[music] TK: Hello! Welcome Elixir, to the Transformative Taskmaster podcast. I feel like I need a trumpet fanfare or something. Elixir: Hooray! TK: Yay! So welcome in. How've you been since New York? Elixir: Really sick. And now? Almost fine. TK: Yay! Yeah, I feel like I got really lucky avoiding the New York sick, which is good, but. Elixir: I was the only one who got sick, so it did feel a little bit like: you got the coolest 24 hours of your life, and now you get to have Covid for the second time. TK: Oh no! Well, hopefully it was worth it, the New York trip, because that was a lot of fun. Hi, Podcast Cat. Would you like to introduce yourself? She’s okay, maybe she'll yell later, but she's in my lap. All right, so we have you on today to talk about a very special spreadsheet that you have made. Elixir: You’re not a real Taskmaster fan until you've made a spreadsheet, are you? TK: I mean, that's very valid. That is a valid point. We love spreadsheets in this fandom. So first of all, tell me what the name of your spreadsheet is. Elixir: It’s really boringly just called GTs. TK: Oh, GTs. And that stands for? Elixir: Greg Touches. TK: Greg Touches, as opposed to ATs, which would be Alex Touches. Yeah, and then if you have one clone of Alex, you could have an AT-AT, which is a Star Wars joke! [laughs] Oh goodness. Anyway, so you have this spreadsheet that you've created, from basically nothing. So it's a spreadsheet, I call it the Touches Spreadsheet. So tell me, what is the general idea about the spreadsheet? What is it a spreadsheet for specifically? Elixir: It is a spreadsheet of all the times that Greg and Alex touch each other in the show. Mostly not including any of the, like, promotional material, mostly because trying to find the stuff, trying to find all the promotional material from like, season five backwards would have been a nightmare. And also, how would you count that? But it does also include all of the outtakes and all of the, like, New Year's specials. TK: That’s a lot of content! Elixir: I don't love to think about how many hours of content it is. TK: Yeah, I was going to say- Elixir: I did also have help with it though. So me and Bingo would- TK: Yeah, I was going to say- Elixir: Split it. TK: At what point did you decide like this needs to be a thing? Like, was it in the middle of a series that you were watching and you were like, you know what I need? Like, I just need to create this, and then eventually I'll go back, season series one and just watch the whole thing? Elixir: Well, like all good fan projects, it starts with Amanda. TK: Yeah! Elixir: So you know her brilliant little banter fics, right? TK: Yeah. Elixir: Okay, so I read all of them in I think maybe two days, and then wrote one of my own. And then at the end of that, I was like, hey, because it was in the middle of like season 18, right after we'd gotten the second kiss. And I was like, we should have an Alex kiss. Alex needs to kiss Greg. At the bottom of it, it's like somebody else should write another one of these, please. Please, I want to read this again. I just wrote it and I want to read it again. And Kim, Kim_Tey, wrote it the next day. TK: We sure are a prolific bunch. Elixir: Called ‘A Positive Trend in the Data’. In it, Alex pulls up a spreadsheet that is the now Greg Touches spreadsheet. And basically then it's like, it would be fun if somebody actually made this. TK: Oh my gosh. Elixir: I was not the one who started it. Bingo was the one who was like, we could do something here. And I was like, well, I’m all caught up on the show now. Might as well! TK: That's amazing. Elixir: Might as well watch it all again. TK: Yeah, why not? It's always good to have new reasons to rewatch Taskmaster. I’m currently rewatching series 4 for no reason at all. Literally, my partner came home and he was like, oh, you're watching series four? I was like, yep. And he's like, why that one? I'm like, I don't know. I literally have no answer for you. I was just, series four, let's do it. So you went back with intent to, I assume, series one, and just went from there, huh? Elixir: Yeah, I did series one, two, four, five, six, nine, fourteen. I did not do them in order. I've never watched Taskmaster 100% in order. TK: That is interesting. That's very interesting to me. Elixir: Well, because I'm splitting it with Bingo. So they're doing some of them. TK: Okay, that’s valid. Elixir: And also some of the seasons annoy me! TK: Also valid. Elixir: I specifically saved nine for last as a little reward for myself. And then Bingo beat me to the punch. I was like, dangit! TK: I was going to say- Elixir: Now I’ll just have to watch season 9 for fun! TK: Oh no, how horrible! Elixir: Oh yeah, season nine is insane. TK: Oh my gosh. Yeah, because I know that that's one of my person favorites is the, “Explain to me, and I mean, just me…” whole thing, which is absolutely ridiculous. Were there any series that you, like fought over with Bingo that you were like, I really want this series. And they were like, I really want this series? Elixir: No, no. That would have implied that we communicated which ones we were going to do in advance. I just, I’d open up the spreadsheet and be like, oh, season 13 has been added. TK: That's so funny. A collaboration with little communication. We love to see it. Elixir: Like true scientists. TK: Yes, exactly. Okay, so we know what the spreadsheet is about. So it's Greg-initiated touches versus Alex-initiated touches. Elixir: There is the caveat of Alex sitting on Greg's lap I consider a Greg touch, because every time it's happened, has it really been Alex initiating it any time Alex has sat on Greg's lap? TK: Yeah. Because if Greg is, like, inviting him over to sit, I feel like that's. Yeah, I see where you're coming from with that. So talk us through the data! Elixir: But most of the Alex touches are like when he reaches over and holds Greg's arm. Yeah. TK: Yeah. So talk us through the data. Elixir: I'm going to start at season 9. Because we were already talking about it, and it's insane. It's a weird place to start, but it is insane. TK: I mean, I'd argue that series 9 is one of the top favorite series in the fandom? Elixir: You're right. We'll do it in order. I can do things in order. It's possible. So in my mind, there's like three chunks to this. There's seasons under 4, which is like ‘Finding our footing. What is going on?’ It’s also the shorter seasons. And then you get 5 through 9, which are all insane. And then you've got the post-pandemic seasons where they are very mixed, I don't know what to make of them. I feel like we're still too close to them to come to any conclusion about them. TK: Right? Yeah. I remember when we were first talking about the spreadsheet, I just kept thinking like, because there are are there 2 or 3 Covid series? There's three. Yeah. So it's 10, 11 and 12, right? Yeah, yeah. And I just remember thinking to myself like, man, that spreadsheet is going to look real, like empty, ghost town. Elixir: Yeah, there is a hole in the middle of it. TK: Yeah. So sad. But I do remember I think it was I mean, I could be misremembering this, but I think it was series 10. I mean, I assume it's series 10, episode one, where when Greg introduces Alex, he says something like, “And sitting frustratingly out of reach…” to Alex, and I’m like, yeah, that's so sad honestly. But one thing I did notice, because I've been rewatching series 4. Their thrones are so close together. Elixir: They’re on top of each other. TK: They are! And I'm like, who? Who is putting these seats? Like, is it a camera thing? Is it like, do they need, like their camera can only zoom so far out? Like, I don't know what’s going on, but they are so close- Elixir: Is it the stage space? TK: I don't know what it was. And I'm just like, I feel like I really should watch the entire series front to back again because there's been some subtle changes. So I know that like Greg and Alex will say like, yeah, we haven't really made any big changes to the format or anything, which, you know, for the most part, true. But like where their chairs are in relationship to each other boggles my mind sometimes because I'm like, who made that decision? Like, who made the decision that these chairs should be one inch apart? Ridiculous. Elixir: The one where Greg leans over and screams at Alex and the whole throne tips? TK: Oh, so good. All right, so you said that there are like three chunks. So talk us through chunk number one. Elixir: So chunk one, seasons 1 through 4, these are like Alex-touch-heavy seasons. I mean, when you imagine Taskmaster and I say that I've made a spreadsheet about the two of them touching. You're imagining Greg completely manhandling Alex around. But seasons 1 through 4, Alex dominated. TK: Interesting. Elixir: Of just like him gently touching Greg on the arm. Season 2 has half an Alex touch per Greg touch and season. What am I doing? Forget that. Forget I just said anything. I’m so bad at numbers. I'm so enthusiastic and so bad at them! Seasons 1 and 3, there were two Alex touches for every Greg touch, which is insane. Seasons 2 and 4, a little bit lower, but still, like, way higher than what we'd expect in a modern season of Taskmaster, right? TK: Right. Elixir: Season 5 is my pet favourite. TK: Okay. Yes. Elixir: Because it is underratedly insane, because it's still a shortened season, right? Like we're not at a full ten episodes yet. And if you took the average number of touches from season 18 and put it in it, you distributed it, it's about 2.8. And you put it in an 8-episode season, you get about 22 touches. TK: Right. Elixir: Season 5 is 32! TK: Wow! Elixir: 32 touches in an eight-episode season is... TK: That's a lot. Elixir: It's so many. Also, yay! We have outtakes now, which is where all of the insanity lives. TK: That's fair. That would make sense that we would start to get a little bit more from just having more content in the first place. Elixir: I try, like if we average it out so the outtakes count as an episode. And it’s like average touches per episode? So that you don't end up with just like, hmn, seasons 1 through 4 are still really low. But they're getting to know each other, they don’t know that they’re going to kiss yet. TK: I still can't believe that happened in 6! It feels like something that should have happened in 9, like at the earliest. Elixir: It feels like it should have happened much later. TK: Yeah, yeah. Elixir: They peaked SO early. TK: They really did, yeah, incredible. All right. So 5 really kicked us off for the second chunk. Elixir: 5 really kicked us off. I was trying to find how many touches you get in an outtake. You get about five and a half touches per outtake. TK: That’s pretty good! Elixir: Well, not per outtake, per season for outtakes, like a set of outtakes in a season. Which is… a lot. I feel… You get 9 touches in season 9’s outtakes alone. TK: Oh, interesting. Elixir: They just cannot keep their hands off of each other in season 9. Season 6, of course, we get the kiss. We also get 39 other touches. TK: Holy cow. Elixir: Including Alex sitting on Greg's lap twice. TK: Oh, we love it. Elixir: Greg also grabs Alex's arm a record-setting 13 times in series 6. Season 6 deserves to be considered as insane as it is. TK: Yeah, they were going for it series 6. Elixir: It's also fun to see, after the kiss they do not touch each other again for like a really long time! TK: Like, oh, that was awkward! Let's not talk about it for a while. Elixir: There’s no casual arm-grab the rest of the episode. It’s down to the middle of the next episode. There you get it, they're making contact again. And it's like Greg desperately needs Alex's attention. TK: Amazing. Elixir: Okay, season 7 and 8 are pretty standard by the insane standards TK: Right, yep. Just hearing the words, “series 7 is pretty standard” makes no sense to me! Elixir: Season 7 and 8 actually have the same amount of total touches between both of them. But season 8 is also weird. And that's the one where Greg and Alex are together in the interstitials? Like, Alex is cutting Greg's toenails? Yeah, it's only season 8, and then… TK: I guess it counts? Elixir: But it's a much different feel than Greg reaching out and grabbing Alex or whatever, perhaps because it’s a scripted thing. TK: Yeah, I was just about to say. Because whereas a scripted, acting type of thing would definitely feel different than just the natural touches that come into the show by themselves. So we've got 7 and 8 are pretty average for this era, which brings us to 9. Elixir: Which is insane. I don't have any fun stats for it, it’s just insane. Season 9 is insane. It’s got 3 Greg touches per episode. It's got 1.3 Alex touches per episode, which doesn't sound like a lot. It's pretty much the most he ever does. If you get an Alex touch per episode in a season, you're doing astoundingly well. TK: Wow. Elixir: Then Total Touches is 4.3. The rest of this insane chunk is like three and a half, and this is like 4.3. And then spoils for the next post-pandemic bit, we're hovering around 2.5. TK: So is series 9 like the top number? Elixir: Yes. TK: Wow. Ground-breaking, honestly. Elixir: Ground-breaking! TK: Ed Gamble would love to hear it! Elixir: So season 9 is insane. It's home to our favourite tell me, and I do mean just me, which I can't believe happened, and also 47 other touches. They're both on it, they are both equal. They just can't keep their hands off of each other. TK: That's amazing. Elixir: Season 13 post-pandemic, they are crashing back together, full speed or like 90% speed. It's still lower than season 9, but everything is lower than season 9. TK: Right. Was there one touch in the Covid-series when Alex… Elixir: There was one. TK: When Alex hands Greg the money that Victoria had given Alex for losing a bet? is that. Elixir: It's a hard outtake to find nowadays. It is pretty well scrubbed from YouTube at the moment. TK: I mean, like, to be fair, if Greg and Alex stand six feet apart from each other and extend their arms, they're basically going to be holding hands. So I feel… Elixir: It's fine! They need a little bit of just that. TK: Yeah, just a tiny, tiny touch. So we get through Covid, we get “past Covid”, in quotation marks, and then we arrive at series 13. So you say at 13 we’re at about 90%? Elixir: Yeah. Before the pandemic we were averaging about 40 touches a season and series 13, it's down to 36. So not bad. TK: Yeah. Elixir: I have my notes here - the difference is entirely because Alex is being a wet fish! So, before Alex was averaging about a touch an episode, now he’s down to a third: a touch per episode. So a touch every three episodes, which is a record low for a season. TK: Interesting. Elixir: This is also the season where Greg touches Alex's thigh the most. TK: Oh, that's a stat that we now have. Which is funny because when I think about Greg touching Alex's thigh, I think of series 16? Elixir: 17 TK: 17. Is that the one with Nick? Elixir: I should know this, but it wasn't my season to go through. TK: Oh, I feel like [inaudible] Google. Nick Mohammed, Taskmaster. Oh, my god, I literally started typing in ‘Nick Mohammed’ and Google auto-filled! I kid you not, this is the first thing that pops up: Nick Mohammed, Taskmaster, thigh squeeze. Oh, my gosh! Yeah, 17 okay, I don't know why I thought 16; 16 was Julian's, I think. Yeah, I don't know why, but the way that I remember a series is by the contestants, which makes sense. But I'll only pick one contestant, so I'll be like, oh, series 9, that’s Ed’s series. Or series 7, that's James's series. Even though Rhod would probably hate me for saying that. So next was series 17, and that's what I think of when I think of the thigh squeeze. Elixir: Is this the one where its, do something to make Alex uncomfortable? TK: Yeah, and Greg is like, I know how to do that! Just leans over, gives it a squeeze. Elixir: Ah. TK: All right, boys. So we've gotten through 13. Elixir: So series 14, we drop a little bit after 13, which, you know, fair enough. If I was Greg, I would also be pulling back a little bit if I was getting absolutely nothing in return. Alex picks it up a little bit, so it evens out a little bit, but we're still really low. We've got 32 total touches across the season, which is the same as season 5, which, once again, was two episodes shorter. TK: Right. Interesting. Elixir: And also we've got outtakes, now. TK: Yeah. Elixir: Here's what was weird, by the way, in that it’s the only outtakes where they don't touch each other. TK: Oh, that is weird. Elixir: Hm. In my crazy conspiracy mind, they cut out something wild that couldn't make it into the outtake! TK: If you think about it, if you're sitting in the audience for a recording session and you bring your notepad, there's got to be so many more touches that we just are never going to know about at this point. Elixir: Yeah, but I also can't compare those, you know? TK: Yeah. Elixir: This way I can pretend I can see into the relationship, if I stare at these numbers enough. Speaking of staring into these numbers and starting to believe things - season 15, they're fighting. It is abysmal! Abysmal! TK: Oh, no! Elixir: 26 touches, which puts it between season 4 and 5. Two short seasons. TK: Oh, my gosh. Elixir: And season 15 has a New Year's treat in it, and even then it can't. It's just so low. But, but, season 16 returns. TK: Yeah! Elixir: And Alex is back and he's trying and it's good. Season 16, it’s a little bump up and it's almost entirely Alex just putting in more… TK: Effort? We love more touches. Elixir: I can't say more effort. If I say the man should put in more effort… TK: He’s gonna literally die! Okay, so we're back up in 16. Elixir: So series 17 and 18, Greg continues. It's now on an upward trend and Alex is now back on a downward trend. But that's fine. Alex isn't comfortable doing a full one touch per episode anymore. TK: Yeah. Elixir: We've still got Greg on the rise and he's our heavy lifter. TK: Nice. Elixir: Series 17 and 18 have exactly the same number of total touches of 34. I love them when they match. TK: Yeah, that's interesting. Nice solid number there. Elixir: I also keep track of what type of touch that is. And our crazy seasons we get like a lot of arm touches and not a lot of hand touches. The great majority of the touches are going to be arm or hand. And 13 through 16, very hand-heavy, not a lot of arm. 17 and 18, we're back to arm. I don't know what that means, but I like to think it's a buzz., because we've got kissing again. So. TK: Hm, yeah, because we've had what, three kisses now? Elixir: We've had three kisses. Unless you count, Greg kissing Alex's hand, in which case four. But I think I might be the only one who counts that one! TK: What episode was that from? Elixir: That's in season 6. TK: Oh. Elixir: So far, we've always gotten a pair. TK: Are there any interesting trends that you found, like are odd series versus even series saying anything? Or do you think the plotline is just an overarching thing? Elixir: Um, I meant to do that, to see if fall seasons are different to spring seasons. But I haven't yet, because there's only so much you talk can to the numbers! TK: Yeah. Elixir: I did take a look to see if you could predict. I've been trying to figure out if there's a way to predict what the season's going to be like based on looking at season 1, for no particular reason, based on what I saw in New York. TK: Right. Elixir: See if I can look into the crystal ball and be like, are we going to have a good season? TK: Yes. I mean, I hope so. Who knows? I'm so excited for series 19. It's going to be a good one. Elixir: I think so, too. Based on what I saw, I think it's going to be good. I don't know if the numbers actually back it up. It feels right. TK: Yeah. Elixir: And I can twist the numbers around to be like, yes. I think we’re going to get a lot of Alex touches this season is what I'm going to say. Even based on like last season was very low on Alex touches. Which is fine, it's allowed. But usually, he's got a very sine wave pattern. TK: Interesting. Elixir: So, I think we're due! We’re due for him to come back up, to be like… TK: Yeah, that'd be nice. Elixir: Maybe, maybe I'll get my Alex in a [inaudible] kiss. It could happen. TK: Oh, wouldn’t that be something! That would be interesting. Now, in this spreadsheet, are you counting all the times that Greg smacks Alex with the cards as touches? Elixir: Yes - cue card whack. TK: Do we know how many of those there are? Total? Elixir: Yeah, hang on. 34. TK: Oh. I feel like 34 is a recurring number here. That’s how many touches total we have 17 and 18. And my cat is… Elixir: That's how many times Greg's felt the need to just absolutely whack. TK: Sometimes you’ve just got a whack your assistant! Elixir: Season 18 is the season with the most whacks. TK: Oh, that's interesting. I wonder if it’s because of Jack. Elixir: It's on the rise. TK: I wonder if it was because Greg was getting mad that Alex had a soft spot for Jack. Elixir: Maybe. TK: Could be - getting jealous. Doesn't want to let his boy go. Elixir: Whereas season 7, he just wants to show Rhod that he has an amount of control over the situation. TK: Right, yeah. Elixir: Which, by the way, is second highest. Series 18 has eight and series 7 has five. TK: Oh, interesting. All right, so before we move on to our games section, are there any other fun stat facts that you have about your spreadsheet? Elixir: I don't know what I've been doing so far, and that wasn't fun? TK: Well, just like outliers. Elixir: I asked if you had any questions you wanted me to puzzle out of this spreadsheet. TK: So we know how many kisses there are. We know how many slaps there are. Elixir: Would you like to know the different things that I've broken out as a specific categories? TK: Yes! Elixir: So, we've got shoulder grabs. TK: Okay. Elixir: We've got thigh grabs; hand and arm. TK: Yep. Elixir: Tap-tap, which, I'll be honest, it's because I started the spreadsheet really soon after the the C-word kiss. And there's a very clear tap there, and I wanted to see if that was a recurring thing. But then became very useful if they're just whacking on each other. I don't want to count how many times they did that, because that would be not useful. TK: Yeah. Elixir: Cue card whack, head contact… TK: Aww… Elixir: Very good, it happened seven times in season 9. TK: Oh, my god! That’s so many. Elixir: I mean, most of it is hand on head. TK: Oh, okay. Not head-to-head. Elixir: Hugs and then, lap-sitting and kisses, and then miscellaneous. TK: Good lord. Elixir: I do have an insane system! So I've given each of those a point from 1 to 5, and rated the seasons based on that to see if that was anything. TK: Interesting, okay. So, like an intimacy rating or something. Elixir: Yes, it's my Elixir point system. I mean, it’s what you'd expect. TK: Oh, I love this so much. Elixir: Series 9 is the winner with 75 Elixir points, and then it's season 6. TK: Interesting. I need to rewatch season 6, I guess. I don't even remember... Elixir: 73 Elixir points! TK: Wow, that's a lot. That's a lot of EPs. Elixir: Well, sitting-on-the-lap counts for 4, and the kiss counts were 5. So, having the kiss and two lap-sittings really added a lot to that total. TK: Yeah, for sure. Elixir: A lot of hand, a lot of arm - series 6 is insane. TK: Yeah, I guess I’ll have to go back and and rewatch 6 at some point. Sooner rather than later. Elixir: Also 5, because it doesn't rank as high in this, but season 5 underrated [inaudible]. TK: Yeah. I mean my top three, I think, are 7, 9 and 5. But 16 is really close. It's tied for third, I think, because I love Julian Clary so much. Elixir: Series 16 is my favourite. TK: It's so good. Elixir: It was my first season. I watched all of it in I feel like two days. Season 17 was like coming out at the time, so I was binge watching through the past seasons and then watching season 17 as it came out. So I’ve no memory. I don't know what happens in season 17. At some point in it, I realised I thought that they moved houses. Did I tell you this? TK: No! Elixir: When I first watched, I thought that they moved houses between the early seasons and the later seasons. After the pandemic, I just figured that they moved houses. TK: Oh, interesting. Elixir: Because the way that season 16, like the location… TK: Yeah, the location…. Elixir: The location, I thought it was like their backyard. TK: Oh, that’s funny. Oh, my gosh. Elixir: So, I swear, I think I got to season 8 or 9 being like, man, they're going to have to move house soon, right? This is going to be like a big deal. TK: That’s so funny. Elixir: They’re going to get like a bigger place. It's like that yard. TK: Oh, no. Elixir: Because I’d also watched all of New Zealand before I'd gone back and watched the rest of UK. And I watched season 16 and then watched all of New Zealand and then went back and New Zealand actually has a big yard. So I just figured that the flagship was going to be equally… TK: Yeah, the Taskmaster ranch that they used for New Zealand and Australia is gorgeous. And you could probably fit three Taskmaster houses in that one ranch house. It's ridiculous. So I think it's so funny that the original Taskmaster house is just this little crappy falling apart piece of… Podcast cat, stop scratching at my thing! She started to yell at me also, which is a good sign. Stop, stop! Oh, my gosh, she's like, let me in! Girl, you can come in. You did it before. All right. Okay, so earlier you were talking about the origin story of the touches spreadsheet. Being that, Amanda, whom we also know as Iluminescence, writes these amazing banter sections. So we are going to play my favourite game, Fact or Fanfic? Elixir: Not so fun. TK: I, I'm at. Elixir: Such a disadvantage in the fact that I've legitimately started dreaming episodes of Taskmaster. Yeah, like fully like I had a dream the other night of, like, I thought the oh, that was like, did somebody have a fanfic where they had to completely get rid of all the wrinkles on on a tarp? Oh yeah. So the actual task. Either one of them or did I feel like just three? TK: I saw you said that and I was like, I know there was one that you had to, like, shove the tarpaulin into, like a, container. Ma'am. Podcast cats. I was like, stop rubbing against my thing. But yeah, I don't think there was ever one that you had to, like, iron out the wrinkles from, because that now seems literally. Elixir: No, I've looked it up. It doesn't exist. So it was a great task because it couldn't just use an iron because it's just plastic. Somebody tried and like burnt through it. It was hilarious. TK: That's absolutely 100% what I like thought, because when you said that, I was like, somebody is going to grab an iron. Elixir: And it's just going to be awful. It looks like burnt plastic. Oh, well. I might have to go sit on the floor because my phone is ringing out of code. Oh, yeah. Mid podcast. Relocation. TK: So exciting. I feel like it's. Elixir: We don't need to talk about how my my room is laid out. The different one third person. I have to sit on the floor. TK: It feels very much like a no more jockeys type of thing. Or they just have to, like, bring their laptop through the house for some reason and like sit somewhere else. Oh goodness. Okay, so we are going to play three rounds of fact or fanfic. So I'm all of these are like Greg's intros. Alex. So you're going to tell me whether you think it actually happened, if it was fact or if it was written by someone in, fanfic. All right. So number one, and next to me, a man who drunkenly revealed that he thinks that male nurses are a myth. They're just doctors who couldn't hack it and haven't the balls to go get a real job. It's little. Elixir: Alex. Sorry. Well, I'm sure that you know. Louder. But we go with with with real. TK: That that is. Elixir: Actually a fic. TK: And it's one of Amanda's. Elixir: Oh, I know. I was going to bring that. TK: Is, she is too good at writing the banter sections. Honestly, I think Alex should or not. Elixir: I can hear that one. I know you're rooting. TK: For her to if he ever runs out of ideas. Oh my gosh, okay, that was unnecessary. Elixir: We get. Right after Alex about some podcasts. TK: Literally just like vaulted off of my lap because, there is here. But yeah, that one was for quite unhappy badgers. Bioluminescence. So yes. That's okay. So first one down. All right. Number two. And next to me, a man who told me in a private moment that he believes climate change is a hoax propagated by, and I quote, liberal pussies who don't know how to party. It's little Alex. Elixir: Sorry. The problem is, is that I. Don't that that's ringing the bell. TK: That is a problem. I like I can't I don't. Elixir: Know why I'm trying to reason with. There's no reasoning this out. I'm like, is. It too controversial? No, no, they don't tend to worry about that sort of thing. Once it's Alex, you know, they can be as mean to him as the want. Who support the code? I'll go, I'll go back. TK: That is a fact. Ding ding ding. Elixir: Yes. TK: Yeah, that was that one was from the New Year's treat 2023. So. All right, you're one on one, one for one, one versus one. I don't know how scores work. Elixir: Level. Yeah. Okay. TK: So now it is a tie breaker. Okay. Here is number three. And here, smug as a pug. So servile it's vile. Oh, who is it? It's little Alex Horne. Elixir: Of who? Servile. It's vile. Is is a fixed title. So we're going to go back. It is a fact. Oh, my gosh. TK: That is so funny. You're actually like, as of I don't know when these episodes like, well, I don't know what order these episodes will come out in, but, there was someone just the other day that they were like, okay, I know that this one is a fake title, so it's got to be fact. Elixir: I want I love that. TK: We just like Take That, are like, yes, this is this is what it needs to be. Okay. I'm just putting it in the my, my task master spreadsheet that you get a little trophy on the website once your episode comes out. So good job. Yay! Elixir: Yay! TK: We did it! Elixir: No. Winner. Finding. Did, task master task concerning. TK: Us at New. Elixir: York? I certainly did not do any of but London, New York correctly. TK: Yeah. So so speaking of New York. So we were we were both in New York City for the premiere, which was amazing. Elixir: So which was amazing. TK: Yes. It was quite amazing. Now I still. Elixir: Got the, TK: Yes. Yeah. The bracelet. I have all of my stuff still on my, my keychain, my keys, all of my stuff from from that trip was. Which was so fun. So in the premiere, how focused were you on when they touched each other and you were like, I have to. Elixir: Write this down. I mean, I was keeping notes because they given us a piece of paper and a pencil. I wasn't writing down the touches, mostly because my brain at this point just does that subconsciously. And I was reading so I could make a meme later of of, season 19 episode one spoilers, but without any context. TK: Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Elixir: And also because writing stuff that helped me remember, you know, what had happened because it was it was a lot of a day. TK: It was a lot of day. Yeah. Especially for you because you pretty much like came in to New York City and then left, like almost immediately. I mean, you know, as opposed. Elixir: I didn't go to. Four hours of sleep. TK: Yeah. You know, because the rest of us had, you know, been there for like days already and stuff like that, like, had, another, like 24 hours or more to to leave and go back home. But, so on your, on your EP, on your elixir points, how many points would you give Greg picking up Alex. Elixir: Well let's go the count as a hug. Right? Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna give it I'm gonna give it four. It's a special hug. Okay, that sounds wrong. TK: It was a special. Elixir: Greg, give Alex a special hug. On stage is definitely a fake title. Or at least a fake description. TK: I mean, it's it's just like, give Alex a special cuddle. Greg. Greg wanted to be part of it. Elixir: And still living in the universe where we got to see him, pick him up like he's at a bar. TK: That was so funny. Yeah. When they were like, can you pick up Alex? And Greg is like, what? Like in a bar or, like, physically what? Where? Like what? Elixir: What do you and. We all cheered for pick him up. TK: Yeah. Elixir: We really wanted to pick him up physically and we I should, we should, we should go to go. TK: We should. Yeah. It's like I mean. Elixir: Yeah. And have the processing time. TK: Yeah. My gosh. So I have already talked a bit with, with other guests about like, you know, my experience from the New York trip. So I know that you, you like, came in in a whirlwind and then left and then immediately got sick. But other than the traveling part, like, what was how was your, experience being in New York and, like, getting to see them in person, which, as you know, someone that lives in the US was like really, really special. Elixir: It's a bit like remembering a dream. I mean, I was, like, separate from you guys for the, for the show portion, just because of you didn't work. No. TK: Yeah. Elixir: So when they. Yeah. So they came to to our section, like, first when they were doing the walk around. Yeah. So they were still, like, going full speed. Right, old man. Full speed. So they weren't like, stopping and chatting with anyone. Yeah I got I said hello to Alex and he looked at me and went hello and then walked away. TK: This sounds very Alex. Elixir: I mean, I didn't have anything to say or give, so I'm glad that people who did have things to say and give got their, experience mostly I was like, you're from my television and you're in front of me. Which. Is the only that also happens to me when I eat like me, like go to a, like a show for, like a band and even like the like, like, what's it called? The band that comes on first to warm up. Like, even meeting them. My brain's like, wow, I can't believe you're a real person. My brain's bad at realizing people are people. It's the. Only the other member was. Oh, they're shorter than I was expecting. Which is apparently a unique thought. TK: I don't I agree with you. I, I thought that too. Now, to be fair, I did not. Like, I didn't take into consideration that I was on like a, a. Elixir: Slope. TK: A little bit, just because of the way that, like, the audience area is designed, but like, so, like technically they what have both been like taller than me anyway because of the slope. But I didn't I didn't have the thought of like, oh my gosh, they're huge. I did have the thought of Holy shit, Alex is incredibly attractive in person. Elixir: Like, it's more along the lines of, oh, I look like my dad. TK: Oh my gosh. But I mean, yeah, both of them were very sweet. I was I was excited that Greg allowed me to give him a hug. And then I was even more excited when he said that I have a solid hug, which was not something I was going for or expecting him to say. So that was cool. Elixir: Oh, but yeah. TK: Both of them lovely, lovely lads. Okay. Elixir: I think my favorite period of the trip was delayed, the confab that we had at the hotel afterwards that I agree. TK: Like, I. Yeah, the more I talk about it, the more I think my favorite part of that trip was all of us just getting together in the hotel lobby afterwards to, like, be excited that we just got to see the premiere and got to meet Greg and Alex and all this kind of stuff. Plus, we were also staying up for the Seth Meyers, release, which we did not know was going to be. Elixir: So that would be your favorite part, considering it was a very emotional low part of the evening for you. TK: Really, really was. Yeah. Because as I mean, I don't know if I've like again, I don't know when these episodes are going out, but the, the story is that all of my recording on my phone of me taking a video of me meeting Greg and Alex got deleted for some, like, it doesn't even even get deleted. It just like snapped to the to like Greg leaving. So I don't know what that was about. And I was devastated because I was so like thrilled that I thought I was like, I have this great idea. I'm going to record the whole thing so that when I'm like floating on a high afterward, I can watch it back and remember what I actually said to them, you know, and then, like, and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm so I, I remember saying, I'm so nervous to watch this video back because I was like, I hope I didn't make a fool of myself. Well, I guess we'll never. Elixir: Know because it's. TK: My phone. Elixir: It's whatever you want. Help. They oh my gosh. TK: So yeah, I, I had literally just found that out and everybody else was like, we were so excited that everything happened. And like, but we were like a lot of us were also kind of like, disappointing. Disappointed is the wrong word, but like, disappointed in a way, because we thought the selfie system was going to be something different. And not just like the hey, we're going to run by you. So like, take selfies with us in the background. So there were like some of us that didn't get like some signs that we wanted to or, you know, like properly say hi and like stuff or like, properly get a picture with them or anything like that. So there. Elixir: There were. TK: There were a lot of motions, and. Yeah. And then like, I was like super upset. I like, was near tears, because of my video thing. And then stuff came on and I was. Elixir: Using me as a drum. TK: It's very heavy. I was like, I really needed that. Honestly. Yeah, I think that was my favorite bit was just like being in a room with all of you. While that happened, live was. Elixir: So much was. Just, just just gripping each other there. TK: I was like, because we we all, like, screamed. But we were also all trying to be quiet because we wanted to hear what they were saying. Elixir: But I literally. TK: Like, grabbed. Elixir: On to you and I was like. What is happening? Let's listen to the. Recording of us. Like watching it so many times. TK: It's so good. It's so much fun. Like pure. Elixir: Like you can hear it like like muffled. TK: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like the the screams in the guys. It's so special too, because, like, being in a room of people that, like, know the title of your mic without having to look it up like that is incredible. Yeah, I like that they picked the one. Elixir: It's so nice to be in a fandom where there's other people. TK: Yeah, that's a. Elixir: Real, TK: But yeah. Elixir: I mean, in fandoms where it's either been like for people just doing their best to keep a phantom alive or just arrived too late in the fandom. Already dead. TK: Yeah. It's nice. Elixir: To be in the in a fandom. TK: That's, you know, and, yeah. Elixir: Yeah, yeah. TK: Yeah, I've definitely recommended. Elixir: One that doesn't. Suck. Yeah. TK: Yeah. That's right. Yeah, I've definitely run into the problem of like, like getting really into a thing and then like, it's over. And like the nice thing about that is that I don't have to, like, wait for new episodes or content to come out. But the bad news is like the fandom is pretty much dead. And it's like, well, heck. Elixir: So I can sift through the grave. And see what? TK: What's left? Yeah, but there's only so much joy you can take from that, which is unfortunate. So sad. Elixir: Anyway, it's a. TK: So. Elixir: I kind of I was, it was so small but towards the end of it or fandom tagged like oh no, three got canonized. So I can't find the other fics. No, but just use that tag. TK: That's so sad because. Elixir: Now it's not. It's just video blogging RPF, which if you haven't looked at on on three, has like a billion, you can work on it. TK: Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's Elixir: That is so the the fandom that had like if it was 36 total, it would have been a lot. But I think them so sad. TK: Yeah. That's that's unfortunate I this is like tangentially related. But I there's and this is gonna sound. Elixir: Completely. TK: Random. But the reason that that made me think about it is like things that, like, you feel like you just will never, ever find again in your life. And when I was in high school, I became obsessed with Jekyll and Hyde, which, like, surprising no one is why my username is what it is. Elixir: But, TK: Because I saw the musical for the very first time at an arts camp in Michigan that I work at in the summers, and it blew my mind like it was so good. I mean, Jekyll and Hyde the musical. I mean, I've seen a ton of musicals since then. Jekyll and Hyde is not, it's cheesy, like, let's just put it like it's it's I love it, I love it. TK: Some people would say like, it's a bad musical and I would be able to see where they're coming from, but, like, it's kind of old. It's like a little bit. It's not like, super outdated. Anyway, so there was a, video game, for a PC that my dad got me because I literally would listen to the soundtrack on my CD player on repeat, like forever. TK: Like while I was asleep, while I was awake, like when we were traveling. Like, I was obsessed. And so, so my dad was like, oh, he really likes Jekyll and Hyde. I found this Jekyll and Hyde video game for PC. So, all like, give it to them for, like, as a present. And I was, like, so excited. TK: Bessie, this is the worst video game that exists. Elixir: It's like, I kid you not. TK: It is impossible to play like it's. It's it's so bad. Like, everything like, the voice acting is pretty good. Everything else is shit. It is horror. It's awful. But I really loved Jekyll and Hyde, so, like, I tried to give it a go. I am more of a casual, like, I love playing video games, but I'm more of a casual gamer. TK: Like, I'm. I don't like Minmax or anything like that. I could not get through this game to save my life, and I and I, I was so like frustrated because, like, I just, I physically like, could not play this game. Like I kept dying. It was really bad. And so eventually so like years and years and years later, I keep thinking about this game eventually or like occasionally. TK: And I'm like, man, I really want to know, like how that game ended, because I remember there was like a cutscene at the beginning and it's like very high stakes, like the bad guy has like kidnaped Jekyll daughter and like, has her in a cage for some reason. It's like, it's really weird. But I remember being, like, enthralled by this plotline. TK: And so my partner, who is, who who, like, I would classify as a gamer like he, he's a hardcore gamer, like, you know, like Dark Souls is like his bread and butter. And I was like, hey, if I because I think I still had the game. She just walked over his desk. So I think I still had the game. And I was like, hey, would you be willing to try this game or like to try to beat it so that I can watch you play it and I. Elixir: Can finally figure. TK: Out how this game ends? He played it and he was like, I hate this game so much. Everything about it is so, so, so fucking bad. Like it's. Elixir: Awful. TK: And like the controls are just hard. The camera angles, the help that you get, it's it's all bad. And so eventually so we get like pretty far into the game and we he stops at this one place because I kid you not the game was bugged. And so we really can't like we looked up like how to get through this area. And it's like you have to jump on the chair. Well the like it he wasn't jumping on the chair. And we, we tried for like hours to jump on this chair and it just was not working. And so finally, like he was like, fuck this. I give up and he gave up and we like, threw the game in the trash. But like, ever since then, I've always been like, I really want to know how this ends. And so finally, and this is what your story reminded me of, you know, because I'm sitting here thinking like, I'm never going to know how this ends, you know, like I'm never going to find those fix again. But I finally went to YouTube and I looked up like, let's Plays. And I actually found somebody that played through the entire game and did a Let's Play of it. And I was like, dude, bless up, because Holy shit. And it was, it was like, I don't remember how many hours it took this poor guy to get through it. But I finally like, was able to. Elixir: See. TK: The ending. It was a fucking shit ending. And I was like, well, it was awful. Awful let down. So yeah, I don't know if that that was a rant that I just went on for no reason. Elixir: But oh, it was a delightful read. I love video games that are bad. TK: It was awful. Elixir: I've been watching, video games that nobody can be. TK: Oh, you know, what I love is the opposite of that. Is games done quick or they speedrun video games. I love that shit. I love that shit. It's so fun to watch. Okay, we're getting off topic here at the end of our. Elixir: Podcast. TK: Is what I ask our guests for fan work recommendations. You don't have to provide me with one. But like, if you have, like, a favorite piece of fan art or a favorite fanfic or something, that now's, now's your chance to shout it out. Elixir: I mean, my favorite is, email up your heart of that a little bit. Oh, no. Oh. TK: This is going to be all great. Elixir: No. Elixir: Shut up. Elixir: Shut up. TK: You know who is by. Elixir: Our dear anonymous friend. TK: That's harder to find. Elixir: There you go. It is. I read it, based on my own three stats, 15 times last year. Email of my email. My heart.Email.No, no, no no no. Participles email. My heart. It's told entirely through emails. And I love it so much because I love when I love when I love when stories are told in a weird format. Yeah. Yes, I do love how of leaves. TK: Yeah. We were, oh. So as you know, we have like this, this bingo sheet thing, in our group chat that some of us have been doing and one of the, I don't even remember what it was called, and, okay, so I found, I don't know if I'm going to pronounce this right, but, epistolary. And epistolary is what I'm going for. I didn't know what that meant. But I let's. Elixir: Not have a definition. TK: Yeah, I looked it up, and it is a story told via, letters to each other. Elixir: Oh. Like Dracula? TK: Yeah. So I know that, and so I, I wrote one that was like letters to each other, for, my rare pair of, Paul Williams and Tomcats. But then I also I also wrote another one that was, dear Diary was the prompt, and that one was fun because I got to write Nightmare Drug again. But yeah, I had a lot of fun writing that because it's so different. It's such a different format to what we're used to reading and writing. Elixir: So, yeah, I mean, that was the joy of reading the, the, the banter fixed as well. That's true of like, I know exactly how this would work, but how would it go? Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah. And also I can just like I can I can I, can I can see it on the screen, I can see it on the screen in my mind. TK: Yes. Elixir: Yeah. TK: It's so much fun. All right. So, last but not least, is there anything that you want to plug or promo, like your, your three or your Tumblr or wherever people can find you if you want them to find you or anything like that. Absolutely. Optional. Elixir: Alexa, if you wanna, if you want to. Every Tumblr with various, dashes and underscores between the two. So. Yeah. So that it's. TK: It's art. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll, I'll link it on our website once your, once this one goes out. So. All right. Well, thanks for sharing your, touch spreadsheet and just hanging out and being on the podcast, and, yeah, I'll see you online. Wow, wow. Elixir: I love.