Ever wondered who creates Taskmaster tasks? It's not Greg Davies
If you've watched Taskmaster, you know the setup: Greg Davies sits on his throne, judges the contestants, and awards points with the authority of a man who has been doing this since birth. It's natural to assume he's the mastermind behind the whole operation.
He isn't. The tasks — all of them — are created by Alex Horne.
How Taskmaster started
Alex Horne invented the entire concept. In 2009, he missed the Edinburgh Festival Fringe because he was looking after his newborn son. Jealous of his friend Tim Key winning a comedy award, he emailed 20 comedians and challenged them to complete monthly tasks in the run-up to the following year's festival. The first ever Taskmaster task? "Put as much money into my bank account — most money wins."
That live show evolved into the TV format that premiered on Dave in 2015 and moved to Channel 4 in 2020. As of 2026, there have been 21 series and over 200 episodes.
How Alex writes the tasks
Alex Horne is credited as the show's creator and serves as executive producer. He writes the tasks himself, and according to interviews with the British Comedy Guide, his creative process is disarmingly simple: he stares at a blank piece of paper until inspiration arrives.
The tasks are designed to be deliberately ambiguous. The wording leaves room for creative (or catastrophic) interpretation, which is where most of the comedy comes from. A task that says "make the best sandwich" doesn't specify what "best" means, and contestants' wildly different interpretations are what make the show work.
So what does Greg actually do?
Greg Davies was Alex Horne's first and only choice for the role. Davies spent 13 years as a secondary school teacher before becoming a comedian, and had already played a domineering head of year in The Inbetweeners. That natural authority is what the show needed — someone who could pass judgement on five comedians and make it feel simultaneously arbitrary and absolute.
Greg scores the tasks, presides over the studio segments, and provides the comedic counterweight to Alex's understated delivery. But when it comes to deciding what contestants actually have to do — that's all Alex.