James Acaster is an English comedian. He is best known for his regular appearances on panel shows such as Mock the Week, Would I Lie to You? and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, as well as Dave show Hypothetical which he hosts alongside Josh Widdicombe. He also has a Netflix stand-up special entitled James Acaster: Repertoire, based on some of his many Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows. Outside of the UK, Acaster appeared in the American movie Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
In 2018, Acaster appeared in Series 7 of Taskmaster, finishing fourth with 165 points. He was the guest on episodes 5 and 97 of Taskmaster The Podcast.
Performance[]
Task | Description | James Acaster |
---|---|---|
Episode 1: The mean bean. (5 September 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: The thing that most people would like to touch. | 2 |
2 | Design and demonstrate the best quick-change outfit. | 2 |
3 | Build the highest tower. | 1 |
4 | Work out the circumference of the caravan in baked beans. | 4 |
5 | Live: Make the best fruit display hat. You may not touch or tamper with your hat. Only the fruit picker-uppers may touch the fruit. You may only hold the fruit picker-uppers by their handles. | 2 |
Total | 11 | |
Episode 2: My eyes are circles. (12 September 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Boldest belt. | 1 |
2 | Write a ten-word story before you reach the finish line. You must be running while writing. | 5 |
3 | Team: Paint the best picture of this still life. The painter must remain blindfolded throughout. The other person may not move from their chair and may only say certain words. | 3 |
4 | Predict what one of the other contestants (specified) will do with one of the objects and and do something yourself with one of the objects. You also get 5 points if a third contestant (specified, different) correctly predicts your own action. | 5 |
5 | Draw the biggest and best circle. Your circle must be completed in one single sweep. | 1 |
6 | Live:Make the highest tower of cans within your hoop. If you step out of your hoop during the 100 seconds, you will be disqualified. | 1 |
Total | 16 | |
Episode 3: Twelve blush majesty two. (19 September 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Best thing from the '90s. | 4 |
2 | Excite Alex. | 4 |
3 | Make the best noise. When you are ready to make your noise, you must say "This is my best noise". After you have made your noise, you must remain still and silent for at least 10 seconds. | 2 |
4 | Get this ball in that hole in as few strokes as possible. The ball must only be struck. The ball must never be carried. | 3 |
5 | Live: Write down a ten-word fact. | 4 |
Live: Mouth your fact to the Taskmaster without making any noise whatsoever. | ||
Bonus: Best fact. | 1 | |
Total | 18 | |
Episode 4: OLLIE. (26 September 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Most confusing thing. | 1 |
2 | Work out what happens when you flick this switch on. You may not take this switch out of this room. | 5 |
3 | Dramatically alter your appearance. You may start altering your appearance when you are inside the lift and the doors have closed. You must stop altering your appearance when the doors open again. | 1 |
4 | Make these scales read 31.770kg. The scales must read 31.770kg for at least 5 seconds. | 5 |
5 | Live: Correctly don the most items of clothing. | 5 |
T | Make the best loo roll paper airplane. | ✘ |
Total | 17 | |
Episode 5: Lotta soup. (3 October 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Worst present from a named relative. | 2 |
2 | Deliver this task to Alex in the most spectacular way. Alex is in his caravan. | 5 |
3 | Make as many white circles on the target as possible. You must not step beyond this rope. You must not move the rope or the target. | 5 |
4 | Cheer up this former traffic warden. | 5 |
5 | Team: Male yourselves look as little or big as possible. | 3 |
6 | Team Live: Taking it in turn, each team must dangle on of these items on the hanger. A different member of the team must dangle each time. Once you've touched one of the items, you must dangle it, and you must dangle it within 20 seconds of the previous dangler. | 0 |
Total | 20 | |
Episode 6: A coquettish fascinator. (10 October 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Best key. | 1 |
2 | Put exactly 50 different things in this bin. | 5 |
Using all the items on this mat, make the best picture of the Taskmaster. | 5 | |
3 | Team: Write and perform the most suspenseful soap opera cliff-hanger. Your scene may last no more than one minute. | 3 |
4 | In the lab, there are 10 pairs of glasses. The pairs of glasses may not leave the lab. Without breaking any of the pairs of glasses, put all the pairs of glasses into the smallest of these boxes. You must select your box before leaving the caravan, and may not then change your mind. | 2 |
5 | Live: Get your doughnut as high as possible. You must be holding hands with the people on either side of you at all times. If your doughnut is in the air after the 100 seconds, its height will be measured from where it lands. | 3 |
Total | 19 | |
Episode 7: The perfect stuff. (17 October 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Most exciting thing beginning with G. | 2 |
2 | Throw something into the bin on the other side of this fence. You may not use ladders, you may not touch the fence and you must stay this side of the fence. | 1 |
3 | Don't blink. | 3 |
4 | Team: Make the best extension to the Taskmaster House. | 2 |
5 | Make the best Christmas cracker. | 3 |
6 | Live: Walk over and hit that drum in exactly 9.58 seconds. | 4 |
Bonus: Most magnificent walk. | 0 | |
Total | 15 | |
Episode 8: Mother honks her horn. (24 October 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Creepiest thing. | 4 |
2 | Poke something out of the hole in the roof of this grotto. | 2 |
3 | Puzzle: C. Now look in the microwave (End task: Scream). | 5 |
4 | Compose the best 30 second piece of music. | 4 |
5 | Live: Bob when you hear the surname of a famous Bob. Pat when you hear the surname of a famous Pat. Kneel when you hear the surname of a famous Neil. Stew when you hear the surname of a famous Stu. Wane when you hear the surname of a famous Wayne. |
1 |
Total | 16 | |
Episode 9: The pendulum draws the eye. (31 October 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Most surprisingly beautiful thing. | 3 |
2 | Put the most money in the small bowl. You may not touch the small bowl. The small bowl must not sink. Also, you must say your own name at least once every 30 seconds. | DQ |
4 | Hula. | 2 |
Live: Improve your hulaing. | ||
5 | Find the sock with a satsuma inside. You may not look inside any of the socks. You may squeeze 5 socks, strike 10 socks and sniff 20 socks. You may put your hand inside 3 socks. You may put 11 socks on your feet. | 3 |
6 | Team: Achieve a rally of exactly 24 shots. You must each take the same amount of shots. You must be stood at least 6 foot 8 inches apart from one another. The object struck may neither touch the ground nor be held at any point during the rally. | 0 |
Bonus: Most ambitious equipment. | 1 | |
7 | Live: Write your name and draw a happy horse on on your overhead projector acetate upside down. You must not rotate or manipulate acetate. | 5 |
Total | 14 | |
Episode 10: I can hear it gooping. (5 September 2018) | ||
1 | Prize: Most magnificent stationery. | 3 |
2a | When you hear this siren during a future task, put on a boiler suit and lie flat on the ground. You may not touch or move a boiler suit until the siren sounds. | 2 |
3 | Find the boiled egg. You may touch two eggs. You may damage two eggs. You may not damage the boiled egg. | 5 |
4 | Physically recreate a classic computer game. | 5 |
2b | Tie yourself up as securely as possible. **Siren sounds** |
4 |
5 | Live: Prod the person in front of you with either a finger or a sausage. If the prodded person guesses incorrectly whether they were prodded by a finger or a sausage, they get eliminated. | 0 |
Total | 19 | |
Grand Total | 165 |
Trivia[]
- Despite not winning any tasks in the episode Twelve blush majesty two., James still managed to win the episode.
- However, he did win the studio task if one counts the bonus point he achieved towards the total for the task.
- James is one of the few contestants to make a cameo in the show after they appeared. He appeared in the Champion of Champions II episode The Alpine Darling., during Kerry Godliman's attempt at the "Feed yourself a grape in the most elaborate way" task, where he recorded himself rolling a grape to Kerry at the start of the self-feeding. He also appears alongside Ed Gamble very briefly in a pre-task video in A yardstick for failure.