Richard Ayoade - Series 22 Ep.5

Taskmaster The Podcast

Ed Gamble interviews Richard Ayoade about his experience on Series 22 Episode 5 of Taskmaster, where Ayoade offers a deeply introspective and critical look at the show's production

Key takeaways

• Richard Ayoade describes his decision to join Taskmaster as driven by near bankruptcy and exhaustion, later calling it a mistake he couldn't reverse due to childhood coping mechanisms.
• Ayoade reveals he is an avid batch cooker who keeps around 30 tubs in his freezer, preferring frozen chili con carne that improves after thawing.

Main topics

• Taskmaster Series 22 Episode 5 review
• Richard Ayoade's psychological state on set

Notable quotes

"I felt very... flashback to school to basically being forced to participate in activities that were arbitrary which do not reward effort and which are fundamentally designed to keep a kind of totalitarian control where the only conclusion is well what's the point"

Conclusion

The episode provides a rare, unfiltered psychological breakdown of a reali

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:12) Hello and welcome to the Taskmaster podcast. It's me, Ed Gamble, the host of the Taskmaster podcast. Of course, today we're talking about the new episode of Taskmaster, Series 22, Episode 5, with the brilliant Richard Ayoade. Of course, a current contestant on Taskmaster. Absolutely fantastic contestant. What a funny man. He's told me before this interview he's going to do it in the style of Noel Gallagher. Not quite sure how that'll play out, but it's going to happen. But before we go any further, before I introduce it, I want to let you know that yes, I am on tour next year, 2027, UK and Ireland tour, Fresh Hell is the name of the show, but rather excitingly, we have just put on sale two new London Palladium dates. They go on general sale Friday the 2nd of October, pre-sale is Thursday the 1st of October. 19th and 20th of March, Friday and a Saturday. I'm already doing the Wednesday and the Thursday, the 17th and 18th. Tickets still available for those ones, but make sure if you want to come to a weekend show in London, 19th and 20th of March, London Palladium, edgamble.co.uk for tickets for those London shows and indeed all the rest of my UK and Ireland dates. But let's get on with it. This is Taskmaster Series 22, Episode 5, as discussed by Richard Iowady. Speaker 1 (1:26) Welcome, Richard, to the Taskmaster podcast. It's a pleasure to have you here. It was a pleasure to watch you on Taskmaster. Was it? Yes, absolutely. Really? Yeah. Did you have a pleasurable time doing it? I watched for Speaker 2 (1:40) this the episode last night, which is why I haven't slept. Yeah. Because there are many times when I thought, who's that awful man? Who's that appalling man? Oh, it's me. It's you you're referring to in Speaker 1 (1:52) that scenario. Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:54) So I've not slept. That's why I've, you know, got the sunglasses on. My eyes are closed, actually, and I'm going to do the whole thing eyes closed. Yeah, okay. I don't think it's going to affect my performance. No, okay. Within this podcast. But I feel harrowed. You Speaker 1 (2:09) feel harrowed? Harrowed to the Speaker 2 (2:10) marrow. Speaker 1 (2:11) What's harrowed your marrow about the particular episode? And thank you for watching it, by the way, because... It was just an appalling experience for me, personally, on a personal level. Speaker 2 (2:22) Sometimes you... You commit to choices and those choices can take a lifetime. Yeah. And it feels quite hard to reverse out some of these choices at this stage. Speaker 1 (2:33) When did you realize? Are you talking about the whole show as a choice? No, I'm talking about from Speaker 2 (2:38) childhood. I'm talking about the things that worked for me then that protected me as a child aren't serving me now. Yes. And you feel like a lot of those things were in play when you were on Taskmaster? I felt very... flashback to school to basically being forced to participate in activities that were arbitrary which do not reward effort and which are fundamentally designed to keep a kind of totalitarian control where the only conclusion is well what's the point Speaker 1 (3:12) of life? Speaker 2 (3:13) That Speaker 1 (3:13) was basically the pitch document for Taskmaster I think. Speaker 2 (3:16) And that's what Alex pitched to me directly. I said do you want to go on it? And more for me for agreeing to it. Speaker 1 (3:22) You must have been asked a lot to go on it. You know, we're on series 22 now. I had been, you Speaker 2 (3:30) know, it's all quite tentative. I mean, I don't think I was ever asked with a glad heart. Speaker 2 (3:37) You know, and Speaker 1 (3:39) I Speaker 2 (3:39) think that's been vindicated. But I had been asked previously... Speaker 2 (3:46) And I always thought, I shouldn't do this. Speaker 2 (3:50) And now that I've done this... I agree with myself. Speaker 1 (3:55) Yes. What was the final tipping point? What made you agree in the end? A combination of Speaker 2 (3:59) tiredness, near bankruptcy, and I guess a continued... I put an extra syllable in the word. Continued. Continued. That was almost Shakespearean. A continued sense. I think I... Speaker 2 (4:20) When I was probably first asked, I hadn't met Greg. So I'd met Greg since then and enjoyed... him as a man and as a gas and I didn't really know Alex so it's probably more me knowing them and thinking well it'll be enjoyable seeing them obviously me doing it won't be good yes but let's solemnize it and let's at least have proof of this error but Speaker 1 (4:49) you I'm very much enjoying you in the series Richard so I would counter your point that you doing it isn't good I don't know what Speaker 2 (4:57) your damage is um and i once there's a producer called stewart cornfeld who worked with ben stiller it's a great producer and he met um he was a huge william burroughs fan he and he was his favorite writer and he once met william burroughs at the chelsea hotel and he went up to william burroughs and said mr burroughs i've loved everything you've ever done i've read everything I think you're an incredible writer. I think, in fact, you're the perfect American writer. And William Burroughs turned to him and said, young man, what you do in your free time is no concern of mine. Speaker 2 (5:37) And I think... That says a lot about Speaker 2 (5:43) That's Speaker 1 (5:43) how you feel about people enjoying your work or your performance on Taskmaster. I like the idea Speaker 2 (5:49) that... Speaker 2 (5:52) It's it can't be it has to be a kind of a breakdown of someone's enjoyed it Speaker 1 (5:57) Yeah, or it's just none of your business, but Speaker 2 (5:59) no, Speaker 1 (5:59) I mean you're you're kind to lie, Speaker 2 (6:01) but Speaker 1 (6:02) You know it Speaker 2 (6:04) is kind of a point. I don't watch myself. Mm Speaker 1 (6:07) -hmm Speaker 2 (6:09) For good reason. Because in some ways I've seen some of it. So I've got, I mean, more fool me. Someone doesn't know what they're in for, then you can forgive them. But for me to do it, that'd be ridiculous. I know what's coming. And it's not good. Speaker 2 (6:27) So I'm still in a kind of shock having watched it. And perhaps some of this encounter will just be me trying to work through that trauma. Speaker 1 (6:35) Well, that's fine. I mean, you know, it's happened a couple of times before on the podcast where people feel forced to watch themselves on something and they don't necessarily enjoy what they see. Speaker 2 (6:44) I felt often like it was being at a children's party where you're watching everyone having to do these games. And then a nightmare occurs where now you have to do them. And you just have to do them. Speaker 1 (7:00) Were you competitive, do you think, in your... What do you think? Speaker 2 (7:06) I mean, my level of counter-suggestibility, I'd say, has reached a point of absolute assured self-destruction. Speaker 2 (7:15) So I'd love to be able to participate. Yeah. Wouldn't it be good? You could be open to joy. Yeah. You could please others. You could live with yourself. Can't do it. Speaker 1 (7:32) I'd say there's been a few tasks, though, where I think we see you engaging a lot more and you're very excited about the potential of getting five points. And, you know, it's not sort of outward competitiveness in the studio or anything like that, certainly not in the prize tasks or the Speaker 2 (7:50) studio tasks. Or the film tasks. No, I think Speaker 1 (7:53) there's been a couple of film tasks where Speaker 2 (7:54) I can see your eyes come alive a little bit and you want to do well. This is the first time anyone's told me my eyes have come alive. So just the fact even that I have eyes is news to me. There was one task which I remember where we had to guess the scale of a building or something. The height of Speaker 1 (8:15) the tower. This is the one I'm talking about. I think you seem to... Something happened in that one. There's something... One of the things that Speaker 2 (8:24) I feel I've developed over the last 20 years of domesticity is the capacity to quite quickly judge storage units. Yeah. So I can quite easily go, yeah. we can fit the remainder of the stew in this. And for me, I'd be using a rectangular because if we're using circular, we've not got peas to put around in a nice crescent to join them up. We're going rectangular. We're going 0.2 litres. In we go. So I felt that was within my wheelhouse, the estimation. And if they all could have been rough estimation tasks, I might have been in with a shout. It'd be a different show. It'd be a very different show. Speaker 2 (9:07) who knows let's see well we can let's let's have a chat after this and maybe we can pitch a spin-off pitch it yeah yeah yeah how much how Speaker 1 (9:15) much is in the tub yeah Speaker 1 (9:17) So when you're looking at that tower, are you estimating how much stew you could fit in it? More or Speaker 2 (9:22) less. I'm just going, if I did a big cook-up, that's going to last me three years. Yeah. And hopefully you could just put a little tap, like a... Speaker 1 (9:32) And you just tap it. Yeah, Speaker 2 (9:35) just tap Speaker 1 (9:35) a bit of Speaker 2 (9:36) stew Speaker 1 (9:36) out Speaker 2 (9:36) the building. You bring your own rice or the carb of your choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then just top it up. Yeah. That'd be quite nice on a civic level, almost like how the Romans lived. Communal stew. Big old stew pot. Yeah. 200 foot of stew. Yeah. Good name for a band. You probably need to sit. I mean, I wonder you'd have to divide it up into districts and you have to stop people taking the piss as well. Speaker 1 (9:59) Yeah. And it's cleanliness would be an issue in terms of how long that stew is going to be in there. It Speaker 2 (10:03) would Speaker 1 (10:03) be difficult, but you'd probably have to keep it at such a temperature that nothing good. Well, the food Speaker 2 (10:10) wouldn't be great, but nothing bad could survive. Yeah. Speaker 2 (10:14) I didn't have you down as a batch cooker, Speaker 1 (10:16) Richard. Speaker 2 (10:17) Oh, very much so. Yeah? Very, very much so. Did you say that because you didn't have me down as a cooker? There's definitely that. There's definitely that element. I'm not sure. What about me is projecting non-cooker? Speaker 1 (10:32) Well, we've spent a bit of time together recently and I'd say you try very hard not to project anything about your home life and what you get up to. So it's difficult for me to imagine you doing anything at home. I Speaker 2 (10:47) think much like, say, you've got to think of people like Elizabeth Taylor, I just think that the level of interest in me has reached such a stage that just to remain sane. Yeah. You've just got to try and defend that privacy as much as possible. As I say, because of the scale of interest in me as a lifestyle influencer. Speaker 1 (11:10) But this is why I like these little insights. Like something will come out like 0.2 litres of stew, that you're a batch cooker, that Speaker 2 (11:18) you enjoy... Speaker 1 (11:19) Chili con. Speaker 2 (11:20) I mean, what kind of fool only makes enough chili con just for that meal? You'd have to question their entire grasp of reality. It would just make no sense. How much leftovers are you hoping for from Speaker 1 (11:32) a chili con, for example? I think you've got to do at least three times of what you're going to eat. Wow. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Speaker 2 (11:38) With everything. I mean, you want to fill the pot. I mean, why wouldn't you? Yeah. I mean, the savings, Ed. The savings of time. And also, a lot of the times I find, you know... This might light up the internet, this kind of comment. And I'm speaking freely, Ed, because I feel so comfortable. I often feel it's better after it's frozen. I Speaker 1 (12:00) do. Wow. I really do. I absolutely... I don't know what happens, Ed, Speaker 2 (12:04) but sometimes after a thaw and a reheat, there's something about it. I'll tell you what also I quite like frozen and defrosted. Strawberries. Interesting. They go slightly slushy, mushy. And there's almost Speaker 1 (12:19) like a... Speaker 2 (12:21) I don't know, Speaker 1 (12:22) like a rue, a strawberry, Speaker 2 (12:23) a slurry. They Speaker 1 (12:25) almost become jam. It's Speaker 2 (12:27) a kind of jam. Speaker 1 (12:28) So yeah, Speaker 2 (12:30) I like a full freezer. Yeah. And I like to have at least about 30 tubs in there at any given time, various meats. I'm talking jelly con. Yeah. Beef stew. Yep. I'll do a lamb stew. Sometimes I'll just free stock, Ed. Speaker 1 (12:48) This is this is incredible. Yeah. Speaker 2 (12:50) Yeah, Speaker 1 (12:51) none of Speaker 2 (12:51) this and can I compliment you here because Greg nor Alex didn't get any of this out of me on the show and they had me there every night. Yeah, I Speaker 1 (13:00) Wasn't withholding it. Yeah, it could have come out It never came up nothing when that big building task was on they could have done they could have said would what would you fill that with? Exactly. Yeah now Speaker 2 (13:10) that I look back on it. I feel that it's it was a kind of Stockholm syndrome with two of the most toxic narcissists I've ever had Speaker 2 (13:19) displeasure to be with in their Blues Brothers suits with their fun socks. Speaker 1 (13:23) And it was all about them. Speaker 2 (13:25) It was all about what they wanted. Their little reality that they've created, their little Lilliputian world of in-force fun. And it was horrible. It was absolutely horrible. And I know you're meant to come on, you're meant to be grateful for the opportunity. People would kill to be... It was horrible. The Speaker 1 (13:44) thing is with Greg, he's obviously like... the way he is on the show is a sort of controlling narcissist. The way he is on the show. The way he is on the show specifically. Exactly. The way he is Speaker 2 (13:54) on the show. Why is that the way he is on the show? Because it's a path of least resistance. Yeah. And it would come out anyway. But Speaker 1 (14:03) Alex... Speaker 2 (14:03) And Speaker 1 (14:04) it would Speaker 2 (14:04) come out nastier and it would come out hotter and there'd be less control. So by front-loading it, by leaning into the hostility, he hopes to control it, but it doesn't. We've seen him in the green room flailing around. Speaker 2 (14:17) Fruit in each hand, stripped to the waist, just lashing out at people until someone feeds him. Speaker 1 (14:23) But Alex, I think he's being friendlier on the show, isn't he? Surely, is he? Well, Alex is Speaker 2 (14:30) in what I'd call a sort of Batman relationship. Batman and Robin with Greg. It's a kind of attitude of sort of civility that reeks of empire. Speaker 2 (14:43) And in a way, as you look at that kind of absolutely toxic, horrific corporate dynamic, you see the sadness of England over the last three, four hundred years played out in miniature. Speaker 1 (14:58) So it's a very important show, really. It is. I think Speaker 2 (15:01) it's Speaker 1 (15:01) a document, really, of collapse. Speaker 1 (15:06) Well, should we talk about this specific episode? Oh, sure. Which Speaker 2 (15:10) you watched. I did watch it. You told me you weren't going to, so this is a big... I did watch it, and honestly, didn't sleep a wink after it. Speaker 1 (15:25) It's episode five, of course, we're halfway through the series. How did you get on with the rest of your competitors? Speaker 2 (15:35) Wow. Again, and I think this plays into the kind of toxicity of the entire process, is you're not really aware of who you're on with. I never viewed them as competitors. Yeah. I viewed them as... Co-inmates, really. You know, put your head down, do your bird. Let's not make it competitive. We're in this, let's get out of it together. And so when I saw flashes of competitiveness, I was like, we are hostages together. Let's work together again. Don't let them Speaker 1 (16:15) get Speaker 2 (16:17) in our heads and make us compete against one another because we have to remember at all times. We cannot stress enough how little this matters. And there are times when I felt that was forgotten. It turned into a sort of Stanford prison experiment. Very Speaker 1 (16:33) much so. Speaker 2 (16:33) And I did see some hostility. I'd Speaker 1 (16:38) say you and Chloe are completely opposite ends of the competitive spectrum on the show. Speaker 2 (16:44) They are quite competitive, I have to say. Speaker 1 (16:46) Very much Speaker 2 (16:47) had met Chloe before, enjoyed them. Speaker 2 (16:52) Very funny. Something happens when there's a prize. Speaker 2 (16:58) And I have to say, it's terrifying. Speaker 2 (17:03) It's an absolute lock-in. It's a homing