An Absolute Casserole: The Taskmaster Compendium

by Alex Horne

How many eggs have been broken in the making of this programme? What is the worst thing Alex has eaten? Are you more likely to win Taskmaster if you wear a hat? Why is the Taskmaster always right?

This hilarious compendium celebrates a decade of Taskmaster's hilarious chaos. Relive the most outrageous tasks, iconic meltdowns, and ingenious victories from your favourite contestants.

Inside you'll

- Unforgettable From the brilliantly bizarre to the wonderfully pointless, relive the tasks that left us howling with laughter.
- Comedy gold Revisit the contestant blunders, inspired madness, and Greg Davies' withering put-downs
- Behind the Get the inside scoop on the show's creation, an interview with the Taskmaster himself (Alex Horne, of course!), and find out which tasks were deemed to dangerous by the show's insurers
- Statistical 17 series, 85 contestants and thousands of smashed eggs - what's the best star sign to be if you want to win?

This is the ultimate gift for any Taskmaster fanatic. So grab a cup of 'warm milk' (or something stronger) and relive ten years of comedic chaos!

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Comedy, Audiobook, Memoir, Biography, Tv

320 pages, Hardcover

Published November 7, 2024

About the author

Alex Horne (born 10 September 1978) is a British comedian. He is the host of "The Horne Section", a live music variety show which has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

Horne was educated at Lancing College (Fields House, 1991–1996) and the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of Footlights.
He made his first appearance at the Edinburgh festival in 2000 with his show, "How To Avoid Huge Ships". His 2003 Edinburgh show, "Making Fish Laugh" was nominated for a Perrier newcomer award. In 2004 he won a Chortle Award for Best Breakthrough Act. His shows with Tim Key have been "Every Body Talks" and "When In Rome", both of which featured unusually extensive use of Microsoft PowerPoint for a comic act. Horne toured Roman towns of the UK with the "When In Rome" show in early 2006.
More recently he has worked alongside fellow comedian Owen Powell, in the attempt to find a person from every nationality living in London. After a year's search, they finally managed to meet people from 189 of the UN's 192 countries whilst satisfactorily proving that there is nobody in the capital from Tuvalu, Palau or the Marshall Islands.
As a solo performer, Horne then wrote and performed "Birdwatching" at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival and "Wordwatching" at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival. He has signed a two-book deal with Virgin Publishing to write up both of these stories as books. The first, entitled Birdwatchingwatching, came out early in 2009. The second came out in early 2010.
On January 18, 2007, Horne became the first ever comedian to perform in Second Life for a feature on Sky News.
As of April 2010, Horne is attempting to become the oldest man in the world with the Long Live Alex project.
In 2011 he compered "The Horne Section", a comedy variety show with live music which was later broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the TV show Taskmaster, it’s easily one of the funniest shows on TV right now. So I just couldn’t resist picking this one up. For those who don’t know the show: five comedians compete in a series of tasks and they receive points based on how well they did each task compared to the others. The person with the most points at the end wins. Pretty simple concept, though the beauty lies in its simplicity. And this concept has given us so many hilarious moments that can only be described as must-watch television history.


The book starts with the very beginning, why Alex Horne went looking for a concept like Taskmaster in the first place. Then we get some things that Taskmaster fans probably already know, like why Greg Davies is the Taskmaster instead of Alex. Or why Frank Skinner’s inclusion in the first series was very important for the show. We also get some interesting behind the scenes anecdotes about how hard it was to get the show on TV in the first place. We get to read not only the original pitch of the show to the TV channel, but also various emails, including the ones sent to the untelevised first contestants.


We of course get a lot of mentions of things the Taskmaster contestants did throughout the history of the show. This really is the heart of this book, reliving those epic moments. One of the things the book has to offer in this regard is the Taskmaster Hall of Glory. An example of this is the Most Inconsistent Contestant Bridget Christie. First we get to read about her greatest achievements in the show, like creating a moving tribute to the dog Laika. And then we get to her lowest moments, like having a breakdown in the garden while banging a bunch of pots and pans.


The only thing that feels missing to me is the inclusion of the international versions of the show. Taskmaster New Zealand and Australia for example are absolutely brilliant. There even was a Belgian version of the show. What I like a lot about the international versions is that it gives people all over the world an easy way to discover some really funny comedians they might not be at all familiar with. And I can only hope that it opens some international doors for talented and funny people like Jenny Tian, David Correos, Guy Montgomery, Nina Oyama, and so many others.


This is a very nice trip down memory lane for those who’ve been watching and loving Taskmaster for all these years, with plenty of comedy gold to find along the way.

[Natalie Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only read this if you're a huge fan of Taskmaster. It offers fun statistics and behind the scenes facts, but abut 70% is recounting stuff that happened on the show—albeit in a more organized, amusing way, like all the food tasks that have occurred. I often rewatch Taskmaster, so my memory of all tasks are quite fresh in my head and I found myself skimming certain parts.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a ride! Such a genuinely fun book, with many interesting facts, details about the show and statistics that I enjoyed even when they were about the seasons I haven't seen yet. I've seen 10 out of 17 seasons (well 19 now) but this was so fun! I laughed out loud many times reading about this silly show and everything it took to make it (and keeps it going). It is truly one of the silliest TV shows I have ever seen and it never fails to make me laugh and cheer up. I love everything about this show and am so happy I started watching it, and can thus enjoy this silly book!

Also, "Rosalind's a nightmare" chorus was supposed to be "Rosalind's a bitch"???? We could've had it all....

Taskmaster fans, give this one a go, it's fantastic!!

[Shona · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of this reading experience is just going "oh yeah, I remember that episode, that was great", but that's all I wanted to be honest. The inclusion of Alex Horne's graduation speech was cute.

[Claire Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Taskmaster, you'll like this. It's the right mix of comforting, funny and weird (with some interesting behind the scenes thrown in) just like the show.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this, especially since I Pre-ordered a signed copy 🤓
However... three things stood out to me that made me wonder just how much input LAH actually had

P103 "sophie duker's unstoppable percussive beats and whistling madness of bridget christie

Sophie sang and hummed a melody. Judi sang and beat boxed. Bridget stomped and whistled... they even had a discussion after the VT where alex says of Bridget "and she did all the percussion, the stomping..."

P139 "malice and forethought"
The phrase is very definitely "malice Aforethought" ... being as half his material is puns and plays on words, I just can't see him making that mistake

P188 "one of the most show's memorable tasks" rather than show's most
I noticed at least three other typos like this. I know it happens but idk, disappointing.

As far as content, it was cute. Lots of fun stats and data. Not a lot of new information but still worth the read, especially if you're interested in the history of the show. Everyone knows the "I started it out of jealousy when my BFF Tim Key won the Perrier award and I was home with my wife and baby," story but we get some more specific details of the tasks etc.

[Kat V · Rating 4 out of 5]

By no means is this an excellent book, but if you are a true Taskmaster fan you should have a copy. There are some cute statistics and interesting facts and funny callbacks. I do not recommend reading this until you’re caught up on every episode. Lots of spoilers. It’s also for people who are true fans to recall their favorite moments; there’s not that much behind the scenes info but the data is compiled in a compelling way. Overall I enjoyed it. 3.9 stars

[Caitlyn Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book for fans of the show! This book will make you laugh out loud and leave you feeling joyful.

Taskmaster is my thing. I thought I knew everything after watching it on repeat for the past 5 years, but there was so much in this book. My poor partner and family will now have to listen to me relay new information about the world of taskmaster!

[Podge · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 3.5 really but I love this show and the book was good fun. It was cool to see that the first ever task at Edinburgh was "Put some money in my bank account, most amount of money wins". It was destined to catch on.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my defence, it was a birthday present. It’s signed by Alex Horne - or at least it has a signed page glued in - and it’s (probably) harmless fun. Things you remember and things you’ve forgotten about a tv programme I find very funny but which is now teetering on the edge of over franchise. Great story about how taskmaster started. And who can forget the home tasking of lockdown?

[Soph · Rating 4 out of 5]

i had a lovely time

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant book for Taskmaster fans but doesn’t really work as an audiobook!

[Will Trojanowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like Taskmaster and have watched all the series, you will enjoy this book.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for fans of the show. even more so if you are interested in the statistics.

[Ineke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I hoped it'd be!

[Addie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would not recommend as an audiobook, simply because it is VERY statistics heavy and it doesn't translate very well to audio. Though having Jack Bernhardt and Little Alex Horne narrate does help. But otherwise interesting to hear about the history of the show and behind the scenes of some more memorable tasks.

[James Turpin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fine, but only if you know the show.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun for Taskmaster fans. A little too much 'lists of episodes where thing X happens'. The best stuff was the recap of the original Edinburgh show.

[G V Sandeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the show. I love the concept of adults taking silly things seriously and letting themselves loose on TV. But the book didn't provide enough behind the scenes, making, decision rationale behind the tasks as I would have hoped. This is just a collection of stats and moments from the show.

[BKC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4/5

I enjoyed the history of Taskmaster and learning about the Edinburgh Fringe tasks, but didn't care about the statistics and facts. They were good reminders of old episodes though. The writing style was fun and the audiobook had some extra banter that I enjoyed. I didn't understand how "A SHORT STORY INVOLVING FIFTY TASKMASTER CONTESTANTS" fit into the rest of the book, but nothing else was strange.

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book about my favourite show!

[Colin Murtagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd book to review. I've been following TM for years, and it is one of those programmes, that if I'm flicking through the channels and there's an episode on, I may just re-watch it. From that viewpoint, this is a lot of fun.
Split into various categories, this hits on most of the high points of the series so far. It's down as written by Alex Horne and Jack Bernhardt. While Alex will be well known to anyone that has watched the show, Jack may not be. He's the host of the Peoples Podcast, and is the show statistician. So there's a lot of statistics in here. This does beg the question how much of the book was written by Horne.
Saying that, there's a lot of historical detail at the start, going through the history of the show making it to TV. Then interspersed throughout the book, are the tasks set for the first version, the live show in Edinburgh.
The issue is, unless you know the show well, there's going to be big chunks of the book that may not mean anything. There's a couple of times I've had to run back to YouTube to check up on tasks to see what they were talking about.
For the hardcore fans, this will be brilliant, lots of behind the scenes, lots of stats, and lots of memories. For the casual fan, keep YouTube handy

[Lucy Sweeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Absolute Casserole: The Taskmaster Compendium by Alex Horne and Jack Bernhardt
☀️☀️☀️⛅ (3.5 rounded down)

A funny and insightful companion to the Taskmaster television series that delves into the nitty gritty details behind the scenes on the show.

For fans of the show this will be an amusing read. I enjoyed a lot of the statistics included in the book, namely identifying the most and least successful contestants across different types of tasks. The inclusion of previously untold stories was good too. I did like the OG Edinburgh tasks being included, and structurally it was a good reference point for the book, but it did drag a bit during those flashbacks.

I would have liked some photos and graphs from throughout the series too (especially referencing the contestant costumes) but the few images featured were primarily of Alex.

I think this book entertaining for a casual viewer of the show. I wasn't given enough new information to fully justify buying it, but I'm not disappointed to have read it cover to cover either.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look, you already know whether or not this book is for you.

Just like I already knew it was always going to be five stars from me because Taskmaster happens to be a massive obsession of mine, but objectively, it also happens to be put beautifully together. The history of the show is presented with humour and affection, with the statistics as granular and absurdly illuminating as one has come to expect from Jack Bernhardt's appearances on Taskmaster The Podcast.

I only wish it had been copy-edited a little better (for example, Josie Long is referred to as Rosie Long in one instance), and I can't decide if the double use of "threshing shark" instead of "thresher shark" is a reference to Series 8 episode 4 or an error. And I hope there will be a second edition including the series that have been filmed/aired since publication.

But it's evidently compiled and written with love, and so it was gratefully consumed in the same manner by this reader.

[Rachel Menke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giggled my way through this and it made me want to go back and watch some of my favorite series as well as realize there are some series that I don’t remember well.
I will say this book could have benefitted from a better editor as I found several typos but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of learning more about the history and stats of one of the most entertaining and cleverly creative shows I’ve ever seen.
Hoping that another one of these will come out down the road as more series happen as there were some stats and questions and highlights that I was surprised didn’t make the cut (for example more about the locations)
I also loved (as someone who often uses some of the simpler tasks for family get togethers) some of the ideas included that could make for your own little version of TM.
Overall highly recommend for anyone who is a Taskmaster fan!

[lucy snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

very nice review of taskmaster statistics, highlights and memories.

unfortunately i think i am slightly too invested in taskmaster for this book to completely appeal to me - i know too much about the statistics already and can remember every task so there was little here that i didn't already know.

i enjoyed the insights into the first edinburgh show as i only knew about a few of those tasks (hedgehog, sending money, etc) and it was interesting to know the comedians who have been there since the beginning (mike wozniak has come full circle, now being the taskmaster's assistant in junior taskmaster!).

i liked the statistics interludes about colours of outfits / hair / whether james would have won in a different series. the most interesting bits!

[Mat Greener · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big taskmaster fan & have a degree in statistics so this book must be perfect for me sadly not. Even I got bored by the constant stream of statistics . I would have preferred more focusing on tasks or contestants instead of things like the first 20 occasions a cucumber was mentioned (this stat not in the book as I didn't want to add spoilers but similar stuff is) I think trainspotters would struggle to devour this is one go. The laugh out loud moments may occur when you recall a specific task & your memory of it not usually the description given here. saying all this I will still religiously watch all episodes.

[A.M. Swink · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more history and behind-the-scenes, when a lot of it is recapping task efforts that you're already familiar with if you've watched the show, so there is really very little new information here. The stuff relating to the original Edinburgh Taskmaster was the most interesting, as it's something most viewers haven't seen. The statistics were only mildly interesting, as they are all completely pointless (which is the point of the show, but didn't make for the most interesting reading).

[Chris Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw my first episode of Taskmaster (UK or the original) I was hooked and have watched every episode of the series that is in English (UK, NZ and Aus, as well as the ruined US version). The chemistry of Greg, Alex and the contestants make it one of the greatest shows on television. This book is equally enjoyable in that it provides behind the scenes info, stats and other information. If you are like me and have watched and loved Taskmaster do yourself a favor and get the book- you won’t be disappointed.

[Grace Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this review of ‘An Absolute Casserole’ you have 3 minutes, your time starts now

‘An Absolute Casserole’ details the origins and making of the TV series Taskmaster, reflecting on 10 years and 17 series. It includes insider information and best bits from the show.

My favourite part of the book was the highlighting of Taskmaster’s contestants, it was enjoyable to see them all being celebrated. It was fun to relive the earlier episodes of the show.

This book is perfect for any fan of Taskmaster.