The silliest show on television is back for a brand new season – and it could just be its best yet, writes Tara Ward.
Bree Tomasel is kneeling on the floor inside a windowless room, its walls covered in thick, clear plastic. The ZM radio host is working out how to float a helium balloon weighed down with string and tissues through a hole in a wall, before popping the balloon so that it falls neatly inside a glass jar located on the other side of the room. She has no idea where to begin. Paul Williams stands beside her, offering very little assistance. “Who comes up with this shit, Paul?” Tomasel asks.
It seems like an impossible challenge, but really, it’s just another day on Taskmaster NZ. The sixth season of the comedy competition began this week, with Tomasel joining Alice Snedden, Jack Ansett, Jackie van Beek and Pax Assadi in the pursuit of Taskmaster glory (a golden trophy of Taskmaster Jeremy Wells’ head). To win the show, these five comedians must compete in a variety of pointless and ridiculous challenges, like rolling a ball down a driveway at Rainbow’s End, bouncing table tennis balls while drawing a picture of someone playing table tennis, and trying to get that pesky yellow balloon to float across the room without touching it.
Season six got off to a cracking start. Episode two was one of the strongest episodes in the history of Taskmaster NZ, and featured Snedden’s emotional unravelling as she turned an entire room upside down in search of a hidden cake. In episode one, Ansett’s surprising balloon-in-the-jar attempt reminded us how luck and opportunity is such an important part of Taskmaster’s charm, and as always, the show is at its strongest when it captures how five different brains approach the same task in a multitude of unexpected ways.
This season, it feels like the team challenges will be especially strong – after seeing the comedic rapport between Snedden and Tomasel in episode two, I wanted them to do every single task as a team. Each season of Taskmaster NZ seems to nail the casting, but season six has a brilliant mix of energy, unpredictability and cynicism. Ansett’s frenetic intensity (will he try to bribe the crew in every challenge?) is balanced by wig queen Jackie van Beek’s quieter, just-get-it-done approach, while Assadi simply lies down to fart in the middle of the task.
Even in its sixth season, Taskmaster NZ continues to surprise, showing us new sides to these well-known comedians. Who knew Assadi could throw fish in a barrel with such prowess? Who knew a toilet paper tower would make van Beek freeze in sheer panic? Ansett’s desperate search for his ball at Rainbow’s End also highlights Taskmaster’s knack for making the contestants question everything, even when there’s nothing to be questioned.
It’s so good to have Taskmaster NZ back. This is a show that wants nothing more than to entertain, and in a world where spontaneous New Zealand TV moments are far and few between (apart from the nation’s hero Scotty Morrison), Taskmaster is the perfect tonic for our times. It’s a celebration of silliness, it’s about beauty in failure, and a reminder that sometimes in life, the only thing to do is have a big old chuckle at yourself. As for the value of popping a yellow balloon inside a small glass jar? Priceless.
Taskmaster NZ streams on TVNZ+ and screens on TVNZ2 on Monday and Tuesday nights at 7.30pm.
