128: How Taskmaster creator Alex Horne keeps coming up with sensationally silly tasks

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This week, we gave ourselves 50 minutes and the task to catch master of mirth, Alex Horne.
Comedian, frontman of six-piece band The Horne Section, and sensationally silly sod, Alex is best known for creating and co-hosting cult TV show, Taskmaster. Alongside Greg Davies, the only man in comedy big enough to call him ‘Little’ Alex Horne, he tests the wiles, wit and wisdom of comedians through a series of tasks teeming with tomfoolery.
We chat middle children, sorting potatoes from toads, Big Brother and berocca, reviewing an all-male strip show, The Cambridge Footlights, British humour overseas, car games, silly versus wacky, escapism, how he comes up with tasks, catching tears in an eggcup, and (of course) the glorious 'stupid waste of time' that is Taskmaster.
Tune in wherever you get your podcasts. You’ve got 49 minutes and 18 seconds. Your time starts now.
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Follow Alex on Twitter
Here’s his website
And see The Horne Section on tour
Timestamps
(02:00) - Quick fire questions
(03:56) - His first jobs sorting potatoes from toads, reviewing an all-male strip show, and working on Big Brother
(08:08) - Giving comedy a crack and The Cambridge Footlights
(12:10) - How Taskmaster went from playing games in the back of the car, to Edinburgh Fringe, and then onto the tele
(14:27) - What’s behind the success of Taskmaster, the role of luck, and what he’d do differently if the show started today
(24:20) - Trying to entertain, silly vs wacky, and the importance of escapism
(30:03) - How he keeps coming up with tasks
(36:10) - Listener questions
(41:39) - 4 pertinent posers

Alex’s book recommendations are:
Game On by Marley Byng
Palindromes and Anagrams by H.W. Bergerson
The Pebble Spotter’s Guide by Clive Mitchell
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