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jcs-study · 8 months

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Hi there! I’m here to ask some questions again, but first I’d like to thank you for letting me contribute to the book! Speaking of the book, I think it’s quite wonderful, and the depth of its insight in both the score and narrative it conveys is astonishing. I also have to thank you for the book recommendations for the characters, particularly for Pilate. Ann Wroe’s book in particular is amazing. Anyways, on to the questions:

1.) This one is a bit loaded. I’ve been watching the Mossovet’s production of JCS, which does some sizable changes to it, among which (to its detriment) was its stricter adherence to the scriptures in characterizations. That got me thinking- this isn’t the only production to try and be more biblically accurate (as you said, the AD Tour and the Farewell Tour did it as well). So:

⁃ To you, has there ever been a “biblically accurate” production of JCS that you know of that managed to at least preserve some of the more iconoclastic themes of the original show?

⁃ Why do you think JCS has managed to acquire such a huge Christian following despite its treatment of its subject matter?

⁃ Has there ever been a misotheistic production of JCS? Like, a production where the presence of the divine is made explicit, but framed in a bad light? I think the closest I can probably think of is actually the 2000s movie in its staging of Superstar, where it implied that Judas’ actions weren’t of his own free will. I’m… not really sure that doing such a production would be a wise idea, but given how utterly batshit some JCS productions are, I wouldn’t be surprised if one director actually did it.

2.) Speaking of batshit productions, what’s the strangest JCS production you’ve ever watched (either live or on video)? For me, it was this one German production with Serkan Kaya as Judas and Peti Van Der Velde as Mary. The Temple was Christmas-themed and Jesus beat up a Sexy Santa. Jesus and Judas had a synchronized dance sequence during Superstar. It was wild.

⁃ I’m sure you already know this, but Ivo van Hove, who’s known for his rather eccentric productions is directing a tour of Superstar. There’s been some new information that says it will have some immersive seating. I just wanted to know if you have any particular thoughts on this (like, do you think he’s a good choice for the show, how does the immersive seating sound, etc.). I have some mixed feelings, especially after his West Side Story.

⁃ You’ve talked a lot about Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL. I’ve managed to listen to it thanks to some good luck, and I have to say that I’ve enjoyed it immensely and it’s a shame an album never saw the light of day. But from an arrangements-point of view, which songs did you feel benefited most from the rearrangements, and which ones did you feel needed to be a bit more fine-tuned?

⁃ And on a batshit production from the past: theoretically speaking, how would you feel if someone decided to stage either of Tom O’Horgan’s versions of JCS today?

3.) This is in regards to your review of the 50th Anniversary Tour. I actually agree with you on it, as I did find the storytelling quite muddled. I did find an interesting tidbit from Timothy Sheader, the director, in the Lyric Opera program. In it, he said that his production was “more about authentic musicmaking than strict narrative storytelling” and that he was “less interested in Jesus as a character and more in the performer who is singing in the role”. The handheld mics were “to take us back to the gig environment” and “helped people in rehearsal, so they could stop acting”. I have… thoughts on his approach, but it did explain some of the choices he made. What do you think?

First of all, everybody, make some noise for @nemoverne. Without them and their intrepid photo research, none of the book's illustrations would have been possible. They made an invaluable contribution, and I can't thank them enough. Otherwise, the reading experience would be much like this blog: insufferable walls of text. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you!

And thank you also for your insightful questions. You talk like a JCS scholar, and in case you haven't guessed from my writing on the subject, I like that in a person. Okay, let's get to those questions.

Question Bloc 1: Biblical Accuracy

Mossoveta's production is not just aimed at scriptural accuracy; if one pays close attention, their changes owe more than a debt to the "novel within the novel" in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The adaptor also saw the potential for political commentary: Simon Zealotes speaks (and is costumed) like Trotsky and has an added scene where he and Judas argue about the dialectics of revolution; Pilate's lyrics quote Stalin; Jesus' teaching is presented as central to a movement that collapsed even before his execution because his inner circle can't agree what it's about (shades of leftist in-fighting). All this can be summed up with the understatement that the Teatr Mossoveta version is a very Russian adaptation. ...but at any rate, that's not answering your queries.

To you, has there ever been a “biblically accurate” production of JCS that you know of that managed to at least preserve some of the more iconoclastic themes of the original show?

I don't know if "biblically accurate" is the correct term for it, but I think that Gale Edwards' initial production at the Lyceum Theatre (designed by John Napier and David Hersey, which has nothing to do with her later version, which formed the basis for a couple of UK/European tours, the 2000 Broadway revival, the 2002-05 North American national tour, and, of course, the 2000 film), from all appearances, would fit the bill. These video clips will (hopefully) illustrate what I mean.

Why do you think JCS has managed to acquire such a huge Christian following despite its treatment of its subject matter?

I go into this, to a certain extent, in the "Jesus" profile (specifically its "My Two Cents" blurb) in the book, so I'm happy to paraphrase myself:

At least in my perception, the "huge Christian following" for JCS is largely centered in the U.S., and that's because many American fans cherish JCS for different reasons than international fans do.

In the early 1970s, when it premiered, American youth felt mainstream religions and their traditions and rituals had reduced religious experience, the act of living through faith, to nothing more than symbols and metaphors, subverting and short-circuiting the personal spiritual experience itself, getting in the way of the search for ultimate truths. Church attendance decreased nationwide as kids moved away from organized religion toward more personal spirituality and philosophy.

The conservative response in America was their typical reaction to a radical interpretation (i.e., boycotts, picketing, bomb threats, and letter-writing campaigns). But the liberal side of American Christianity embraced it, interpreting it as a response to this crisis of faith. Anything that got the kids interested was a start. Besides, as many sources (such as this scene-by-scene guide by the Bible Films Blog) attest, the reinterpretation is not nearly as radical as alarmists reported. The biggest differences involve exploring the motivations of Judas and Mary Magdalene in fuller depth and combining some characters to simplify things, such as re-assigning a dream warning Pilate about Jesus from his wife to Pilate himself.

Add in subsequent controversial portrayals that did a lot more harm from a fundamentalist viewpoint (e.g., Last Temptation, Da Vinci Code, etc.), and the show saturating the landscape to an extent that it made audiences of the faithful more willing to accept a "down-to-earth" Jesus rather than a remote "stained-glass" Jesus, and it was easy to view JCS as small potatoes, perhaps even tolerable as a gateway drug for non-believers to get curious about J.C. (Don't discount this -- much to the chagrin of staunchly atheist fans of the show, Gale Edwards, among others, has attested to hearing from folks who saw the show and said it inspired them to go back and learn more about Jesus. There's a significant number of fans in online spaces who proudly report that JCS is the reason they became Christians.)

All that to say: if it's about Jesus and it's more relatable than a standard sermon, and frames it in terms people can understand, it just might feed the flock.

Has there ever been a misotheistic production of JCS? Like, a production where the presence of the divine is made explicit, but framed in a bad light?

Not to my knowledge, or at least if it started off that way, it was massaged into something that is more open to interpretation, way before it ever reached the opening curtain.

Question Bloc 2: Unusual JCS

...what’s the strangest JCS production you’ve ever watched (either live or on video)?

Honestly, and I mean no disrespect to them, probably the 50th-anniversary tour. It took some digging, as my review illustrates, to get at what they were trying to achieve from a storytelling standpoint, and once I had determined that, I ultimately felt they didn't stick the landing.

Yours sounds pretty crazy, though! Yikes!

I’m sure you already know this, but Ivo van Hove, who’s known for his rather eccentric productions, is directing a tour of Superstar. There’s been some new information that says it will have some immersive seating. I just wanted to know if you have any particular thoughts on this (like, do you think he’s a good choice for the show, how does the immersive seating sound, etc.). I have some mixed feelings, especially after his West Side Story.

Oh, I'm fully aware, and to spill some tea that hasn't been widely reported yet (when you become a published and respected content expert on JCS in addition to being a professional producer in your own right, you tend to learn stuff that the general public doesn't), he also has a "lock" on first-class rights for London and might be trying to bounce it to Broadway as well. (All of this, of course, pending the reception of the initial Dutch engagement.)

My first instinct, knowing Andrew Lloyd Webber signed off on this and has historically hated radical reinterpretations, is that Ivo van Hove is, at least in my view, a spiritual successor to Tom O'Horgan as far as qualities of eccentricity and iconoclasm are concerned, so it seems odd that ALW would give a "thumbs up" to hiring him. To the extent that it shows he's more open to creative reinterpretations of his work than he's been in the past, I'm all for the openness, but I question whether Ivo will have as free a hand as he normally does, never mind whether he's the right choice.

(Suffice it to say, I share your mixed feelings on that count, especially after viewing the pre-opening marketing to date that seems to imply Jesus will be viewed as the first victim of cancel culture and hearing rumors that he's interested in cutting "Could We Start Again Please," which reminds me of his deleting "I Feel Pretty" and his noteworthy issues not just with race relations but a female perspective.)

The immersive seating, frankly, sounds like a gimmick -- a neat gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless. It's not the first time that onstage seating has been employed in JCS (again, I refer you to the Lyceum production discussed above), and I look forward to hearing whether or not it enhances the experience.

You’ve talked a lot about Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL. I’ve managed to listen to it thanks to some good luck, and I have to say that I’ve enjoyed it immensely and it’s a shame an album never saw the light of day. But from an arrangements-point of view, which songs did you feel benefited most from the rearrangements, and which ones did you feel needed to be a bit more fine-tuned?

Ooooh, this is kind of a thorny question, because parts of my answer get into the territory of intellectual property which might be developed later. (Let's just say that I might have talked a lot about it because for several years I've been trying to find a way to bring it back, urged on by numerous professional colleagues, despite how things ended with it, which is discussed in brief in the appendix, "My Attempt," in the book. Under such circumstances, I might deal directly with fine-tuning the arrangements. You might say I'd even get granular about it. ...I'll DM you about the specifics.) That said, I'll try to answer as honestly as I can, given the preceding.

Generally speaking, when I first heard of Gospel, I was, frankly, delighted. Unlike more conservative fans who like their JCS a very particular way -- and I am capable of being like that about certain things when it comes to this show, "don't you get me wrong" -- I'd grown weary of hearing basically the same version that's existed forever, especially as it got more and more watered down by time, the age of the original performers (when they were involved), and ALW's influence (when he was involved), and on some level, I was thirsting for something truly different and exciting.

Based on what people who knew music theory better told me when they first got a look at Gospel on paper, it was certainly different. The arranger transposed most of the keys, and took tremendous liberty with chords, melody, and even time signatures (stuff that was written in, say, 7/4 or 7/8 was flipped to 4/4, for example). Groused one fan with whom I tried to share my enthusiasm, "One could hardly call it an accurate reflection of what Rice and Webber wrote; it's more like a variation inspired by their material." True as that may have been, without a recording, I played with it in my head (and in my Finale software), tinkering with what I imagined (and half-remembered from then-extinct clips) and dreaming of how it might sound.

Did reality match my fantasy when I finally heard the bootleg? Of course not. Based on the demos, I expected something a lot more polished and interesting in my head. I'd probably go back to the gospel arrangements in said demos and on paper in a lot of cases; Lloyd Webber neutered this thing but good. But it definitely worked more than I thought it would, even if I came away thinking it was more "proof of concept" than what I'd do with the same idea. (Getting into dangerous territory; answer the question!)

To answer the first half of your question...

In ensemble terms, I think "Hosanna" and "Simon Zealotes" each got kicked up a notch. I also really love the leper sequence. These are what the phrase "take me to church!" was invented for, and some of the best "gospel" work is in them. (Runners-up include the "Temple" and "Arrest" scenes. I'd be happier if they stayed in the original key.)

I rather loved the Whitney-esque take on "I Don't Know How to Love Him," especially the subtle muted trumpet, and, in my opinion, the altered chords add rather than detract.

I kind of giggled with glee at the "low-fi hip-hop" -- as the kids would say -- approach to the apostles' opening chorus of "The Last Supper," complete with the 90s slow jam keyboard sounds straight out of Joe's "I Wanna Know."

Darius de Haas' performance of "Gethsemane" really blew me away -- less rock-inflected anger and more a "dark night of the soul." (To say nothing of the fact that the vocal arrangement almost makes Jesus attainable for baritenors who can't screlt like Ted Neeley.) At first, I was scrunching my nose at the angry little "laughs" (you've listened to it, you know what I'm talking about), but then he kicked into high gear and I forgot what I was mad about. I really dig his snarling build to the G5, and absolutely love the slower, more impactful "Bleed me… beat me… kill me" at the end.

But most of all, more than any rearrangement, I was surprised by how much I loved the sound of the traditional material through a gospel filter. For example, most of the major guitar solos ("Overture," "Damned for All Time" intro being the two most recognizable) were played down the octave rather than in their usual screaming register, so to speak. Honestly, I didn't hate that; it worked with the less guitar-heavy approach of this production. As for the singing, a gospel choir with powerful voices and extensive vocal ranges is perhaps the best type of ensemble to seek out for JCS, whether a traditional or non-traditional take. They nailed it to the wall. (Plus, for all my shit-talking of ALW's enforced 50/50 approach, I found the transitions between "gospel" and "original" mostly seamless, maybe one or two clunky spots of note at most.)

As for the second, rather than getting into matters of fine-tuning (see above), I'll give you what didn't work so well for me:

I feel like a lot of key signatures were needlessly altered. One can go to different places when one modulates, but I feel like ALW would have overlooked a lot of indiscretions if they followed more of the same direction before taking any shortcuts, metaphorically speaking.

As much as I loved the sound of the traditional material gone gospel, there were also times that it wasn't served so well. The orchestration was reduced to typical "praise and worship band" elements, which was fine when it tended toward its natural habitat, but when the vehicle veered back to ALW's terrain (metaphorically speaking), it sometimes sounded a tad wimpy, like they merely reassigned certain parts to other instruments and subtracted the rest without calculating the effect on the overall sound. Moments from the original that thrive on dynamics were often a little lacking in that department as a result, and that usually came from the piano -- not always so well, in my opinion -- covering everything. (Indeed, I joked to a musician friend that this finally gave the execrable 5-piece orchestration of JCS a function: shoring up Gospel's reduction with texture and detail, to cover what its arrangement doesn't when it quotes the original.)

In the same vein as the above bullet point, there were moments in the quotes from the original where the gospel flavor seemed especially "tacked on," in a way that smacks of "ALW, you may force our hand, but they won't forget this is gospel." (Examples of these elements include the choir's vocalizing in the Overture during the repeated motif before the "Don't let me stop" section, and their new "mob" lines during the 39 lashes.) I'm 50/50 on how much they add or detract for me.

I love the "gospel brunch" take on the apostles' chorus in "The Last Supper," and I even came up with a dramatic context for it in a production that never came to be, but I'll admit that, while I realize it was probably the easiest and most organic opportunity to slide in some "praise" after "Simon," it kind of went on a little long for me. We get it; it's a festive occasion until Jesus brings the mood down and Judas calls him out on being a drama queen and they come to blows. Don't over-egg the pudding.

...theoretically speaking, how would you feel if someone decided to stage either of Tom O’Horgan’s versions of JCS today?

Speaking strictly for myself, I would prefer to see the Universal Amphitheatre (L.A.) version come back rather than what I've jocularly dubbed Insect Christ Futurestar (Broadway). But aside from that, I'm open to his POV being re-explored. Even Tim Rice now agrees that he got the short end of the stick from both vindictive critics and two young authors who were attached to their own idea of what they wanted to accomplish but didn't have the power to execute it, and a lot of what O'Horgan tried to realize from a tech standpoint is more feasible today than it was in the early Seventies, albeit probably no less costly thanks to inflation.

Question Bloc 3: 50th-Anniversary Tour

Since this was only one question, I'll cut to the chase: yes, it explains some of his choices. No, I still don't agree with them.

Hope these answers satisfy your quest for knowledge!

#jesus christ superstar #andrew lloyd webber #tim rice #jcs #jesus christ super star #jcss #jesus christ super-star #show questions

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 1 year

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All right, all right, all right! I’m a day late because I was out last night again, but I’m home now, let’s do this! Thoughts on Taskmaster s15e02, written as I watch it:

- I didn’t mention this last week, but Ivo Graham with a beard is unsettling. I mean, people can do what they like with their appearance and all, but that one may not be the best idea.

- Right, I haven’t seen any of the prize tasks except the first one, but if no one besides Kiell brought in anything that requires us to look at feet, then Kiell needs to win this task. I am genuinely not enjoying Kiell bringing in an excuse to have the cameras focus on both a picture of a foot and Alex’s actual foot, give him five points for achieving weirdness and make it go away.

- Greg is, annoyingly, correct to say that Mae’s object isn’t weird, it’s just your reflection that’s weird. I say “annoyingly” because Mae really eagerly trying to sell people on someone they’ve come up with is... genuinely, I’ve had crushes on Taskmaster contestants before but never to the extent that I’ve had my current problem, where I have difficulty writing about the episode without mentioning it every 5-10 sentences. I’ll try to stop.

- I am 100% behind the levels to which Ivo is taking his argument. Getting into the wording of the task – it’s supposed to be “whenever you look at it”, so needing to look at it for ten minutes like Mae’s mirror shouldn’t count. Explaining that he has practice of looking at it all the time and weirdness occurs every time, and Kiell can’t say the same because he designed the foot glove just for this task. This guy has watched all his friends play Taskmaster, studied their strategies, has his social standing riding on his performance in a way that I’m going to guess, say, Frankie Boyle, does not. This is high-level Taskmaster here, well done, Ivo. I still can’t wait to see you get bullied in the team tasks, but well done.

- Aaawwwwwww. Awwwwww. A Rhod Gilbert reference. A Rhod Gilbert reference in something that was filmed while he was receiving treatment for advanced cancer (I mean, I assume he still is, but he’s also filming TV things again and looks to be recovering, and I’m not sure that was the case as of last summer). Awwwww. Jenny’s thing doesn’t really work for the reasons Ivo pointed out, it doesn’t feel weird “every time you look at it” because that only works if you stare at it for ages, but anyway, lovely little Rhod Gilbert reference. Also, love that they’re saving Frankie Boyle for last on the “thing that makes you feel weird” task. What have you got, Frankie?

- I knew Frankie wouldn’t let me down with this. Obviously he went historical. Yeah, medieval paintings of cats are weirder than feet. He needs to win.

- I’d have swapped Kiell and Frankie, but otherwise agree with the harsh but fair scoring. I like rewarding Ivo’s intricate arguments by giving him two more points than both the people who finished below him.

I don’t know what this means, but I’m guessing it might be that they’ve brought in a concept from Taskmaster NZ, when they had each contestant film a small part of an action movie, and then put it all together later to make one movie. Which I guess was originally a Taskmaster UK concept, from season 10 when they filmed the detective thing with each person playing a different part, and then with Richard Herring playing every part. It’s a concept I like, so I hope they are in fact going to film them each playing some music and then put it together.

Jesus Fucking Christ. Okay I’m done. I won’t bring it up anymore. I promise.

- Oh shit, Horne Section. Ohhhhh, I see. The great band that was separated wasn’t the Taskmaster contestants, playing stuff alone and then going back together. It’s the Horne Section. Cool.

- The task didn’t say anything about “most [adjective] [noun] wins”, so that means it’s a two-parter. They may still have to fit these together somehow. Also, the task said it must be “less than thirty seconds long”, which is weird, because normally Alex Horne is right with me in correcting people every time they say “less” when they should say “fewer”. You let this one slip, Horne.

- They were correct to give Frankie the percussion instruments. I like Kiell’s attitude. Ivo briefly thinking “I”, “V”, and “O” might be music notes was quite funny. Really enjoying Jenny’s unnecessarily exuberant and surprisingly low-pitched singing. Mae, do we really need to bring more feet into this episode? Have we not already had enough feet in this episode?

- I didn’t really know what to expect from Frankie Boyle on Taskmaster, but if I’d absolutely had to try to guess, I’d have pretty much said this:

- I promise this isn’t another gratuitous screenshot of how attractive Mae Martin is; I just wanted to capture the look of utter shock on their face when Alex handed them the extra card.

The sense of betrayal from Alex. The underlying disappointment in themself for not seeing this coming. The whiplash in going from relaxing because the task is over to ramping the tension right back up, 0-100 in half a second, a reminder that you have to be always on your guard in this show. There’s Taskmaster summed up in one screenshot.

- Ah, the twist is that they have to play along. It’s not really a music task, it’s an arts and crafts task! That’s fun.

- I mean, some of those instruments are easier to copy than others. Frankie probably got an unfair advantage there, the drums have to be the easiest to copy. But I don’t mind, because I want to watch Frankie Boyle play makeshift drums.

- I think they undervalued Jenny Eclair’s trumpet miming in the studio chat. That was good. I could believe that was her playing if I didn’t look too hard at the instrument. She looks like she should be dramatically playing a trumpet in a club somewhere.

- Frankie’s miming was not remotely in time to the music, but he looked like he was having so much fun out there. Someone needs to gif that. I might need to gif that later. I want a moving image of Frankie Boyle playing the drums and having a great time.

“I see your Diverse Stripes, Nish. And sure it was impressive, but you made one crucial mistake: not wearing sunglasses.”

Incredible screenshot.

- Some really interesting camera decisions in the filming of Ivo. I’m not sure I needed that under-his-legs-looking-up angle on those loose shorts. But A+ for effort on the contestant’s part, as I’ve quickly come to expect from him.

- 1) Mae Martin making a joke about “Mae-stro” and then immediately trying to take it back - “I don’t want to lose points from Mae-stro”: solid Taskmaster play, I like the level of paranoia that Taskmaster instills in its most competitive contestants. Mae Martin about to play an instrument with their foot: not ideal. Not... not something I would like on my computer screen, thank you.

- I think Mae was the best one so far at miming in time to the music. Not bad arts and crafts work either. Good attention to detail. Thankfully minimal foot involvement.

- Well, Kiell was definitely the worst at the arts and crafts potion, there have to be more accurate ways to create a facsimile keyboard than to just put a bunch of books in a row. Also, he just repeated the grammatically incorrect task over and over, causing me to have to say “fewer” at my screening increasingly annoyed voices.

On the other hand, he may win for the person who had the best time out there:

Again, I’m just really enjoying Kiell’s whole vibe. Competitive, but not as overt about it as Mae or Ivo. Getting fully into everything, to an exaggerated degree. Picking at things and not letting them go, like the thing about the musician’s age.

- Whoa. That was ridiculously generous scoring and I don’t think I see Greg’s logic with any of it, but fun task all the same.

- Yes! Team task! I’ve been looking forward to these so much.

You know, normally when I say what contestants I’d like on a team together, I just pick pairs of people and hope they’re with each other, either on their own or in three. But in this case, I really like that Frankie and Ivo are specifically the team of two. No one for Frankie to pawn off the task of interacting with Ivo on, no one for Ivo to hide behind, no one to dilute the extraordinary amounts of awkward tension that I imagine occur when you put together two people who are so very, very different.

And on the other side, obviously I’m looking forward to the clash of Charlotte Ritchie’s husbands, and to two highly competitive contestants who will hype up each other’s competitive natures all in the midst of Jenny Eclair’s cloud of chaos.

I’m writing this before seeing any of this task, just to have a record of what I’m expecting going in. Expectations are high. I think Ivo might get eaten alive.

- I always look forward to that moment in the first team task, when the contestants see their teammates for the first time. As far as those moments go, this one’s pretty good:

- Oh my God. It’s perfect. Thank you, Taskmaster, this is exactly what I wanted.

I’m trying to picture the meeting where they divided up the teams. I hope they weren’t forced to do this by schedules or whatever, I hope all the contestants had availability on all potential days, just because it’s funnier if the Taskmaster people planned this. “Guys. Guys. Let’s put the incredibly posh English private school boy with Frankie Boyle. We have to, right? We can’t waste that opportunity.” Their decision to film and edit this entrance like a horror movie makes it so clear that they knew exactly what they were doing.

I mean, these two are rivalling Joe Thomas and Sian Gibson for most awkward initial meeting. But Joe and Sian eventually settled into their own sort of weird, awkward chemistry. I feel like Frankie and Ivo can keep up this level of non-meshing, actively clashing, energies all season. At least all day, as they film the team tasks.

One of Charlotte Ritchie’s husbands standing on tip-toes to hug Charlotte Ritchie’s other husband, while the trailblazing first woman to ever win a Perrier Award looks on. Thanks, Taskmaster. What a good day for feminism.

Incredible. You can’t script that level of awkward. I’m so glad they didn’t try to edit around the less-than-slick television of Ivo talking over Frankie’s one-sentence potato anecdote to say hello to Alex.

Normally when I get screenshots of Ivo I carefully time it so I can get him when his eyes are open, which is rarely. But I think in this case, catching him in his usual state, which is with his eyes closed (seriously, I did not notice how true this was until I made that video last year with all these contestants, and struggled to find clips of Ivo where he was both moving around the stage/set and has his eyes open, he mostly just stands still with his eyes closed) captures the atmosphere better.

- Oh cool, two season 2 references. Obviously a potato next to the red green that can’t be touched is invoking Joe Wilkinson. And a bridge for a potato is invoking Debajo De La Mesa.

- I think from now on, my entire blog may just turn into a repository for screenshots of Frankie Boyle and Ivo Graham together.

- Yeah, this is all I actually want out of a television show.

You’re close, Ivo, but not quite - you’re wrong about it being an either/or. What we want is for one team to be the first thing and the other team to be the second thing, so they can be contrasted in ways that make each one more amusing when set against the other, and can occasionally be edited together in a montage designed to make the differences hilariously clear. And I know I haven’t even seen the first team task yet, but I think this season might out-do all previous ones in that way.

- Are we going to keep up the joke all season where Frankie Boyle is like Ivo Graham’s father who didn’t love him? Because I’m on board with that.

- This post is pretty screenshot heavy, there are just so many images I like.

Oh Jenny, trailblazing veteran comedian though you are, your experience clearly doesn’t extend to understand the dire consequences that can occur when a tiny bit of your shoe touches the red green, and you don’t immediately acknowledge the mistake and start over, this time doing it properly. You don’t want to hide that shit, Jenny. They’ll catch it on camera and then it’ll be worse. Mae knows. Mae’s clearly seen that episode. Mae is not here to fuck around with that sort of thing.

I do really like Mae’s particular brand of competitiveness, which is coming out in Ivo too. The kind where you want to win so much that you’re ridiculously careful about making sure you’ve followed every tiny instruction and accounted for every little thing because you can’t stand the thought of fucking up on a pointless mistake. But then because you’ve been so careful, you hold everyone else to the same standard, expect them to also have meticulously gotten everything right, and call it out if you see them get away with slacking on that, because if you bothered to get it all right then they should have to as well. And yes, at some point in that sentence it became clear that by “you”, I mean “me”, that’s how I live my life and it’s maladaptive at times. But it’s also how Mae Martin and Ivo Graham are playing Taskmaster, and I love seeing it.

- Love how much effort they put into the barrel bridge before realizing they can just use duct tape and poles. Also:

Brilliant. I really hope this screenshot embodies what this team will be like all season, with the two competitive contestants carefully managing a tricky solution to the task, and Jenny dancing and singing on the sidelines for moral support.

- Mae Martin: Stop the clock, I think.

Kiell Smith-Bynoe: I think we could go higher.

Mae Martin: No, I’m scared.

Yep, that’s the kind of so-competitive-you-come-back-around-to-being-cautious I’m talking about. Also, I’m scared too Mae. This is genuinely tense, don’t fuck it up.

No! Careful! I mean, I love the symbolism of the early female comedian from back before they invented more than like four women in comedy, assisting the young(er) queer comedian who’s existing in a world created by the previous generation of feminist trailblazers. But also, I’m worried about all the little things that can go wrong here. I know Mae is meticulous, but how carefully his Jenny watching her shoes’ proximity to the red green?

- After I wrote that last point, I hit “play” on the video again, they raised it even higher, some of the tape started stretching, and without consciously meaning to, I started saying: “No, stop the clock, stop the clock!” out loud, to my laptop screen. At the same time, heard my voice joined by Mae Martin’s:

I get you, Mae. I get you. Do you want to be, like, best friends, or something? You’re not looking for a wife, are you, if Charlotte Ritchie’s off somewhere else?

- Oh God. That was tense. They did it. Well done all around, everyone. Competence on Taskmaster, who would have expected that?

- Ivo. Honey. What are you. What are you doing?

The board isn’t part of it, buddy. What are you doing?

...I knew I was looking forward to seeing Ivo Graham fall apart merely from being in the presence of Frankie Boyle, but I don’t think I expected it to engender quite so much of my current reaction, which is wanting to protect him like a child. Go build the bridge, Ivo.

- There’s a lot of competition in this category, but I think this might be my favourite screenshot of this whole episode so far:

- And it was beaten for that spot a split second after I posted it:

- I don’t know why since there’s been so much other good stuff, but my hardest laugh of this episode so far has come from Ivo Graham going in the house to try to find something that’ll actually work, and Frankie Boyle marches predatorily after him to suggest that they roll the potato in a tube.

- Oh shit. You know what, I was making fun of Frankie’s tube idea, but credit where it’s due, I stand correct. That worked really well.

Greg knows what’s up. Greg’s the one saying the quote in that caption, but from the grin on his face, Alex is also aware that they’ve struck fucking gold with that pairing.

At the end of the season I want to collect all these Frankie/Ivo screenshots (I just remembered that I said last week I’m going to call them “Franko”, I’ll have to start that next week), rank them by awkwardness, and put them in a collage.

And as we come down from the 18 different types of tension at play in the previous task, now we’re in the lab, setting shit on fire. Awesome.

- So it’s the season 8 little finger task, but with a breath instead. Okay. I’m on board.

- Jenny Eclair wants to resuscitate a dying animal. I admire the ambition.

- I think Mae and Kiell’s idea for this probably what I’d do. See if you can set off a chain reaction by blowing on something small. But I think I’d go smaller scale than this - I’m now thinking of the season six task when they tried to extinguish a candle by blowing through a pipe that size, and it didn’t go too well.

- Mae Martin kissing a marble and ordering it not to fuck up: yes, that’s the level of competitiveness we want out of Taskmaster.

- Kiell, you have to put the ball a little way into the pipe before you blow on it, so it’s already going in the right direction. It isn’t lighter than air.

- Again, the level of intensity:

We’re all very attracted to hot queer people who get disproportionately intense about stuff, right? That’s not just me?

- Holy shit, Mae’s worked! I didn’t think it was going to, I thought they put the xylophone too far away. But of course they must have tested it, they’re not messing around.

- Well, didn’t think Kiell’s would work either, so I was right one out of the two times. Also, I don’t think he started that one with a breath. I think he just dropped it down the tube.

- Oh good, marble runs are the smart way to go, but I’d have been disappointed if they’d put fire in the intro and then no one brought fire into the actual task. I’m learning that we can count on Jenny for that sort of thing. Wouldn’t it be fun if it became a running joke throughout the season that Jenny’s thing is setting shit on fire?

- Holy hell. I thought Jenny was going to light a candle in the caravan and then put it out, but she is now actually lighting the curtains on fire. I’ve said before that Taskmaster NZ is fun because it has more lax health and safety standards that Taskmaster UK (I’m not... I mean, politically and just morally I’m aware that health and safety and other regulations are a good thing, sometimes my taste in comedy does not perfectly line up with my actual beliefs, like how funny I think it is to watch Ivo Graham get bullied on a panel show), but that’s taking quite a risk in this one.

New hardest laugh of the episode. If I hadn’t paused the video to write this, I’d have had to pause it anyway to laugh. Brilliant. No notes.

- So, I’ve been taking these one at a time and only focusing on Jenny so far, but what the fuck is Frankie doing?

Is that... is that someone who doesn’t work for the show? Is that just a guy? It’s been mentioned a couple of times before that the Taskmaster house is near a golf course - in season six, when the contestants had to get back to the house, they were asking people for directions “to the golf course”. And in season 7 when they had to throw things over the fence, they talked about seeing people playing golf in the distance. But I thought that was, you know, the distance. Presumably they don’t just have golfers that close to the house while they’re filming.

Holy fuck. Holy fuck. That was incredibly funny. I still don’t understand why that guy was there, it doesn’t matter. Frankie Boyle fucking with a golfer and then folding over in silent giggles like a child playing a door-knocking prank, but it isn’t a child, it’s Frankie Boyle with a golfer, possibly his least favourite type of person after privately educated posh English boys - fucking hell that’s funny. I’d watch a whole show of just Frankie doing that.

True, but perhaps not the best way to ingratiate yourself with the hosts of this show, or least with one of them, and that reminds me, Alex, please cast your buddy John Robins on here someday.

- Alex just told us that the garden “backs onto a golf course”, so I guess they’re a lot closer to it than I’d thought.

Seriously, fucking commission that. I’d watch it, and I’m not alone. Raise your hand if you’d watch an entire show of Frankie Boyle blowing whistles in inappropriate places.

- Well, I got so into Ivo’s task attempt that I haven’t even catalogued it (which is probably fine, I definitely did not need to screenshot nearly as much of this episode as I did), and at the end, it at least came close to matching Frankie’s attempt in my hardest laugh of the episode. Oh, that was a beautiful disaster. Trying the radio first, getting rejected. Then getting rejected by Greg. Then by Ed Gamble. Apologizing for breaking glasses and then failing to break glasses. Failing to break glasses, how hard can that be? I thought he was going to do creepily sexy breathing down the phone at Ed, but instead for some reason he really intensely sort of breathily shouted.

Oh yes, Ivo. It feels like one point. But it was a heroic failure.

And to be fair, Kiell’s breath wasn’t even what moved the ball. Ivo did move the basketball with his breath. If you say Ivo’s “one breath” was the last one he took, since that’s the one that actually moved the ball, then that probably took place after Ed Gamble hung up. So he didn’t even annoy Ed with that one, and the glasses didn’t break. But he did move a ball. More, technically, than Kiell did.

- Wow, the scoring is all over the place here. I feel like Greg took on board accusations of being too generous at other times, and might be overcorrecting. But then he was weirdly generous in the music task.

Anyway, scoring aside, that was a great bit of chat following that task. Ivo and Kiell sniping at each other to continue the animosity developed in the last week’s prize task. Mae trying to remind people of their nice little bing. Greg saying he can’t give five points for “putting off a golfer”. Frankie Boyle, of all people, accusing him of being jaded. Alex correcting Greg’s scoring (and being right - Kiell should definitely not have beaten Jenny or even Ivo) and Greg acquiescing. There seemed to be a bit of distance in the studio in last week’s episode, but they’re getting into it now.

- Love Ivo covering hi smouth in shock at the sight of that scoreboard:

I don’t imagine this will happen much, but it is fun to see Frankie Boyle at the top of a Taskmaster board.

- Ah, the old Taskmaster classic: arts and crafts with visual and material-based restrictions. A classic for a reason.

- Ivo not just looking under his table, but spinning it around to see the whole thing:

That is a man who has seen Taskmaster before, and has just watched his own potato bridge task, possibly being reminded of previous potato bridge tasks, and what lessons they’ve taught us. Debajo De La Mesa. And it worked out this time, there were scissors.

- I think how very fucking pleased with himself Kiell looked after coming up with his idea summarizes his whole vibe in quite a fun way.

- As the second one to complete the task, Frankie looks... less pleased with himself, in a way that also summarizes his vibe.

- Kiell, you fucking idiot! Just say it’s a caterpillar and you’d be fine! It looks more like a caterpillar than a snake anyway! Frankie’s not going to be at the top of the scoreboard often, don’t take this episode away from him!

- Yeah, Greg’s right, Mae’s was good. It should have won for not just being tape on a board. But I think that scoring was mostly right.

- Oh God, that was fucking good. The whole episode, so good. I thought last week’s was a good opener, but the quality here has escalated as they’ve settled into it. Also, this post got a little out of hand, I’m going to need to make fewer screenshots and comments next time because stopping it so often means this whole thing took me about four hours (though I did also stop and do laundry and make lunch). But fuck it, I have nothing else to do on this holiday Friday, and that was great.

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