Taskmaster Series 22: Everything to Know About the New Lineup

What is Taskmaster, for anyone who needs a refresher?

Taskmaster is a British comedy panel-style competition show in which five comedians compete across a series of bizarre, deliberately ambiguous, and often gloriously absurd challenges (the "tasks" of the title), ranging from creative art projects to physical challenges to tasks that reward pure lateral thinking over conventional skill. Greg Davies presides over the proceedings as the imperious, deliberately petty "Taskmaster," judging and scoring each contestant's task completion with a combination of genuine amusement and theatrical harshness, while Alex Horne, the show's creator, serves as his diminutive, endlessly abused assistant, setting up the tasks and generally absorbing the brunt of Davies' comedic scorn throughout each series.

What's made the show such a genuine, sustained hit since its 2015 debut is its format's remarkable ability to reveal contestants' genuine personalities and comedic instincts in ways that more conventional comedy panel shows often struggle to access; watching how five very different comedians approach the same absurd, open-ended challenge, often revealing surprising creativity, competitiveness, or complete bewilderment, has become a beloved and distinctive component of British comedy programming.

Who's competing in series 22?

• Chloe Petts
• Isy Suttie
• Matt Lucas
• Nina Conti
• Richard Ayoade

This is a stacked lineup by the show's own established standards, featuring several performers with substantial existing name recognition and beloved comedic reputations. Richard Ayoade in particular has generated significant fan excitement; known for his distinctive, deadpan comedic persona across projects like The IT Crowd, his work as a director, and his extensive experience as a guest on other panel shows where his specific brand of dry, ironic humor has become beloved, he's widely regarded as an almost perfect fit for Taskmaster's format, which tends to reward contestants with strong, idiosyncratic comedic personalities.

Matt Lucas brings decades of established comedic pedigree from Little Britain and a wide-ranging subsequent career, while Nina Conti, a ventriloquist and comedian known for her inventive, boundary-pushing approach to a traditionally old-fashioned comedic art form, offers the potential for unique approaches to the show's tasks that a performer with her specific skill set and comedic sensibility might bring. Chloe Petts and Isy Suttie round out the lineup with strong standup and character-comedy credentials respectively, both representing exactly the kind of rising and well-established alternative comedy talent the show has consistently drawn from across its run.

Who hosts the show?

Greg Davies continues in his role as the Taskmaster, alongside Alex Horne as his assistant. This dynamic, Davies's theatrical, deliberately unpredictable combination of genuine warmth and exaggerated harshness in judging contestants' task performances, paired with Horne's comparatively meek, frequently mocked presence, has remained the stable comedic foundation across the show's entire run, even as the specific contestant lineup changes completely with each new series.

When does series 22 air?

The lineup was announced June 11, 2026, with the series itself premiering September 3, 2026 on Channel 4 and running through November 5, 2026.

Why has Taskmaster become such a beloved, long-running format?

This is worth examining, because the show's specific structural approach has proven remarkably durable and adaptable across more than two decades' worth of comedic trends and shifting television tastes. Unlike a lot of competition or game-show formats that can start to feel repetitive once audiences understand the underlying mechanics, Taskmaster's tasks are specifically, deliberately designed to be ambiguous and open to creative interpretation, meaning the show's actual entertainment value comes almost entirely from watching how different contestants' comedic personalities and problem-solving instincts play out against the same basic challenge, rather than from any consistent, learnable strategy for winning.

That format also makes the show well-suited to showcasing comedians whose specific talents might not translate as effectively into more conventional panel-show or interview formats; a contestant's creative, occasionally chaotic approach to solving an absurd physical or creative challenge often reveals more about their genuine comedic sensibility than a scripted sketch or rehearsed standup set might.

How does the judging and scoring format work?

Each task is completed by all five contestants (either individually or, occasionally, as teams for special team-based tasks), with Davies scoring each performance from one to five points based on a combination of how effectively the contestant completed the task's stated goal and how entertaining, creative, or comedically compelling their specific approach was, a deliberately subjective scoring system that gives Davies enormous latitude to reward genuine creativity and comedic delivery over strict, literal task completion. Points accumulate across the series, with the contestant with the most points at the season's conclusion crowned the Taskmaster Champion and awarded the show's specific, deliberately unglamorous trophy prize (a small, cheaply produced bust of Greg Davies' own head, a running joke about the show's low-budget, DIY aesthetic that's become a beloved piece of the show's overall comedic identity).

My honest take on Taskmaster series 22

I think this is an exciting lineup, and Richard Ayoade's inclusion specifically feels like exactly the kind of casting that longtime fans have been hoping for across multiple prior series' casting announcements. His specific comedic sensibility, deadpan, intellectually playful, and often unpredictably willing to commit fully to a bit rather than playing things safe, seems tailor-made for a format that consistently rewards contestants willing to approach absurd challenges with genuine creative commitment rather than cautious, risk-averse task completion.

What I find most compelling about this particular series' lineup is the genuine range of comedic backgrounds represented. Nina Conti's ventriloquism background in particular offers a fascinating wildcard element; it's hard to predict exactly how a skill set built around puppetry and a very specific, unusual kind of physical and vocal comedy will translate into the show's typically improvisational, open-ended task format, and that kind of genuine unpredictability is exactly what's kept Taskmaster feeling fresh across more than twenty prior series.

Matt Lucas, meanwhile, brings a level of established mainstream comedic stardom that's relatively rare for the show; while Taskmaster has always drawn from accomplished comedic talent, contestants with Lucas's specific degree of long-standing national recognition are a notable, if not entirely unprecedented, casting choice, and it'll be interesting to see how a performer of his stature and established comedic persona navigates a format that's specifically built to strip away rehearsed material and reveal more spontaneous, unguarded comedic instincts.

The show's continued reliance on Greg Davies and Alex Horne's established dynamic remains its steady creative anchor, and I think that consistency is underrated as a factor in the show's longevity. A lot of competition and panel-show formats eventually feel stale once audiences fully understand their mechanics, but Taskmaster's specific reliance on unpredictable contestant creativity, filtered through Davies's consistently entertaining judging persona, has proven remarkably resistant to that kind of format fatigue, and a lineup this varied and comedically talented suggests series 22 should continue that strong track record.

Do you need to have watched previous series to enjoy this one?

No, Taskmaster's format is specifically designed to be fully accessible to new viewers with each new series, since each season features an entirely new contestant lineup and set of tasks with no ongoing serialized plot or continuity to track. Longtime fans will appreciate recurring format jokes and running gags that have developed across the show's history, but no prior viewing is required to enjoy a new series.

Frequently asked questions

Who's competing in Taskmaster series 22? Chloe Petts, Isy Suttie, Matt Lucas, Nina Conti, and Richard Ayoade.

Who hosts Taskmaster? Greg Davies as the Taskmaster, with Alex Horne as his assistant.

When was the series 22 lineup announced? June 11, 2026.

When does series 22 air? It premiered September 3, 2026 on Channel 4, running through November 5, 2026.

How does the scoring work? Contestants earn one to five points per task based on completion and creativity, judged by Greg Davies.

What is the prize for winning? A small trophy bust of Greg Davies' head, along with the title of Taskmaster Champion.

Do I need to watch previous series first? No, each series is self-contained with a new contestant lineup and no ongoing serialized plot.

How long has Taskmaster been running? Since 2015, spanning over twenty series.

Is Richard Ayoade known for other comedy work? Yes, including The IT Crowd and extensive work as a director and panel show guest.

What kind of tasks do contestants complete? A wide range of creative, physical, and lateral-thinking challenges, deliberately designed to be open to interpretation.

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