Taskmaster Australia is returning for season three on Tuesday, 24 September at 7:30 pm on 10 and 10 Play, joining 10’s Tuesday comedy roster alongside The Cheap Seats.
Tough-love Taskmaster Tom Gleeson is back, along with his loyal sidekick Tom Cashman, both ready to put our newest batch of comedians through their comedic paces.
Competing for Tom Gleeson’s cranium in gold trophy form and stepping into his “house of fun”, is Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo, Mel Buttle, Pete Helliar and Rhys Nicholson.
From epic winks, flying discs and puzzles with cumbersome costumes, the unforgiving Taskmaster has a whole new bag of random and ridiculous tricks up his sleeve to test the wits of the season three line-up.
Speaking to Mediaweek in May, co-host Cashman believes the cast of Aussie comedians gives the show a unique identity, despite its origins as an adaptation from the UK format of the same name.
“We try not to go too hard on how Aussie we make our tasks, because we feel like our comedians are more than capable of bringing that Aussie flavour to a format that’s not originally Australian,” he said.
“I don’t go hard with Australian references because it’s all about how the comedians are showing the different ways they think, and because they are Australian, it brings that uniqueness to the show.”
The show sees the Taskmaster set the tasks that lead the cast of comedians to go head-to-head in a battle of comedy to complete them and bag the highest points.
Cashman says that the improv nature of the show is what makes it stand out amongst the crowd of comedy programs.
“A big part of the show is that you can’t prepare, and I think what makes good comedy is authenticity, and that’s seen on the show,” he said.
Taskmaster is produced for Network 10 by Avalon/Kevin & Co. The show premieres on 24 September at 7:30 pm on 10 and 10 Play.