Reinventing the comedy panel show
Panel shows have dominated comedy in popular television for the last decade, but the genre has recently been suffering. From Never Mind the Buzzcocks being axed to Mock the Week’s dramatic drop in ratings, it seems to be that audiences and broadcasting companies alike are losing faith in the well-tested format. However, Taskmaster burst onto our screens with delightfully silly fervour in 2015 and has been breathing new life into the comedy panel show ever since.
Originating in the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe, Taskmaster was created by comedian Alex Horne who challenged twenty of his peers to compete in a series of tasks, then shared the results and crowned the winner at the festival. As a television programme, the format flourishes into a panel game show where the formidable Greg Davies sets the challenges for five comedians, devised and overseen by Horne. The tasks are brilliant, bizarre and while often initially simple, they usually require creative thinking to be won — something that utilises comedians’ natural abilities. Anything can happen, as they range from trying to make a Swedish person blush to rescuing a toy cat, and the instinctual reactions of contestants to solving them under time pressure are frequently hilarious. The range of comedians so far includes the surreal Noel Fielding and stern Hugh Dennis, so this predictably results in a curious depiction of how very different people think and invites the audience to decide how they would best solve the tasks, as they watch others do the same.
Taskmaster has received praise and built its audience over its five seasons due to this originality and quirkiness like nothing else on television, leading even to a BAFTA nomination. It is easy to see how it stands out when you compare it to current or recent, popular panel shows such as Have I Got News For You and 8 Out of 10 Cats. Many such shows have been accused of providing contestants the answers beforehand — this isn’t the case with Taskmaster as we watch the tasks back with the contestants, so the reactions are genuine, and its live tasks are recorded in the studio each episode. The genre’s loss of popularity has been attributed to this by some, and by others to offensive humour being stamped down on and a decrease in political riskiness. I believe its staleness comes from shows beginning to all feel very similar, with comedians simply answering general knowledge or current affairs questions, then injecting their expected thoughts and opinions merely meant to shock the audience. This state seems to reflect the popular culture of television and even film, in the bid to rely on accepted and reliable formats — like sequels and reboots in the latter — instead of creating new and challenging ones. Sardonic humour and so-called witty or edgy, opinionated banter has dominated much of comedy for years in the public eye, and has become tiresome. Taskmaster’s format really opens up possibilities for the panel show genre, allowing comedy to become more relatable than that of shows with a certain highbrow political commentary. This is because it is much lighter, down-to-earth and often silly, unforced as it functions on comedian’s spontaneity and genuine, personal thought processes. It also has a lot more obvious thought put into it than some of its compatriots; as well as a live task and a ‘prize’ task — where the contestants bring in themed objects and the one owning the best representation of the theme takes home the lot — there are at least three recorded tasks per episode and at least five episodes per series. The amount of planning and preparation is astounding and in combination with its integrally creative concept, results in a winning and refreshing format.
A further issue with the modern panel show has been the lack of featured female comedians. Danny Cohen — then Director of the BBC — announced a ban on all-male BBC line-ups in 2014, and female representation has since significantly improved. However, the ban has been criticised as becoming a quota to fill, with women becoming token panellists. This has reportedly resulted in women turning down invitations to shows such as QI, with Jo Brand explaining it was often due to fears that they might be ‘“patronised, marginalised or dismissed”’. I think this ties into the inescapable trend of opinionated banter, with all-male or majority-male panels sometimes encouraging an almost laddish culture of who can shout the loudest, which could be intimidating to a lone woman or couple of women forced to compete. Taskmaster shares problems of equal gender representation, with only one female contestant featuring on each of its first three series and two on the fourth and fifth. However, Horne himself has said the show’s team are endeavouring to deal with this issue, while also being mindful of not wanting ‘anyone to be in it because of their gender’. I have never felt that women are perceived or have come across as being tokenised on Taskmaster or pressurised by the male majority, instead being valued for their comedy and brilliance while receiving equal air time and part in the show as their peers.
This is clearly still an issue which the comedy panel show needs to overcome, and while the BBC’s ban actively works to improve the broadcaster’s representation of female comedians, it also raises feelings of forced correctness and pressure on women rather than value. So how can other broadcasters deal with this and strike a healthy balance? I think if any show can, Taskmaster can, due to the humble, creative roots it has built so much upon and still keeps integral to its format. It represents what I think comedy should be; unfettered, unforced and acting for the joy of laughter, not putting other people down. If other panel shows can follow in its footsteps and get back to these roots of comedy, we might achieve a better, more fulfilling representation of the genre and art form in popular television once more.
