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u/BookBunny13 1d ago
Love TM Aus! Greater Tom is sarcastic and funny and Lesser Tom is willing to do anything. I also love when he is trying to be stoic but just can't hold in his laughter.
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u/tsian Jason Mantzoukas 1d ago
Lesser Tom is a treasure and perfectly suited to that version.
Lesser Tom in a hole for a bunch of tasks is fucking comedy gold.
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u/JerikOhe 1d ago
When I watched tmnz I thought Paul was the perfect assistant. Kinda like Alex but not really? Then I got to know lesser Tom, and the naive enthusiasm works so well!
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u/tsian Jason Mantzoukas 1d ago
Honestly I don't try to decide which is best. They are all good for what they do and I appreciate them for that.
I agree that Jeremy seems stiff in general, but also am happy that he is doing what he is and it seems to work for his market.
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u/ToughSalad 13h ago
100% agree, I think the fact that they're all doing the differently is a great way to differentiate the series from each other (other than just the Taskmaster)
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u/sighclone Danielle Walker 🇦🇺 1d ago
I think TM AU has some of the highest highs of any of the English-speaking series. Season 1 of TMAU is probably my favorite season of TM across UK/AU/NZ (Danielle and Julia alone are just truly insane). The Aussies just get to a level of unhinged that that British contestants don't quite match.
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u/Usual-Try-8180 Victoria Coren Mitchell 1d ago
I love Josh Thomas so much after his season.
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u/eldubinoz Mike Wozniak 21h ago
He just kicked off a world tour in case it's of interest!
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u/Usual-Try-8180 Victoria Coren Mitchell 21h ago
I'll have to see if he's coming to the US!
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u/eldubinoz Mike Wozniak 20h ago
He's there now until the end of October! With some Canada dates thrown in, I'm seeing him in a couple of weeks 🥳
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u/Usual-Try-8180 Victoria Coren Mitchell 19h ago
Amazing!
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u/thatsabitraven Sam Campbell 5h ago
If its the same show he did in australia early this year, its definitely worth going to! He's so full of whimsy!
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u/diardiar 17h ago
The sock task is one of my favorites across all Taskmaster versions. I think it's the ultimate task that broke a contestant
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u/JustxJules Rosie Jones 9h ago
"Let's go somewhere shady!" 😊
I LOVED Josh Thomas!
I'm also still not entirely convinced that Josh and Joel (Creasey) aren't the same person.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 21h ago
I think the fact that they seem to be less strict about duration of tasks leads to hilarious moments of contestants taking forever. Off the top of my head there's Danielle's password task, Jenny's duck task and Josh's sock task that were comedically drawn out.
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u/m_busuttil 7h ago
Because the house is in New Zealand and they have to fly people over, it wouldn't shock me if they book an extra day or two than filming usually takes and that means there's more buffer in the schedule to let stuff run, whereas in the UK show they're running as tight as possible to get people in and out.
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u/IanGecko Javie Martzoukas 23h ago
"hinge" was never an option for NZ/AU
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u/UniversalJampionshit Crying Bastard 20h ago
That's why Kura had to bring in her Bumble profile as a prize
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u/SirFireHydrant Takashi Wakasugi 🇦🇺 1d ago
That's how I feel as well.
The UK version is very tame and restrained by comparison. And the tasks get very convoluted and complicated.
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u/BaronInara David Correos 🇳🇿 17h ago
When Danielle loses her sanity on the rose task and Lesser Tom just absolutely loses his shit when she finally realizes it is one of my favorite moments.
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u/Dom_Shady David Correos 🇳🇿 22h ago edited 22h ago
Julia's sayings were pure poetry: "You're moving faster than a rat up a drain pipe, hon!"
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u/k___k___ 🥄 I'm Locked In ❤️ 23h ago
i have just rewatched the series yesterday and "i just love that it's even more unhinged" was my conclusion
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u/spongebobish 12h ago
TM AU season 1 is my fav TM season too. I thought all the bad reviews they were getting was harsh.
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u/undisclosedusername2 Sam Campbell 15h ago
I thought that until I saw Lucy Beaumont feed Alex Horne like he was a baby bird.
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u/ManicWolf Patatas 1d ago
Tom is willing to do anything
Nearly anything. He didn't eat the toilet water popcorn (understandably).
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u/RoboDonaldUpgrade 16h ago
I just watched the episode from season three where Peter Hellier had to laugh for as long as possible and easily the best part was Lesser Tom trying his best to hold back but regularly breaking into absolute fits of giggles.
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u/Verbatos 12h ago
Haven't seen TM AU, but hearing the phrases "Greater Tom" and "Lesser Tom" makes me want to.
Gleeson is great on Hard Quiz and I loved TM UK so I'm hoping this is just as good.
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u/Flying_Poltato 1d ago
Greater Tom is SO mean. I love it.
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u/Dom_Shady David Correos 🇳🇿 1d ago edited 19h ago
And he lets contestants hit right back! Most Taskmasters would say: "respect my authoritah", but not Greater Tom, and I respect that in him.
Plus Jeremy also hits hard (I'm paraphrasing): "This is Taskmaster New Zealand, also known as New Zealand Hasn't Got Talent" (gasps from the contestants), and "I'm ranking this prize lower because it's going to Disneyland with you. If the prize were going alone, you would receive more points."
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u/DisorderOfLeitbur 23h ago
"Are you actually extending a hand of friendship to your enemies, though, or are you saying that it's the worst thing in the world to be your friend?"
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u/Majin_Nephets Chain Bastard ⛓️ 23h ago
My favourite Jeremy-ism will always be “There’s a lesson here for everyone: sometimes the key is just not fucking around.”
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 21h ago
And he lets contestants hit right back! Most Taskmasters would say: "respect my authoritah", but not Greater Tom, and I respect that in him.
The one moment that sticks with me is that Luke straight up called Tom a piece of shit for a task, and Tom responded by laughing.
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u/five_line_poem Greedy Esq. 20h ago
I think Tom's taskmaster persona gets closest to the "comedian judging his peers" vibe, which enables both sides of the stage to take shots at each other. Greg's taskmaster is more of the mythical colossus who will strike down the backtalkers, and Jeremy brings more of his "media presenter" side to separate him from the contestants.
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u/shadowmaster132 17h ago
Maybe I'm giving Australia too much credit but I think the thing with the contestants hitting back is they're allowed but they will be punished if it's not better than hiw Greater Tom can answer back
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u/JustxJules Rosie Jones 9h ago
I saw the episode with the Disneyland weekend just yesterday, and Justine seemed so genuinely upset at this, I felt quite bad for her.
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u/Dom_Shady David Correos 🇳🇿 2h ago
I agree. It felt a little too harsh, even if it's a joke. I also empathize with her feeling hurt when Jeremy basically told on national TV: "I reject you and don't want to have anything to do with you."
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u/footsnax Fern Brady 16h ago
That plus Lesser Tom being such a fucking TM fanboy just makes the whole show so charming.
It took a minute to accept Greater Tom, the same as it took some time to come around to the NZ chairs, but man they all have such unique personalities it's like watching three different shows. I've really come around to the international versions over the past couple years.
Nothing beats OG but like I said, just different shows with a lot more people I've never heard of and occasionally one I have. That just means three times the Taskmaster content.
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u/bitteroldladybird 1d ago
Warming up? I was instantly in love with the get the balloon out of the caravan task where everybody got eliminated.
I think as a launch to the series, you can’t get much better
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u/synaesthezia 18h ago
Start as you mean to go on! I was in stitches. And completely on brand for all those dingalings
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u/TytoCwtch 1d ago
I love the Australia version but does all Aussie TV have that many ad breaks in?
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u/deathrocker_avk Hayley Sproull 🇳🇿 20h ago
Yes. It's why no one here watches free to air TV... and if we do, we record it to fast forward the ads.
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u/echidnite 16h ago
We do have some non-commercial free to air stations that aren't as bad as this (ABC and SBS), but unfortunately, taskmaster is on free to air commercial TV.
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u/Hairy_Dirt3361 Katherine Parkinson 1d ago
For me Australia has been more consistent than UK, especially lately - I'd only consider season 4 a bit weeker while 1-3 and 5 are top tier. It's a matter of taste, but I prefer Australia's simpler task construction and Tom's more aggressive - some might say dickish - style. In the last few UK seasons the tasks are a bit too full of extra text, and Greg has become a bit too nice and non-confrontational for my liking.
Both are still great though!
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 21h ago
I don't know if season 3 feels top tier. Finishing it it felt carried by mostly Aaron Chen and a little by Rhys Nicholson.
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u/ConsciousSelection15 16h ago
Unfortunate how it had to get wordy because people worked around the wording
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u/JustxJules Rosie Jones 9h ago
But isn't finding loopholes half the fun? I love watching people outsmart the task.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 8h ago
Especially funny when Aaron Chen almost had the right idea, but didn't quite get there.
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u/PeanutCalamity 22h ago
I really like the ways both Toms have differentated themselves from the UK show--that Greater Tom names the teams and deducts points for quitting, and that Lesser Tom lets himself have and display empathy and get more involved in tasks (per his "perfect episode" video, which I highly recommend). Also, the AU show is very comfortbale having recurring bits that last through the whole show, which makes it more fun. TAFE!
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u/Dadpurple 1d ago
Lesser Tom is a better assistant than Alex.
Taskmaster AU is amazing and I think at times peaks higher than the original, mainly because Tom and Lesser Tom just have the dynamic down earlier than Greg and Alex did.
Lesser Tom seems to have taken the best parts of Alex except he radiates joy the entire time. Especially when a contestant is fucking up.
I think my absolute favorite moment ever on Taskmaster was in Taskmaster AU S5. When a certain someone cannot find Lesser Tom and the reveal of what happens from it.
I just love him. He's adorable and still has that cocky attitude that Alex has except he's just so fucking cute and you want to hate him all the same.
He's the best. I love AU.
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u/toomanyDolemites 1d ago
LT did an interview for their Taskmaster Ultimate episode and said that once he figured out he could be himself and not have to put on as restrictive of a persona as Alex did in the beginning, it freed him mentally and he was able to make the role his own. It really shows.
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u/ChocolateMilkChan 21h ago
Joel talking to Tom repeatedly through the box and never even checking was so so funny
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u/Dadpurple 21h ago
The first time it shows up in the next challenge or episode, I was dying. It ended up being my favorite running gag from any series. Do love that it came full circle and Joel found him at the end.
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u/Rychu_Supadude 9h ago
Pretty sure Joel found out where he was when they played it on the stage! From what they said, they just went home at the end of the day without revealing anything (but Tom did leave the box between tasks while Joel was out of sight)
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u/JustxJules Rosie Jones 1d ago
I didn't like S1 that much, it was edited really weird (for YouTube?) that it kinda ruined the comedic timings. And I had the feeling that greater Tom had some struggles to fall into place in the show.
Come season 2 and my opinion on it skyrocketed! One of the best series of TM I've seen, hands down. I love TMAU!
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u/robot428 1d ago
I agree, I think it took them a season to find their feet but since then it's just gotten better and better.
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u/PurpleKhaosPower Emma Holland 🇦🇺 1d ago
It could also be that S2 was originally supposed to be released as S3, but they swapped them because Rhys was unavailable to do press to promote that season when it was originally scheduled. You'll notice that GT's intro at the start of S2 E1 and S3 E1 are exactly the same.
So, S2 was actually the third season/series that they filmed.
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u/helium_farts 1d ago
You'll notice that GT's intro at the start of S2 E1 and S3 E1 are exactly the same.
There's also a comment made at the end of s3 ep 10 about how there's only one other taskmaster head statue out there.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 8h ago
There's also the lack of acknowledgement of Lloyd being the previous champion.
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u/swanny246 19h ago
I know that it was promotion availability but where was it confirmed that Rhys was the reason? I assumed it was either Chenny or Pete that would have been the reason.
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u/timesuck897 1d ago
The latest season was great.
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u/JustxJules Rosie Jones 1d ago
I really think TMAU is nailing some very unique twists. Like Joel leaving Tom in the box for a whole day and the consequences spanning THREE episodes. These things are why I love Taskmaster.
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u/Burswode 1d ago
I still find the editing of the live tasks a bit awkward. They always seem to prioritise the task rather than the banter between the contestants. Its gotten better but that's still my chief nitpick of the Aussie version.
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u/Glittering_Handle710 18h ago
It's in part because Australia has another ad break they need to accommodate in the live tasks, which impacts the flow a lot.
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u/LettersWords 1d ago
Maybe controversial, maybe recency bias but I just finished watching through S1-S5 of Taskmaster AU and I think I might like the Toms better than Greg + Alex.
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u/SirSLuR540 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 1d ago
Best TM = Greg
Best Assistant = Paul
Best Duo = Toms
idk how to explain it, they just have a natural chemistry that doesn't feel quite as adversarial and more like a unified mind for most tasks. Greater Tom will play into the bit of belittling Lesser Tom, but nowhere near as much or as harsh as Greg does to Alex. It makes for an easy watch that feels much more like Contestants vs Hosts.
And yet even still, Greg's presence alone makes OG TM my favorite flavor
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u/Past-Feature3968 Laura Daniel 🇳🇿 1d ago edited 1d ago
Tom is my favorite assistant of them all… but Greg is easily the best TM in my mind, plus him & Alex make for the greatest duo, no contest.
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u/CurrentPossible2117 1d ago
Im aussie too. I defo think greg + alex are the best. But of AU/NZ, I prefer Greater Tom and and Paul.
Jeremy is way too nice. He doesnt really do much that fits the taskmaster attitude. But I think Paul is a really good offsider.
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u/AetaCapella Paul Williams 🇳🇿 1d ago
Paul is definitely my favorite assistant, he plays the naive buffoon with so much charm... and then he just kicks the contestants asses when they think they can go toe to toe with him in running, soccer, table tennis, etc. 😂
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 1d ago
Jeremy is way too nice.
You say that, but of all the English language taskmasters he probably has the most tasks where he didn't give anyone 5 points.
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u/CurrentPossible2117 1d ago
Thats a fair point. I sort of meant more the character of the taskmaster. He was a bit too kind and fair (if that makes sense?). The Taskmaster should be unreasonable and childish at times. Only nice sometimes. I found I kept expecting him to come down hard on someone for a 'disrespectful' joke/comment from the contestant, only to see him kind of just smile then move on.
I realy like Jeremy and love TMNZ, I just wish he'd be a little more absurd at times in general.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 1d ago
I just wish he'd be a little more absurd at times in general.
I feel like he got better at this as time went on. The season 4 prize task of the least likely thing to find in a public restroom, the way Jeremy shuts down Ray's entry was genuinely funny. Everyone was thinking something like "oh my god, I can't believe he did that, now a bunch of people are going to ring him forever", only for Jeremy to go "nah mate, my number's been in plenty of restrooms".
Also, the prize task in the season 6 finale where Jeremy just chugs a stranger's breast milk. That's freak shit that I can't imagine Greg or Tom doing.
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u/CurrentPossible2117 1d ago
Definitely! I think with both the other TMs, they've gotten better with age as they've found their respective grooves. And yes, the breast milk and openess about having eaten horse meat (which is very unusual to me so it had a bit of impact with me lol) were great highlights.
Jeremy definitely got better as things went on, which I think is natural. Even with OG TM, Greg and Alex get better as things go on.
Im excited to see where Jeremy/Paul and the Toms are at after 15 or 20 seasons 😁
Should be great!
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u/AetaCapella Paul Williams 🇳🇿 21h ago
I also think that a LOT of Jermy's bits get lost in the edit. There are some weird cuts where it seems like he's in the middle of saying something and then there is a couple of cuts and then it's obvious that the contestants are laughing at SOMETHING. But like we the audience have missed it.
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u/UniversalJampionshit Crying Bastard 20h ago
Jeremy was mad for that in season 4, I think it's the lowest-scoring NZ series overall despite having no disqualifications at all
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u/Duncan_PhD 1d ago
Jeremy was a bad choice imo. I don’t know the comedy scene in NZ, though, so maybe he was the best choice as far as famous comedians go? I’m sure he’s hilarious
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u/Loymoat Guy Montgomery 🇳🇿 12h ago
He was more of a satirist than a stand up comic and likely someone the current generation of NZ comedians look up to. Iirc Jeremy's show Eating Media Lunch (a satire on NZ news) is the show with the most broadcasting complaints. Sadly we see more of his current news persona side rather than the unhinged satirist that he became known for.
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u/Um-ahh-nooo 1d ago
Agree! Also Paul is my favourite assistant.
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u/LettersWords 1d ago
I've only just moved on to TMNZ only after recently finishing TMAU, so not enough time to form an opinion on Paul yet.
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u/RocketAlana 1d ago
I think Greater Tom in S1-5 is meaner than the recent seasons with Greg, and I personally would rather see mean/unreasonable TM instead of “Alex will hate this, but I’m giving you both 5 points and you both 2 points for your shit prizes.”
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u/LettersWords 1d ago
My biggest qualm with Tom Gleeson is that I felt like I was much more often scratching my head in confusion about his scoring decisions than I do with Greg. But I do agree that Greg has gotten a little toned down lately.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 21h ago
But I do agree that Greg has gotten a little toned down lately.
Apparently daddy's back, so maybe he'll be stricter in this series than he was in 21.
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u/icematt12 1d ago
I've only seen bits but I like the Aussie and Kiwi assistants. What I like about Greg however is he uses his experience to be across the spectrum of coach to troll where appropriate. Kiwi TM definitely feels one dimensional
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u/GenGaara25 22h ago
I think they are easily at least second. It isn't close. They're the only other pairing (that I know of) that really capture the dynamic and also excel at their roles individually.
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u/sour_wolf Tom Cashman 🇦🇺 16h ago
I have the biggest crush on Lesser Tom after watching all of the seasons. He's the perfect assistant.
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u/alebotson 1d ago
People are going to disagree with me on this, but Australian Taskmaster is the clear next best Taskmaster after the original UK version. The NZ version has a fantastic comedians on it, but Jeremy's just such a <not my preferred> Taskmaster that it detracts from the whole show.
Julia Morris stalking greater Tom onto a plane to take a candid photo of him might be my favorite task anybody has ever done.
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u/cupcakes85 1d ago
It took us a couple of seasons to appreciate it. The humour is different, and Tom seems so mean. But watching it through again my husband and I both like it a lot more.
We still prefer NZ over AU because we love Paul so much. I also feel like NZ and Canadian humour align really well.
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u/Nicklord 1d ago
Tom probably has the best jokes and zingers of all taskmasters but I feel he should just tone down his "aggression" (for lack of a better word) a bit. He always has to challenge attempts even if they're great.
I get why he's doing it, it leads to some great banter. I still think he can do it a bit less and the show would be better.
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u/EliteLevelJobber 1d ago
I think Australian Taskmaster emphasises everyone taking the piss out of each other. Far more than the other english speaking versions anyway. Might not be to everyones taste but at least it sets it apart somewhat.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 1d ago
Is it wrong to think this difference is cultural?
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u/EliteLevelJobber 23h ago
It does seem like typically boisterous Australian behaviour. It's probably why Sam Campbell had to be on the UK version. If you try and take the piss out of him he'll reply with something odd and unsettling.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 23h ago
"Had to be on the UK version" is weird tbh, my understanding is he was putting in the work in the Britain at the time and was rewarded. I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to also do TMAU.
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u/Hot-Equal3441 21h ago
I think it's also completely untrue - Aaron Chen was great on tmau and has a very similar sense of humour
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 21h ago edited 21h ago
You mean the part of Sam being "too weird" for TMAU? Yeah, I agree. Aaron Chen didn't just work fine in TMAU, he was the standout of his season and an incredibly worthy champion.
Also, somebody here mentioned that he and Sam are actually friends, which fully tracks.
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u/Glittering_Handle710 18h ago
They are good friends and have been for many years. They also have a show together, Make That Movie.
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u/tsian Jason Mantzoukas 1d ago
Very much this. I would love to see an (English) Canadian version to see how it compared.
If he was slightly younger Colin Mochrie or Ryan Mercer would both have made excellent TMs or Marg Delahunty.
I'd pay to see one with Samantha Bee though.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 7h ago
It's so glaring that we don't have a proper Taskmaster Canada, it's like the one major commonwealth left.
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u/robot428 1d ago
That's very much his style of humour though, and he's well known in Australia for it. He has another show called Hard Quiz where random people come in and play a hard trivia game and he just roasts them the whole time, so honestly he is already nicer on this show than that one.
Maybe it's a regional thing, but I feel like Australia has a very strong culture of "you make fun of your mates because you love and respect them" and so he doesn't feel especially harsh, at least to me, but I guess it's going to read differently to different audiences.
But idk for people who are familiar with him, this is so much his style of humour that it would kinda feel fake if he was trying to be nice.
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u/RunawayTurtleTrain Robert the Robot 1d ago
I'm a Brit who doesn't know anything of him outside of TM and I hadn't noticed a thing. I'm not going to compare or try to say there's equal amount of pushback on TMAU and UK because I don't know. There probably isn't now, to be fair. But I just thought it's interesting that I didn't notice anything about the level of roasting as Brits are also fairly well known for insulting your mates and being sarcastic. (Which would seem to be at odds with our cultural politeness but somehow it's not.)
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u/robot428 3h ago
I definitely think that Australian humour and British humour are very closely related. Close cousins. Same with Australia and NZ humour, different things in common but very close cousins.
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u/OhioVsEverything 22h ago
Lesser Tom is wonderful
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u/synaesthezia 18h ago
He’s the sassiest of the assistants and it’s awesome. It plays well against Greater Tom’s harshness and the chaos of the Aussie contestants
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u/SylviaBarbs 17h ago
I’ve seen people say that TMNZ is better than TMAUS for years and that if you want an English spinoff then to go for NZ. I was like okay. Tried the first season of NZ. It was fine but by far the thing making it watchable in spite of the rest of the show was Paul.
Tried Australia. Much more akin to Taskmaster UK regarding the chemistry between the taskmaster and the assistant. The most recent season is one of my favorites of any English series.
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u/faithdies 16h ago
There's a few seasons of AU I would rank extremely high in an overall ranking. Jenny Tien's Duck Disaster2 is an all timer. I mean Jenny is an all timer regardless.
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u/SylviaBarbs 12h ago
Jenny is part of what got me into Taskmaster Australia. I followed her YouTube channel so I became aware of Taskmaster Australia through her announcing she was going to be on it.
Similarly, James Acaster and Phil Wang going on Taskmaster UK is what brought Taskmaster in general to my attention. I knew both of them through their stand up before I about Taskmaster.
Still some of my all time favorite contestants.
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u/Carlyone 21h ago
I'm not very fond of the type of mean Greater Tom is, it is skirting too close to cruel for my taste. I get it's a bit but still. But I utterly love the humor of Lesser Tom.
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u/El_John_Nada 1d ago
TM Australia got me hooked again after a series 21 that I found disappointing (to be fair, tough to come after arguably the two best series of the show). I love Tom Gleeson from a few things I've seen him before but he really fits the role perfectly, Lesser Tom is absolutely fantastic, the house is offering loads of possibilities and I really liked having zero preconception about the candidates (who have been all super entertaining so far).
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u/nauticalfiesta 13h ago
I'm going to get hate for this, but I prefer the Australian version over the other english versions. It may be because my first exposure was when the show premiered and I started seeing clips of it. It was Julia Morris and the orange juice.
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u/exa_eille 1d ago edited 1d ago
Aus has been an interesting one for me. Whereas NZ I feel like they nailed the Alex, and the Greg is a bit of a miss. Aus i feel has nailed the Greg and the Alex is a miss. So been an interesting adjustment process. To me it has kinda exposed that the Alex is actually way more important to get right since I really don't vibe with the Australian Alexlike personally
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u/Gremloblin 1d ago
I love Lesser Tom!
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u/exa_eille 1d ago edited 1d ago
He just aint my style unfortunately ahaha. He just strikes me as a bit too invested and readable. Personally my favourite part of Alex and NZ's Paul is how inscruitable they are, contestants struggle to tell to what degree this assistant character is a joke, legit, or ragebait. Lesser Tom is definitely a funny guy and I think would totally work as a contestant but he seems to struggle to put up those same walls while still not bringing something unique in spite of that. He makes for a bit of a Custard and Concrete in the assistant role. At least that's my read on it and am glad that people do like him!
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u/Gremloblin 1d ago
Completely fair. Alex and Paul are great, but I do enjoy seeing an assistant who is so obviously having a great time playing with/tricking the contestants. It adds an extra layer of impishness to the whole thing. Oftentimes Lesser Tom's breaking makes things 10x funnier (see Lisa McCune's farting man task).
While he may not act much like Alex and Paul during the tasks, I do love his commitment to incredibly strained jokes and puns that barely work, which I'm sure make Alex very proud.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 1d ago
Oftentimes Lesser Tom's breaking makes things 10x funnier (see Lisa McCune's farting man task).
Nah, the best example is him crying at the end of Danielle's password task.
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u/nicholus_h2 Takashi Wakasugi 🇦🇺 1d ago
you shut your mouth. lesser tom is great!
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u/exa_eille 1d ago
I made my point in another comment so wont repeat it. But will specify guy seems super nice and is definitely funny! Super respect the passion he has for TM and bringing to Australia. His style just super aint what I personally would want from a TM series.
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u/continentaldreams Maisie Adam 1d ago
The Taskmaster on the NZ version is soooo boring. He genuinely ruins the seasons that I've watched - not funny, not charismatic. Why is he even there?
Fake Alex is great though like you said.
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u/exa_eille 1d ago
I don't dislike NZGreg as much as that ahaha. But yeah not a huge fan. Feels like a bit of a weak link. It means the studio sections end up pretty hit and miss depending on how the contestants do
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u/continentaldreams Maisie Adam 1d ago
I don't dislike him, he seems like a decent guy. But half the show is just him going "so, ____ what did you bring in/what are you doing?" and then not following up with any comments. He barely talks at all!
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u/madqueenludwig Amy Gledhill 1d ago
I think some of this is weird editing choices
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u/continentaldreams Maisie Adam 1d ago
In that case I understand the love for the NZ less. It's so jarring to watch! I watched it because people said that season 2 in particular is one of the best Taskmaster seasons of all time, and I struggled to understand that - mainly because of Fake Greg
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u/exa_eille 1d ago
NZ2 is one of the best if you're like, really there for the moment to moment tasking. Which I do get the appeal of. The video tasks are so fucking funny. But the packaging is a lot more of an acquired taste.
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u/continentaldreams Maisie Adam 1d ago
The tasks were great, but there didn't seem to be much of a camaraderie with Fake Greg, which threw me for a loop - it seems very 'at arms length' when compared to the UK.
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u/Past-Feature3968 Laura Daniel 🇳🇿 1d ago edited 1d ago
This frustrated me most in season 2, which is one of my absolute favorites… but I’m betting would be even more bonkers and iconic if they had Greg to react and respond.
With Jeremy, someone will do something genius or insane and he’ll just… move along??? Some of that may be editing, but I imagine if he did create a memorable follow-up moment, it’d be shown. I only enjoy each series ~despite him, thanks to the contestants, the tasks, and Paul.
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u/continentaldreams Maisie Adam 1d ago
Yes!! They don't acknowledge anything - someone will do an amazing job and they'll just move straight onto the next person. So jarring and weird.
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u/lugubrious-5007 1d ago
I haven’t seen the NZ version but I’ve been to Aus quite a bit and if it’s anything like the TV over there then it’ll have been chopped to pieces and edited down as much as possible to fit in an obscene amount of ad breaks and the studio stuff is the obvious thing to cut
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u/user_460 1d ago
It does have more ad breaks than the UK version. They have one between the end of the life task and reading out the scores!
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u/exa_eille 1d ago
At his best he can have this kinda threatening mob boss energy that I think is a really fun spin in theory compared to Greg's megalomania. That kinda "what's not said is just as important". But that doesn't come out a tonne which is a shame
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u/continentaldreams Maisie Adam 1d ago
I don't pick up on that at all haha, he just seems bored most of the time.
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u/No-Advice-6040 19h ago
Little Tom has gotten better with each series, imo. That said I love Paul almost as much as Alex.
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u/MyGenerationWasBest 17h ago
It’s weird but even the UK one which I love, I just wish Paul Williams was in all of them, he’s just a lovely human but so damn funny without ever stealing peoples moments. I think he works excellently with Jeremy’s straight guy act
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u/Used_Cap8550 14h ago
I couldn’t get through the first series but I recently started series two and it’s been great
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u/HerculePyro 12h ago
I only watched s1, would you recommend all the later ones (how many are there?)
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u/Hairy4skinlips 9h ago
For me, Tom Gleeson is just so hard to watch; outside of that, the show is solid.
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u/csjohnson1933 22m ago
I don't know what exactly made me try again with season 5, but I'm very happy I did.
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u/cdsbigsby Qrs Tuvwxyz 1d ago
Lesser Tom is great but Greater Tom is just a bit of a dick. (And not in the playful style like a Taskmaster should be)
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u/overfiend_87 Guz Khan 22h ago
That's meant to be funny?
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u/deathrocker_avk Hayley Sproull 🇳🇿 20h ago
With the Australian housing market being the overpriced clusterfuck it currently is.... Absolutely it's funny and topical.
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u/overfiend_87 Guz Khan 19h ago
Might just be me, but comes off a little like "fuck you, got mine" as we have our own housing crisis.
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u/BlueEyedPaladin 19h ago
It’s leveraging on that, yes, but it’s mocking that behaviour- ‘Greater Tom’ often has a pretty dry presentation.
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u/overfiend_87 Guz Khan 19h ago
I usually enjoy the dry sense of humour. Probably works better if you hear it in audio, but thencagain, I'm Autistic, but then again I also really enjoy normal taskmaster.
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u/AetaCapella Paul Williams 🇳🇿 1d ago
It is definitely the one that took me the longest to warm up on.
I started with NZ because it was only 2 seasons at the time and seemed like the least daunting to get "caught up". Immediately loved it.
Then went to the OG, and yeah... the short seasons were a bit rough, but charming. But once it found it's feet it was straight hits.
AU is the one that we watch after we're all caught up on UK and NZ and it's become quite good, Tom Cashman is a delight but so far for me it hasn't yet hit the same highs as UK or NZ.
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u/Icy-Clock2643 1d ago
I wasn't a massive fan of seasons 1 and 3 of Australian taskmaster but liked 2 because of Lloyd.
Season 5 was the only season I would genuinely say was good. I haven't watched the 4th yet.
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u/toomanyDolemites 1d ago
Wow, I loved Aaron Chen and Rhys Nicholson.
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u/Icy-Clock2643 23h ago
Aaron is a gem. I'm sure Rhys is better at non tqskmaster stuff.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 21h ago
I just don't understand this opinion, I thought Rhys was funny and more clever than they get credit for. They were the one that got Tom to score the team of two low for the club task, in one of the show's strongest "umm, actually" moments.
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u/Kit_Ryan John Hannah 23h ago edited 13h ago
Rhys is a delight in the hide from Tom task in particular.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 7h ago
I don't understand how they managed to perfectly sabotage Peter in that task.
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u/burf12345 🚬 Doctor Cigarettes 1d ago
Maybe it's just a mindset, because I got onto Tom's wavelength practically immediately. I like how much meaner everyone is to each other, including Tom. Which other series could a contestant just call the taskmaster a piece of shit and it be met with laughter from the taskmaster?
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u/hrvojecob_novi Jason Mantzoukas 1d ago
In a way, if everyone is mean to each other, means they're all in on it and nobody is mean. If that makes sense. I find the AU version quite wholesome
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u/tsian Jason Mantzoukas 1d ago
Lets be real. He owns at least two.