The line-up for the next series of Taskmaster was announced at the end of the finale of the current series on Thursday night. You can read all about the next batch of contestants here. But one name was missing that I thought was a dead cert for inclusion. And that was Adam Buxton. I thought there had been a big hint only a few days earlier.
This week Adam Buxton's podcast featured an interview with former Taskmaster guest Guz Khan which took place in front of an audience in Manchester in June 2024. During their chat the conversation turned to the C4 show and took an interesting and unexpected turn and involved a phone call with the man who must surely have the biggest say in who appears, Taskmaster creator Alex Horne. Here is how the chat between Buxton, Khan and Horne went down.
"I think I would do a good job on taskmaster," said Buxton. "I've had Alex on the podcast and he said 'oh you're on the long list But it's a very long list'." So Khan had a suggestion.
"Have you got his number? Yeah, let's call him now. Call him bro, call him. You're a lovely guy, he's a lovely guy. There's no need for this long list thing here going on. Please cail him and we're gonna fix this thing right now."
Buxton was initially reluctant: "This is not good. I think it might jeopardise my friendship with Alex Horne if I ring and say. 'Hey, Alex, I'm doing a show in Manchester and there's a crowd of a thousand people here who want to know why I haven't been on Taskmaster...'"
But Khan reassured him: "Say Guz made me make the phone call, I promise you he's gonna be alright. I think he wanted to kick me off the show like six times. Because I threatened to throw an iron through the stained glass window in that house. And he said, you're not allowed to do that. I said, motherfucker, you told me I could do what I want. Call him, we're gonna fix this now..."
So Buxton made the call live onstage so that the audience could hear everything. "Alex, it's Adam Buxton. I'm onstage, just so you know. I'm on stage in Manchester at the Albert Hall and I'm here with Guz Khan...." Horne jokingly replied: "I'm not interested. Whatever you're selling..."
Khan was quick to put in a good word for the podcast host. "Bux says, you know what brother, I would actually legit love to be on Taskmaster...And I say you're a beautiful guy because you are. Adam Buxton is a beautiful guy, your energies are unmatched, I'm your brown boy from the Midlands. Please, can you just do the thing and make sure Bux is on your show because I think it'd be a beautiful combination. Can we do this, please?"
Buxton interjected: "Alex, I'm aware that this is most likely the end of our friendship...I was made to do this by Guz Khan who was trying to make my dreams come true..."
To which Horne answered: "Well it would genuinely make my dreams come true so let's sort this out."
Buxton: "Alex, thank you so much for taking this call. I will check in with you later to make a fulsome apology. I'm hanging up now." And then to Khan and the audience... "I mean, I think that couldn't really have gone better. On the other hand, he's probably now deleting my number and blocking me from every avenue of approach."
And to Khan he added: "Thank you very much. I know this isn't a good reference, but it did feel like being on Jim'll Fix It. Thank you very much."
Sadly Buxton is not in the line-up for the 20th series. But maybe the 21st?
Listen to Adam Buxton's interview with Guz Khan here.
Taskmaster 20 will be on C4 at a later date still to be confirmed (I'm guessing this autumn)
