Over the past few years, I have grown incredibly fond of Taskmaster, and it has quickly become a comfort watch that I always look forward to. So I was utterly devastated when I saw the line-up for series 22 included two comedians I have very little respect for – Matt Lucas and Richard Ayoade.
Knowing Lucas’ history of regularly wearing blackface in his hit 2003 show Little Britain and Ayoade’s praise of his anti-trans friend Graham Linehan, I was utterly shocked to see their names. I braced for impact a few weeks ago, after seeing rumours online that the pair would be involved in the new series. Now confirmed, the decision has been met with outcry from the fanbase – and I’m as angry as anyone.
They will be joined by some amazing women – Chloe Petts, Isy Suttie and Nina Conti – who I feel deserve better than being tarred by their association with these two controversial comedians.
Since the very start of the show, aside from some shakiness over the gender balance in the line-ups, for the most part, the Channel 4 game show has stood out as wonderfully progressive. It has championed diverse line-ups, allowed people from marginalised communities to broadcast humour that’s punching up rather than down and become a safe haven for progressive fans who are tired of the same old white men with their regressive views on comedy – looking at you, Ricky Gervais.
Some brilliant contestants over the years have included the inimitable Mae Martin, a non-binary comic who shot to the top of the leaderboard. There was disability rights activist and screen star Rosie Jones, who brought all her wit to the fore, and Fatiha El-Ghorri, who happily added to the pool of brilliant hijabi representation on TV. Most importantly, absolutely no one on the show is defined by their otherness, unless it’s a fun inside joke that they are in on.
So it completely boggles the mind that Little Britain’s Matt Lucas would be invited to join this sacred space. Like many already know, there is a long list of reasons as to why. In two of his sketch comedy shows with David Walliams – 2010’s Come Fly With Me and Little Britain – he played every nasty caricature under the sun: from blackface to mocking those with disabilities and punching down on the LGBTQ+ community. He is remembered for characters like a Thai mail order bride called Ting Tong and doing blackface to portray Precious Little – a Jamaican coffee shop worker. Or when he mocked the trans community with his character Florence alongside David Walliams’ Emily, who both self-described as ‘real ladies, and definitely not a couple of rubbish transvestites’.
Although Matt has shared his regret at the offensive nature of the show in recent years, his presence on screen still leaves me deeply uncomfortable. ‘If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldn’t make those jokes about transvestites. I wouldn’t play black characters. Basically, I wouldn’t make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I’d do now,’ he told Big Issue in 2017. Then a few years later, he apologised once more, sharing: ‘David and I have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again, we want to make it clear that it was wrong and we are very sorry.’
Despite his apologies, he’s still stumbled into trouble in recent years – like, when he was co-hosting Great British Bake Off, he faced backlash for cultural appropriation and for mocking those who are gluten-free. However, I believe that an apology doesn’t mean you’re suddenly free from consequences. I appreciate that he won’t be barred from TV forever, but coming on Taskmaster feels like a real slap in the face (much as it did when he encroached on Doctor Who).
All in all, for a show that has become so beloved to minority groups who have, like myself, avoided stars like Matt Lucas due to his contribution to normalising bigotry in the early 2000s, it’s galling to include him now. The insult to injury is the inclusion of Richard, who has also let down the LGBTQ+ community. He has been a vocal supporter of IT Crowd writer Graham Linehan in the past, who has become known for targeting the trans community in recent years. Richard was even a key promoter of Linehan’s memoir when it came out, which was a hugely disappointing move.
Once more, it shows a complete disregard for so much of the audience that makes up the show, even if they are major comedians. Taskmaster has never been about the fame of a contestant (unless you’re Kumail Nanjiani and a super cool Hollywood actor), it’s always been about the wholesome dynamic of the group. Frankly, having comedians there who don’t fall in line with the ethos of all the series before them ruins the magic, and feels like a betrayal.
