Latest news with #JasonMantzoukas
USA Today
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Want to save money on your streaming? It's time to embrace commercials
Every time I watch my favorite TV show, I have to sit through commercial breaks. And I don't mind. As a TV critic amid our current streaming revolution, I've sat comfortably on my couch enjoying my Netflix and Disney+ and HBO Max without ever having to suffer the indignities of a car commercial. Yet my obsession of the moment − the hilarious and somewhat niche British TV panel series "Taskmaster" − is only available in the U.S. on YouTube, and I don't pay to go ad-free. So betwixt and between every silly scene of Jason Mantzoukas doing a dumb-but-funny "task" comes an ad for a sports betting app or Dunkin' drinks, and my focus drifts away to my phone or my husband for five minutes, and then the British buffoonery begins anew. But I still get the laughs, and don't have to pay YouTube a cent. Faced with the choice of happily watching 19 seasons of "Taskmaster" with occasional ad breaks or watching my monthly bill for the major streaming services rise even more, I'm starting to come around to the idea that sitting through commercials isn't that bad. The price of streaming is getting out of control: Peacock is just the latest streamer to raise its monthly fees to the stratosphere: As of July 23, it costs $17 a month to watch the "Love Island" streamer without commercials. And that's just one among many: Watching the latest season of "Squid Game" without interruptions will nearly double the price of Netflix, to $18 a month. The rest of life is too expensive, with inflation hitting groceries, housing and everything else, for your entertainment to take up such a big part of your budget. If you subscribe to more than one service's premium ad-free tier, the costs add up quickly. To go ad-free, you're paying an extra $10 for Netflix, $6 for Disney+, $3 for Prime Video, $6 for Peacock, $7 for HBO Max, $5 for Paramount+ and $9 for Hulu. Tally it all up and suddenly "cutting the cord" is way more expensive than cable ever was: If you subscribed to all seven of these services, you could save $552 a year by watching ads. Many families are looking to cut frivolous expenses. But you don't need to sacrifice great entertainment for the sake of your budget. Just accept the commercial breaks. Your parents did it their whole lives. Though I might have once been a snob about sitting through ads, happily inhaling "Stranger Things," "Andor" or "The Summer I Turned Pretty" with nary an interruption, the increased prices have me coming back around again to this partial solution to our financial woes. I don't need premium everything. Just enough to get by. Streaming services led by Netflix burst onto the media landscape in the 2010s promising, among other innovations, commercial-free TV and movies. While broadcast and cable networks need ad breaks to pay the bills, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and the like promised your low monthly subscription fees were all they ever needed. So I, like so many of you, streamed with anti-capitalist glee, proud to not be learning any more cat-food jingles than I already knew. And if I wanted to watch a network or cable show I had plenty of commercial-free options, from next-day streaming to DVR. But that was when Apple only made technology, not TV shows, when a month of Netflix cost less than a Chipotle burrito and there were more than 400 new scripted TV shows premiering every year. Streaming was shiny and new and growing, the money for new shows flowed freely and there were only a handful of services to choose from. Now there are more than a baker's dozen of streamers, network TV is shrinking with increasing speed and prices are rising while simultaneously streamers cut back on their offerings. If you're ever going to make the jump back into the land of ad-supported TV, now is the time. Streamers are purposefully keeping those prices down to encourage viewers to switch from premium to ad tiers, because they can make more money that way by selling both commercials and subscriptions. The savings may not always be this big. I won't sugarcoat it: Commercials are annoying. There's a reason commercial-free TV was one of the original selling points of streaming. Ads are loud, manipulative and distracting to lure you into parting with more of your hard-earned cash. But once upon a time that was the only way to watch TV, yet access to outstanding classics, from CBS's "I Love Lucy" to NBC's "Friends" or ABC's "Lost," was worth the tradeoff. The idea of the commercial break is so ingrained in TV storytelling that writers have long used it to their advantage: Building the action to a cut-to-black before ads is a structure many classic TV series employ. Going back to watching that way is just like riding a bike, albeit one with "WELLS FARGO" printed on the side. But the pedals still work, the jokes still hit and everyone saves a dime or two.
CBC
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Why Jason Mantzoukas thought his 'big and brash' comedic persona would work on Taskmaster
When Jason Mantzoukas got the chance to appear on Taskmaster, one of his favourite TV shows, he didn't want to play along normally. He wanted to be the ugly American villain who creates chaos. Taskmaster is a long-running British panel game show that follows five comedians as they attempt to complete a series of unique and ridiculous challenges, which are then scored by comedian Greg Davies (the titular Taskmaster) in front of a live audience. "It is such a dumb, silly, funny show to watch," Mantzoukas tells Q 's Tom Power in an interview. "To explain it seems like a Byzantine series of roundabouts … when in reality, it is so dead simple: it's a comedy show. It's a comedy show masquerading as a game show." WATCH | Taskmaster Season 19, Episode 1: Though Taskmaster mostly features British and Irish comedians, Mantzoukas is not the show's first American contestant. He is, however, the first contestant to not be based in the U.K. at the time of filming. As a longtime fan of the show, the American actor and comedian reached out to creator Alex Horne to express his interest in appearing on the latest season (or series, as they say in the U.K.). His pitch, he says, was to be as combative and difficult as possible. A lot of the characters I play are lunatics and maniacs. - Jason Mantzoukas "My comedic persona is big and brash and, you know, it can be very outrageous," Mantzoukas says. "A lot of the characters I play are lunatics and maniacs…. I'm a heel, in wrestling terms. I am quite often taking shots, being a villain, and I felt like that would work on the show." At times, Mantzoukas drops the ugly American persona (he says all of the comedians occasionally drop their personas because they're genuinely having so much fun), but his Americanisms are always on full display. Throughout the show, he's regularly ribbed by Davies and Horne for his American pronunciation of words like "vase" and "route." "This happens throughout the whole series — or season — which is I'm saying an American pronunciation [and] they correct me with a British [pronunciation]," he says. "I don't know how many were edited out, but it gets played a lot because it works and it's always a surprise." During the COVID lockdowns of 2020, Taskmaster started uploading all of its episodes to YouTube, which helped the show become a global phenomenon. But the panel show format has never quite caught on across the pond in the U.S or English-speaking Canada. An American version of Taskmaster was created in 2018, but it only lasted one season. Mantzoukas thinks the reason why the American version of the show failed is due to structural changes that eliminated the "freewheeling banter" of the original show. "I don't think it was an audience problem," he says. "[Comedy Central] messed with the architecture of the show so much as to make it, I think, untenable…. I think Americans make the mistake of trying to apply too much structure and too much attention on points, when in reality the points are meaningless and the structure is loose. By focusing on structure and points, you strangle what's funny about it."
Scotsman
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
When is Taskmaster on? Channel 4 start time for s19 final
Taskmaster's series 19 final is set to take place - but when is it on? 👀 Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Taskmaster will hold its series 19 final tonight. Channel 4 has confirmed the start time. But when exactly can you watch it? The final of Taskmaster series 19 is just a few hours away. Channel 4 will be broadcasting the conclusion to the season this evening. Greg Davies and Little Alex Horne will be casting an eye over this batch of contestants one last time. The series made history with the first American contestant. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But when exactly can you watch the final of season 19? Here's all you need to know: What to expect from the Taskmaster final? Taskmaster series 19 | Channel 4 The preview for the grand finale of series 19, via Radio Times, reads: 'The Grand Final finds each contestant choosing to celebrate in their own unique way. 'Rosie Ramsey puts a wooden box on her head, Fatiha El-Ghorri kicks in a door, Mathew Baynton threatens a puppy, and the team known as JV Martzoukas (aka Jason Mantzoukas and Stevie Martin) establishes a thriving local business. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'At the end of it all, Greg Davies crowns one of them as Taskmaster champion, while Little Alex Horne watches on knowing that his job is done for another series.' When is the Taskmaster final on? Channel 4 has confirmed that the Taskmaster grand final will start at 9pm tonight (July 3). The episode is scheduled to run for an hour and will finish at approximately 10pm. Who is in the line-up for Taskmaster series 19? It is quite the mix of comedians who are facing the Taskmaster judges this season. And for the very first time there is an American competing on the show. The full line-up includes: Fatiha El-Ghorri Jason Mantzoukas Mathew Baynton Rosie Ramsey Stevie Martin Where do you know the Taskmaster cast from? The line-up for series 19 includes plenty of familiar faces. But you might not be quite able to pinpoint where you recognise them from. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fatiha El-Ghorri If you are a regular watcher of Live at the Apollo on the BBC, then you may have seen Fatiha performing on it in the past. She was also part of the cast for the second series of the Dave comedy game show Outsiders in 2022. You may have also heard her on podcasts such as Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster as well as The Guilty Feminist. Jason Mantzoukas A familiar face in hit comedy shows over the last decade, Jason has had memorable roles in Brooklyn Nine-Nine - where he played Adrian Pimento - and The Good Place (as Derek Hofstetler). He also voices characters in Netflix's Big Mouth including Jay Bilzerian. For those with a longer memory, you may recall him as the wildcard character Rafi in The League. While he also had a role in the Sacha Baron Cohen film The Dictator - playing Nadal. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mathew Baynton A familiar face to fans of British TV comedy, Mathew has been part of the cast for Horrible Histories, Yonderland and most recently Ghosts. He also starred in The Wrong Mans alongside James Corden in the early 2010s. Mathew also played the lead role of William Shakespeare in the 2015 film Bill. And he was Felix in the 2023 hit movie Wonka. Rosie Ramsey Rosie is best known for her podcast Sh**ged. Married. Annoyed which she co-hosts alongside her husband - fellow comedian - Chris Ramsey. The show has been a huge hit since releasing its first episode in 2019 and they have toured the UK with it in the past. Stevie Martin Stevie is a comedian, podcaster and actor who you may have seen on other popular panel shows like 8 Out of 10 Cats - also on Channel 4. She has also had roles in shows like the BBC/ HBO comedy Starstruck.
USA Today
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Taskmaster' is a perfect summer show (and the funniest thing in decades)
I'd heard of Taskmaster before 2025. But it took Jason Mantzoukas to get me to watch beyond some random YouTube and social media clips. Taskmaster is a British show officially in its 19th series, though eight other specials have been produced. The premise brings five extremely funny people together to compete in a series of, uh, tasks. The tasks themselves are all wondrously stupid in bafflingly clever ways. Paint a picture despite not being let into the room where the canvas is. Sniff out a phone covered in cheese using only your sense of smell. A whole segment called the Pealympics in which everything revolves around doing things with peas (and, at one point, carrots) that would result in psychiatrists being called in had bystanders seen it in the wild. In the wrong hands, this would be a series of minor acts of cruelty. In the right ones, it's a series of minor acts of cruelty that happen to be hilarious. Mantzoukas is a longtime fan of the show and lobbied to be part of Series 19 -- by my count, the first to feature an American who didn't already live in Great Britain (Pete Volk has a wonderful interview with him here). He's joined by a cache of incredible talents who've yet to make a crossover impact in America; Fatiha El-Ghorri, Mathew Baynton, Rosie Ramsey and Stevie Martin. You may not have heard of these people, but they're about to take up valuable space inside your brain for this vital stretch between the end of NBA season and the beginning of NFL. Each of these comedians is funny in their own right. But mashed together in the stage show that frames each episode, they play off each other in an electric blend of hilarious energy, simmering frustration and shame. The tasks that tie these segments together are the canvas on which masterpieces of embarrassment are painted. Contestants know when to make cutting remarks. They understand when to let their peers dangle against the backdrop of illustrious failure. Everyone, and I cannot express this loudly enough, is crushing it. Each is content to be reduced to a pile of comedic rubble, reduced to the fact that trying to outsmart each task's illogical twist will often only make things more difficult. Everything gets the "yes, and" treatment to an effect exponentially higher than all the terrible improv we've suffered through at various undergraduate institutions in our lives. Taskmaster is a beautiful distraction. It's perfect summer calories, capable of working as a snack or a meal. Want to just watch a few clips? You could make a wonderful supercut of El-Ghorri's deadpan threats to her hosts (generally punctuated with a well-placed "bruv.") alone. Want to dive into the middle of an episode in the middle of the season? Great news; the lack of serialized structure means you're not missing much. Want to pound half the series in one night? There's no joke fatigue at play, because this is a cast of comedians who boost each other to new heights faced with a series of absurd tasks with no thread tying them together but the embarrassment of those trapped inside. I haven't laughed as hard at a television program since Arrested Development was fighting for oxygen on Fox. The producers of Taskmaster provided five comedians/actors a canvas of failure and stood back as they created a masterpiece. Everyone takes each task exactly as seriously as it demands, which is halfway between a gentle shrug and not at all. Each defeat is met with self deprecation or faux outrage, feeding that improv ethos until it becomes a funnel cloud. Series 19 ends soon. A winner will be crowned and it will not matter. What will is the fact Taskmaster has united one of the greatest comedic ensembles in television history to fail spectacularly at things like transporting vinegar, eating yogurt or doing something "cool," then convincingly doing said "cool" thing backward. Watch it live. Watch it delayed on YouTube whenever it suits you. Just watch it, because it's the funniest television I've seen in years.
New York Times
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Taskmaster' Is a Mischievous, Unpredictable British Panel Show
'Taskmaster' has long been one of my favorite shows, and among my favorite things about it is that there are no bad seasons. In each outing, five performers, mostly comedians, compete in a series of kooky challenges, then regroup in front of a studio audience to see how they've done. In addition to being silly and enchanting, 'Taskmaster' is breathtakingly novel: I'm amazed by its capacity to remain unpredictable to both its viewers and its participants. The gap between 'this is the best episode of the best season' and 'this is the worst episode of the worst season' is minuscule. That said, this season — Season 19 (19!) — is among the best of the best, and it's an ideal entree for new viewers. The American comedian Jason Mantzoukas is one of the contestants this season, and his gleeful maniac persona fits perfectly with the show's sense of mischief. He is also clearly a student of the game … not that it helps him win. The contestants most familiar with the workings of the show are no more likely to win a task than those least familiar, and no single virtue is more desirable than another. Nervous pedantry earns a certain amount of mileage, but a 'Cs get degrees' approach leads often to a faster, funnier conclusion. Brazenness and preciousness are equally valuable. Athleticism has its rewards, but defaulting to an athletic method can and does backfire. There are a lot of ways to be funny, and on 'Taskmaster' there are also a lot of ways to be smart. I was curious how the show would incorporate Mantzoukas's antic energy, but everything feels harmonious — and no one person is singing the melody. Mathew Baynton, the creator and a star of the original British version of 'Ghosts,' brings a twee braininess, and the comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri's impeccable timing and tough-girl shtick add warmth, raunch and surprise. Stevie Martin's sweet openness and Rosie Ramsey's grounded wit keep everything in balance. Seasons 9-19 on are on the show's YouTube channel, with new episodes of Season 19 arriving weekly on Fridays. And if you burn through all those, seek out the international versions. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
