Joel Dommett and Armando Iannucci take on exclusive Taskmaster task – here's Alex Horne's verdict
Break the boiled egg. You may only break one egg. Two of the eggs are labelled correctly. Fastest wins. Your time starts now!
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
It’s almost April, and “Little” Alex Horne has turned up at the Radio Times office with a wax-sealed task, four gold envelopes and a “special” six-pack of eggs. Happy Easter!
To celebrate Taskmaster’s 21st series, which begins on Channel 4 on Thursday 9 April, just a few days after the Easter weekend, Horne has agreed to create an exclusive seasonal task for RT.
To make it even more authentic, we’ve invited two of this year’s contestants – satirist/director Armando Iannucci and comedian and presenter Joel Dommett – to try it out. We’ve even managed to bring in an official trophy of Taskmaster Greg Davies wearing bunny ears for the winner. An “Easter Greg”, if you will.
How did they do? Read on to find out.
Armando Iannucci
Within seconds of starting, Armando had accidentally dropped an egg, technically ending the whole task – but he decided to plough on anyway. Despite using one hint, he still failed to locate the boiled egg and broke the second raw egg. Double failure. “Thank you very much... it’s great to be back,” he laughs.
This feels a bit like a post-match interview... How do you rate your task performance today?
Well, I think I played really well. My fitness is good. My form is good. I just think the big point – you know, choosing the egg – I need to be better than that. I’ve fired my coach… and I’ve hired the coach I’ve fired because he’s still on contract. I still have to pay him.
You’re not known for being “yourself” on TV shows, so why do Taskmaster?
People have me down as a sort of political, satirical, sweary writer. And, yeah, I do a bit of that, but I also do stupid stuff and silly stuff. I mean, Alan Partridge is stupid, and I did a show on Channel 4, The Armando Iannucci Shows, which was mostly stupid. I seem to do comedy about people who look normal or even respectable acting like idiots. And I thought it was probably about time I fell into that category.
Were you a fan before?
Oh, it’s a favourite! My family and I watched it right from the start. I was slightly trepidatious to be asked on to it, but also within a nanosecond, I said yes, because it’s such a friendly, kind show. You can bowl things up and make a complete arse of the task and of yourself, and it doesn’t matter.
You’re surrounded by Easter paraphernalia, but do you celebrate Easter?
We used to do Easter egg hunts and all that sort of thing, but my kids are grown up now. I will say, when you reach a certain age – and I don’t want to plough this elderly man theme for much longer – but you can have chocolate whenever you like! You don’t need to wait until Easter.
Joel Dommett
Joel took his time trying to crack the clues – “Egg a’boiled?” he mused, before being told it read “Egg A: boiled” – and also sacrificed a minute of time for a hint. Unfortunately, that “mystery envelope” only contained a free photo of Greg Davies and Alex Horne. Checking under the egg cups revealed a secret message: Manufactured in Denmark. Giving up, Joel went on instinct and confidently smashed a raw egg on his head. Followed by the other raw egg. Good for the hair, we’re told...
Without giving too much away, you have trouble with an egg-based task in the new series... You don’t seem to have a lot of luck with eggs on Taskmaster!
No, I really don’t. I like to eat eggs because they are a very good protein source. But now they sort of have a sheen of PTSD.
How did you find our task today?
I loved it – I know there’s probably a clever way of doing it and I do always try my best to work out what that is, but it actually kind of confuses me and then I just go a bit gung-ho. And smash an egg on my head. Two eggs. Why not? If you’ve done one, you might as well do another.
Were you a fan of the show before you joined?
A massive fan, as I think a lot of comedians are. It’s just one of those brilliant shows in which you get to see the mind of a comedian and the different ways they figure something out. Potentially in the wrong way, very much like today!
It’s very festive in here – do you celebrate Easter?
I sometimes forget Easter, but I have a two-and-a-half year-old, so I should probably start embracing it! Actually, people think I’m maybe not a controversial comedian, but I’m about to say something really controversial… I don’t eat chocolate. In the shoot, I enjoyed punching an Easter egg more than I enjoyed eating it. That says it all about me.
Alex Horne's verdict
This was easy to score. They both failed – zero points. This is a little logic task. It’s very easy: you’ve just got to open the hint envelope that is going to cost you the most time. But I was pretty sure that they wouldn’t do that – and they didn’t do that, so that’s good. I did feel very smug, which often happens in the show.
I tested this one on my kids at home and two of them found the correct egg, one of them did a Joel and just smashed the wrong one. These two did predictably badly, but they also did it predictably entertainingly. There’s always a balance in the show. You could just come in and do the task. And that’s fine if one person does that, but if all five did it in a very dry way, it wouldn’t be entertaining. So, they didn’t disappoint.
This task may return in the TV show. So if you’re a future contestant watching this, you’ve got an advantage. I try to test tasks out wherever I can because life’s short.
Photographer: Rob Parfitt @rob_parfitt_photography
HMU: Bryony Blake @bryony_blake
HMU: Holly Davies @hollylouisehmua
Set Dressing: Propped Up @propped_up_ltd
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Taskmaster returns on Thursday 9 April at 9pm on Channel 4. Previous seasons are available to watch on catch-up on Channel 4.
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Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
