Richard Herring is an English stand-up comedian, writer and ventriloquist. He is known for being a part of double act Lee and Herring with Stewart Lee, and the BBC Two show This Morning with Richard Not Judy. He is also known for his many Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows, his daily blog Warming Up and his interview podcast Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast.
In 2020, Herring appeared as a contestant on Series 10 of Taskmaster, winning with 162 points. He returned in 2022 for Champion of Champions II, winning with 17 points. He was the guest on episodes 10, 24, 55, 86 and 105 of Taskmaster The Podcast.
Performance[]
Series 10[]
| Task | Description | Richard Herring |
|---|---|---|
| Episode 1: God's haemorrhoid. (15 October 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Nicest thing to put in your mouth. | 4 |
| 2 | Knock the coconut off its perch. | DQ |
| Put all these drinks on the table in the caravan without spilling a drop. Also, you must be clutching this teddy at all times. Also, you must not walk on the grass while holding drinks. | ||
| 3 | Make the largest object properly vanish. You may not use any editing trickery. | 3 |
| 4 | Land the most egg in the frying pan. You may not throw any egg, you must stay on this balcony and you may only use the contents of one of these boxes. | 0 |
| 5 | Live: Get the most balls in your bucket. At the end of the task, all the balls in your bucket must be the same colour as each other. You will lose 5 points for every different coloured ball in your bucket. You may only touch your litter pickers and you must stay on your spot at all times. | 5 |
| Total | 12 | |
| Episode 2: A documentary about a despot. (22 October 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Best thing with loads of holes in it. | 3 |
| 2 | Team: Find the treasure. Do not break the box. | 4 |
| 3 | Make the best portrait of the Taskmaster and his favourite toy using only balloons, pegs, and your own clothes. Your portrait must fill this frame. | 2 |
| 4 | Get all the exercise balls in the hoops. You may not move the hoops or get out of the boat. | 4 |
| 5 | Live: Guess the things that are making the noise. | 6 |
| T | Select a wind-up toy dinosaur and release it from the starter mark. If it falls off the table, you are disqualified. | ✘ |
| Total | 19 | |
| Episode 3: Point of swivel. (29 October 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Best thing that probably has a spring in its mechanism. | 3 |
| 2 | Make the best upside down film. | 1 |
| 3 | Put all the spaghetti into the grapefruit. The grapefruit may not leave this room. For the last eight minutes, you must stand with both feet on the spot on the floor. | 2 |
| 4 | Catapult this shoe into the bath using a home-made catapult contraption. Only your feet may operate your catapult contraption. You may not move the bath or this red green, and you must build your catapult contraption on this red green. | 3 |
| 5 | Team Live: Draw a picture of the object on your card. You may not speak or communicate with with your team mates in any way. You must stay on your spots and not move the canvas or turntable. | 6 |
| Total | 15 | |
| Episode 4: Toshwash. (5 November 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Cheekiest food. | 3 |
| 2 | Make this phone ring. | 5 |
| 3 | Team: Secretly puts something that looks amazing in your bag. | 0 |
| Team: Persuade the security guard to look in your bag. You may describe what is in your bag, but you must not say what is in your bag. | ||
| 4 | Drop this water balloon from the greatest height without it bursting. You may not damage the water balloon or remove any water from it. | 4 |
| 5 | Live: Roll an edible sphere across the finish line. The person whose edible sphere crosses the finish line first, each round, is eliminated. If your edible sphere stops moving before the finishing line, you are eliminated. | 1 |
| Total | 13 | |
| Episode 5: I hate your trainers. (12 November 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Best pointy thing. | 5 |
| 2 | Bag the heaviest thing from the furthest distance. Your attempt ends when you have bagged an item. Your score is the weight of the bagged object in grams multiplied by the distance from the bagging machine in centimetres. | 4 |
| 3 | Paint a picture of a howling wolf on this teapot. You may not touch the teapot or remove it from the turntable and you may not tamper with the turntable or its power. The turntable will keep speeding up until you have named 20 American states. If you do name 20 American states, the turntable will slow down. | 5 |
| 4 | Do something out of character with this £20. | 4 |
| 5 | Team: Eat the most watermelon. You must be wearing a boiler suit and goggles while you're eating the watermelon. You must not feed yourself. | 5 |
| 6 | Live: Say the most different words without hesitating for more than two seconds. The person who says the fewest words each round is eliminated. | 3 |
| Total | 26 | |
| Episode 6: Hippopotamus. (19 November 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Most narcissistic thing. | 2 |
| 2 | Silently, make the tastiest and prettiest cocktail with the coolest name. If you make any noise over 60 dB, you must pour anything you've prepared into the bucket, shout shout your given phrase at a volume of over 100 dB and start again. | 3 |
| 3 | Draw the animal that is watching you. The animal is wearing a hat. You may not leave this room and you must look in the mirror at all times. | 2 |
| 4 | Get the most water from butt A into butt B. You may not move a butt in the first five minutes. | 3 |
| 5 | Team Live: Draw the animal named on your card. Each artist may draw three straight lines in their turn. The artist's teammates may have one guess after these three lines. If the guess is incorrect, the other team's artist can draw their straight lines. You may not speak or communicate with your teammates in any way. | 2 |
| Total | 12 | |
| Episode 7: Legit glass. (26 November 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Best thing that is bigger at the top than the bottom. | 1 |
| 2 | Get to that finish line clutching chicken number 2. Get chicken number 1 across the start line aboard radio-controlled [contestant's name]. You must sit on the office chair at all times. If anything touches the little robots, your attempt is over. | 3 |
| 3 | Team: Tell your team mate what is in this safe. You may speak into this microphone and they will hear your message played backwards. | 0 |
| 4 | Make the best marble run. After releasing your marble, you may not touch your marble, nor do anything to affect its movement. | 3 |
| 5 | Live: Communicate to the Taskmaster the item on your card. You may only make noises. You may not use any actions or anything that sounds like a word. | 2 |
| Total | 9 | |
| Episode 8: Moments of silence. (3 December 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Best thing with wings. | 5 |
| 2 | Fill this cup so that it overfloweth. The cup must remain atop the cup pole at all times. Only liquids may touch the red green. | DQ |
| 3 | Learn your lines. | 5 |
| 4 | Drink one full tablespoon of coconut water. If you use the same coconut water extraction method as another contestant, you will be disqualified. | 4 |
| 5 | Team Live: Stare at your opponent without blinking. You must both be pulling the face that the Taskmaster chooses. | 4 |
| Total | 18 | |
| Episode 9: Air Horn Andy. (10 December 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Best bedding. | 5 |
| 2 | Make the biggest beer mat house on this table. While making your biggest beer mat house, you must ring the doorbell after exactly one minute, then after 58 more seconds, then 56 seconds and so on until 0 seconds. If you make more than two mistakes with the doorbell timing, you will be disqualified. | 3 |
| 3 | Complete the most tasks. There is one task behind each door. You may choose the order to open the doors. You may only move when the doors are moving and you must stay on this side of the white line. During the task, you must tell Alex which door to open within one minute of the previous door closing. | 4 |
| 4 | Work out how many balls are in the basket. Every ball must be in the basket when you make your guess. | 4 |
| 5 | Live: Draw this monster the Taskmaster is going to describe. | 5 |
| Total | 21 | |
| Episode 10: Dog meat trifle. (17 December 2020) | ||
| 1 | Prize: Greatest collection. | 1 |
| 2 | Put these wellies on the spider's feet. You must carry a welly at all times, but you must never carry more than three wellies. You must not cut, untie or snap the twine. | 3 |
| 3 | Team: Perform this song. | 5 |
| 4 | Neatly hang all of Bernard's clothes on that coat rail. You must stay behind the line at all times. | 3 |
| 5 | Live: Wearing mittens at all times, balance wither all the mints or all the biscuits on a spaghetti bridge. The mints or biscuits must only touch spaghetti. The spaghetti must be balanced on the coconuts. The coconuts must remain on their stands. | 5 |
| T | How many green eggs are under the Taskmaster's chair? | ✔ |
| Total | 17 | |
| Grand Total | 162 | |
Champion of Champions II[]
| Task | Description | Richard Herring |
|---|---|---|
| Episode 1: The Alpine Darling. (23 June 2022) | ||
| S | Look the most like a champion in the Taskmaster titles. You must do five different heroic things for five seconds. | 0 |
| 1 | Prize: The thing that makes everyone go "Wow, that really is the greatest thing". | 4 |
| 2 | Feed yourself a grape in the most elaborate way. | 5 |
| 3 | Cut holes in and create a scene on this board so that when you and Alex stick parts of your body through the holes, it looks wonderful. | 1 |
| 4 | Get this duck into that pond. The duck must be launched from behind this rope and you must stay behind this rope during its journey. You may not move the rope or the pond. | 2 |
| 5 | Live: Pack either five bricks or five balloons in your bag. One at a time, you must then walk across the stage and place your bag on the circle near the Taskmaster, who will guess whether you were packing bricks or balloons. if he guesses correctly, you are eliminated. If you deceive him, you qualify for another round. | 5 |
| Total | 17 | |
Trivia[]
- Richard won 6 episodes, making him the contestant to win the most episodes.
- Herring is one of three contestants to win three episodes in a row, alongside Kiell Smith-Bynoe and John Robins.
- Both Richard and Ed Gamble won an episode after earning 12 points, the lowest score to win an episode.
- Coincidentally, these were consecutive episodes, with Ed winning the series 9 finale and Richard winning the series 10 opener.
- The portraits of Richard, Josh Widdicombe, and Dara Ó Briain are decorated with rosettes, referencing their status as Champions of Champions.
Video[]
Richard Herring Interviews Alex Horne - Taskmaster S10
Greg Davies Gives Richard Herring A Standing Ovation - Taskmaster - Channel 4
The Best of Richard & Daisy - Taskmaster
