Taskmaster is a game show from the UK in which five comedians compete against each other in contests, or “tasks”, set for them by the show’s hosts, Taskmaster Greg Davies and his assistant, (Little) Alex Horne. Though he portrays the servile assistant on telly, Horne is actually the creator of the show and the mastermind of most of the tasks. In this book he briefly gives the history of the show and some behind the scenes secrets, but the main point is the tasks themselves.
The book is essentially a set of party games. Because the readers likely won’t have access to a production budget, most of the tasks aren’t as involved as the ones on the show. Indeed, some are exceedingly simple, such as the very first task, which is just to draw a self-portrait on the opposite page while blindfolded. Others are just little ice-breakers like asking everyone to find the dullest photo on their phone and the person with the dullest photo wins.
There are also specialized sections of tasks to be done in specific places. There are tasks to do while at a bar or at the beach, as well as tasks you can do while traveling.
Taskmaster is one of my favorite shows, but the book is kind of a disappointment. Admittedly, I paged through the book by myself, but even still relatively few of them felt like things that would go over well at a party. Especially if your guests weren’t as creative and hilarious as the UK’s top comedians.