What shows are like Taskmaster? Alex Horne's own other show is just the start of the list
Looking for shows like Taskmaster? From Alex Horne's other projects to the best British panel shows and international spin-offs worth your time.
You've finished the current series of Taskmaster. You've watched the old ones. You've possibly watched the New Zealand one at 2am and developed opinions about Paul Williams. What now? Good news: the Taskmaster extended universe is bigger than it looks, and Little Alex Horne himself is your gateway drug.
Start with the man himself
The Horne Section TV Show is Horne's Channel 4 sitcom, in which a fictionalised Alex gets fed up of being Greg Davies' little assistant and tries to launch his own late-night music chat programme from his house — with Greg and John Oliver playing monstrous versions of themselves, and former Taskmaster contestant Desiree Burch roped in as producer. Horne's own pitch for the band's brand of chaos, given to the Daily Mirror, tells you everything about the tone:
"It's a mixture of music and comedy. It's literally never been done before."
Deadpan, silly, catchy in a way that should be regulated. If Taskmaster is your sense of humour, this is the same sense of humour in a different jumper.
Then work through the rest
- The international Taskmasters. New Zealand's is the fan favourite, Australia's is chaos with sunshine, and Sweden's Bäst i test has been running since 2017 — same format, gloriously different energy.
- Junior Taskmaster. Children doing tasks, judged with total sincerity. Somehow both purer and more brutal than the original.
- Would I Lie to You? The other great British show about comedians being made to suffer beautifully, except the tasks are lying convincingly about their own lives.
- 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. A gameshow treated with precisely zero respect by everyone involved, including, on occasion, Horne and his band in Dictionary Corner.
- Game Changer. The American cousin in spirit: a host with total power, contestants who don't know the rules, delightful cruelty throughout.
None of them are Taskmaster, obviously. Nothing is. But together they'll keep you going until the next series, at which point you may resume shouting "it's all in the task, Greg" at your telly like a person of culture.