, we too have games on our podcast, and the game that we’re going to play today is called What is it Alex Has Been? And the game is that I will read you five occupations or identities. And you have to tell me which of these you think Alex has been in a fanfic, and which you think Alex has not yet been in a fanfic.

Alex
Wow. Okay, great stuff.

TK
So this is either something that already exists or it hasn’t been written yet. So I’m going to give you five. For extra points, if the fic does exist, you can also guess what Greg was in the fic, if that makes sense.

Alex
I think I understand.

TK
Okay, so, number one: jester.

Alex
I think I have been that, and I imagine Greg was the king.

TK
Yep. That’s correct. You get two points. All right. Second one: Grim Reaper.

Alex
Oh! I don’t like the idea of that. I’d say, I haven’t been the Grim Reaper.

TK
You have, actually.

Alex
Oh, what was Greg?

TK
He was just Greg.

Alex
[laughing] Okay.

TK
Next one is: painter.

Alex
Well, I – as a producer, I’m thinking some of these must not have happened, but producer seems like-, sorry, painter seems likely. So I’m going to say yes. And maybe Greg was the model.

TK
Actually, no, you haven’t been a painter yet. But there has been a fic where it was the other way around. So Greg was the painter, and you were the model.

Alex
Okay. That must be what I was thinking of.

TK
Next one: sous chef.

Alex
Yeah, I imagine so. And Greg was the real deal.

TK
Nope. Not yet. But actually, now that you say that, that’s a great fic prompt.

Alex
That is a good fic prompt.

TK
Yeah. Okay. Last one is: journalist.

Alex
Well, you wouldn’t have had three in a row that didn’t happen. So I think I was a journalist and maybe he was the newspaper owner, the mogul.

TK
No, it’s a good guess, but he was a teacher in that fic. Yeah. Interesting. An interesting dynamic.

Alex
Well, I’m looking forward to reading that one.

TK
Yeah. It’s a little older, I think, but anyway. I haven’t kept track of the stores, stores, stores, scores.

Alex
I didn’t do very well. I think I only got three.

TK
Yeah I don’t think you did very well either. Sorry. Oh well, it gave us more ideas of stuff to write, at least. So that’s good. Okay. Right back in it. So I have a bunch of random questions that aren’t particularly tied to anything. So we’re just gonna start. First question is, are there Easter eggs in Taskmaster that you’re shocked that fans catch, or are there Easter eggs that you thought were obvious, and you’re disappointed that people didn’t find?

Alex
The first. There are Easter eggs, which we put in specifically for certain sorts of people, and they are, I think, every time spotted quickly. I mean, I did this stupid book, the Treasure Hunt book. Bring Me the Head of the Taskmaster. I was amazed by how fast people got through it. And, you know, we luckily, a lot of that was online so we could keep adding extra clues because people were so much smarter than we thought. So yeah, I’m not sure if every Easter egg has been found. Let’s say, definitely not. But annoyingly, I’m the wrong person to speak to about this. Andrew on the team. Andy on the team, they’re better at hiding them than me. I think, yeah. Again, I don’t want to, you know, I care about the show an awful lot, but I can only have so many things in my head. So, yeah, I do know that we quite often hint at the next cast’s names somewhere. People always conjecture about who that’s going to be and they haven’t always been spotted, those clues.

TK
Hmm, yeah. Interesting. Good to know that that’s a thing. Like an actual thing.

Alex
Yeah it is a deliberate thing.

TK
The community that I’m in, online, we’ve definitely noticed it in the last couple series and we’re like, “Is this just random letters or is this actually, does this actually mean something?”

Alex
There’s very little random. We also just like to have things that refer back to things that have happened in the show, you know, eight series before. And sometimes there are numbers which we have chosen and we can’t remember why we chose them. They had some meaning at some point.

TK
That’s cool. Will The Horne Section ever do another task?

Alex
I expect so, yeah. I like having musical tasks. I like having them in the show. But you don’t want to repeat yourself and you don’t want to call on them too often. So nothing in the near future. But I’m sure we’ll get them back.

TK
Nice. Yeah, we love seeing the boys on. It’s always like, “I know those people!”

Alex
It’s fun having them and they know the deal. So yeah, I’m sure.

TK
Cool. In the studio, I’ve never been to a studio record, but apparently there are pre-show improvs that you and Greg do with the audience, I guess? When did that start, and whose idea was it?

Alex
Well it’s not my idea. Basically, in the studio, Greg comes on, says hello to the audience, then he brings me on and makes me improvise something, which is funny because I can’t do it. I’m not an improviser, I can’t sing, I can’t dance, so he makes me do those things. And I don’t know when it started. It wasn’t from the very beginning, but he enjoys it and it puts us both at ease. And I always dread it slightly, but it does the job of getting my adrenaline going and brain whirring. So they’re not good comedy moments, but they’re quite funny.

TK
Will they ever be released? Are they recorded at all?

Alex
I hope they will never be released. And the odd one has maybe gone out as a sort of blooper type thing. Oh. there’s someone at the door, but I think my wife’s here. We’re fine.

TK
So, your iPad that you use on the show. Do you use an app for scoring on the iPad?

Alex
I can’t reveal the secrets of the iPad.

TK
I knew you would say that. I had to ask anyway.

Alex
No, there’s a lot going on, but I think it’s fun to not say exactly what happens. What I can tell you is that it’s not – a lot of people have said it’s just a blank thing or there’s nothing on it at all. It does things.

TK
It has a function. We just don’t know what the function is.

Alex
Exactly.

TK
I don’t know if you even know the answer to this or not, but my theory is that the iPads that the other assistants use, like Paul Williams and Tom Cashman and Mike Wozniak, do different things?

Alex
Yeah, I think they do do different things. I think Paul’s is the most similar to mine. That’s my guess.

TK
Interesting.

Alex
We don’t talk about these things. Very private.

TK
Internal secrets. The charity football match at Chesham last year. Where’s the video for that?

Alex
There’s a little trailer that we’ve made for this year’s one.

TK
I just watched it. Yeah.

Alex
So it’s mainly been used for that. But we filmed it just so we filmed it. So I don’t know where the footage is. It’s at Avalon somewhere, but it’s not going to be turned into anything. People have asked if we could stream it live so people can watch it, which is a lovely idea, but it’s so hard to do. Because it’s not a theater, you know, it’s a non-league football ground and people’s permission in the crowd, and there’s tons of kids and things. So yeah, and also, to be honest, the players don’t really want it to be released because they’re doing it for fun. And, you know, they’re hot and sweaty and they’re running around, and getting permission from everyone is a bit of a nightmare. So yeah, I don’t think it will… I think it’s sort of archive material. So in the future, you never know. Something might happen with it. But yeah, there’s no plan to release it.

TK
All right. Understandable. These questions are just not linked at all. So on Mark Watson’s series, he texted Greg 148 times. And apparently there’s a book of those texts that lives at the Taskmaster Live Experience?

Alex
Yeah, although that’s no longer going. So that was only a brief thing. So it’s now back in storage.

TK
I thought the Live Experience was moving. Or is it not?

Alex
Oh well that’s news to me. I think the plan is to do it again at some point but that was the end of the lease in that venue. We’ll see. In terms of the book…

TK
Yes. So the book is in storage. Will that ever be released in a digital format, do you think?

Alex
I have no idea. It’s a good question. If there’s enough clamor for it, I guess it’s the sort of thing we could do as a charity thing. We quite like raising money occasionally in that sort of, you know, with a stupid thing that people have to pay a small amount for. So maybe. Yeah. If you think it’d go down well, we’ll look into that.

TK
I can tell you personally, there are a ton of people that want that book released. There’s a lot of people that want to know – because we have a few texts, but we don’t have all of them.

Alex
You want the full thing.

TK
We want the full thing, Alex. I’m not demanding, but I’m asking nicely.

Alex
I’m going to write a note in my phone.

TK
Okay, great. I assume I know the answer to this – I’ll let you… [waiting for Alex to write the note]

Alex
Yeah. Noted.

TK
I assume it’s just a member of the crew, but who’s in charge of setting up, cleaning up, counting stuff for tasks? Measuring stuff for tasks. Because there’s quite a lot of large numbers involved in stuff.

Alex
Yeah, well, Andrew is our numbers guy who’s been on the show from the beginning, but the way it works is that the tasks are divided up amongst the team. So there’s four of them or five who, they’ll have a few tasks each. So you’re in charge of your tasks.

TK
Oh, that’s cool.

Alex
But they also have somebody else. They’ll cover each other in case one of them’s ill or whatever. So yeah, you have your own task and then you’ll be in charge of everything. And we’ve got a shared document where I write my notes and they add numbers to it and that sort of thing. So it’s quite a fairly hodgepodge homemade system that works.

TK
I always kind of feel bad for the people that have to clean up the forks and marbles off the ground and…

Alex
Yeah, I feel bad as well, but I guess there are worse things.

TK
That’s true. Can you – I know this is a podcast medium, but we’re recording a video on this – can you count to five for me on your hand?

Alex
Yeah, I know where you’re going with this. Yeah. [counts to five on his hand: thumb, index, middle, pinky, ring] There it is.

TK
Why do you – when did you start doing that and why?

Alex
It’s a tendon thing. It’s very boring. It’s a biological thing. I can’t lift this finger up by itself. Can you?

[TK can and does.]

Alex
Your fourth – yeah. I can’t, so the one next to my middle finger. So you’ve got your thumb, your index, your middle. The next one is the ring finger, I suppose. I can’t lift it up unless the little finger’s up I can halfway. It’s a very boring thing. Same on both hands.

TK
That’s cool.

Alex
And the odd person’s got in touch and said, “That’s how I count too!” but not many.

TK
Yeah. Interesting. The next question is what’s your favorite smell?

Alex
I don’t think I’ve got a favorite smell. There are smells I like. You know, it’s quite like, I mean, I’m next to my dog. I quite like when she comes back from a groom and the talcum powder smell. That’s a good smell. That’s gotta be up there with my favorites, but I like most things. I think I probably will go for her talcum powder. We had a long chat yesterday – I was with some friends – talking about aftershave and what a ripoff that is. So it’s definitely not one of them. You know, I like quite old, dusty things.

TK
An old book. Yeah.

Alex
Old book or old dog or clean dog.

TK
Old clean dog. How old is she?

Alex
Five and a half.

TK
Oh, she’s baby.

Alex
She’s not an old dog. She’s catching up with me, though.

TK
I thought she was an old lady for some reason, but I guess not.

Alex
She still looks like a puppy, but, yeah.

TK
She’s just baby. Okay, the next question is, it’s not really a question, but tell me about your metal phase.

Alex
Yeah, it’s definitely a phase. It’s over. But yeah, when Ben and Joe from the band and I were growing up, we would buy Kerrang! Magazine and Metal Hammer. We decorated our walls with posters of Slam, Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and we were quite specific about these bands. Motorhead, but never Bon Jovi or Aerosmith. We were very much on the metal side, not glam metal, we thought. Ben and Joe were into it. Joe was into it properly. Joe had long hair. I had semi long hair. We all wore black all the time. We got our patches that we ironed onto our leather, denim jackets, but I went to one gig, I can’t remember what it was called. Four initials that spelt out something like MEAT, but it wasn’t MEAT, I can really remember what it was. But I didn’t really like it. It was too noisy.

TK
Too loud. Yeah.

Alex
Ed Gamble’s, you know, a proper metal-er still. And so is Joe. Joe went to Napalm Death, I think, recently, and yeah, it’s not for me. I like Metallica because it’s quite gentle. That’s my phase. I was trying to fit in with my friends.

TK
That’s fair. Well, we’re gonna wrap up. On this podcast we usually ask the guest if they have any fanwork recommendations. So if you want to shout out any fan videos, fanart, fan creations, it doesn’t have to be fanfic. Just anything that pops into your head.

Alex
I guess what I would do, because I don’t really have any big recommendations here, but I happened to go down a bit of a wormhole from the Home Tasking that we did over lockdown, which was people sending videos of their families doing tasks that Greg and I set, and they are really lovely, and I like that they’re there as a bit of a record of the pandemic for what was going on in my life. And I think, you know, we’re five years on, they’re quite a happy memory that, you know, it wasn’t an easy time for people. But some good stuff happened. So I would go down there. So you’re looking at other people doing some really remarkable stuff. So yeah, if you’re bored, that’s my recommendation. Look up Home Tasking. I think it’s on the Taskmaster YouTube channel.

TK
I think I think you’re right.

Alex
But it was very much of its time. We talked recently about doing it again. And it’s a bit like No More Jockeys. It needs to be with the pandemic. So fingers crossed for another one of them soon.

TK (completely missing the joke)
Well you are currently touring with The Horne Section. So you’re touring this year. The Horne Section TV show is coming out with Series 2 in May?

Alex
Yes. At some point in May. We will release a date soon. I can’t say yet when, but yeah, it’s coming.

TK
Taskmaster Series 19 is coming out…?

Alex
In May as well, we think. But the very beginning of May we think. But again, I can’t tell you that.

TK
All right. That’s a long time between the premiere of the first episode.

Alex
Yeah. We’re not quite sure how these things work. We do what we’re told.

TK
Yeah, I know you’re not in charge of dates and stuff, so.

Alex
Sadly not.

TK
Is there anything else that you’re up to?

Alex
I have a book coming out, TK, which I’m very proud of. It’s a kid book called The Last Pebble. It looks like that. [shows TK the book]

TK
Oooooh.

Alex
Which I’m really pleased with. It’s a kid’s book which took me six years to write, but I think grownups will like it. I hope grownups will like it. And anyone in between kids and grownups.

TK
When is that coming out? Is it out?

Alex
No. Start of July. So there’ll be a whole – it’s a whole new world for me, the publishing. It’s quite personal, it feels, you know, it’s not a throw away. And if people don’t like it, it will sting. So I hope they like it. But it’s very sweet and innocent.

TK
That’s awesome. Are you still working on your sci-fi book?

Alex
I thought about that the other day. No, currently not. I think the trouble is, it wasn’t very good. And I think also I’m not a sci-fi writer, I’ve discovered.

TK
It’s hard.

Alex
I think I might not be a writer.

TK
Well, not with that attitude.

Alex
Yeah, I think I might be the past participle of a writer. Like a writtened. I’ve written and I’ve stopped. I writed.

TK
Well, keep doing it.

Alex
Okay. Thank you.

TK
Because, you know, anything that is fun is worth doing.

Alex
Yeah, it was hard work, though, writing that book.

TK
I mean, that’s fair. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on. We would obviously love to have you on in the future at any point. But ideally we’ll have you on with Greg at some point. That would be fun.

Alex
I’ll ask the question. Thank you so much. It’s been very fun. And now I have to go and pick up a child.

TK
Yes. All right. I’ll let you get to it. Okay. Well, thanks for coming.

Alex
Thanks again for seeing me earlier. I hope you’re wide awake. All right, goodbye everyone!

VO
And that was TK giving Alex Horne quite the education on fic and fandom, and we’d like to thank him once again for joining us this week. As always, you can check out all of the fanworks mentioned this episode on our website, tftaskmaster.uk. And if you don’t want to miss Joe Auckland later this month, make sure you subscribe here or anywhere else you get your podcasts. We’ve also got a Patreon now. Find that in the description or on our website where I will be posting all of the deleted scenes and secret behind the scenes clips from the show. The rest of the team might have things to put up there as well. I’m not sure. We’ve only just launched it.

VO
Hello and welcome to Transformative Taskmaster, a podcast by fans, for fans and about fans. This episode TK and Tasha will be talking about The Horne Section and The Taskmaster Live Experience. They’ll be telling first hand stories about these events and more, maybe it’s just me, but I think Tasha sounds a bit like Harriet Kemsley

TK
Welcome, Tasha, to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast!

Tasha
Hello. It’s it’s lovely to be here.

TK
Thank you so much for being here. Now, we have known each other for a little bit, and I am really excited to talk to you today about a couple different things.
And, when I asked our little group chat, you know, if you want to come on the podcast, like, let me know and let me know what you want to talk about. And you were like, I want to talk about why and how Taskmaster so strongly appeals to those people who are neurodivergent and how neurodivergence is approached in the show.
So tell me what, like what spoke to you about this?

Tasha
So, I mean, for me, I’m neurodivergent myself. I have ADHD and I’m currently waiting, awaiting my diagnosis for autism. And so I grew up watching a lot of game shows, and there wasn’t really any that made me fall in love with the game show, like the way Taskmaster has.
And I think for me, it’s just the way how everyone’s embraced, everyone’s different thinking styles. It’s not a traditional, oh this this is a correct way to do this, there’s a wrong way to do this. And I think there’s also there’s no social pressure or judgment from it. I actually often joke that if I had a 5’4” little assistant walking round behind me, I’d get so much done,
I’d get so much done. Like, I think everyone needs their own little Alex Horne.
And I mean, there is a structure, to the tasks and there’s a structure to the show, but I love that no one knows what someone else is going to do. And it’s a show and it’s and and, think that goes in. But like that reflects the community and that there’s a lot of neurodivergent people in the fan community, which then makes you feel safe.
If that makes sense? I feel like it’s, it’s an environment that I can be myself in, and it teaches me that it’s okay. I mean, I do have some examples if you’d want me to go through them? I’m quite happy to go through them.
So some of my contestant examples is one of the big ones is, my, my absolute angel Fern Brady, from series 14. So I loved that she had a she just said things how they were. She didn’t give her time to think. It just came out. And I love that because I do that all the time. My mouth is about three minutes ahead of my brain. It’s got me into trouble a few times, but at the same time you could see the logic in the way she did things.
And I think one of the other things was what I related to an awful lot, because when I first watched this, I, I hadn’t really gotten to grips with what having ADHD was like. But one of them was when Rhod Gilbert was on it. And I saw him just doing stuff, just not even thinking, just doing things.
Going in and throwing himself into it. Because that’s what I do all the time, and I don’t think about the consequences. I mean, I don’t think I’d go as far as tying Alex Horne up to a chair and forcing him to drink coffee, but it’s the way his whole behavior and the whole, could you just give me a minute to think? Because I say that to everyone 20 times a day? Just give me a minute, please, just let me think.
But, Yeah, I think that’s one of the, the biggest things for me. Is that it makes me feel included. It makes me feel included. It makes me feel safe. And I’m able, I’m able to see people like me on screen in a positive way.

TK
Yeah, representation is super important, for sure.

Tasha
Absolutely, absolutely. And Taskmaster is one of those shows that it doesn’t matter who you are, it’s about how you do the task. I, I mean, it’s not just neurodivergency, that they’re inclusive of, they’re inclusive of everyone, and it doesn’t matter.

TK
Yeah. Yeah, that’s been really refreshing, honestly. I mean, I know that Alex will sometimes talk in interviews and stuff about how in the early days of Taskmaster, there wasn’t a lot of, variancy for contestants. You know, like they only had one woman in the first series and all that kind of stuff, but I they, it’s something that they’re definitely aware of now and it’s something that they actively work to, to include now. Like, is being mindful of like, what, what type of people and the variety of people that they get on the show. And it’s, it’s definitely obvious even in so, like they just were just in New York last month and I got to go to the Q&A and one of the questions that they were asked was like, if you had to choose your lineup of five contestants from like, I think it was like, long dead famous people, or something like that, who would you pick?
And they were like, they were like, okay, let’s get like, Jesus. We’ll get like Genghis Khan. And then, and then Alex is like, okay, but we need like a woman now. {laughs] So like it’s definitely, definitely like at the forefront of their minds, which is really cool. To see that being, like, actively represented and, like, fought for and that kind of stuff, which is, which is awesome.
But going back to the neurodivergence specifically, I know that oftentimes either Greg on the show or like Ed Gamble on the The Official Taskmaster Podcast will say, you know, like, oh, I watched this task, and in my mind, XYZ is route one. And they always talk about route one, you know? And then it’s like the contestant will be like, oh, my route one is way different than your route one like that is not what I thought of at all. Like there’s absolutely no way I would have thought about that. And yeah, and it’s funny because like, especially listening to The Official Taskmaster Podcast, when they talk back through the tasks and, and Ed will sometimes ask the guests, like, how would you have done such and such task, or what would you have brought in for the prize task? And so, and usually he’ll share like, what he would have done.
And then the guest shares what they would have done. And that’s always something I feel like it’s, it’s normally something like, oh, well, my first thought was this. And then the other person is like, well, my first thought was something completely different. So it’s like, yeah, we, we really are. You know, a human race that just, all of our brains just work differently, and that’s something to be embraced for sure. And Taskmaster definitely digs into that.

Tasha
Yeah. Also, I mean, one of the things that I do also like about it is when there are insults from Greg. It’s never about, anything, that he could purposely hurt someone with. So he won’t talk about someone’s gender, he won’t talk about someone’s sexuality, he won’t talk about something that’s medically wrong with them. He’ll make a joke and say, you know, something like, are you stupid? But sometimes even I say that when I’m watching some of these contestants. But I’m thinking, why would you do that? I mean, with John Kearns, we’re not going to talk about John Kearns. [TK laughs]
But I love that there is that as well. I just wanted to put in there as well that a lot of Greg’s insults, are never personal. They’re always, performance based, which I think is nice, especially from a comedian.

TK
Yeah, yeah. And, I’m not sure if you’ve watched any of the other versions of Taskmaster, like the Australia or New Zealand. Those are, the only two I have. I have other ones that I’ve watched, which is like just about anyone. I’ve watched which is,

Tasha
I’ve watched a bit, I won’t, be horrible. There’s nothing wrong with them. Absolutely nothing wrong with them. I think they’re all doing a great job. It just doesn’t resonate with me as much. I don’t feel as connected to it. But there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just putting it out there. There’s nothing wrong with them. I think they’re all doing a great job.

TK
Right, well, I mean, it’s funny because, I was watching, I think, Australia at Taskmaster Australia, and they had Reese Nicholson on, and Rhys is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. And I was like, so hype to be like let’s go. Like we had Mae Martin, and now we have Rhys Nicholson, like, this is amazing. And, they actually do kind of dig into talking more about like, Reese is non-binary-ness. Especially because, well, for one thing, Rhys will be bringing it up and they’ll be like, you know, they’re like, well, just because I’m non-binary like you as a straight white man, like you can’t, you know, say anything, nah, I’m just kidding.
And then there’s one. there’s one episode where they’re filming in the house for a task, and Tom Cashman accidentally misgenders Rhys and then corrects himself, which is really nice. And then, I’ve, Rhys makes a joke about it, like, offhand, and it’s just like, a very, very casual, like, friendly type of thing, which is, you know, it’s like, yeah, we’re we know you’re going to make mistakes. It’s okay. Like, as long as you correct yourself, it’s okay. So I like that they, they like embrace that. That bit of you know we’re not always going to be perfect but we sure are going to try which is really, refreshing to see. Honestly.

Tasha
Absolutely. That, that’s nice. I mean, obviously my pronouns are she/her, but I do, I have a lot of friends who identify as trans and non-binary, and it is really nice to see that becoming just normal. And it is lovely. It’s nice to see they’re not considered this special breed of people that people don’t like. You know, [whispering] they can’t be part of society. We don’t talk about them. [normal voice] Like no, they’re normal people, leave them alone, they’re fine. And, as I said, as someone who isn’t doesn’t identify as non-binary or trans, even for me, it’s, it was so nice to see that on screen because, I mean, we’re all human beings. We all bleed the same. You know, it doesn’t matter who you are.

TK
Yeah, one of the, one of my all time favorite contestants, and again, like being, like an American, I don’t necessarily know a lot of Britcom people, like, in the first place. And so any time a new series comes out, usually I have no clue who, like any of them, are. And there, there are certain people that, you know, all happen to not like in, in this upcoming series.
I don’t even know what his name is. Mat. Something.

Tasha
Mathew Baynton

TK
Yes. So I actually know him because I just binge watched all of Ghost’s UK. And I was like, I know who that is! Oh my God. Yeah, but anyways, so, like, when Julian Clary came on, I had no idea who he was, which, now seems so wild to me that I wouldn’t know who he is. And I remember at the time when, his series came out, a lot of people were like, wow, they got Julian Clary, to go on Taskmaster. And I was like, I don’t know why that’s exciting? but like, I did a little research and I was like, oh, that is really exciting. Okay, like, let’s go.

Tasha
Oh yeah, the man’s a pioneer. It was it was so good. I don’t know if you find it as well, but you also find that because even as a Brit, there are there’s been so many times where I’ve watched Taskmaster and I’ve seen contestants and I’ve sat there and thought, I don’t know who these people are. Which is nice, though, because it introduces you to a lot more comedians and comedic actors. That are hilarious. Absolutely, they’re just so funny. Like, I didn’t know who Sam Campbell was, until Taskmaster. And I absolutely love, love him. He’s just this little weirdo, and he’s just brilliant. He’s just insane and I absolutely love him. You also find that after watching Taskmaster, and then you go and watch another show that it’s not. Oh, I know this person on Taskmaster from this show. It’s, they were on Taskmaster! And I think that’s really nice that you’re expanding your whole comedy circle of people. And I found that from the times that I’ve watched, because similar to you, when I’ve watched the New Zealand and the Australian Taskmaster, I don’t know who these people are.
But there’s been a few. There’s been times where I’ve watched it and absolutely loved the comedians on it, which I think is nice. I think it’s great.

TK
Yeah, yeah, it’s definitely it’s a lot of fun to I mean, like I said, I was just watching Ghosts and dude, there’s like a whole lot of people from Taskmaster. I was like, oh, Kiell, oh, Charlotte. Richie, oh, Lolly Adefope. I was like, I know all these people.
And like, even, you know, like, even like the, you know, because they have a couple characters that are just kind of one offs. And I’m sitting here watching Ghosts, my partner not watching Ghosts, but like kind of watching it, like from, you know, from his computer, like on my computer.
And he’s like, oh, it’s Jessica Knappett, and I’m like, are you actually paying attention? Like, what’s happening? So yeah, but now I feel like, you know, now that I’ve watched all of Ghosts, I was like, oh, you know, I would really love to see this person on Taskmaster. And so, yeah, but it’s also funny because like, I, I watched Kiell’s season, series before I watched Ghosts.
And so there was like so many inside jokes on the show. It’s like, and Kiell from Ghosts and I’m like, I don’t know what that means, but ok. But now, like, so, so like Mat is going to be on the, next series, series 19 and, I think like the Taskmaster Twitter account or something, posted a tweet that was like the five portraits of all of the contestants and Kiell

Tasha
oh, that was.

TK
And Kiell commented on it and he was like, why is there only four? Like, I understand this joke now because I’ve watched ghosts. So yeah, it’s a it’s it feels like very inclusive, you know, like not not just in the way that you can appreciate more inside jokes, but just in the fact that, like, seemingly all these people know each other and just embrace the diversity and everything and it’s, it’s pretty special.
Okay, so before we move on to our games section, okay. Do you have any other examples of, I know you’ve talked about Fern and Rhod specifically as contestants, but do you have any other like contestants or even fans that you have examples of, you know, being included in the, in the fandom and then the show?

Tasha
Well, not that I can think of off the top of my head.

TK
Great! Then we’ll

Tasha
I’m really. I’m really sorry. It’s.
TK
No, you’re good, I just wanna make sure

Tasha
Look, it’s the morning for you, but it’s the evening for us.

TK
Yeah. No, you’re. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t like, you know, and now for the games, and you’re like, oh, but I had more to talk about…

Tasha
No, no, no, thank you for asking, though, because we already discussed my brain is like spaghetti sometimes,

TK
which is so funny because my brain is like a sieve. So put our brains together, and we

Tasha
wooooh!

TK
make a whole pasta dish.

[intermission trumpet]

TK
Okay. So we’re going to play three rounds of fact or fanfic. Which, so we’re going to play three rounds of this.

Tasha
I’ve been really looking forward to this bit

TK
I’m going to read you a Greg introduction to Alex. So, you know, top of the show type of thing. And you’re going to tell me if you think it was a fact that this is something that they actually said or if it was from a fanfic.
And I’ve done a few of these now. I’ve recorded a few of these now with other guests, and it’s really funny because some of them point out that they’re like, oh, I know that that one is from, I know that that one is real because it was the title of a fic, and I was like, that is so weird to wrap my brain around, but I see it.
Okay, okay. So number one. And next to me, with his boundless enthusiasm and optimistic, can do attitude that I couldn’t despise more if I tried, it’s little Alex Horne.
Tasha
Ohhhh, I’m going to go with fact.

TK
Yes, that was a fact.

Both
Yay!

Tasha
I kind of picture, trying to picture Greg saying it might have.

Tk
Yeah. Yeah. It was from series six, episode six.

Tasha
Ohhh, the very special episode.

TK
The very special episode, yes.

Tasha
Very special.
Going to have that as part of my wedding vows. When I, if I ever get married.

TK
That’s a good, that’s a good one. All right, next one. And next to me, he’s a desperate, nervous twitch of a man, but he’s all mine. Oh, who is it? It’s little Alex Horne. Oh.

Tasha
Ohhhh, no you see it sounds like something Greg would say.

TK
Yeah, that’s the tricky part isn’t it

Tasha
But it’s the ending. It’s the ending. It’s the ending part.
And he’s all mine. Ohhh, God.
I’m going to go with fact?

TK
Yes.

Tasha
Yay!

TK
Yeah. That one was from series seven, episode five.

Tasha
Okay, okay,

TK
okay. You got two out of three. All right, all right. Last one.

Tasha
Do I win a prize?

TK
Yes. You do. You win a little trophy, Actually, I will

Tasha
Ohh, yeah!

TK
write that down right now, so I don’t forget. Okay, last one and to my left is a man who once asked me in confidence if it counts as cheating when he gives his dog little kisses on the mouth. It’s little Alex Horne.

Tasha
Oh, oh, oh, Oh, God. No, because he loves that dog.
[TK laughs]
Oh, geez.
Ooohhh, uhhh, fact.

TK
That one is a fic.

Tasha
Aw, Oh, that was so good, though. That was really good. It sounded like something Greg would say.

TK
Yeah, that’s the problem with this game, is that all of the fics sound like something Greg would say

Tasha
We, ah, well ah I thought, oh, I did think that I it’s the fact that I mean, Alex, he’s obsessed with that dog.
He, I mean rightfully so. But he loves that okay.

TK
Yeah. Yeah. That one was called A Positive Trend in the data by Kim_Tey.

Tasha
Oh. Okay. Yeah. Right. Cool.

TK
Well, you get a trophy anyway, so good job.

Tasha
Oh, yay!

TK
All right, so moving the conversation along, I want to talk to you about The Horne Section TV show.
Now, for those people that are going to listen to this, that have not watched The Horne Section TV show and don’t know what it’s about, can you give us a little, a little like, overview of of what the show is?

Tasha
So, The Horne Section, TV show, it follows Alex playing a fictionalized version of himself with his band, The Horne Section, and it’s him trying to pitch and create a TV show to channel four that’s away from Taskmaster. And it’s just very funny. It’s surreal comedy is very meta humor. And it gets a little bit confusing in parts, but it’s very, very good.
And if you haven’t watched it, I would suggest watching it.

TK
Yeah, I highly recommend watching it. Now you

Tasha
Absolutely.

TK
You mentioned that it gets confusing in parts, and I think that part of this. Podcast Cat is yelling at me.
[intermission piano]
it’s kind of it’s, it’s a little bit meta.
And the premise of the show is that Alex wants to do something that’s away from Taskmaster. But in, in writing that into the plot that ties it back into, this is related to Taskmaster, which he did not need to do in the first place.

Tasha
Absolutely not, absolutely not, if you pull it apart, it’s incredibly clever what he’s done, I actually wrote a very, very long analysis of this for my uni project.

TK
That’s amazing

Tasha
It’s, I pulled everything apart. It’s, it’s very good, but, yeah, it does get a little bit confusing, I think, because one of the things that he also does is that he mixes real life people that he knows to play a character with different names, and they’re meant to be different people.
But then there are others who, they’re just playing a fictionalized version of themselves. Like he brings his a, he brings his real life wife into it, and Rachel is playing a fictionalized version of Rachel and the same with the band. It’s just their personalities pushed up by about ten notches. And so they’re really, really extreme. I mean, even the fact of, he brings Greg into it as well, which sort of goes against the whole point of the show of I want to pull it away from Taskmaster, I want to be recognized, oh excuse me, for my own talents and you know, oh this is I know I created this show, but it’s not mine. That, that’s the vibe you get from this version of Alex. And this is why it gets slightly confusing.

TK
Yeah. And I think part of that is, is that he creates for the show this, this character for Greg, who is not quite The Taskmaster but is also not quite just Greg Davies.
It’s like somewhere in between. So, it’s like it’s the character that Greg becomes when he’s like when he’s not acting as The Taskmaster, but it’s like Taskmaster adjacent. So like kind of almost like what they do for their socials, you know, like they’ll, like Greg will post a picture of the two of them, like, on the beach or something.
And he’s like, oh,worst day of my life, which like, obviously he’s having fun with Alex, like in real life. But you know, his like his Taskmaster-ish persona, you know, can’t be can’t be like showing through, you know, God forbid. And so I think it’s one of those types of things, where he, so he has to play this character that’s like not quite himself, but not quite The Taskmaster.
And somewhere in between, which I think is a character that he is used to by now, by this point, because of all of the stuff that they do together outside of recording in the actual studio, but that’s still Taskmaster adjacent, like going to Q&A’s and, and doing well, I guess I was going to say doing podcast, but I feel like doing podcasts normally is just Greg being Greg.
But yeah, doing like interviews relating to Taskmaster and doing like social promotions and stuff like that. So it’s it’s definitely, it’s very interesting, the dynamic between like, all of them now, I sadly live in America, which means I have not been able to go see a Horne Section show in person. I’ve listened to the whole podcast like twice. I have listened to their songs on repeat. I’ll wake up with Chris Hoy stuck in my head, which is my favorite song for some reason.
Tasha
I know I get that, I get that

TK
So

Tasha
I usually get less is more or less is more. I get stuck in my head daily.

TK
That’s a good one, that’s one of my top three for sure.I love less is more

Tasha
definitely.

TK
So, as someone who I know you’ve gone to Horne Section shows in person, how would say that Alex’s dynamic and interactions with the band compare to that of him and the band in the TV show?

Tasha
I think in the TV show, it’s still a very different version of him, is, that he is on stage, and I think what people do is you need to separate the TV show and the live show because the live show and the TV show, all of their personalities are different.
On stage, obviously, I’ve seen Alex a number of times. He’s quite confident, he’s a little bit cocky. He sort of just winds the band up and he’s a bit rude to them, he’s a bit mean to them in a playful, tasteful way. It’s very much commanding and telling them what to do. But not in a way that’s going to irritate them. So they’re all laughing. They’re all joking. Whereas in the TV show, it’s, it sort of starts out that he’s got no control over his band and they all sort of laugh, not take the piss out of him. Sorry. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to swear.

TK
No you can, you’re okay

Tasha
Sorry. Okay. They sort of take the piss out of him and then near the end, he gets really bossy and a bit bratty, and they just get annoyed with him and it’s just like, that’s it, we’re done.
And he has to come crawling back to them again and saying like, yeah, so I do think it’s very, very different from the live show and the TV show.

TK
Yeah. I mean, as, as someone who practically only knows Alex from a subservient, low down position type of, you know, character, you know, from the Horne Section TV show and from interviews and from Taskmaster, obviously.
It is quite jarring to me whenever little snippets of him being like, persnickety pop up here and there

Tasha
really, really bossy.

TK
Yeah, I mean, it’s I think it’s I wish that I had more of it because I think it’s amazing and it’s so funny, but, you know, like, I’ll even be listening to, like 12 days of yoga and like, this is Mark’s song, like, Mark is the one that sings the main bit, but like in the background, you know, like Mark will be like warrior one, warrior two, warrior three. And in the background you can hear Alex say, make your mind up, mate. I’m just like, okay.

Tasha
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it’s I mean, that’s a very similar relationship with the TV show. Is that he butt heads with Mark quite a lot. I’m not sure why. I’m not sure why. I think it might be down to the fact that Mark has quite a strong personality. He’s very self-assured. He’s very self assured, he’s very sort of, he’s been in the game a long time. He’s worked with some amazing people. And Alex, this little comedian with no music skills is come along and try to tell him how to write his songs and how to play his instruments. He’s just. Yeah, he’s just not having any of it. And and it it’s weird because even if, in real life when you meet them it’s, I’ve met both of them. They still have that little that just that little tinge of conflict between them in a horrible way and a horrible, horrible way. Not in a horrible way. Sorry. Which is always just astonishing.

So there is little bits like that are that consistent across the the Horne-verse, shall we say?. Which is good.

TK
Yeah. I, I know that they have like semi jokingly but not really jokingly talked about doing tours in the U.S. but I know that like with six people plus, you know, a whole crew, which the, probably the crew bit would, would probably be easier to get together than the six of them at one time.
I know it’s like a really hard thing for them to do, logistically, but I really hope that I can see a live show of theirs one day because it’s like. It’s like, on my bucket list at this point. So maybe I’ll just have to fly over to London. One of these days,

Tasha
I think I think unfortunately, it’s it’s there’s a few things. There’s time, there’s energy. Because obviously they all have their own lives as well. And a lot of them have still quite young children. Obviously we know Alex’s kids are nearly teenagers, I think. I think they are teenagers, some of them, two of them? I don’t know. But a lot of them do have quite young children, and then they have jobs outside, outside The Horne Section as well. I think it’s also being financially viable.. Because if they do a US tour, they would have to take into costs, like a lot more costs. And I mean, I think sometimes it’s only just financially viable when they do a UK tour.

TK
Yeah. Which, makes since

Tasha
Yeah, but, but hopefully, hopefully in the future they will. They will do.
I mean, I know Mark has joked an awful lot about wanting to do a US tour, and I think he would. I think Mark’s one of those people that he would. But I’m not sure how the others would feel about it. And then Alex obviously has a million projects going on.

TK
Right. Yeah. Just, just the other day, the, so they’ve for people that aren’t aware, they have been posting every day, twice a day, actually, on their Instagram a Horndle, which is, like you have to figure out what song they’re doing and then they just, like, mess up the song horribly. But it’s really entertaining and it’s really funny. But the other day I commented, because like, someone post recording has put in, like a, live transcription of whatever they’re saying and the transcription is really good. Like, it’s definitely helpful. Because you can’t understand half of what Alex is saying in the first place anyway, and I commented on it and I said, like, who? Who does the, you know, the transcribing or whatever it is for this, because whoever it is is doing an excellent job. And they replied to me, and I think it’s like, more or less known, that like Mark is in charge of their socials. And so, so Mark replied to me and he said, would you believe it if I told you it was Alex?
And I said something like, would I believe it if the man who has no experience in knowing what relaxing is, has done all of this work. No, no, it would not surprise me at all.

Tasha
Oh my God. Like, he’s just like, he doesn’t know how to relax. I do worry about him sometimes.

TK
Yeah. I mean get it

[talking over each other]

Tasha
Dude, just have beer and calm down. Like what’s wrong with you. Just take a deep breath, okay?

TK
Yeah. Now, going back quickly to the, The Horne Section TV show. And I guess this could also apply to, to Taskmaster itself. Do you have any theories on why Alex would choose to put himself into a low down position of power. And like kind of defer to Greg as like do you think it’s just like more fun for him that way or like it’s just because sometimes people have,
What are they called? Character actors, is that what they’re called? Where like, you’re really good at, you know like one like you’re really really good at one. Like Timothy Spall is someone that comes to mind that’s, you know someone that like they’re really good at playing the evil sidekick. You know, like do you think that’s kind of what Alex is going for or do you think there’s something else like why

Taha
I don’t know. I mean, I know what I want to say, but I it’s going to come across as very horrible. And I don’t want to say it because I have a lot of respect for this man. But I don’t know, I feel like sometimes it’s a reflection of his own sort of like, self esteem and self-confidence and the he is this amazing person who’s done an amazing job and he’s very successful, and he could be a bit more cocky and a bit more confident, but he still sees himself as as he’s already said before, like a beta male, because he’s not stereotypically like Greg or, he like even he even, like, compares himself to Tim Key quite a lot. He’s his best friend, and I think it’s sometimes his, it’s, it’s almost a reflection of himself. And I do think, you know, obviously, I think when, when we think of the Little Alex Horne character. I think that’s very, very different to who he is in real life. Absolutely, absolutely do I realistically think that he’d be sitting down on Greg’s lap and giving him kisses in real life? Probably not, probably not, but I think when we think of Horn Section, Alex, I think that’s very, very similar to who he is as a person.

TK
Yeah. Just a little snarky. Very funny. Unapologetic

Tasha
Oh yeah, I think yeah, absolutely. And I think that I like that about that about. That he’s got that balance between the two.

TK
Yeah. Yeah I think I, I mean I’ve only met him in person technically twice. And both of those interactions were very short. But I feel like he’s from what I, from what I know about him and have seen videos on everything of like, Alex in the wild, is he’s very humble. Like he’s genuinely he is a very humble person and I,

Tasha
And you know what, oh, sorry, I took maybe.

TK
No, I was just going to say, like, I think, I think both him and Greg, especially when they’re together doing Taskmaster stuff, are both very humble in the way that, like, it seems like they’re a lot more down to earth than they could potentially be. Like, as celebrities, you know, like they could not interact with the fans. They could not do all these social media promotions, you know, so they could choose to not come to New York and see what their, their American audience is like, you know, but like but they do and they I think they really appreciate their fan base, which is something that’s really special.

Tasha
Yeah. I mean, I’ve only met Greg. I’ve met him three times? and it was always very, very short. But he’s an incredibly busy guy. I mean, I don’t hold it against him. Yeah. It’s usually when he’s been coming out of shows. So I’m like, this poor guy is probably exhausted. But I’ve spent some time with Alex, in different situations.
And it is true what everyone says. He’s just one of the most humblest people you’d ever be in your life. Like, this man is literally worth millions, and he’s just still so kind and nice to everyone. Yeah, like he hasn’t let the money go to his head. I know there are. I’m not going to bad mouth people, but there are a lot of celebrities who, as soon as they started making a lot of money, became not great people, but one thing I do love about Alex is that he just hasn’t changed, he hasn’t become a different person because he’s got loads of money now because he’s got this little empire. He’s just genuinely still so nice. And he does have a lot of time for people, and so does Greg. But I feel like a lot of the time Greg is more recognized, and he sort of like recognizes that he is a celebrity.
And he knows like he’s fully aware that people are going to take photos of him and, and stuff like that. Whereas Alex I feel like, sometimes he doesn’t get that he is a celebrity. And that he doesn’t understand that there are people who want to take photos with him and want to talk to him and, and have that interaction, but he just doesn’t still doesn’t see himself as a celebrity.
Which I think’s so bizarre. It’s, it’s just mental to me. That is to say that, like, there’s a lot of times where he’s given out too much information about himself. And you sort of just want to shake him and say, Alex, like, stop doing that. Like, what is like, stop. This is how you end up with these situations.
So, yeah, I think there is just that side where he doesn’t get that he’s famous,

TK
Right. Now, so you live in London, is that right? Near London

Tasha
I do, I do, I live in Greater London, so I’m in London, but I’m not like Canary Wharf

TK
Right, yeah. So have you, you know, some, again, you know, I can’t go to Horne Section shows.
Well, I mean, I’m not with that attitude. But, it’s hard for me to go to a Horn Section shows, similarly, it’s not justifiable for me to go to The Live Experience just yet, because it’s still currently in London. Have you gone to The Live Experience? And if so, what is it like?

Tasha
Yes, I have, so I have been to The Live Experience. I actually went with some, some, when some friends from the US came over, one of them, one of them, you know, very, very well. She did miss you when she was over here.

TK
I wish I could have gone

Tasha
We did talk about you. We did talk about you a lot.

TK
Oh, that’s, nice?

Tasha
And we we we we did send lots of pictures, but yes, we did. I did go to the to The Live Experience. It was incredible. It was so fun. I didn’t I don’t know, I had quite low expectations of it because obviously when it came out was when it was sort of roughly around the same time there was the controversy with the Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow.

TK
Yeah. I don’t know anything about it but I heard it was really bad. That’s all I know

Tasha
Yeah. I’m not sure how much the Americans knew about this, but it was just, really bad. So I had quite low expectations of it. And when I went there, it was, it was incredible. It was, they, it’s like split into different parts. So you go in and you’ve got sort of a museum of things like artwork that contestants have made, props, pictures, things like the typewriter that was used in the original titles and things like Alex’s first whistle, which is in there.
It’s, it’s all really sweet. And there’s Tim Key’s reindeer skull. It’s, is up in, and things like their costumes. And then you have The House, in the middle, and then they have, like, a garden. So you have a caravan, like the caravan. And then in this big garden area, there’s a bar and, things like where you can throw potatoes in a hole from the very controversial Joe Wilkinson.
But yeah, it’s all really nice. And they have, like, Linda there, and then there’s a massive statue of Greg,

TK
and I think, the statue of Greg,

Tasha
The statue of it is, it is, it’s a very, it’s huge.

TK
That’s wild

Tasha
It’s huge. Yeah. They have to stop. They actually have a security guard there to stop people sitting on it, though, which I do find a little bit funny.
And the actual experience itself, is great. It is really good. Yeah. I, I can’t really give too much away.

TK
Yeah, yeah, no no definitely

Tasha
But like the actual experience, but it is really good. I was, I, I did win it.

Tasha
Nice. \

Tasha
There was a little bit of controversy about me winning it though.

TK
Oh no

Tasha
Yeah. I was a little bit sneaky on one of the tasks.
So I did win, purely through, like, I think I gained about an extra three points, and if I’d lost to the task that I cheated in, I would have lost. I would have come second. So I did, I did win, I couldn’t hold it in. I felt really bad. So at the end of it, we were in the garden having a drink. And I did reveal to my friends that I had cheated on it and I felt really bad.

TK
Awe, Whatever. I need that trophy!.

Tasha
But, yeah, I mean, there’s not long left. There is not long left is only a few weeks left of it. So if you know you are in the UK, absolutely, definitely go to it. It’s really. And even if you don’t go into The Experience, things like the garden and the caravan and the museum are all free.
So you could just go in there and walk around if you want to. You don’t have to do the experience. It was insane.

TK
I think by the time this episode comes out, it will probably have either moved or shut down. I’m not sure what their time frame is like.

Tasha
Yeah, I don’t know. I think I don’t even know what they’re doing with it.

TK
But yeah, because I think they mean to move it around. So like, the the day that we’re recording this, I think there’s only like a week left. So, it’s definitely not going to be like open anymore hopefully they’ll, they’ll move it around to different parts of the country. England isn’t that big is it? Like

Tasha
no, no, no it’s really no, I mean, you could fit the entire of England in the state into the state of Texas, so, we’re not that big.

TK
Well then, bring it to Texas or something. Or better yet, bring it to bring, to San Francisco, because that’s where I live and I really want to go

Tasha
It’s good. Yeah. I mean, it’s one of those times where I do feel very lucky that I live very, like in London. That it’s a lot of these things. I can just like jump on the tube and go to.
And I do feel bad for a lot of our, especially our American friends, because they don’t get this same. They say all the experiences that we do.

TK
Yeah. Yeah. I felt really lucky that we were able to go to New York City because I was like, listen, if they’re stepping foot in the U.S, like, I don’t care where it’s Maine or like Florida, you know, like I’m to go like, I can’t miss this opportunity.
So, yeah. All right. So we are, pretty much at the end of the, the episode here. And what we like to say is as ask our guests if they have any fan work recommendations, fanfics, fan art, fan vids. Like, what’s your all time.

Tasha
No, no, I don’t I don’t really have anything to plug. I mean, the only thing I can say is just.
If you have watched The Horne Section TV show, please do go and watch it. You can watch it. It’s on, I think it’s on super Max. But it’s, it’s on channel four. And if you are in the UK, they do still have loads of tickets left, so definitely go see them. You might even see my pretty face. At a few of the shows. And of course, just follow them on social media, TikTok, and keep interacting with them. And I obviously, as you said, I think The Taskmaster Experience will be finished by the time this goes out.

TK
Yeah, hopefully it’ll be somewhere else

Tasha
Bwe we we don’t know what’s happening with it. If it does move,l which fingers crossed it does go to that because it’s definitely worth the money. And it was incredible.

TK
Yeah for sure. Well, Tasha, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. We’ve loved having you.

Tasha
Oh thank you, thank you. It’s been nice to be here. I’ve never done a podcast so this was my first one. Well, it’s exciting for me.

TK
Wow, that’s exciting

Tasha
But yeah, thank you so much for having me. It’s been really nice to be here.

TK
All right. And, I’ll see you online.

Tasha
Okay. See you later.

Both
Bye.

VO
Once that was TK and Tasha discussing The Horne Section and The Taskmaster Live Experience you can read all of the fanworks mentioned in this episode right now by clicking on the episode description or by going to our website tftaskmaster.uk. If you have any questions, fanwork recommendations, suggestions, or anything else you can email us at fans@tftaskmaster.uk and make sure you subscribe to this podcast because next week TK will be talking with Little Alex Horne, it’s an episode you won’t want to miss

VO
Hello and welcome to Transformative Taskmaster, a podcast by fans, for fans and about fans. This episode TK will be speaking with fic enjoyer and friend of the podcast, Nat. Together they’ll be discussing fic trends and the effects of a fandom that has been perceived and discussed on national television.

TK
All right. Nat, welcome to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast!

Nat
Happy to be here!

TK
Yay! Happy to have you. So, you have been part of our little group chat for awhile, and, it has been so much fun to get to know you over the last, what, year and a half? Or something like that.

Nat
I think year. I think year, I think I showed up a little bit after the first, Greg and Alex, New York event.

Tk
Awesome. Now, you didn’t go to that, did you?

Nat
No, I did not, I did not.

TK
So sad. Hindsight’s 20:20 am I right? That would have been fun

Nat
No, I like just hiding out at home.
Other people can get in the lineup and do the crowded things, and then they just feed me the really good videos and highlights and I get to stay cozy.

TK
Yeah. That’s real. So we are going to be talking about the history of Taskmaster fanfic and I understand that you bring many stats with you.

Nat
[laughs] I do. They’re kind of rough stats, but when I started looking at, started writing and started reading Taskmaster fanfic, I at some point thought, how the heck did this happen?

You know, it’s a show that has a lot of things that you could pick up and make fanfic out of. Like there’s a lot of content on the show that’s clearly, you know, ripe for fic. But I just thought, how did it get to be such a lively fic community? On AO3 specifically on our Archive of Our Own.
And so I went to the Taskmaster UK, RPF tag, and I went all the way back to the very first stories, and I scrolled all the way through page by page, to just see how this all developed. So, yeah, I’m here to, to share that, that weird moment of just hyper fixated brain rot, and to share my, my pet theories, of why Taskmaster has so much fic.

TK
Yeah. So tell me, what was your experience like going back through, like, to the original, you know, first few fics and like, did they have any kind of like, theme to them? Because you said earlier that there’s a lot of things in the show that you’re like, well, that’s just waiting to be written. But was that like, was it like, a Greg and Alex dynamic? Was it like a specific task? Like, what was it?

Nat
So it was at first, absolute crickets. And that’s what really surprised me when I went back. So Taskmaster premiered in July of 2015. There is no fic whatsoever until November of 2015, and then there’s only like four. There’s one in November, three in December, and then it’s back to absolutely no fic until the summer of 2016.
So we have, you know, a year and a half. Oh no, not summer of 2016. I’m sorry. Much later until June of 2018. So in the first like three years, we have four fics. And they’re, adorably G-rated. [both laugh] They’re like, what if somebody did a task differently? Or what if we had a task but it had live Pokemon? Or, you know, Josh would have come get caught in a time loop, like it’s really tame. It’s really, sweet. And, and it just doesn’t really develop into anything. So then what changes is, one particular poster shows up, and that’s, Sashataakheru. I’ll call them, Sasha, I don’t I don’t know them, I hope that’s okay to shorten their name. But basically we have one person holding down the tag absolutely single handedly for the first ever. Sasha publishes 56 consecutive fics before anyone else writes one.

TK
Wow. That’s incredible.

Nat
Yeah. And Sasha from day one is in with, like, heavy BDSM themes. Bringing in other contestants. Like a wide range of different ships. We’ve got, like, Greg and Josh Widdicombe, we’ve got Greg and Cheryl Pascoe and Alex, we’ve got, you know, Greg and Rasheen. But yeah, Sasha just goes super, super, super hard. Pretty much on their own for quite a long while.

TK
As somebody who is like, a people pleaser and is, like I, I’m known on our little group chat as like the, the, the raccoon that will, like, steal your ideas with permission, of course, with my grubby little raccoon hands, and I’ll go write a fic.
Nat
If you want a story, I’ll get you a story.

TK
Yeah. Yeah. I can’t imagine. Right. What was it, 56?

Nat
56.

TK
I can’t imagine writing 56 fics like, just for myself. Like, that sounds wild,

Nat
Right? So, like, just this single minded writer just really, kind of setting up how all the fic goes from there, essentially. We have other authors start to show up after Sasha’s been writing for, you know, a few months. And we start to have people in a very small cluster of authors, doing a lot of gifts for each other. So there you see that kind of people pleaser and that kind of, like, community part come in, right where people are now enjoying this together.
They found their little, their little clan, of folk who are into the same thing and they’re writing with each other. So this kind of peaks in, like December 2018. We’ve got 28 fics written that month, which is, you know, not that, like we only have 40 some fics written in total before that month. And then we’ve got this burst in December of 2018. It seems like people are like making each other Christmas presents. Right. Or their on breaks. This is also by this point we are up into series seven, of Taskmaster airing. [TK makes anticipatory ohhh] Right. So you know we’ve got Rhod. We’ve got James. But also I think in series six and in series seven, this is when we have a lot more of the kind of on-air, chippy BDSM dynamic between Greg and Alex.
So one of the things I noticed as I was scrolling through is by this point when we’re in series seven, the fics have a lot more explicit, references to things said on the show. So we have fic titles like So Servile It’s Vile and Obscenely Obedient. And then the flip side of that Obediently Obscene.
But these are quotes like straight quotes from the show. And at first we didn’t have that. At first it was people kind of, you know, writing their own fics, but not necessarily having as much like canon content and like literal word for word quotes from the show to use.
But by series seven, that’s there. We have the Thank you Daddy outtake, and we have, the Asim asking, you know, I don’t know if you two are going to fuck or fight outtake.
Right? Like there’s a lot more of the show kind of feeding the fic really directly, I think.

TK
And do you think that was intentional by them?

Nat
By the show?

TK
Or like by Alex. or Greg? I think probably by Alex, because Greg didn’t even know that there was fic being written about that one podcast that Alex brought it up.

Nat
Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t know if Alex is intentionally feeding fic. I think Alex has absolutely, from day one, been fully on board with fic. So this is my pet theory about Taskmaster fanfiction, and it’s that it’s essentially Alex Horne’s fault. That, that this man kind of single handedly has, has stoked this whole, this whole phenomenon. So, yeah, like you said, it’s September 2019, so it’s after Sasha and that kind of small group of authors have kind of built themselves up a bit. September of 2019, we have a Horne Section podcast episode where Alex has Greg on as a guest and has Greg do along with himself. Like a dramatic reading of one of Sasha’s fics. Which is wild. That is a wild thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. This is, I think, still a bit arm’s length from Taskmaster, right? So this is on Alex’s Horn Section podcast. So, smaller following, you know, a bit more niche. But, yeah, he reads the fic out along with Greg. You have the feeling that kind of like he was waiting until Greg was on as a guest, you know, to spring this on him. So my sense is that Alex was probably aware of this for a little while. Yeah? So he reads it out and weirdly I thought that this would kind of spark some additional fic. But when I go and look, somebody, very kindly ran the comment frequency by time. And in this tag this has zero impact on comment frequency. And this actually seems like it has a negative impact on the number of fics that are published

TK
That’s wild.

Nat
Yeah. So this airs in September and in September there’s 13 fics published. Then in October there’s four, and in November there’s zero. Yeah. So I think because it was a small group. And a group was probably pretty invested in Alex. Right? So probably knew about The Horne Section podcast, I think he actually just spooked people

TK
Interesting

Nat
And everybody ducked their heads for a little bit.
It does come back though. [laughs]

TK
Thank goodness

Nat
November 2019 is like the last month to ever have no fic in it. So then, yeah, 2019, we’re averaging seven fics per month. So still pretty, low. Steady but low. And so, you know, we move into like we’ve got series seven airing which is obviously a big deal. 7,8,9. And by series nine we have that fanfic on the podcast. We have that blog post about the psychosexual intimacy of Taskmaster. Right? So I think by this point, we’re in 2020. Things are being uploaded to YouTube for free, and there’s like, at least a sense within the fandom that there is like a dirty side to the Taskmaster fandom, right, that people are talking about the thank you daddy people are talking about, the fic and things like that.
Things kind of stay pretty steady. 2020 we have an average of ten fics a month. You would think that Covid would have made more people sit at home and be horny, but apparently not.

TK
Yeah. We were all too busy sitting at home freaking out

Nat
Just sobbing. Just. Yeah, [both laugh]

TK
All day, every day baby

Nat
and figuring out Zoom. [both laugh]
So 2021, there’s this big boom. And I think, weirdly, that it is because people were so obsessed with Mike Wozniak.

TK
I mean, valid

Nat
Fair, right? Totally fair. So when series 11 airs, we have more and more fics and we’re getting up to, like, almost by the end of 2020, daily or a little bit more than daily.
And we also have a like, they’re much more, like a more diverse, like, author ecosystem, basically. We have some people who are still posting, like all the time. We’ve got NoStarsForNaughtyBoys, we’ve got properverse, TheKeyToMyPie, they’re posting a lot. Sasha is starting to kind of fade out and not post as frequently.
We have a huge uptick in the frequency of comments. People are a lot more interactive, and we have a lot more people who are just showing up and posting like just one, and then going away like a lot more casual authors or people who are just posting a couple. So it’s not like a small dedicated group anymore.
It’s like we have, you know, some dedicated posters, but it’s also like a big enough set of authors that you can do just a casual post and people will still find it. People will comment on it. Yeah. So 2021, we’re averaging 24 fics a month.

TK
Pretty good.

Nat
Pretty good. Yeah. I feel like the next kind of high watermark is in 2023. 2022 we’re just kind of chugging along. We have some really cool authors start posting. Knop_e is one of my favorites, Panda. We’ve got CarpetSnake posting all the time. All of a sudden. But it holds pretty steady, like 2021, we had 24 fics a month, 2022, we’ve got 17. So like not a huge explosion there.

TK
But 2023, we have a whole bunch of things happening. [both laugh] So we have, series 15 airing, and so series 15, we have those on air fic mentions. Yeah?

TK
Oh, is that the. I keep saying it’s series 14, but I, that’s just me with my horrible memory. So it is series 15, huh?

Nat
Yeah. Series 15, episode three.
If you know, filthy little ferrets, and let’s ruin our friendship. And that’s the one that, like, actually makes it into the episode, I believe too. Right? Like that’s the one that actually airs in the main episode.

Tk
Yes.

Nat
Because we have some other mentions that end up in the outtakes.
And, you know, there’s just a whole kind of like, secondary set of content in the outtakes where like, the super obsessive fans are seeing all the horny stuff in the outtakes, and then the mainstream fans who are seeing the kind of stripped down version on YouTube are like, what the heck are you talking about?

TK
Yeah. Yeah.

Nat
But this is like not only on the show, but like, in the actual main aired version.

TK
Yes, I, I remember that specifically because when I was watching, I was just like binging, you know, like the whole, you know, series by series. And when he mentioned that in the episode, I don’t think I had been watching outtakes at that point just because I don’t think I knew they existed.
But he said that and I literally paused my video and I was like, there’s no way. And I went on AO3. I was like, oh my God [both laugh]That was my moment.

Nat
Yeah. Absolutely! And by that point, like you go, oh my gosh. And you go to AO3 and by that point you show up on AO3 and there’s like, a conversation you can take part in, hey? Like there’s a big cluster of people. You can find stuff that you like. And like my feeling is that, early in the fic, like, we started with kind of a free for all. Then it got very Greg and Alex focused. And then we have, these periods where sometimes we have a lot of different pairings, like especially when Mike Wozniak shows up and then it kind of goes back to, okay, we’re just doing the Greg and Alex we’re just doing this kind of specific dynamic.
Sometimes you’ll have someone kind of like Rhod or James breakthrough. But in 2023 we have UnquietSpirits start posting and then like, all the pairings. Right? Like UnquietSpirits writes about everybody and has a much wider diversity. And we also have, Illuminescence start posting, who does these huge long fixed again with like multiple relationships and a lot going on in them.
So like, we have just yeah, kind of this explosion in creativity. We have this on air fic mentioned that drives a lot of people there. I was looking at the numbers, and I was a little surprised that it didn’t seem like that the on air fic mention didn’t like immediately made everything explode. But partly, it takes a while to get an Archive of Our Own account approved,sometimes.
Right? Right. And then also, I feel like, you know, Archive of Our Own is just getting more and more and more known at this point, itself. So more people are likely to have pre existing accounts or to kind of know where to find the fic, you know, now, as opposed to, to then. So we have the on air fic mention, and then kind of following that, in August of 2023, we have the Little Alex Horne Fic Club start up on Tumblr and on Archive of Our Own.
So this is a group where they do, monthly prompts, people are kind of giving each other gifts, talking about fake writing, interacting more. So again, we have like, enough authors and enough variety that people are now able to build these little kind of communities within it.
2023 we’re still, weirdly enough, just averaging 17, fics a month. So we have, I think, like more variety and more community and this on air fic mention. But like it’s still a bit of a slow burn.

TK
I wonder if that’s because, and I know like, Illuminescence specifically, but I know there are also other writers that do this is that they will write like long fics. So I wonder if that’s, if that’s affecting the numbers at all.

Nat
Yeah. And I should say like these are really rough numbers where I’m just going by the last date updated, which especially if something’s being published multi parts is not always accurate. We have some authors, like, NotAlexHorne, who, you know, pulled everything at one point and then reposted it all at a different date.
So like this won’t be fully accurate. But yeah, I think you’re right. Like, sometimes just the length of writing will push things along, and smooth it out. And then also, now that I can compare the dates that things were last updated and the comment frequency, you’ll see the comment frequency is a lot more sensitive to like specific events or specific mentions, things being published, etc..
But the actual fic publication frequency is much smoother. So the comments will spike while a new series is airing, and then they’ll fade off while there’s nothing on air.

TK
Right.

Nat
But the fics just keep coming. As the people who are writing fic are the year round fans. And also, you know, are taking some time, like, I mean, Illuminescence writes things that are often like 80,000 words long?

TK
Yeah, I’d say like 40,000. Is is, her like low point?

Nat
Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Unlike, you know, you’re in there with your, your 1500, and so you your, our, you know, not our year round fan, but our day to day fan.

TK
Yeah, when Alex is saying there’s two a day, that’s me. [laughs]

Nat
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. So 2024 is when things go completely cuckoo banana pants in terms of, of fic frequency. So we were at; 2021: 24 fics a month, 2022: 17, 2023: 17, 2024: we have 52 fics per month.

TK
Yeah…

Nat
Yeah!

TK
And that’s how you.

Nat
Yeah,

TK
Can tell that’s when I joined the fandom. [both laugh]

But yeah.

Both
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Nat
But we also have some other things. So we’ve got, in Champion of Champions three. January of 2024. Partly we have, Seth and Alex go to New York, you know, like the international fandom is, is is boosting. We have champion champions three, which has that mention of A Big Boy Like You, which ends up in an outtake, which is a James/Ed fic, hey? Another, that’s an UnquietSpirit. But I think in Champion of Champions three, we also and maybe we’ll talk about this more, later when we talk about how all the different people who are kind of contributing to this, like mythos. We’ve got Sophie Duker just like, showing up for Champion of Champions three as an unapologetic shippy fangirl.

TK
Yes.

Nat
She’s got temporary tattoos on with, like, Greg and Alex’s face and hearts. She brings the couples cosplay kit, right? So the fact that Sophie is able to, like, riff on this stuff on air, I think shows you just how established the horny side of the Taskmaster fandom is by this point. We’re all like, oh yes, we’re all aware, we’re all aware of the Greg and Alex dirty stuff. This is now a normal part of the show. This is something that, you know, a comedian on the show can just come in and mention. And we all understand.

TK
Yeah.

Nat
So that brings us basically to now, January of 2025, we have, Greg and Alex reading out fic on Seth Meyers. This time it does seem to have immediately caused an uptick in comments. And, I think partly because of the excitement around that event, but partly just because there’s so much fic now. We also have the highest ever month for total fic published on Archive of Our Own in the Taskmaster tag. So that’s 110 works published in January of 2025 alone.

TK
Yeah.
And I don’t know, my personal stats are. But I know so far this year, I’ve been posting at least one fic a day, and there was a day that I posted six.
So, a good chunk of the January numbers are definitely. I mean, I’m guessing I’m maybe like 20% of that number [laughs]

Nat
Yeah. No for sure. And, and that’s the thing where I 100% a lot of those numbers are you.
I think what we see over, kind of the course of, you know, kind of 2020 through 2024 is that different people will pick up that mantle [laughs] of being like, the hyper frequent fic writer.
So, like, you are probably the most hyper frequent check writer. But, you know, like, there’s times when Sasha posting one a day, there’s times when all of a sudden somebody, you know, just goes on a tear and they post 1 or 2 things a day for, you know, maybe it’s only for three weeks. And then they fade out. But like, I don’t think that that boost in the numbers is just like, oh well TK’s here now.

TK
No. Definitely not. I mean, yeah, there are people. That you and I both know in our group that are like, posting at a rate that is like coming really close to mine.
And I’m starting to sweat, you know, I’m like, oh no. There’s like these, these people are fast, like, they’re, they’re almost as fast. Or even, you know, a little faster in some cases. But yeah, we’ve definitely got like a, I think there’s like at least three of us like currently that I know of that are

Nat
just like churning it out.

TK
Yes

Nat
Yeah. And I’m interested, you know, partly because selfishly, I’m like, well I have, you know, six fics, total. I’m interested in, like, the casual writers too. Right? Like, I think that there is a higher frequency of casual writers and of like, regular but lower volume writers. And that having people who really hold down the tag and are publishing constantly makes it easy for everybody else to kind of like, slip in, try it out, you know, post here or there and know that there’s an overall activity level that’s going to get their fics read,is going to get them feedback, is going to get them, you know, interaction that they want. But yeah, nearly 40% of all Taskmaster fic has been posted in the past 12 months.

TK
Wow. That’s wild.

Nat
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, here’s to 2025 and we’ll see kind of where it goes from there. But I mean, so Alex, Alex showed up in 2019 when it was really one person writing to themselves.
And was like this is fun and picked it up. Yeah? And Alex seems to have kind of stuck with, I think he’s had Sasha in his head as his model for what fanfic is like for quite a while because people would ask him about it and he’d be like, oh, I like the Christmas ones. And Christmas themed ones really was a Sasha thing.
But then, you know, Alex is the one who’s bringing it up in 2015 on air. Alex is the one who’s bringing it up in Champion of Champions in 2024. In the outtake. It’s always Alex driving this bus. Like, Alex has been, entertained by this and interacting with this all the way through from when it was essentially, you know, a one author fandom to now when it is a very, kind of, well-developed, multi author, like lively, thriving tag.
So then for Greg and Alex to go on Seth Meyers and to kind of role play it as though this is Greg. [laughs] Greg is the one who is making Alex feel uncomfortable by reading fic on air is like, just patently ridiculous, right? Like, we see you. We see you, Gregory Daniel Davies.
I think, you know, I assume that they wanted the like, Greg being mean to Alex dynamic to be part of the interview because it’s the dynamic of the show.
But this was really the first time that we have Greg publicly being like, I like this, this is fun. This is my favorite. Oh, I particularly like this part right? So Greg seems, you know, actively on board in a way that he wasn’t, but I think you saw that, like, Alex couldn’t even. He couldn’t even commit to the bit.
And Alex commits to every single bit like that is all he does, right? Alex couldn’t fully commit to being uncomfortable or to pretending to be uncomfortable. He’s like, oh, well, no, I’m just uncomfortable with it being read on American television. He says, right. And then he makes a real point of being like, but the writing is good. The writing is good, you know, double thumbs up, like he really doesn’t want to come across like he’s shitting on fic writers. Right? So, yeah, I mean, I think Alex has been driving this all the way along. And my theory going into looking at the numbers really was that this was, like, entirely Alex’s fault. Like that Alex had really stoked all of this.
I think what I’m seeing now that I’m have a bit better numbers and hopefully I will continue to get better ones and do smarter things with them. But is that it’s really a mix? Like when Alex mentions fic? Absolutely. It drives people to fic, that’s how you know, that’s how we got you. But, when we were looking through the comments, somebody noticed that there was a big spike in common frequency on July 12th of 2021.
And like that spike is not because of anything Alex did or anything that happened on the show. It’s because somebody, AThingWithWings posted the, your body is my body or sorry, My Body is Your Body fan video. And people went crazy for it because it’s amazing, right? So like sometimes the spikes in activity are internally generated.
It’s because fans are doing things that other fans love and were interacting and commenting and liking. So partly it’s driven by like, you know, the show mentions absolutely help. And I think absolutely kind of validate it and make people feel a little bit more comfortable with it where like, okay, Alex thinks it’s funny. Alex doesn’t think it’s creepy. This is okay.
But I think it is this kind of symbiotic thing where partly it’s the fandom is generating the fandom, partly the creators are interacting. Is, is giving it a boost. Yeah? And that that’s kind of going back and forth.

TK
Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I mean, because you know that in our like in our group chat that we’re part of like specifically. We’ll, we’ll sometimes give ourselves like little challenges to be like, oh, this month we’re going to focus on like Top Alex or this month, you know, it’s going to be like Valentine’s Day stuff, you know, like, yeah, fluff and smut and stuff like that. And like, so I’m like currently at the time of recording this, we’re in the middle of, like a bingo, kind of thing where we, where there’s like, there’s like 145, bingo prompts and then everybody gets the right bingo board and then, you know, you just try to fill out.
I’ve already gotten a blackout, but that was like weeks ago. [both laugh]

Nat
Yeah. And if people want to go in and kind of follow up on this and see what this looks like on Archive of Our Own. If you look for Little Alex Fic Club, sorry, little Alex Horne Fic Club. Last summer we did a big, big exchange, where, you know, everybody put in what they’d like to see, what they’d like to have somebody else to write.
And then we all got, paired up and we all wrote each other things. And I think that was. I mean, how many fics were in that? I should look.

TK
Yeah, off the top of my head, I have no idea. I just remember that being really, really fun. Like, that was.

Nat
Oh, it was so fun.

TK
So much fun to do.
Because it was like a

Nat
24.

TK
Oh, okay. That’s not bad. Yeah. No. Yeah. 24 works in that collection. Where people are kind of writing. Writing things for each other. And so that’s all kind of, you know, a core group of, of, like, hardcore nerd writers. But, you know, any time you have that, then all of a sudden, you know, you’ve got 24 fics dropping on the same day, and then people are coming to the tag and they’re sharing it on Tumblr and they’re commenting.
It’s spiraling off other things, like, I think the one that I wrote, I wrote something for UnquietSpirit in the exchange that was about like, basically a, you know, BDSM, party that was like episode themed. And I think you wrote a spin off of that, didn’t you?

Nat
I think so, because you wrote that one for UnquietSpirit, and I read it and I was like, this is my new favorite thing. Oh my gosh, this is. And then I was like, I need there to be a follow up to this, because I think you left it as like, not, not quite a fade to black thing, but like and then

Nat
they were heading to the after party

TK
there was the after party and I’m like, I need to know what happens at the after party. And you’re like, I can’t be fucked to do this. And I was like, okay, then I’ll do it. Let me do it

Nat
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, you know, fic, fic, fic, begets fic like, as people are writing, they’re bouncing off each other too. Yeah?

TK
Yeah, absolutely.

[Trumpet intermission]

TK
So we’re going to, we’re going to take a little break in the conversation to play some games.

Nat
oh absolutely

TK
And by some games I mean A game. And the game is called fact or fanfic,So all right, so I’m going to read you three, quotes. And all of these quotes are going to be like Greg’s introduction to Alex at the, at the start of every show type of thing. And so, you are going to tell me whether you think it is fact or fanfic.

Nat
If I do badly at this, I’m going to be, like profoundly upset.

TK
Oh, I like I, one of my guests earlier like that we recorded yesterday quizzed me on stuff and I got zero right. I was so embarrassed

Nat
If, if I was on Taskmaster I would fully be like an Ed Gamble/John Robbins. Like, absolute tryhard who cares way too much.

TK
Yeah, you and me both

Nat
Okay. So let’s see how badly I’m going to embarrass myself.

TK
Okay, here we go. So first, first one and next to me obscenely obedient and believe me, obediently obscene. It’s Little Alex Horne.

Nat
Oh that’s a gimme. Because Sasha wrote fics with that as a title. So that, that has to be real.

TK
That is correct. It is a fact. All right.

Nat
See, reading fanfic will help you in your life.

TK
Yes. That’s true.

[both laugh]

TK
All right, next, second one. And next to me is a man who most days I desperately wish I didn’t know and who most nights I know. Biblically, it’s little Alex Horne.

Nat
I’m going to say that that’s also real.

TK
That one is by Illuminescence.

Nat
That’s a good one. That’s a really good one.

TK
Yes. It’s bums get all the fun by Illuminescence. She’s really good at those banter sessions.

Nat
She’s so good.
TK
Yeah. All right, last one. This is your. This is your redeeming chance because you’ve. You’re one and one so far.

Nat
This is a tie break.

TK
Yes. Here we go. And to my left is my assistant. He excels at Excel and the schedules are his happy fuel. But he’s never met a spreadsheet he wouldn’t spread on the sheets for. It’s little Alex Horne

Nat
That’s fic.

TK
That is fic. It’s another Illuminescence. It’s

Nat
honestly the one that at first the second one, I was like, this feels like fic. But what got me was Biblically because I can just I can so clearly picture Greg saying that.

TK
Yeah, it’s so easy to hear it in his voice. Yeah.

Nat
Oh, Illuminescence is so good.

TK
Just so amazing. That one is, Unconventional Upholstery Repair. Which is, quite the title.

Nat
Nothing says sex like upholstery repair.

TK
You know these. If anybody can make it work, it’s these guys.

Nat
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

TK
Like, to be fair,

Nat
Alex doing a double thumbs up. The writers are good. They’re good.

TK
Oh, I love that little reaction image because his little face is just, like, so torn. It’s just like, ahhhhh, I’m uncomfortable. But it’s good. I love you guys. Like, Alex, please, I’m begging you.
Oh, goodness. All right, well, good job. You, You won, you won the game section. You’ll get a little trophy on the website.

Nat
Oh, good, good, good.

TK
I’ll make sure you get it, a little Greg’s head trophy.
Okay. So, so we’ve talked a lot about the history of the stats of Taskmaster fanfic. We’ve talked about how, you know, Alex has made it happen, how the community has made it happen. And, you know, kind of the trends in when things happen on the show or during the off season or whatever, stuff like that.
So now I want to talk about how Taskmaster, how the Taskmaster universe or, like the lore, if you will, is like a co-created type of world between like canon contributions and then fanon contributions, which would be like fan contribution. Feel like that, pretty straightforward. But so like the actual canon of the show, plus what the fans create, equals this kind of Taskmaster universe kind of thing.

Nat
Absolutely. Yeah. And to me, this is really, really fascinating. And I think it has its roots, partly in improv and in collaborative storytelling and the way that everything just gets kind of. Yes and-ed right? But my half baked theory is that, I mean, of course, there’s all sorts of real people fiction out there. You can find fiction about anything rule 34 but I think the fandoms that have really active, real people fiction tags are often fandoms where there’s something in the original work itself that opens the door to imagining these people together, or that kind of makes some kind of invitation to fans to imagine these people together.
So, you know, outside of Taskmaster or some of that kind of more, mainstream, big, real people fiction, fandoms are boybands and professional sports.
And in both of those, there’s like an implicit invitation to think about these people as being in relationships with each other or with with fans. Right? Like boybands are there as surrogate boyfriends. And a lot of their appeal is that they invite young women to imagine being in relationships with them. And so, you know, fanfic is partly that and it’s partly imagining them being in relationships with each other, but a lot of their marketing is this kind of often synthetic, like, oh, yeah, we totally have this real friendship. We totally live in a house together, you know, and, and celebrate birthdays and hug each other, and. Right? So there’s something there for fic writers to latch on to.
Professional sports obviously not often with that romantic angle, but you do spend a lot of time thinking about how do these personalities mesh? What’s the give and take here? How do these people work together? What’s their relationship? And so then, you know, hockey fandom takes that and turns it into into hookups.
So, with Taskmaster, like, it’s a game show, it’s very weird, but it has that a game show has this much fanfic. And I think a big part of it is that Alex and Greg are in persona a lot of the time that they’re on screen and they’re creating those characters together for with each other and with all of the contestants.
So we have Alex, you know, as Little Alex Horne, and we have Greg as The Taskmaster. And of course, Greg as The Taskmaster is nothing like Greg in real life, who’s the world’s biggest, you know, people pleasing sweetheart softie. But, there’s this lore that starts getting developed where, you know. Oh, yeah, we live in a house together. Oh, yeah he removes all the dead skin from my feet. You know, Alex says I never scream and Greg says, oh, yes, you do. Right! There’s all these little moments that build up this, canon sexual relationship between The Taskmaster and Little Alex Horne, right? Like, not between Greg and Alex, but between those two personas like, it’s canon that those two characters are together and fucking.
And so at first you’re kind of getting this mostly in the Greg and Alex back and forth, and then sometimes it’s they’re doing it collaboratively. Right? Like Greg goes in the house where we live together. And Alex immediately kind of echoes him, and goes together,

TK
our lovely house together.

Nat
Thank you. Yeah, I couldn’t quite get it, but yeah. But then you start to get the contestants are feeding into this, right? Sometimes they’re torturing Alex because they know that that’s going to make Greg happy. Yeah, and they say so. They’re like, I knew this would get me points because this is. You want to see him getting debased and tied up and turned into a water feature and a mermaid and all these things.
But, you also get contestants starting to kind of throw, throw, like throw the ball back, right? Play the game too. So the one that stands out to me is Asim in Series six saying, you know, I don’t know whether you two are going to fuck or fight. And Greg immediately. Yes ands it and says, oh, you know, frequently both, simultaneously.
And so you start to get these broader conversations happening on screen between Greg, Alex, and the contestants where they’re all making this lore together. And you have it where you can also, you know, in on purpose, kind of like throw a wrench into things and mess with it. So you have Greg doing those repeated intros to Alex, you know, saying that he doesn’t think women should vote or fly airplanes or, that he thinks his middle child’s tutor is hot as hell and no, his neighbor is hot as hell and twice as spicy, he has a crush on his kid’s teacher and things like that. So, like, it’s not that Alex is in full control of the Little Alex Horne persona. Greg gets to add stuff if he wants to. Everybody gets to add stuff if they want to. And so there’s like this really open invitation to everybody involved in the show to add stuff to, to contribute to the lore.
And so canon is never as tightly controlled on Taskmaster as it is on, you know, a show that has a clear showrunner or a book that has a single author, like it’s already co-created, it’s already always collaborative and always open to like, reinterpretation and additions. And so I think the fans see that and they’re like, oh, cool, me too.
You know, I want to play, pass me the ball. Absolutely, I’m going to yes and the heck out of that, right?

TK
Yeah. Yeah. My for, the thing that I always think about is Sophie Duker on the bike or like Alex is on the bike and she needs to put all the ducks in his basket or whatever. Something about a bike and ducks and baskets. And she’s like, Alex, you’re doing this to yourself. And he’s like, I do that for him. Just like, you did not need to say that. But like, okay.

Nat
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you’ve got Alex, you know, chucking that in. You have moments to, in that same series we’ve got enable Alex to bite his duck.

TK
What a what a task.

Nat
What a task. Where Alex is in a pink suit, out of nowhere. And Alex long term wore pink underwear until he started wearing black underwear, specifically because Greg told him to switch colors. That’s on Alex’s off menu episode, which is a wild episode. Anyway, so pink has like, this weird loaded meaning, and then it is very much like you’re trying to get him to like, use a duck as a ball gag, essentially, while he’s restrained and getting soaking wet.

TK
Just normal things

Nat
But back in studio. Normal things!

TK
Haha, comedy,

Nat
back in studio, you know, everybody is teasing Alex about this and saying, like, you’re having a difficult year. Hey, like, what are you trying to do? Even back in series seven with, excite Alex, it’s, you know, is this phrased in a deliberately provocative manner, you know, are you trying to get people to do this? So there’s like a lot of kind of, like acknowledgment and almost like fourth wall breaking around, like, hey, I’m now talking to, like, Alex Horne, Alex Horne, are you, are you trying to fuel this stuff? Are you trying to feed the perverts on the internet? You know? And I don’t think he is necessarily, I don’t know, right? Like, I. But for sure he is, in leaving, leaving intentional openings for other people to pick up the lore, to pick up the personas and the relationships and to, make their own contribution to that.

TK
Yeah. And it’s interesting that originally Alex had been the one to kind of spearhead this, but now, as we were talking about earlier in New York, you know, Greg is the one that seemingly is like having so much fun with this. And I’m not even going to say seemingly, I’m going to say he is having so much fun with this. Because when we were at the Q&A, I’m like, I’m 100% sure that you know where I’m going with this is like where I’m going with this. But, you know, we were at the Q&A, they’re not there as The Taskmaster and his Assistant. Like they’re not in their costumes. You know, they’re just like, we’re Greg and Alex, you know like yes, we’re here for all Taskmaster event. But like, you know we’re not like The Characters, which I feel like is, is different because they have done, you know, stuff where they’ll come out in, in costume and everything. But they didn’t for this and, and you know, Greg immediately brings up fanfic in like the first like ten minutes of the Q&A, he, like he, he’s the one bringing it up.
I like, I say this like all the time, but he was the one that brought it up. Like there wasn’t like, a question about fanfic. Like he just brought it up of his own volition. And then later, much later during one of the tasks, like the live tasks, Alex is laying flat down on the floor like, for some reason

Nat
on his back.

TK
On his back, like looking up at the ceiling. And Greg is like sitting in the chair that’s like pretty much right by his head. And Alex says, I don’t like this view. And Greg says, oh well first of all, Greg leans back unbuttons his jacket, and leans forward again, and he’s like, his legs are spread and he goes, you’re not used to seeing it with trousers, are you? And then he leans down, slaps Alex on the face and goes, we’re in public. And it’s like, you need to stop,

Nat
you’re right,

TK
you are doing that, because.

Nat
He knows exactly, like, he knows that the people who come out to the live shows are the, the most obsessive fans. Right? Like he knows he’s not talking to like, a Sunday brunch audience. He’s talking to the internet perverts. And he’s like, hey, buddies, I see you, I’m here for this.

TK
And not only that, but like, he 100% knew that we were in the room because, early like an hour. He had literally been talking to us like our little group of like 14 writers who was sitting all together because when Alex brought up there, you know, there’s like 867 fics. And we were all like, that’s not right. You know, we were like, that’s way more than that. But like, we like, I forgot that you had to, like, have an account and login to see them, but then like so then we so we were all like bursting out into like little chicken chatter, like. [blwalarawar] And he was like, what’s that person over there saying? And then suddenly all of us went dead quiet. And I was like 1025. Because that was the last number that I remember seeing when we were like, because you know, we don’t check the numbers too terribly often, but I was like, yeah those are, like 800, those are rookie numbers

Nat
stats to know. Yeah, yeah,

TK
100%. Greg knew that we were that like fanfic writers were in the audience because he even said, yeah, to us. Or like, more specifically to me, he was like, oh, I bet you’re the one that wrote Daddy’s Little Screamer, aren’t you? And like, and I didn’t I mean, that’s not one of my fics.

Nat
For the record, it’s 1802 works in the Taskmaster RPF tag, and that’s UK specific.

TK
That’s wild

Nat
So New Zealand and Australia would be another collective.

TK
But that’s not Greg and Alex, though. That’s. That’s not Greg and Alex. That’s the Taskmaster

Nat
Yeah, yeah, Greg and Alex. We’ve got 1319.

TK
Yeah. So that would have been the one that they would have .

Nat
Yeah yeah yeah yeah. But but yeah I mean no I mean they’re clearly clearly happily fueling it at this point I feel like Greg you know, maybe he takes a while to warm up to things.
But yeah, clearly feeling it at this point. And again I’ll point to Sophie Duker as the, I think the person who, really bridged the two worlds, to say like, not only is this like something that Greg and Alex are doing and that the people who are literally in the chairs across from them are invited to participate in.
But Sophie showing up and being like, my prized task is a couple’s cosplay outfit.
TK
For the fans

Nat
Yeah, yeah, for Sophie to show up and be like, my prize task is not just something that’s making a joke about you two fucking, but it’s something that’s saying, hey, I know there’s a lot of people out there who would like to like, actively engage in, the Taskmaster lore like to even as a, I mean, obviously it’s a joke, but to to show up and be like, oh no, there’s people who would actually want to put these suits on and fuck each other.
It’s probably something that has happened. You know, like she’s they’re mentioning a level of fan investment in the horny side of the show that just, like, was not on the show before, except maybe in that, that fic mention in season 15. You know, and she’s kissing the Greg statue. She’s, leaning into that kind of every possible chance she gets.
And it really is like, Sophie is us. We are Sophie. Sophie. Sophie showed up and she was us for us on the show. You know, like, so to make it okay for a comedian to engage with the fan stuff as a fan, like it really seems like she’s a fan herself. I think was like the last little barrier between the fan world and the on air world, like, died that day in Champion of Champions three.

TK
Yeah. What a queen. We we. Yeah. We love Sophie so much.

Nat
I mean, like, you know, James is a fan of the show, but he was a fan of the show, kind of fairly directly and was just like, oh yeah, I really loved doing well on this task because I’m a fan of the show and that was the best moment of my life, you know, crushing the one where you had to scream. But James would not show up and be like, actively egging on the shippy part. And Sophie absolutely did that, like there’s a huge difference there. So yeah I think Sophie as fan stand-in is, is a big moment.

TK
Yeah it it definitely is. Yeah. I mean. It’s just wild that we got to see her, like living all of our dreams, you know, on on the big screen. And we were just so happy for her. So, so happy.

Nat
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get to go back. Cool. I’m going to go back and I’m going to give just the biggest present to all of the internet perverts.

TK
Yeah, truely. And I know that Greg used to say, you know, I don’t know where these people are getting the idea that, you know, Alex and I have some kind of romantic or sexual relationship. I think he’s past that point now. I think that he’s he specifically does stuff, you know, like the, like the thing that he did in the Q &A where there’s no more denying that whatever it is you’re doing, Greg, like, you can’t,
Nat
you’re doing it.

TK
I don’t know where people are getting these ideas from. It’s like, you know, full fucking well where people get these ideas from. [laughs]

Nat
Well, and like the initial on air kiss, you know, seemed like it was planned. It seemed like it was scripted. It was still great. I mean, you know, I really want to kiss you right now. Oh do you come on then. And, like, it’s perfect. It’s wonderful. But that was clearly like something that was, like, negotiated and planned out ahead of time. Whereas you watch the series 18 kiss, where Greg is egging Alex on to say the word [ding] because he knows that Greg, Alex doesn’t like to swear on air, and Alex doesn’t like to be flustered. And Alex is doing the whole, like, turning bright pink, like, you know, can I whisper it to you? Okay. Lean in. And Greg. Absolutely like, lures him in just so that he can, like, smack his, clipboard away and sneak a kiss. Right? Like a very spontaneous kiss. So, like Greg, both like baiting Alex, flustering Alex, humiliating Alex. Like all of that stuff. That’s just right in that, like, BDSM kind of lore relationship. And turning it into yet another excuse to kiss Alex Horne. Like, that’s coming straight from Greg. Greg is clearly playing with this and having fun with this at this point. And I think that helps, writers feel more like it’s okay, right? Like real people fiction is a bit loaded, and it does get more kind of negative responses, online, even within fandoms. Greg and Alex fic and Taskmaster fic, generally I feel a lot more comfortable with, I’m not like anti anything specific, but, you know, like my other fandom that, my other fandom that I kind of ever really participated in was Our Flag Means Death. And there is some like, Rhys Taika real people fiction and I’m like, it doesn’t really grab me as much. I’m not as interested in it. And I don’t feel like kind of as absolutely, 100% totally okay with it as I do about Greg and Alex stuff, right? Because I’m like, oh no, no, no, no, Greg and Alex are writing fanfiction every goddamn day they show up to work, you know, and are clearly, clearly, tickled by it and engaging with it and catering to the people who write it in, in a million different little ways.

TK
Yeah, yeah. And I think so for me personally, like, I knew about RPF, but I didn’t like seek it out or write it or anything like that because, you know, for me, I was like, yeah, that’s like kind of weird. I mean, and like, this is coming from someone who has had RPF written about them and it made me feel deeply uncomfortable.

Nat
Yeah. I think when it’s people, you know, it’s at that is, you know, without their consent. Like that’s immediately icky.

TK
Right. But I think the difference between, like, I don’t want to say like most of RPF because I don’t like, I don’t know anything about, you know, the, the wider RPF world or whatever because I’ve only ever interacted with the Taskmaster one.
But, the difference between that and like, Greg and Alex is that like, they are out there bringing it up willingly and they wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t like, you know, take some kind of absolute joy in the fact that there are people writing about them, you know, like they printed out fanfic to read on Seth Meyers. Like, you don’t do that by accident. You don’t, you don’t

Nat
No, there’s a million other things you could have done.

TK
Exactly. Yeah.

Nat
Yeah.

TK
So yeah. And I think that’s, that’s the thing that made me be like, okay. Like I feel like I can write RPF and not feel like, weird about it with these guys because, like, they’re like, they’re pretty much just asking for it, you know, at this point, like they love that it exists, which is great.

Nat
Yeah. And you see some RPF where it is, people are writing about the personas. And you see some RPF where people are writing about, like the guys, it’s still not actually ever them, right? And like, and we know that, it’s still just kind of like this is my sense of them. But I think having that persona layer helps for a lot of people. Because again, like, it’s opening this space where we’re all writing this story together, we’re all adding little bits of flair to this story. And because it is kind of an open, ongoing project, to create this relationship and to create this world that, that feels really kind of comfortable and appealing for a lot of folk.

TK
Yeah. Yeah, and I think it also helps that Greg and Alex, like, actively welcome fan works into like that. Not even just, you know, like, oh, you can give them, a piece of fanart or whatever, and they’ll be like, thrilled about it. Which, you know, from what I’ve seen and heard and seen in person, like every single piece of fan art that they get, they’re just blown away by it.
But not only that, but like, they have like fan creations in the Taskmaster house. Like hanging up on the walls, like in the shed, you know, like, they take like just from, like the New York City trip. They were gifted two stained glass portraits of themselves. And now those portraits are hanging up in the Taskmaster house.

Nat
Wow, that’s amazing. Or like the previous New York trip or somebody gave them friendship bracelets. And then they wore the friendship bracelets on Seth Meyers. And so, yeah, it’s not just fic, it’s, it’s things like that. It’s things like that. Alex has that crocheted doll of him that somebody made that I think he made some school tasking videos with.
Yeah. They really do seem to enjoy it. Enjoy the creativity and the nerdiness and the intensity of, of the kind of geeky obsessive, I love you so much that I had to crochet this, style of fandom.

TK
Yeah, yeah and I really do think, go ahead

Nat.
Sorry. I was gonna say, Alex will you know, he will cheerfully like, like and repost, you know, drawings of himself and things like that. Yeah. And then so that kind of thing that you’re handing to them, that’s usually, you know, ideally you’re not handing them anything that’s not G-rated. Right. But then the fic you hold behind a wall because, like you said, like, you know, if you hear it about yourself and you don’t want to, that’s icky.
Right? So, fanfic writers oftentimes like the reason why they didn’t know how many fics there actually are is because it’s locked down. A lot of people, will lock down their accounts, so you can only see it if you’re logged in, just as a way to restrict a little bit the odds of, you know, Alex reading what you wrote about Alex giving somebody a blowjob.
And so, but the fact that it’s then set up that way and they have to go and seek it out themselves and decide, yes, today I want to click this link that is warning me that there is explicit content if I go forward. Right? Like that’s another part of, of how their interactions with the sick, I think feel okay for not everybody but a number of people, because they’re having to actively go and seek it out, and dig for it.

TK
Yeah. Yeah, it’s definitely different, like going out and, like, looking for it yourself rather than, like being handed it. Yeah, like, for sure. So yeah, I think that definitely sets a lot of us at ease that they just keep bringing it up, which is ridiculous that they keep doing it. But like, we love it. Yeah. So keep keep on doing it.

Nat
Yeah. We’ve made a boundary. If you want to blow past it then y’all go ahead. But
[both laugh]

TK
So all right so speaking of fan work recommendations since you’ve joined the Taskmaster fandom, tell me like your, your all time favorite, it can be like Taskmaster fanfic. It can be fan art. It can be a music video. Like what, what are your your fan work recommendations for the podcast?

Nat
Yeah, I have I have three one is Blood in the Cut, which is a video, which is just the most, kind of, bizarre and wonderful fan vid. Watch a lot of creepy moments where people are, you know, bleeding or uncomfortable or, pretending to be dead. It’s really intense and it’s weird. And I think it’s a wonderful thing where if you said, oh, let me tell you about this, like British comedy, entertainment show that I like. And then you show them that video, they’d be like, what the fuck is going on? But a great example of how weird the on screen canon of Taskmaster is.
For fics, my all time absolute favorite Taskmaster fic is Welcome Home by Knop_e which is on AO3. It is a slow burn, roommates to lovers, alternate universe where, Greg and Alex are, you know, not famous comedians. It has so many Easter eggs and references to the show all the way through, and it’s also just like, oh, it’s so sweet, it’s so emotional. And there’s really good porn. So it’s everything I want. I have read that one, probably. I mean, I’ve read it dozens and dozens of times. I’m obsessed with it. It’s perfect. For more recent fic, which Illuminescence has come up a few times, Illuminescence is, I think, in terms of like, writing quality and like ability to to spin complex plots and also to nail characterization, like one of the absolute best writers, like the most skilled at writing writers that we have, in in Taskmaster fic.
So last year we had that Little Alex Horne Fic Club Exchange and Illuminescence wrote me something based on a, Taskmaster Star Trek crossover. So it’s Star Red and Heart Hot. [urng] Just absolutely, absolutely destroyed me. There is a time loop Q shows up. Rob Gilbert is there as a Klingon named Rudd of house Gilbert, like the Star Trek references are on point. The Taskmaster references are on point. You’re reading it and you’re like, this is fun and nerdy. And then before you know it, you’re like, sobbing because you’re emotionally destroyed, by these two people like finding love in an unexpected way. And it’s just like, oh, it’s so good. It’s perfect, it’s absolutely perfect.

TK
Yeah, I definitely agree with you. It’s, I have a tattoo of it on my leg.

Nat
Right?

TK
Yes. Right. sun red blood hot,

Nat
Star Red and Heart Hot. Star Red and Heart Hot. I know I had, I was like, I’m gonna make sure I have a tab open with that on it, because I will not say it correctly otherwise.
Oh, and she worked in Sam Campbell, who is my, my particular blorbo perfect obsession person. So, I’m forever grateful to her for that. Yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s incredible. I mean, any, anything by her is just incredible.

Nat
Yeah. If you got the time to spare because they’re long.

TK
Yes. Yes, they are definitely long.
All right. So, you are on A03. Do you want me to plug your, your AO3 account? Anything else you want to plug?

Nat
You know, like, I have not updated my fics for, some months. So if anybody wants to come on to AO3 and look me up under TheNaturalFriends, and then just, like, politely, politely threaten me in the comments, that that may motivate me to actually finish my, my big long Greg/Sam fanfic.
But yeah, no, you’re welcome to find me. But I’m not, super duper active at the moment. And, yeah, on Tumblr, under the same under the same handle.

TK
Sweet. Good deal. Well, it has been a pleasure having you on the pod. It’s been, really interesting chat of, all of the TM fanfic and just the history of it and how we’re just going to keep chugging forward with it.
And I’m really excited to see what we all come up with.

Nat
We broke 100 in a month. 200 is next up, friends like

TK
Oh,no,

Nat
Gotta keep blowing it up. Gotta make more Seth Meyers content for the boys.

TK
That’s true. Yep. Well, thank you so much for coming on the pod.
[various overlapping goodbyes]

VO
And that was TK speaking with Nat on fic, stats, and being perceived, you can read all the fanworks mentioned in this episode right now by clicking on the episode description or by going to our website, tftaskmaster.uk. If you have any questions, fanwork recommendations, suggestions, or anything else, you can email us at fans@tftaskmaster.uk

TK
Welcome to Transformative Taskmaster, where we drill down into the narrative. It’s a podcast by fans, for fans and about fans. My name is TK, which stands for Tiny Kitten and I’ll be your host. Every episode will have a special guest on to talk about the finer details of Taskmaster and its fandom, focusing on a specific topic of conversation.
We’ll play some games, discuss Taskmaster current events, and give you some fan work recommendations at the end.

TK
We’ve just come back off the back of the Taskmaster series 19 premiere in New York City, where Greg and Alex hosted a Q&A, did tons of interviews and seemingly won on so many dates. They also shouted out five different fanfics on the Seth Meyers taping, so that was a thing, that we were all completely normal about.
Totally fun. Okay. Every episode will have a special guest on to talk about the finer details of Taskmaster and its fandom. We’ll really dig down into the narrative, as Greg likes to say, focusing on a specific topic of conversation. We’ll play some games and discuss Taskmaster current events.
For our pilot episode, I am delighted to introduce a staple of the fandom and a very dear personal friend of mine, Amanda!

Amanda
Hello, crowd goes wild. Thank you. Hi, T.K.. Thank you formy intro.

TK
Yes, you are so welcome. And thank you for being here. As we figure out the ins and outs of the podcast world. It’s very exciting.

Amanda
It is very exciting.
TK
All right, so we, the collective we, on our little, what should we call it we call it a group chat?

Amanda
I’m not sure I’ve been, like, leaning towards, like, writing group or, you know, just just fan forum that, you know, that

TK
oh fan forum, I like that

Amanda
old school, old school.

TK
So the collective we on our, on our fan forum have been discussing, creating this podcast for it’s only been, what, like a week or two at this point.

Amanda
Yeah, I think like I mentioned before, but now it’s serious.

TK
Yeah, we a bunch of us went to New York, for the premiere. And I think to kind of kick started, this kind of, want to expand our little fandom, as it were.

Amanda
Very much so, yeah.

TK
So obviously we have the official Taskmaster podcast was Ed Gamble, which is amazing.

Amanda
It is.

TK
Yeah. So they’ve just started season two of New Zealand, which I’m very excited about because that’s one of the best seasons ever according to the fan base, which is pretty exciting. We’ve also got the Taskmaster People’s Podcast, which I believe is currently being hosted by Jenny Eclair and Jack Bernhardt. And yeah, I feel like our little community specifically will go and listen to these podcasts, and then we’ll come back to our little, our little, group chat, as it were, and will be like, but they didn’t talk about this or they didn’t talk about this, like, why aren’t we talking about the one that the one thing that really stands out to me, personally is how the editors edited out Nick’s Dracula.

Amanda
Yeah, Nick Mohammed. Oh my goodness, yeah, they went Dracula, well he doesn’t have a reflection. So like completely over the top. There was no reason for doing it. I don’t think they even mentioned it anywhere. They’re just, like, subtly. It’s in every shot he’s in.

TK
And it was one of those things where once you see it, you can’t unsee it. . And it was just amazing and incredible. And like every time, you know, somebody put a GIF set up on Tumblr, I was like, yes, reblog, this needs to be seen. People need to know about this.

Amanda
There’s someone out there putting their absolute heart and soul into doing this editing and we see you. We thank you. This is delightful.

TK
Yeah, especially with that mirror task. I can’t imagine how much of a pain that must have been.

Amanda
I think that might have been the origin of it. I think they might have been like, wait, we’ve got Dracula with a mirror. He shouldn’t be in the mirror. And then someone went, guys should know it would be fun. We gotta go back. We gotta fix it all.

TK
Yes. So, yeah, I feel like there’s a lot of little tidbits like that that that we as a collective group, will notice and point out and then yell at each other that nobody else is yelling about it. And so this, this podcast kind of is a little bit for that.
But we’ll also have a little bit of, a bunch of other things. We have. We’re going to have a, you know, a regular segment on promoting fan works, which will include fanfic, fan art, fan fiction. Sorry for those. Let’s call it let’s just call it fanfic. Just call it fanfic. It’s

Amanda
We’re on first name terms with fanfic.

TK
We really, really are. Yeah. Yeah. So we’ll, you know, we’ll play some games, we’ll have some guests. It’ll be interesting to talk about different, aspects of the Taskmaster universe. The lore, the fan base, specifically. So that’ll be really fun. Now, we were trying to come up with a title, or a name for this podcast, and it was you, actually, who suggested Transformative Taskmaster.

Amanda
Someone scrolled back and found me.

TK
Actually, I did not scroll back. I just remember that that was you, because I immediately was like, oh, that’s perfect. And everybody was immediately like, yep, that’s the that’s going to be the name of it.

Amanda
Yes, Transformative Taskmaster.

TK
Yes. So, Amanda, tell me why you how did you come up with that first of all.
And then why do you think it fits so well with what we’re trying to do here?

Amanda
Oh, gosh. I mean, it was one of the spur of the moment things, you know? So I hadn’t been sat there racking my brain for like ten minutes or something about that. It was a case, you know, people were throwing ideas. It was really, you know, flexible.
People were just trying stuff out. But there was definitely this sense, like, everyone having, you know, this discussion about it being about the like the, the extra added world on top of Taskmaster. It’s not specifically the Taskmaster world itself, although it absolutely would include that. But it’s like the things that then go beyond Taskmaster and bring it out into the world of the fans and what the fans like turned into.
And so I think, there’s, you know, been a lot of, talk about like, transformative works, being something that, you know, fan fiction and fan art and all the rest of it, you know, are considered like, legally. And then, who doesn’t like alliteration? So Transformative Taskmaster I threw out there. And, you know, I got some thumbs up.
So that’s nice.

TK
Yeah, I think it’s perfect. It was for me. I think it’s a little bit of a death of the author type thing where, you know, we and I say a little bit of because it’s not completely, because obviously we love and respect and cherish the original, you know, content and everything. And that’s, that’s what we’re pulling from.
But but also the transformative bit makes it so that we can take what they’ve given us and make it our own thing. You know, regardless of whether that was that thing, was what they intended to happen, etc., especially because, you know, for, for a lot of us, there are so many what we think of as obvious things that Greg and Alex do that we’re like, why would they do this?
And then Greg is like, I don’t know why they think we’re like, romantically. I know we’re like, you literally kissed him on, like what?

Amanda
Yeah, yeah. I think I think probably like after every single like nugget and grain and crumb of content that we get from, you know, Taskmaster proper, all of us just like run back to discuss it, you know, in our, in our little groups and be like, why did they do this? What were they thinking? And half of our time is just trying to figure out, you know, what the intention was. And most, like you said, death of the author. Half the time it doesn’t even matter what the intention was, because if you’re just playing with the toys that they’ve given us, it’s a it’s a toolbox. It’s an absolute, you know, sandbox of of mad, crazy canon and ideas and, and characters and we, we just love playing in this, this, you know, box of toys that they just give us and keep giving us over and over again.

TK
Yeah. And I think Alex in particular would really like your metaphor on playing with toys, giving us toys to play with. Because it definitely it very much feels like that. And I think that on my, my thinking is that probably what happens is, especially with Greg, I don’t know how much Alex, you know, rewatches everything. You know, being an executive producer and has the final say and the final edits and everything, but normally I think what happens is that they record the show and then never think about it again, you know, and like, because I imagine that’s what happens because they’ve been doing this,

Amanda
I think I forget a lot of what’s going on.You know, they throw a line. They throw a look or an idea or a joke and it’s it’s there in the moment and it’s hilarious. And then they move on because they’ve got more jokes to make, you know.

TK
Yeah, yeah. And I think for us, the thing that that separates us from them a little bit, I mean, obviously there’s a lot of things that do.
But for this particular example, is that we will rewatch and we will pick apart and we will make GIF sets and we will make text posts and we will draw and we will write and we will sing sometimes.

Amanda
Very much so.

TK
Yeah. Yeah. And I think, personally, I think that if I watched an episode and then never thought about it again, like, of course I’m not going to remember that one time that this one person said this one sentence, you know, then be like oh, yeah, I remember, because, you and I were both lucky enough to go to, New York City, which we’ll talk about in more depth here in a little bit. But one of the things that that was funny to me was that during the Q&A with Greg and Alex, you know, some of the audience members would shout out some stuff. And one of the questions was like, what’s your, do you have a favorite, like quote that you quote from the show?
And of course, we all have our favorite quote. We have a whole basket of quotes

Amanda
Who can choose one.

TK
I mean, yeah. And then, you know, so one person shouting out like bastards crying innit , Alex is and Greg is like, oh, what did they say? And Alex was like, bitch is crying innit. And we’re like, no, no, no no no no no, that’s not what that is. It’s bastards. Come on Alex, you get it together.

Amanda
I mean, he’s so busy. Forgetful.

TK
Yeah. But even you know, Greg has well, I’m sure he has all the time. But even when, you know, when Alex was like, well, you know, the fans will know that, you know, Liza and everyone goes nuts. And Greg is like, sorry, what did Lisa do? It’s like, we already know. You don’t have to. You don’t have to remind us that you sat on the cake. We all, all of us are already having your butt in our mental image, sitting on the cake like we don’t have. You don’t have to explain this to us. But of course Greg doesn’t remember that until Alex reminds him and then he’s like, oh yeah, I guess you did do that.

Amanda
Yeah, yeah, it was incredible. Yeah, I think, there’s almost like this privilege that fans have of, you know, being able to dig into far more than, like, you know, the creators and the people who are on it, ever, ever do. In fact, if they did be kind of a little weird in a way, because they should be looking forward, whereas we get to see it revisit it, like perhaps only the editors and, and, you know, the fans have analyzed each individual frame as much as you know anyone else.
But I think it’s definitely like, people like Alex who who knew it a lot, you know, and now share this language with the fans where he can see there was this moment with Liza and all of the crazy fans in the audience, of which I’m proud to, you know, hold my hand up and say I’m one of immediately know what he’s talking about.
He doesn’t need to keep saying it. We share that, you know, that piece of information. There’s never a shorthand between us. He can he can mention offhand things, and we’re like, we know exactly. And we share that between the fans as well. Like in our, you know, in their chats on our forums and our, you know, Tumblrs, whatever it is.
So we can just be like, I’m, you know, I’m feeling, you know, very Liza Tarbuck today and you know, people are, you know, throwing their, their hands in the air going, oh good God, what does that mean? That could mean all of these different things. You know, we have the shared language, like any subculture ends up having. And I think the Taskmaster fandom, like many fandoms, is a subculture that shares a language, shares all of this knowledge.
And as you, you know, as you get new fans to the fandom, they’re kind of introduced to all of these secret meanings and languages and shortcuts and, you know, you know, nods of the head and, and little insights that we all share.

TK
Yeah. And I think the thing that is interesting about Taskmaster specifically and I, this is one of the things that I do want to kind of continuously bring up as part of the the podcast is that I feel like Greg and Alex do this thing where they want to create these in-jokes with their fans, like they actively do it.

Amanda
It seems to seem very much like that.

TK
Yeah, yeah. And it’s it’s a really nice feeling to be kind of perceived, as we call it, which we’ll talk about later. Yeah.

Amanda
Like, if I can, like, bring that even further, it’s like, yeah, looking at the structure of, you know, a Taskmaster episode, it really shouldn’t be generating this amount of, of, you know, this fandom and this investment and, you know, dedication to the “lore”. I’m putting, you know, bunny ears in the air here. But like, it could have been exactly straight up. People come in, they do their tasks. A man judges them and they go home. But that is not how it ends up it. Because of Greg and Alex and the relationship that they play out on stage, and how they bring the contestants in during the tasks and during, you know, the studio tapings. It becomes this complicated, ongoing, almost pseudo storyline that people who watch it and watch series to series can get invested in. Whereas if you were comparing it to something like Countdown, you know, there there isn’t really, you know, that kind of angle to it where people are creating, a pseudo storyline that goes through the background.

TK
And what a storyline we get.
So, I mean, the, the canon law, as we call it, is just ridiculous.

Amanda
And it makes no sense within itself, which is fascinating, aggravating, perfect and wonderful. Yeah, it contradicts itself constantly. Greg and Alex don’t seem to behold themselves to any kind of consistency. If they find something funny in the moment that suits their characters, then they will run with it because the characters seem to be the thing that absolutely holds everything, the character of the Alex plays and the character that Greg plays.
Those are what’s true in an episode of Taskmaster, and that’s what carries through the whole thing, it seems.

TK
Yeah, yeah. I mean, talking about that, I think it’ll be interesting at some point in the future of this podcast to talk about the interstitials and how Greg and Alex used to be like creating their own little clips for those, and in the I mean, I don’t off the top of my head know which season or which series they stopped doing that in. But, you know, now it’s just kind of Alex doing, holding up two fingers and holding up three fingers. But he’s riding a rollercoaster for some reason. Like, who knows why. But yeah, definitely seemed to originate with a lot of kind of lore of like, why are the why, is Alex like massaging Greg’s feet or. No, he’s clipping toenails with those hedge clippers. I mean, it’s like, what,

Amanda
shears

TK
was that necessary? No. Did we absolutely love it? Yes.

Amanda
Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know that one of my favorite ones is the, advert for, I think, season ten where they were moving over to Channel Four. And they have Greg sat in his glorious chair while Alex hustles around in the background of their quite physically impossible, like, Escher inspired mansion, which is supposed to be, you know, one of their many homes or one Greg’s many homes, of course. And then Greg opens a door. It seems that there’s a room full of Alex’s with a sign on it saying ‘do not feed’. And it goes, ‘oops, wrong door’ closes it and moves on, and they never mention it again. And you just sat there going, oh, what just happened? This is what? So yeah, delightful. They’ll just it’s like someone who’s addicted to throwing out plot hooks, and they’re just going to have loads of funny things to run with.
We’re not going to keep track of them. And we as the fandom try to, we’re just running behind them, picking up all of these mad little things that they’ve given us and going, this is fun. I can I can do something with this.

TK
Oh yeah, I feel like a raccoon rummaging.
Hi, podcast cat.

Amanda
Hello?

TK
Stop. I feel like a raccoon rummaging through the garbage a lot of the time because, you know, Alex will just throw out his his trash, and then I’ll come around with my little grubby raccoon paws and pick it up and sniff it, and you be like, oh, I can make something out of this.

Amanda
Mmm tasty.

TK
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, with the, the whatever we want to call it the clone door and the clone room especially, I know it has, I need to look up some stats before I start talking about this kind of stuff, but, you know, a fair amount of of fanfics, you know, just about the clones idea themselves. And it’s, I think, incredible how something that’s, what 10s long not even

Amanda
if that. Yeah.

TK
You know, can be turned into thousands of words by dozens by dozens different people. It’s incredible.

Amanda
Yeah. And and again, to reiterate, they never mention again it’s not a focus event. This is a, you know, a show where they invite five comics on, do some silly tasks and send them home again, none of this is necessary.

TK
No it’s really not

Amanda
It’s just delightful little nonsense bits that they just threw out. And, you know, these interstitials that you’re talking about, the ads that they do, the banter sections, you know, at the top of an episode, just a little throw out the the throwing to add sections, apparently Greg is the one that writes, often have these little moments of, like, insight into the relationship between the Taskmaster and The Assistant.
And and nobody’s telling them they need to do this. They’re just like, this is this is fun to us. We’re going to make up this whole backstory that doesn’t make sense and, you know, enjoy it or don’t. It’s just amazing.

TK
Yeah. And that’s I think one thing that I really, really love about our fandom is that we can pick up this tiny speck of dust that they throw us and turn it into

Amanda
yeah, crumbs

TK
You know, 40,000 word fic. And it’s just incredible, that we get such inspiration from the tiniest little things, but that really is very fun.

Amanda
And I think as well the fact that the, you know, the so-called canon is inconsistent with itself and doesn’t actually make sense means that there’s a lot of freedom to just make shit up, you know, because that’s what they do.
It’s like someone can’t sit there, push their glasses up into their nose and go. Uh, actually, you’ll find that that contradicts this bit here. And so again, it doesn’t matter. It contradicts itself. So you have a lot more freedom as long as to a certain extent you keep a core of the character that Alex plays and the character that Greg plays, you know, true in whatever story or piece of fanart or, you know, fan content that you’re making, you can do whatever the hell you want because Greg and Alex are right there doing the same thing.

TK
Yeah. And it’s it’s really nice to because they do give us multiple layers because not only do. Stop (podcast cat bites microphone)

Amanda
You know I love you podcast cat

TK
she’s like, oh, what if I bit the microphone. What if you didn’t do that. Because they give us the Taskmaster and his Assistant.
So that’s layer one. On top of that, we have Greg and Alex in the studio, which is layer two, which is almost the same thing, but not quite. And then we have Greg and Alex as Greg is The Taskmaster in this show. And Alex is the executive producer of this show. Yes, which is another. And then we have Greg and Alex out living their own lives.

Amanda
Yeah. And and the delightful, sometimes fascinating. And I think, I do think that this was the thing that actually drew me into the, you know, the fandom itself was the the lines between these different layers, like the lines between The Assistant and Alex Horne, the executive, and Alex Horne, who’s just mucking around as a comic on stage, as a real human being, can blur and flip flop between any and all of these in the space of the same sentence, like, to me, Alex can be saying something about, you know, living in our lovely house together, which is The Assistant talking about the canon world, for he is pretty much the live-in slave of the almighty Taskmaster. And then in the same sentence, he’s all of a sudden talking about how Greg needs to change, you know, do the points, right, or you know that they’ll have to cut this bit or something like that, because he’s actually the man who’s ostensibly in charge of the whole show. He made it. He’s one of the executive producers.
He has phenomenal power within, you know, the bounds of this show. And yet he’s playing this character who’s just a little toady weasel guy who is just like the lowest. He’s the carpet snake. He’s like absolute scum. And Greg is all mighty, all powerful. And yeah, he’ll literally do it in the same sentence or the same breath. And it’s just it’s fascinating to watch.
And he is trying to follow it puts all new wrinkles in my head is to. It’s just delightful to watch.

TK
Yeah. And even with his other stuff like I didn’t get into The Horne Section until after I had watched a lot of Taskmaster. And, and even then, like, with The Horne Section TV show, you know, he’s like, I’m Alex is the leader.
It’s called The Horne Section. It is his band. Literally it is his band. Like he is the the frontman of the band. He is in charge of the band. Like all of the decisions that he makes for the band are essentially his final call to make. And he chose in The Horne Section TV show to be like, but what if Greg came in and was like, I’m going to steal your band and undermine you?
And I’m just like, why do you do this? I mean, it’s fascinating and it’s so interesting and it’s hilarious, but like, what motivates him? To write these storylines?

Amanda
The Horne Section existed completely separately, as you know, the thing that Alex loves doing with, you know, childhood friends and other people is, you know, and it’s all comedy jazz band and it goes on tours and the whole thing, and he’s like the front man who can’t sing, and that’s that’s delightful. And he didn’t need to have like, the very intro to The Horne Section TV show being Alex Horne, the toady, you know, who obeys all that, you know, meeting Greg, the Taskmaster does in the studio, being bullied around and told to go and get sandwiches and rest.
He didn’t have to include all that. And then having go to his, you know, temporary changing room or something like that, tear off his Taskmaster suit to reveal his Horne Section, you know, the costume underneath it with The Horne Section around him going, sorry, Alex. He didn’t need to do that, but he topped and tailed the whole series with this framing device of the character who’s at the front of The Horne Section band is also the toady guy who works for Greg in the Taskmaster show, but not The Canon version of The Assistant who lives in the mansions, right, and gets tied up before he goes to sleep at night or with bells or whatever. The hell.

TK
Yeah, because that because The Assistant doesn’t have his own band, except for when he’s in the studio sitting next to Greg, and Greg brings it up like the one time, you know,

Amanda
It’s just it’s another layer.
And Alex has been like, no, but what if I just massively expand this element of the canon to include an entire other area with a whole plotline and storyline and, you know, Alex’s character and that is so beaten down and sad and the whole, you know, series one is just about him being sad guy who can’t figure out how to get his life in order and all the rest of it.
And he’s just like, what if I was wet? What if, just just constantly? I was the wet guy? What? What if just that if I just played that way, would that be fun? And I. And he’s supposed to be like, the cool guy, the front guy of a band, and he dodges that role and just goes, no, I’m going to be the the saddest wet puppy that there’s ever been.
There’s like whole scenes where he’s just left alone all on his own and, you know, in a robe and slippers clicking away, a laptop, being sad and looking through old photographs of his, you know, his friends and the band. It’s like you’re you’re literally doing this to yourself. What’s going?

TK
I mean, you’ve got to think it must be a ton of fun.

Amanda
Oh, absolute

TK
Like so much fun to to mess with the narrative like that.

Amanda
If I can, like, reference a thing that I’ve mucked around with myself, I went and did, sorry, an improv class. And one of the things and I did this in Los Angeles, of all places, so there was like six classes and all the rest of it, and you wander on to, you know, the stage and then try and give someone a clue as to, you know, what setting you were doing your scene in, and what character you were doing, and all the rest of it.
And one of the things that popped out is I would end up picking the low status character to play, so I would I would come in and be like, oh, professor, can you can you help me do this thing or whatever it was. And people would be like, oh, yes, I’m the professor. I’m going to wander in and start this scene and do all the whole of the thing.
And it’s a strange thing, because most of our class would not pick the low status role in any scene, and people pointed out that’s something that Amanda does. And I was the only Brit in the room and I’m wondering Is this a Britcom thing? Is this because, you know, people have talked about the difference between British and American comedy and obviously massive overlaps everywhere, but just generally it seems you know people have talked about this in the past. But it seems British comedians like going I’m such a sad guy. Look at me. I’m, what a shame. I’m trying my hardest, but I’m just getting beaten down. Yeah. Whereas you know, the American, you know, typical comedies like, I’m such a cool guy, I’m going to be in charge of everything. I’m going to poke. poke, you know, power. And I’m going to show everyone how it’s done. And you trick all of the people. And so I’m wondering if Alex is just following that, you know, that grand tradition of being oh I’m such a sad guy

TK
Yeah, and he’s he’s got the face for it. I got to give him that. What a face. What a great face.

Amanda
Oh, absolutely. It looks like a cartoon character.

TK
Oh really, he really does.

Amanda
Can you draw a hairy sausage cartoon character and make him sad?

TK
That’s Alex Horne

Amanda
Absolutely.

TK
Excellent. Okay, so we’re going to move on. This next segment would normally be games, but I don’t get, we don’t have games yet. So we’ll we’ll just pretend that we’re playing games.

Amanda
Yay I can’t lose.

TK
Yay. Yeah. So for the the games will have, fact or fan fiction, which I think is something that I’m made up in New York, I think. So I was like, you know, these these boys really out here just saying shit. Like what? What are they doing?

Amanda
So the idea with that one is that we’re like, here is something completely unhinged. This is about the Taskmaster universe. Is it unhinged from Alex and Greg, or is unhinged from the mind of one of the fan creators?

TK
Right. Like. All right, this next quote is from Greg Davies, and then you just read something completely, you know, like you said, unhinged.
And then it’s like, fact or fanfic or which one was it?

Amanda
Yeah. And then is because, you know, there’s a lot of, I think we’ve seen that a lot where people would be reading, you know, piece of fan fiction and they’re reading through it and going, well, that’s bonkers. Obviously someone, someone who’s writing this is made it up.
And you’ll find out that generally the most bonkers things are things that actually did happen. Or were mentioned.

TK
Yeah, it’s, pretty wild.

Amanda
Yeah. I’m really glad you didn’t have any prepared, because I didn’t really have.

TK
Yeah, I think like the banter section or not, the, the, the introduct-ory?, that was a word that I said.

Amanda
Oh, yeah. The Alex introductions.

TK
Alex introductions are like the most unhinged. I mean, my favorite part of those is when Greg, like, loses his composure halfway through and he has to cover his mouth with his hand.

Amanda
Yeah, I think there’s a lot of Greg has written these at some point in the past, and he may have forgotten
And he forgets and sees them come up on the autocue and goes, oh no, am I going to say that? Yes, I’m going to say that he’s horrified by his own written thing and giggling through it. Meanwhile, Alex is just like white knuckling it on the, you know, the throne next to him going, oh no, sad guy mode engage.

TK
Yeah, it’s so funny. And I, I admire Alex’s tenacity to I don’t think he’s ever done this. I mean maybe he has like in the studio and they’ve cut it out, but I don’t remember ever seeing him once, other than, aside from him doing his like finger wave

Amanda
Finger wag, yeah

TK
you know, where, you know, he’ll, the, you know, where you just have to assume that he’s saying, no, no, no, that’s not, because sometimes you’ve gotta

Amanda
Yes, I know where you’re going with this. It’s like he will always, yes and and never no but, you know, Greg will say the most horrific thing. And lay that down as this is a true fact about Alex Horne. And everyone in the audience knows. Oh, God, no, that’s the worst thing ever. That’s clearly not a thing that Alex thinks. Yeah, but Alex will never go, ‘Actually, no, I disagree with what you’re saying there’. He, like you say, he’ll occasionally wag his finger in a kind of like, ‘Well, not quite’ sort of look or ‘oh please don’t, you know, follow that up with anything else’.

TK
Right.

Amanda
But the the man’s dedication to your sound is legendary.

TK
It really is. It’s it’s. I aspire to eat a whole pat of butter at a wedding because somebody told me to,

Amanda
One day, Greg will get a new story.

TK
Ugh, one day, today is not that day. Now, this is a good segue into the New York trip, which we’re going to talk about next. So this is going to be the segment where we kind of talk about current events or the most recent episode, obviously, you know, we haven’t really had a most recent episode, unless you count the premiere, which we won’t spoil.
We won’t spoil, the series 19 premiere, except to say that it’s amazing and it’s going to be, a great series if the first episode is anything to go off of. But yes, like I said earlier, you and I were lucky enough to go to New York City for this trip, and there were about, I want to say, like there were like 14 of us from our, our group that we’re in.
And, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with each other and put faces to names. And yeah, I mean, I there wasn’t a single person in our group that I was like, ‘eh, can take them or leave them’, you know what I mean? Like, like every single person was genuinely so much fun to hang out with and talk to and everything.
And, yeah, it was it was really fun getting together and going out for meals and a bunch of us, you know, would split off occasionally to go to Central Park and see if we could find Greg and Alex, because we knew they were going to Central Park. You know, and we were like, surely they’ve got to be here somewhere.
And then we’d walk around in the freezing, freezing cold.

Amanda
Oh yeah. I’m not sure how many people who weren’t there understood. But there was like an absolutely cold snap for exactly the days that our group and, you know, coincidentally, Alex and Greg were in New York, it got bitterly cold and and I know you’re a huge fan of the cold, of course ;).

TK
No, no, no, I, I grew up, in New York, not the city, but in New York. And I hate, I’ve always hated the cold. And now I live in California. Much happier, but I, Yeah, the night that I flew in, it was snowing, and I was miserable. I was so angry, I was like, okay, let’s go to this diner.
I think actually it was the diner. We tried to, because Greg and Alex have their their names on a couple of plaques on one of the Brooklyn diners.

Amanda
Yes, yes that’s what it’s called Brooklyn Diner. And there’s two locations for Brooklyn Diner.–

TK
es. And we originally went to the one that didn’t have their names correct. And then we did find the one that did have their names later. So that was fun. That that is a tiny, tiny booth, let me tell you that thing was cramped. I don’t know if Greg and Alex, like, went and sat at their. But it’s I feel bad for them because. Holy leg room Batman. That did not exist. At that booth, But yeah,

Amanda
I imagine Greg’s used to. The man is a giant. He’s, I mean, you know, normal booths are probably cramped to him.

TK
Poor guy. I feel so bad. Yeah. But, yeah, we had a lot of fun. They they did a ton of interviews with just a lot of people. That seemed like they did, like, a lot of Zoom interviews or. I don’t know if they’re actually using Zoom these days. I don’t know what the kids are using. It used to be Skype. Now it’s Zoom. I don’t know, whatever.

Amanda
Greg and Alex are not The Kids.

TK
What are the, what are these kids up to these days?

Amanda
40 and 50 year old British men, what are they up to

TK
Adult men, yeah. So they did a lot of interviews in person and online. And so we kind of got to see some of those while we were in New York. And then some of them after we got back home and everything. And of course, they have the premiere and the Q&A, and the Q&A was just amazing. I mean, it was incredible, for one, because they came to New York to do it, which I don’t know about you, but I am very thankful that they came to The States because, like, what am I going to get an opportunity to go to London, you know,

Amanda
So, I’m going to pop a bit of context here and go, this is the second time that they’ve done this.
They did this in March of last year, 2024. And so this time it was January 2025. Guys pick a warmer month. But the previous, you know, attempt that they’d done had been a really, really tiny venue where they were, you know, cramped people were turned away at the door. It was all a mess. And so this time around, they had found a location, was it Town Hall I it was called (TK affirms), with 1500 seats, you know. So that was that was much, much bigger location. The tickets went like hotcakes. We were in a frenzy trying to make sure that we could get all of the tickets that we needed for our group.

TK
Yeah, sold out within two hours, didn’t it?

Amanda
Something like that. Yeah. And, you know, they weren’t, they weren’t free, but they, there were, you know, moderately priced. And then the scalpers came in and, Urrgh scalpers we hate them. But, you know, this was a much bigger location. And I think Greg and Alex themselves were just, taken aback by how many people were there, and probably by the fact that the tickets sold so fast at all.

TK
Yeah, yeah. I mean, one of the things that happened was we we all went into the theater. I’m pretty sure there were no empty seats because, I mean, if there was like, I would have been really surprised. But as far as I could tell, there wasn’t any empty seats. And we watched the episode first, and then we had a little break, and then Greg and Alex came on.
And so we had been sitting there for an hour, you know, maybe, maybe more if, you know, depending on what time you had gotten to the venue. But when they walked on stage, they immediately got a standing ovation, like, all of it just happened. And we were just like, yes, we are. So they hadn’t even said anything yet, not a single word had come out of their mouths, and we’re already giving them a standing ovation, and they’re just like, ‘what is happened?’ like, I don’t like I don’t think they realize how big they are in The States. Because I think they just keep getting blown away by everything that this is

Amanda
the dedication that they seem to, you know, garner is is taking them, you know, back every time.It’s like you wouldn’t get this for, you know, Countdown or another kind of, you know, just, just plain straight up quiz type show. And I think they didn’t realize that it’s, for so many people. It’s been a massive part of their lives and a really load bearing intrinsic, you know, part of their their well-being and their happiness. And they just they bring joy.
And people want to, you know, give this back. And they’ve done it by coming all the way across the entire United States. We find out there were some people from, you know, up in Canada, some our group was from Canada. There was someone from Argentina. I think, it’s like people came miles and miles from far and wide to just see them, you know, up on stage.
And I, I think these guys might be, you know, Alex and Greg, are so modest that they thought a lot of people were coming to see the first episode in the series. It wasn’t for the ep of the series. It was nice, you know? But it was really to see Greg and Alex up on stage and, you know, just hear them talk and you know, banter back and forth.
And they they had some, you know, tasks, you know, for the audience and stuff like that. But it was just to be there and like you’re, you’re seeing our whole group was just full of really lovely people who have self-selected into this fandom of just kind, wonderful, generous, funny people doing kind, generous, wonderful, funny things. And so like, I think I’m just going to see, like, the, the guy who is doing the interviewing for the Q&A, I think Josh, his name? (TK affirms) He came out of the start, you know, to kind of give us the run of the show and tell us what was going on. The crowd went wild as soon as he appeared. And he was like, no, no, no, this is this is stollen valor, I’m, I’m not them guys. I’m just here to do the intro.
We didn’t care. The whole, you know, the whole audience. 1500 people went absolutely bat crazy for, you know, just just being there and being excited. And so full of excitement that this was finally happening. So when Greg and Alex came out, you know, almost an hour later, after a 45 minute episode and all the rest of it, we went bonkers. We went absolutely crazy. And, you know, some people should have been tired. It was freezing cold. People have been having travel issues and all the rest, but they made it and they were just like, please take our love in the form of us standing up and screaming at you for is a good 30s.

TK
It’s the least we can do. Yeah, I definitely agree that because even and I told the group this multiple times, I kept saying like, I forgot, we get to watch the first episode of series, like that because that’s not why I’m going. I mean, I keep forgetting that that’s like the event that was, you know, scheduled. And I’m like, I’m just going to hang out with Greg and Alex.
Like, I don’t, I’m excited about, you know, but I’m going to watch it eventually anyway.

Amanda
it was a nice to have.

TK
However, I will say, that is the way to watch a new episode is with a group of 1500 Taskmaster, that was amazing. That was so much fun because the way that the show is made is that you like they have the studio audience, like, I don’t want to say laugh track because it’s not a laugh track, it’s the studio audience reactions.
So watching that on a huge screen with 15 other, heha 15 other people, can you imagine? 1500 other people was amazing because I felt like I was in the studio audience of the recording of Taskmaster, which was really cool.

Amanda
So I have a theory that I think Alex was, you know, full executive producer hat on would have been watching the reactions so, so closely of ostensibly an American audience seeing an episode for the very first time without any spoilers at all, and seeing who gets laughs, what gets people excited, and all the rest of it because he’s always fascinated to see what you know, what the audience is doing, how it’s reacting to things, what they are liking, or he’s always thinking about that, like you seen like with his Horne Section shows and all the rest. He runs a little experiment going, ‘hey guys, if you hear about it on this podcast, wear a yellow, you know, item of clothing’. And you know, he he’s always like there. He’s turning everything into a game constantly. And so I, I have to believe that he was fascinated and taking notes to see what an American audience would make of you know, a fresh episode of Taskmaster that no one had ever seen before.

TK
Yeah, yeah, I think that I think it would be so lovely to look at his notes, I think to see 1. what type of statistics he’s writing that, like what, what stats does he care about.
But yeah, I mean, I think and I don’t this isn’t a spoiler anymore because the cast has been revealed, but The One American that’s on this series, I think, I mean, obviously got a HUGE cheer from the crowd, like because obviously, like, he’s our boy, (in a New York accent) you know, you come to New York?

Amanda
That’s fine. I getcha

TK
Yeah, yeah, I get yeah. I mean, I feel, I feel like otherwise we pretty much laughed at the same things that the studio audience laughed at.

Amanda
I think so, yeah. So, you know, I mean, you know, obviously, it’s a most biased sample of both samples. These are Taskmaster superfans who have made, you know, the effort and paid the money to come and see this.
So they know they like Taskmaster. Yeah. Except for I think there was one person in the Q&A who said, ‘hey, I’ve brought my boyfriend and he doesn’t really know Taskmaster’. And I’m like, ‘well, welcome’.

TK
Welcome to the fold, my guy. Enjoy. You like the wild? Now, you were saying that we had so much energy and excitement, and even though some of us had come from a very long way away, and, you know, it was freezing cold.
Oh, my gosh, so cold, y’all. It was like, -12°F. It was not fun and wind chill. It was disgusting anyway. But we had every

Amanda
I thought it was delightful. It was thrilling. And I hadn’t seen snow in ages. And I think I was driving up the wall on the way to that diner because I was going, ‘this is lovely’, and you’re like, ‘oh, I hate this’.

TK
I was miserable.

Amanda
Oh, I was having so much fun.

TK
Good, good, good memories though. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, we I don’t know about you, but. So, so we’ll, we’ll talk about why this happened, but that night, we. I stayed up till 2:30 in the morning. My bedtime normally is 9 p.m., I kid you not like we had so much energy,

Amanda
Is that taking into account the timezone difference because there’s like five, is it five hours time zone difference betwee?

TK
Three. So we felt like 11:30 p.m., which still is 2.5 hours past my bedtime. But so, we got the Q&A, which was incredible. We even got, I mean, I don’t know if I should be @-ing myself, but like, I got a personal banter section with them.
Because they, you know, if if anyone, if any listener out there has, has seen or heard the, the bit where they talk about fanfic, because I’m like, why are y’all just bringing this up like you are bringing this up? We didn’t say anything. None of the quest, none of the questions that were asked. Except for the ‘Greg, can you pick Alex up, please?’ or however it was phrased. So delightful. Oh my gosh. Was like, not nothing. Nothing mentioned fanfic and very, very early on in the Q&A, Greg was like, did you know? And we’re like, brother, do we know? Don’t we know. And they were. And Alex was saying like, oh, this 867 on the website that we visited last night and I, forgetting that, you have to have an account and loggin to see the actual number was like, well, all of us were like, ‘that’s not right, those are rookie numbers. Like that’s you’re low balling it man’. And then one I forget which which one of them said it, but they were like was the person over there shouting about nobody. And then we all went really quiet. And I was like 1025. And they’re like, oh, you’ve been writing. You’ve been, there’s more are there?

46:54
Amanda
Yeah, yeah. So that’s fun. It’s crazy.

TK
Yeah. But I mean, they’re just out here bringing it up, which is one of the things that I love about them so much and like, and it was incrediblend aduring that Q&A, Greg was saying, I mean, he was like saying stuff about, he was like calling out a fake title and stuff.
And he was like, oh, you’re the person that wrote Daddy’s Little Screamer,
are you? And I was like, it wasn’t me, but I don’t know, off the top of my
head who it was. Turns out they’re part of our little group online. So we
did, we did know who it was in the end, but. And then he said something
like, oh, you’re on Seth Meyers right now.
And I had no idea what he was talking about. And to be fair to me, he was a couple hours off because Seth Meyers wouldn’t be airing until, yeah, midnight 40, you know, a few hours later. So I was like, ‘what is he talking about’, man, did we figure out what he was talking about. Anyway, were you gonna say something?

Amanda
There’s there’s so much context to be going on here. It’s like going, okay, so Greg, during the, you know, the Q&A brought up the fanfiction and he was like, you know, here’s, you know, the name of a fanfiction. We had no idea where this had come from. We had no, we knew that it was written by one of our people, we knew the website was from. We probably know more about it than we want to do. But we didn’t know why Greg was bringing it up. And then he mentioned this. You know, Seth Meyers show. Which we had already known had been recorded the day before, because a bunch of us had tried desperately through a comedy of errors and, you know, all kinds of shenanigans to try and get tickets to see the taping of The Seth Meyers show, because again, in 2014 or 2024, they had also gone on Seth Meyers.
Seth Meyers seems to be a huge fan of the, you know, British comedy scene or Britcom, as we knew it. And so we know that they had been there and recorded something, you know, the day before the show. And it wasn’t until later that we’re like, ‘oh, we now understand why fanfiction was on Greg’s mind’.A mere less than 24 hours later.

TK
Yeah. Unbelievable. I mean, yeah, with our little group, I mean, we, you know, the 14 of us, there were a lot of emotional highs and emotional lows, and I won’t get into all of it, but if you know, you know, but like, you know, there was like, you know, some people got what they wanted and some people missed out on opportunities, you know, and, and all this kind of stuff.
So it was like, oh, I’m really excited that like, we got to go see them live. We got to go see them do the Q&A. You know, but they didn’t have time for individual selfies after, they didn’t do the stage door after,

Amanda
No, they couldn’t there was it was 1500 of us, you know. It’s like if you just run the maths. You’re like, okay, if you got, you know, a minute with each person,

TK
oh, way too long. I mean, Alex even said

Amanda
It’s bonkers

TK
he said ‘there are 1500 of you, if each of you took five seconds for a selfie, we would be here for over two hours. And we just can’t do that.’
And I was like, you know, the numbers don’t lie. I mean, he’s right. Unfortunately, as much

Amanda
I’m not going to argue numbers with Alex Horne except if it’s how many fanfics are on the. Yeah.

TK
or how tall he is. He can’t be six foot two, five foot four at least.

Amanda
Got to believe one of them.

TK
Yeah, it’s got to be one of them, nothing in between.
But. Yeah. And so we, you know, we collectively all went back to our hotels and most of us had been staying in one hotel. And we were lucky enough to have a TV in the lobby downstairs. And so we’re all we all went, back to our hotel, and this would have been, I don’t know, 10 p.m., 10:30 something like that.
And we knew that Seth, we knew that them on Seth was going to come on at like 12:30-ish. And so we all were like, let’s just stay up and watch, you know, live like together because we’re all like hype. We’re all, you know, like riding this high of like they were there. We got to see them. Like, do you remember when they said this thing or they did this thing like, oh my gosh, this is like incredible. And

Amanda
and simultaneously we were like going, we know the name of this fanfiction. Who wrote this fanfiction? And we’re like scrolling, you know, on our phones to try and figure out who it was that wrote it.
We’re, I confess, I screenshotted the stats, of that fanfiction to be like, okay, how many hits has this got? Because if this is going to get mentioned somewhere, then are they suddenly going to blow up? And so I’m finding out who it is, realizing that they’re someone from our little group who’s not, you know, in New York with us and messaging them frantically going, ‘hey, if you want to hide, we’ve, we’ve got super legitimate insider information that you’re going to get mentioned somewhere. So if you want to hide, hide now.’ Unfortunately, timezones and they were sleeping soundly somewhere across the Atlantic. So they, they missed their opportunity, but thankfully they were totally okay with it. And it turned out they weren’t the only one.

TK
Yeah, little did we know that more than, because for for us, for our little group, I think specifically we are overjoyed and so excited whenever they mention fanfic, because it’s just ridiculous that they do it in the first place. And it’s so funny when they do it and we’re like, and we’ll be like, we know that person, that like they you know, I think out of all of the fanfic they’ve ever officially mentioned, I think there’s only like one person that we don’t personally know wrote it, like 1 or 2

Amanda
Yes. And they are like the origin, they’re like from the, the old time.

TK
Yeah. Like you know years and years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, so we were all like really excited and we were saying up in the lobby and, Seth Meyers comes on and we’re like, okay, like this. This is exciting. Like, here are the boys. And we’re all trying very hard to be quiet because we want to be watching this thing. And we don’t want to miss anything. And then they go on.

Amanda
and I think this is the moment where something like, weird, I had, like, a sixth sense and I’m like, I’m, oh, I’m going to record this with my phone, which makes and makes no sense because obviously they’re going to release the episode and, you know, they’re going to do clips and all the rest of it, you know, if fun stuff is mentioned, you know, as Alex and Greg go there, but I’m like, no, I’m on my phone and I’m like a really sharp angle to the screen and I’m just recording the screen on my phone, and I don’t even know why I’m doing it.

TK
I’m so glad he did because they so they bring up, you know, they talk a little bit, with Seth and then.
And then Seth brings up fanfic first. I think

Amanda
They’re talking about being invited to weddings. Greg and Alex are going. Yeah, we’ve been invited to, like, at least three weddings, and, you know, they’re going, oh, yeah, we’ll turn up even if they don’t want us to. It’ll be great. And then Seth goes, but it’s not just weddings, is it?
He goes, I know there’s there’s been some fanfiction and Greg’s like, yes!

TK
Greg was so excited.

Amanda
His face lights up like he’s like, oh, I’m so ready for this.

TK
And all of us are freaking out, collectively because, I mean, out of the 14 of us, like, how many of us actively write to us, Taskmaster Fanfic? A good chunk of us.

Amanda
Oh, yeah.

TK
A good, good chunk. And so we’re all like, oh my gosh, they’re doing this like, are you kidding me? And then and then Seth’s like, oh, did you bring any to read out? And Alex is like I know he did. And I’m like and then grabs a physical piece of paper and I’m like printed. Bro, bou did not print out fanfic, OUR fanfic that we wrote and read it live on.
Well, I guess it’s not live, but like read it out on national television.

Amanda
Yeah. In front of a live studio audience.

TK
Oh my gosh. So at this point we’re kind of like, well, I guess it’s good that y’all didn’t get in to see the recording, because that would have been, I think because like we mentioned before, we tried to get in and it was myself and one of the our other group was in like the last ten people who could have gotten into the seats and I was like, number six and a friend, you know, from, from our group was number seven. And they picked one, two, three and four people to go in. And so I was literally just two people away from being in. And I, I swear, I think I could have handled it. I think I could have kept a lid on it and not just fainted in the seats, but I’ll never know for sure.

TK
And now that I’m thinking about it, I, I think I am personally, like, selfishly very glad that neither of you went because can you imagine having to like, there’s no way you would have not told us that. You know, because then the whole thing would have not been a surprise. I mean, it would have been, we would have been like shaking you, being like, give us details.
What exactly did they say?

Amanda
It would have been me and our other friend coming out of that looking like we’ve just, you know, walked off a, war field, you know, you know, something like that. A shell shock on our faces just being like, did that just happen? You know, we would have been spiraling not knowing what, because we would have been on our phones being like, hey guys, we got in and it’s really exciting. Oh my goodness, it’s supposed to be them. And then it would have been radio silence for the entire time that Alex and Greg were there, because obviously nothing else matters. We’re just paying attention to the guys. And then we would have been stuck. We wouldn’t have known what to do. It would have been, I think me and the other person would have just, like hidden in our rooms would be like, you can’t talk to anyone.
Sorry. Amanda’s not home right now.

TK
So I guess it did kind of work out. Probably for the best. And then Greg’s like, yeah, I’ll read it for you. And he just starts reading. I think he just he, does he? He doesn’t name drop the titles first I think he starts reading first

Amanda
He names the first one and then goes, let me read it to you. And he was like and watch Alex because he gets so uncomfortable because he doesn’t he doesn’t like being touched. And of course Alex is like, the picture of uncomfortable and and Seth is like asking you feeling uncomfortable. He’s like, I don’t I’m feeling uncomfortable with this being read on American television, which I think is the most telling part, because, American television is a world that he doesn’t know.
You know, he he dabbled, obviously, with the sadly, you know, not so great, you know, Taskmaster US but that that would just under underline his lack of awareness of what you can or can’t do, you know, with an American audience, you know. And so I just love the bit where he’s, like, literally grabbing hold of Seth desk.
He needs this to hold it steady while his, you know, experience is happening and Greg is leaning further and further and further over towards his chair.

TK
I, so unnecessary, honestly, I mean, Well, yeah, I mean, it is, interesting because so far, every other time that fanfic has been brought up by one of the two of them, it’s always been Alex.
And so we’re like, suddenly Alex is like, oh, I’m not comfortable talking about this on American television.

Amanda
We’ve certainly seen some like outtakes and stuff like that, where Greg has been, you know, like when Frankie brought the fan art in and you could see that Greg was kind of leaning back and his his throne, and he’s thinking about it for a second and he goes, do you know?
And he goes to, you know, there’s, there’s been a distressing amount of fanfic written about us. And you’re like, have you been, looking since Greg? What’s going on? Because, you know, he it was Alex who brought up in the first place and horrified Greg who just yes-and-ed him during the podcast and ran with it and was had his whole mind blown, I think, by the fact that this even existed.
And that was years and years ago now. So he’s he’s been on a journey has our Greg.

TK
Yeah. How far we’ve come

Amanda
indeed, very much so.

TK
But yeah. So, you know, he just casually reads out, a couple of snippets and we collectively lose our minds because there were two of our group that were in the lobby that got their, their fics either read out loud or name dropped, which was incredible.
And, and then the other three that he named dropped were all from our little fan group, which was ridiculous. And so, you know, and of course, this is, it’s like 1 a.m. at this point and we’re like, messaging every other. We’re like, okay, which which fic like who wrote this one? Oh, oh. Is this person okay? We got to message. And so we’re like all, oh, we’re all on our phones afterwards. So we’re all just like, did that actually really just happen? Like what is going on? And then of course, you know, now it’s up on YouTube and it’s up on Instagram and, and the, the, the days afterwards was so much fun because I’ve watched that video like at least once since.
Yeah. I mean, literally if I, like starting to get in a bad mood, I’m like, hold on, let me pull up YouTube. I really just downloaded on my phone at this point because it’s how often I’ve watched it. But, you know, the the comments on the videos are so funny because it’s like, can you imagine being one of those writers?
And we’re like, oh my gosh, wouldn’t that be a wild if you were just like, all in a room with your writer friends together? while while you freak out, that would be so wild.

Amanda
Yeah, yeah, I mean, that would never happen that that’s too crazy for real life, that sounds like fiction itself.

TK
Oh, that’s definitely, somebody wrote that, a fan, fact or fanfic?

Amanda
No, no. If we wrote that into fanfiction, people would be like, seems a bit unrealistic, guys, you know, turn it down a bit.

TK
Yeah. So I honestly out of the entire trip, I think that was my favorite part, was just sitting in a room of our people, having our stuff getting called out on Seth Meyers was ridiculous.

Amanda
I mean, like you said, we were already riding the high of attending, you know, the premiere, the Q&A, being in that room with 1500 other, you know, Taskmaster fans screaming their throats hoarse with excitement and happiness and joy and seeing all of this new stuff, and Alex and Greg running up and down the aisles to try and provide people with selfie opportunities, because we honestly, they know they can’t stage door, but they were trying to give us something anyway. And that, you know, that desperate attempt to give us that personal connection. They’re too good to us

TK
They really are. I mean, this is definitely something we’ll be talking about as the podcast goes on, because they are so good to us. And we I personally just feel very, very lucky that the this is, you know, the fandom that I’m in, because they are lovely and we are lovely.
The fans are. Well, at least our little group, I don’t go on Reddit or anything, but

Amanda
I’m sure they’re lovely there too.

TK
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah. So that was, that was New York and now everybody’s home. And I think, was yesterday they dropped that, that, Instagram video

Amanda
What even is time anymore? It’s hard to keep up. It’s like, ever since there’s been little bits and bobs like that, people posting that they, you know, they got a selfie with Greg when they were, like, running around somewhere. They met them in the park. There was the whole, portrait that they got done in Central Park. And then one minute they’re going, this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen, my wife says it’s terrible, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then Greg is posting up on his Instagram saying, if anyone has any problems with this, you’ve got me to answer to. And we’re all like, bro? Like you said, it was crap. And it’s it’s definitely, you know, it’s a thing. And you know, we had to look at it and we compared it, probably shouldn’t, to some of the work that you know our fan artist friends have been making and going, yeah, guys, guys, you want your portraits done, you just let us know, you know, we’ll help you out.

TK
Yeah. You should have just kind of us. I don’t know what to tell you. And then, like you said, the official like Taskmaster account even posted this just, like, Instagram style, you know, video, which if a fan had made that video, no one would have blinked it’d be like, oh yeah, you know, yeah someone’s collected a bunch of, you know, clips and photographs from, you know, Alex and Greg and put it together and made it look all lovey dovey and like, they’re going out on dates.
No, this is official. This is real stuff that they released and they planned all of it. And they’re posing for photographs and they’re like doing little videos next to each other. And we lost our our gosh dang minds again. You know, it’s just a constant sequence of losing our minds.

TK
Yeah, it’s really fun. Honestly.

Amanda
It’s fantastic. It’s like you wake up and you go, what the heck happened now?

TK
I know, I mean, it’s it’s so nice being in a fandom that what I would say is not dead, where, you know,

Amanda
very much alive.

TK
Oh, yeah. I mean, well, for one thing, like, the show is actively still going on, so that definitely helps.

Amanda
May that long continue

TK
But seriously, but yeah, they just they just keep giving us new content, which is awesome.
And, yeah, it’s I mean, I would love to find out at some point, like. So there are like two parts to what I want to find out. The first part is, they have to have someone in charge of like, okay, we’re going to do this for the socials. Who is that person?

Amanda
Social manager. Yeah, yeah.

TK
Right. Like we’re going to do the Harry met Sally thing who signed off on this? But then so, the second part of this is, because when we went to the Q&A, and Greg brought up fanfic or maybe it was, maybe it was on Seth Meyers that he said this, but Greg said, like, I read them to him and we’re all like, you do not. You do not go to this website and read fanfic.
Like, you don’t have time for that. Like, you you don’t. And

Amanda
but also he said that it was the sexiest thing he’d ever been involved in and we’re sat there going, what? We’ll take that. Thank you.

TK
You are welcome sir. But yeah, I mean, I would love to because, surely it is not him going on this website. And being like, scrolling through.
Surely it’s not. So what I want to know is who is doing it because someone is doing it. Like these are real fics written by real people

Amanda
and, and some of the bits that are quoted. And you notice this yourself are not from like the, the opening paragraphs or some of their from the very last paragraphs on an ongoing story, you know, so either they’ve read the whole thing, which can run to many, many thousands of words. And even Alex was like some of these are 20,000 words. It’s like going, oh, honey, you don’t know the half of it. But someone has, you know, read through a whole bunch of these and has like picked out paragraphs for Greg to seductively read, you know, and whisper into Alex’s ear on television for the American audience, from from various places.
And I think we’d had to look at and we worked out that the ones that got called out, the five fic titles that got called out had either been posted or updated in a relatively recent window. So like in the last maybe two weeks or something like that, I think maybe we can have two weeks. So they maybe didn’t, you know, scroll back a lot.
You know, when they were looking for something. And the other thing that it seems to be is they go after, excuse me. Like suggestive titles I think is something that they enjoy, although definitely there are some outliers there where you’re like, this doesn’t seem to match their pattern. What is their criteria for selecting these things?
It’s truly fascinating.

TK
Yeah, it really is. And I know that we our group had a very long, in-depth discussion in person about this and online when we went back home about, you know, like some of these titles, like, why did they pick that one? Because like you said, it was kind of an outlier. And it’s like, it’s not like Daddy’s Little Screamer.
Like easy, easy

Amanda
It’s gonna get laughs. It’s Greg, you know, catnip. That one is he’s going to be like all about that.

TK
Yeah right. But like, Big Strong Hero, Jester and the King. Neither of those necessarily are like, immediately you hear it and you’re like, haha that’s hilarious right. Like if I mean like maybe Jester and the King but like he is you know I don’t know maybe it’s all relative but it’s, it’s so interesting and I, I truly do want to know who is actively going to this website and picking these fics and, actively typing them up and printing them out so that they can read them.

Amanda
Is it someone on the Taskmaster or the Avalon side, or is this something that, you know Seth Meyers set up on his side?

TK
I don’t,

Amanda
we just don’t know for that one.

TK
Yeah. We don’t. So if, if I ever get to figure that out, I mean, this is like my top question at this point is like, who and if and if and I swear if Greg is like, no, I do it, I’d be like, I’m not.
I don’t believe you

Amanda
Well, that’s that’s the thing perhaps, you know, slightly less focused, shall we say, fans of the show might not be aware of is like every single thing that Greg and Alex says you have to take with the largest bucket of salt that you can possibly carry, you know, possibly two buckets of salt if you can get them, because they’re liars who lie in, you know, as long as whatever is that they say is going to be funny, they’ll go with funny over the truth every single time.
So if you ask them straight up, you know, who’s the one who read through this? If Greg thinks, it’s funnier to say that it’s him. He’ll absolutely say that. Cannot pin down these guys.

TK
No, it’s it’s so frustrating. But it’s it’s also very, very fun.

Amanda
Yes. It’s it’s part of the toolbox and part of like this, this weird morphing that they do between what is fact, what is all of the different kinds of, you know, canon and stuff like that. It’s it’s just fascinating to try and play with it.

TK
Yeah. It really is. Well, I think we’re going to wrap this section up. So Amanda, thank you so much for coming on our pilot episode of the podcast.

Amanda
Thank you, T.K.,

TK
and helping us, get through it. I’m going to keep you on here. Which I don’t know, I probably won’t do for future guests.
Just to go through our a little last bit here, so we’ll say goodbye to the guests.

Amanda
Thank you very much for having me.

TK
Thank you for coming. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. All right. And then, suggesting fan work. So my suggestion is the five shout outs from Seth Meyers. Go read. Okay, so there were five.
So there was Big Strong Hero.

[intermission music]

TK
There’s My Good Boy. That was the first one mentioned, I believe, on Seth.

Amanda
Yes. And that’s, you know, somewhat suggestive.

TK
uh, see, all. One, two, three. Oh, yeah. Make Alex Finish, Your Time Starts Now.

Amanda
That’s right. And Alex, quite uncharacteristically, says we thought about that for a task. Hang on, Alex Horne that’s quite risky for you.

TK
Yeah. So yeah go check out those those five folks. What else? Yeah. That was the, the pilot for the Transformative Taskmaster podcast. We are on BlueSky. We are on. What else are we on? I’m not on the socials.

Amanda
You might do a slightly tighter version of this where

TK
we’re online somewhere. Oh, actually, I know

Amanda
where you get your your podfics.

TK
Yeah, we’ll, we’ll be on Spotify. I don’t know if this will be on Spotify, but we’ll be on Spotify. We’re on Tumblr. We are on the website. The the website. We are on tftaskmaster.uk for all of your links, and updates, which we will do soon and we are also on email. So if you want to email us with any fanmade recommendations, podcast suggestions, or really anything else you’d like to say. R.E. , I started to say, R.E the other day and somebody was like, what are you talking about? R.E as, like like the email thing, you know, like regarding, Yeah. Regarding, like, oh, we talked about this, but we didn’t go too in-depth on it. Challenge accepted. Tell us, tell us what you want us to go in depth on, because that’s literally why we’re here.

Amanda
And we can,

TK
and we can, and we will. That is a threat. If you want to reach out, for anything, email us at fans@tftaskmaster.uk. And we will take your words into consideration.

VO
Are you playing a radio four panel game?

TK
But anyway, I gotta figure out, like an outro. Yeah. Thanks for for listening and we’ll see you next time.

[trumpet]

TK
Thank you for listening to Transformative Taskmaster. You can find us on our website at tftaskmaster.uk, which has links to our socials, previously recorded episodes, and updates. If you have any fan made recommendations, suggestions for the podcast or anything else you’d like to say. Email us at. fan@tftaskmaster.uk.
Set outro video. No, I don’t have that.

Amanda
Wow.