Why did you want to do Taskmaster?

I’ve been a massive fan, for years. I watch it with my daughter Beti, it’s our comfort watch. I didn’t realise there was a bleeped version until she’d watched two series with lots of swear words! I had to say, ‘Don’t repeat any of these words at school’.

I’ve had mates in every series. I’m good mates with Jo Brand, and Josh Widdicombe, and Sian Gibson. From the early days I’ve known about it, but I held on until Beti was old enough to watch it with me, so I’m still catching up on old series now.

I always really wanted to do it because I love creating stuff. I especially used to think about what I’d make for the prize task. I’ve taken jobs before where I wasn’t familiar with the format and had to watch it to prep, but I very much already knew and loved Taskmaster.

Has that knowledge helped you?

It helped me with the format, I think. I’d go, ‘That’s that bit, then this bit is coming up,’ and so it wasn’t a completely new landscape that I had to navigate. 

It’s been a nice combination because Chloe’s very familiar with every series as well, probably more so than the rest of us. I thought everybody would know it because it’s such a long-running show, but we’ve all come in from different angles. It’s been fun watching some of them come in and go, ‘What’s going on, who’s Greg?’.

But I don’t know if being a fan of the show helps all that much. I texted one of my mates who’s done it when I first got it and she said, ‘It’s amazing but you do feel like you’re losing your mind sometimes’ and I know what she means now. 

Alex has tried to gas-light you a couple of times and then admitted he’s got it wrong.

I know, and that’s unusual for him! Alex is getting more of a personality! Is he trying to be a bit more like Greg? But he backs down really easily so it didn’t have any impact on me.

It’s funny, he’s exactly the same age as me. I don’t know if it’s because of that, but I feel like I’m on an even footing with Alex. Whereas Greg’s ten years older than me, and I was in Man Down with him as his love interest.

I had so much fun with Alex and we chatted a lot. I called him ‘Al’ and it drove him mad. Every time I called him ‘Al’ he’d correct me and say, ‘Alex’, or even just ‘-ex’. 

What was Greg like to work with on Man Down?

I’ve never seen him get cross or snap at anyone. When you’ve got your own sitcom you often have to do rewrites at the last minute and it can be horrendously stressful, but I’ve genuinely never seen him be anything other than really professional and fun.

I’ve known them both since the days of us doing Edinburgh Fringe, including Alex doing an early version of what would become Taskmaster. He always did really inventive shows with Tim Key and Mark Watson. I remember seeing him twenty-odd years ago where there would be comics on stage and it involved the audience making suggestions.  He’s always had a passion for silliness, but the detail is key. 

Have you tried arguing with Greg in the studio for more points?

I’m not competitive in any way. I do like the feeling of having completed something, and I get a big satisfaction of doing something to the best of my ability, but I don’t care about beating people.

I have tried arguing a bit, when I felt I’d done better than the points would indicate, but Greg’s logic is all over the place. 

I did manage to charm him sometimes. He was really mean about a prize task and made me start to freak out, but then I kept arguing and in the end he gave me an extra point. Eventually he does sometimes cave in, so he does have a heart deep down.

You told a story on the show about something you did at school. Can you share it here?

Me and my friends wrote out every letter of the alphabet and we had to snog a boy whose name began with every letter. We found a Xavier! Once you’ve done stand-up, all your inhibitions disappear, so I was happy to share that on national TV.

Have you learned anything about yourself?

I really have. In life, I get stressed when things aren’t organised. And I don’t mean I’m tidy, because our house is really messy. But if I’m going away, for example, I will pack my bag the night before, and I get really stressed. I can’t order an Uber until I’ve got my shoes on because I can’t cope with the stress of it arriving before I’m ready.

With work, I get things done a week before the deadline, which sounds quite swotty but it’s because I’m trying to avoid stress.

With the tasks, what I’ve discovered is that I’ve got this ‘f*** it’ gene that I didn’t realise I had. I have just gone, ‘Wah’ and thrown things in the air during a task. Most of the tasks I tried to do properly, but sometimes, especially with the clock ticking, I’ll just shout out something random or throw things everywhere.

The only time I do that in my real life is when I’m driving. So many times I’ve scraped the car. The other day I was reversing out of my childminder’s drive and I started to drag the bins with me because I’d got too close to them. And instead of getting out and moving them, or going forwards a bit and trying to reverse again, I just went, ‘Oh well’ and reversed into the road dragging these two bins with me.

It’s been really fun to be like that on the show because I always feel I’m a bit too sensible in real life.

Can you tell me about making the balaclava of Greg’s face?

Before we even heard what the prize tasks were, I knew I wanted to make a balaclava of Greg’s face. I just knew it. And I made it fit into the task. I loved doing it. The pattern is from an amazing seventies book called Son of Stitch and Bitch. It’s actually based on a Mexican wrestlers’ mask.

I didn’t want it to look too creepy. I’m really pleased with how it turned out. The person who won that episode will take great care of it, I’m sure, but if Greg wants it then I’d be happy for it to take on a life of its own.

How did you get on with the other contestants?

I’ve loved sitting next to Chloe, I’ve gigged with Chloe at a new material years ago and maybe seen them at the Taskmaster football game, the charity one that Alex does. It was a joy to sit next to them because we’re really different people and I’ve really enjoyed the developing dynamic between us. It’s been genuinely really fun.

That’s chance because you’re sitting in alphabetic order. I think the alphabetic order thing is good because it stops any ego-driven demands of, ‘I need to be nearest to the audience or Greg or whatever’. It ends up being an experiment because you sit next to people you don’t know, which is in keeping with the sense of fairness of the show.

So Chloe and I nurtured this dynamic. And Matt, on my other side, is glorious as well. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone: I didn’t know anybody that well beforehand.

Matt’s a really lovely, quirky character. He does different voices, as you might expect from him: the other day he did an old-fashioned train announcer which was delightful. But a lot of the time he’s just himself and he’s lovely. 

I’ve really loved, over the years, watching comic actors like Charlotte Ritchie or Mat Baynton or Katherine Parkinson on Taskmaster and getting to know them, because you don’t know them through stand-up and so you don’t really know their personalities that well even though they’ve been on telly for years.

And that’s true of Matt Lucas, too. He’s been on telly for decades playing these big iconic characters but it’s been really lovely to see him being himself, being allowed to just play, with no pressure or expectation. He also comes out with loads of gags. He’s really quick and he loves word play.

I adore Nina. I’ve been a long-term admirer. She’s a true clown, a bit like Bridget Christie. She revels in the unusual. I think she’s hilarious, and we also had wonderful chats in make-up. 

Richard’s actually really sweet and warm. I’ve met him a few times over the years but he’s the one I knew the least. He’s provided a foil for lots of moments. He’s been how I thought he would be: the antagonist. And it’s fun to play against that.

Your Peep Show co-star David Mitchell told me recently he’ll never do Taskmaster  because he thinks he’d be so bad at it. But I think he should do it anyway!

I totally agree! He’s wrong, and he should do it. I don’t know why he won’t. I’ve always thought David would be brilliant. It’s a commitment, I suppose, and I think he might feel pressure to be the way that people perceive him to be. But he should absolutely do it. He’d be so good.  

Could you text him and try to talk him into it?

I will! I will start a campaign. Although, what’s that expression? You can bring a horse to water but you can’t make them drink, right? As much as Richard Ayoade looks like he doesn’t want to be there, I’m sure he’s actually having loads of fun. You want people to want to be there. So if David doesn’t want to do it, fine, but one can only hope that over the years he’ll soften and eventually do it, because he’d be brilliant. 

The other people I think would be brilliant, in the meantime, are Miranda Hart and Harriet Kemsley. 

Taskmaster is on C4 on Thursdays at 9pm and 10pm BST / 5pm EST / 2pm PST on the Taskmaster YouTube Channel across the rest of the world.

Picture & Interview supplied by Publicists