‘They torture you’: The TV show putting Aussie comedians through the wringer

On a Monday night in December, an audience is milling outside a TV studio in Redfern. They are here to see a taping of the first episode of Taskmaster Australia, the local version of the cult British comedy show that puts comedians under severe stress.

Not reality TV stress, mind you – no one’s getting thrown off a building or being told to eat a sheep’s eyeball – more like “remove the balloon from inside the caravan” kind of stress. Gentle. Nice. Absurd.

The trick? They may not touch or step into the caravan.

“They kind of squeeze your brain,” says Nina Oyama, who is one of the five comedians put through the wringer by Tom Gleeson’s imperious Taskmaster and his assistant, Tom Cashman.

“They torture you, but it’s fun. You get put in these very specific situations that you cannot escape. And the only way out is through. And the only way through is to do the most crazy thing you can think of in that moment.”

Tom Cashman (left) preps Luke McGregor, Jimmy Rees and Nina Oyama for an in-studio challenge on Taskmaster Australia.

For the uninitiated, Taskmaster has five comedians – Oyama, Julia Morris, Luke McGregor, Jimmy Rees and Danielle Walker – “put their brains, bodies and whatever is left of their reputation” on the line, as they complete a series of pre-filmed challenges and one in-studio challenge. Their efforts are then judged in the studio by the Taskmaster, who awards them between one and five points. The winner of each episode receives a prize of dubious items donated by the contestants and at the end of the series the overall winner takes home a gold replica of Gleeson’s head.

The show is adored in Britain, where it premiered in 2015, and has just clocked up its 14th season. It has two official podcasts – one breaking down each episode and another dedicated to superfans – and has been adapted across Europe, South Africa and New Zealand. Binge and SBS screen the UK show here and, judging by the audience at the taping who hooted and hollered their way through the show, there’s a dedicated fan base ready to lap up an Australian version.

“It gets to the heart of why [the comedians] are funny,” says Cashman of the show’s success. “Stand-ups work for years and years onstage to get to a point where they’re expressing themselves authentically but it turns out that you can get to the heart of their authenticity quite quickly by just putting them under pressure and making them throw an egg.”

Oyama agrees. “It’s like the pulling back of the curtain where you go, ‘Oh, that’s who that person is.’ And I think then watching that person, and the way they react to problems, is interesting. It’s like watching an animal in the zoo. You’re like, ‘That giraffe doesn’t know that everyone’s watching it be its true self.’”

Tom Cashman is proud to unveil his persnickety side as the Taskmaster’s assistant, while Nina Oyama says being a contestant was like having your brain squeezed.Credit: Network 10

Of course, finding the right giraffe – or comedian – is critical to Taskmaster’s success and the Australian version has the mix just right, both on a performance level and an all-ages demographic level. Gleeson brings his ready-made stern hosting heft from Hard Quiz, while Morris brings an older built-in fanbase, as does McGregor. Rees, meanwhile, scoops up the parents familiar with Giggle and Hoot and his late-blooming comedy/TikTok career, while Oyama, Walker and Cashman have all secured solid profiles with award-winning stand-up shows, acting gigs and, in the case of Cashman, huge TikTok followings of 30 million views and counting.

What’s Cashman even doing on Taskmaster? No one’s getting 30 million views on free-to-air TV, that’s for sure.

“Well, look, I enjoyed doing TV. I think it’s fun,” he says, laughing. “Taskmaster is kind of refreshing and the format is already proven in the UK. And it appeals to young people who are already on TikTok – it’s all one-minute and two-minute chunks.”

Although Gleeson is the nominal lead of the show – Cashman remembers being nervous just walking behind him, “There was just something about his stride which made me feel so insignificant” – Cashman arguably has the bigger role, even though he sits in the smaller chair. As the assistant, he helps set some tasks, is present at the filming of each of the challenges, he can choose to help the contestants and he keeps track of stats throughout the show.

“I am naturally persnickety about rules and board games and stuff,” says Cashman, whose stand-up shows make a feature of graphs and stats. “It’s been a side of my personality that I’ve been having to suppress for social purposes my entire life. And to have an opportunity to finally let all of that persnicketiness out. And have it captured and have, hopefully, the persnicketiness rewarded, I was very keen for that to happen.”

For Oyama, that persnicketiness was mind-bendingly frustrating.

“He is annoying,” she says. “Every time he said something, I would be like, ‘That’s not helpful.’ There’s a thing that he always says, which is, ‘All the information you need is in the task.’ And sometimes you’re like, ‘What does this word mean?’ And he says, ‘All the information you need is in the task.’ It was, honestly, like banging my head against the wall.”

Cashman wasn’t all bad, though. “There was a certain task, I think you’d say I struggled with it,” recalls Oyama. “It was a song task and I found myself quite stressed because I wasn’t sure what I was doing. And I remember he offered to play guitar for me. And I was just like, ‘Cashman, you’re the best.’”

For his part, Cashman describes watching Oyama fail as fun. “That’s not to say she only failed,” he says. “She’s got such a strength of staying enthusiastic, but sometimes she got distracted. I do remember a time where it was like a timed thing, so the faster you do it, the better your result is, and there was like a two- or three-minute period where she was showing me all these cute little types of buttons that she’d found. And I was thinking, ‘You know, this is not a good use of your time.’

“But she’s very funny to watch, she somehow has a big smile on her face, even if everything’s going very wrong.”

As for the rest of the cast, Cashman says the audience should keep an eye on Walker – “Danielle was the most competitive; she’s a bit quieter, and could be underestimated for that reason, but she took it very seriously” – while Morris was the opposite.

“She’s so loud that you kind of think, ‘Oh, she’s just mucking around,’ but she’s smarter than you think and she’s coming up with good solutions,” he says.

Would Cashman ever want to take on the role of Taskmaster? “No, no, no,” he says, laughing. “I don’t deserve it. The Taskmaster deserves to be respected. And, quite frankly, I think the question that you just asked was disrespectful.”

Taskmaster Australia premieres on Thursday, February 2, at 7.30pm on Ten.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.