Differences in Books and Quiz Show Creation | 16min snip from RHLSTP with Richard Herring

Speaker 2
Yours is
Speaker 5
the biggest thank you
Speaker 2
If they're the same height, but yours is slightly wider, which might if you've got thin bookshelves this one might stick out your bookshelves, that's what I'm saying
Speaker 6
and Is
Speaker 2
four thousand words approximately mine ah?
Speaker 8
Yours isn't that many not a clue not
Speaker 3
a clue I mean to be
Speaker 5
honest We
Speaker 3
can work it out if we can we should
Speaker 1
we count one pages worth and then multiply it If we got time yeah, I'll count out loud if you want
Speaker 2
I've just watched someone trying to work out how many baked beans Make up the circumference of caravan So this is very similar
Speaker 1
It's about 120 words per page because there's lots of blank space. Yeah, and there's
Speaker 3
300 pages, okay
Speaker 2
There's literally nothing between they're both just a load of stupid golf put in the book that you can read out your mates. Thank you Richard. Yeah It is a phenomenon taskmaster. It's
Speaker 7
an
Speaker 2
incredibly enjoyable television program You're not expecting me to be
Speaker 8
complimentary no I was okay
Speaker 7
Look surprise like
Speaker 2
you haven't realized yourself. Well phenomenon
Speaker 1
is raw is too strong a word. I think I
Speaker 2
Think I think it's quite a game changer I think because I've talked to osmosis a lot Richard osmosis your main rival
Speaker 3
in quiz show creation and height. Yes And you're both tall men, but he's taller. Yeah and love as well. You know this that we
Speaker 1
My wife. Yeah, not true at all Nothing there. I've no
Speaker 3
Nisolation stories, but
Speaker 2
you know that that idea of the same people coming back to the in the same show When he tried to pitch that we're gonna know who won't watch show with the same people in the club Mac every week Yeah,
Speaker 3
that's a big game changer. Yeah, although that's just a sitcom
Speaker 1
really I mean that's how we pitch to we pitch it said the lots of the channel said we don't want to panel show We're the same people each week and we said well you can't you can't do that because people get to know the characters So yeah,
Speaker 3
that's our argument for that and carry on about yeah
Speaker 2
It's a nobody's they well there's been a lot of things that come out Subsequently that I think it's similar ish yes one of them that you're the button
Speaker 5
which is you're involved in is that what it's called?
Speaker 1
Yeah, it's called the button. Yeah, it's not my idea people think it is sometimes But it's not yeah, that's him. That's taskmaster with normal people are spoke with households Yeah, no, it's gone much. It's lasted much longer than I thought it would and it's nice
Speaker 2
Relative, you know, it's only what 2015 you did the actual first is that right?
Speaker 1
We did it in Edinburgh 2010. Yeah Yeah,
Speaker 5
I think I'll tell you
Speaker 1
something you've been on for three years.
Speaker 3
Yeah, 2015
Speaker 8
you're done
Speaker 2
like about 10 series of it already
Speaker 3
I've done seven.
Speaker 1
Yeah, but that's because it's on Dave I suppose as in it if they've got something that works They're good at supporting it and putting it on all the time Yeah, and I think they're they're feeling was for something to land. It's got a
Speaker 3
Hit you
Speaker 1
a lot. They wanted it just be on all the times of exists. Yeah
Speaker 7
Look
Speaker 2
how when you get your crazy ideas from Those crazy I crazy
Speaker 1
ideas. It's a great question Why genuinely where I got lots the idea for one series which makes me sound I think it makes me sound Makes me think I sound cool But actually makes me sound like an awful person I had a I had a hot tub for two weeks my wife rented a hot tub for my birthday for two weeks And I sat in the hot tub for two weeks and came up with ideas because there's no you can't have computers or laptops The same thing You can't have computers all laptops in there They're the two things you can't have in a hot tub so so you just out there forced us or pen and paper
Speaker 2
Recording what you come
Speaker 1
up with no I get ended up with one idea I could do weeks of that no that was I tend to go to places like that like hot tubs or just walks in the woods where you have no distractions Yeah, and yeah, that was that that's a genuine answer to
Speaker 2
I always just that I copied him off the goodies. That's my answer that question, but it's
Speaker 7
But it's what
Speaker 2
wasn't it's lovely because it's sort of simplistic in lots of ways isn't it? They're very
Speaker 3
lots of stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 2
yeah, there's the highest tower out of some
Speaker 1
boxes. That's the show and Sometimes with your eyes shut yeah,
Speaker 7
but it's
Speaker 2
big it creates really great If you've got funny people doing it I think I've seen you saying somewhere if people had if you told them what they were doing beforehand It would be a terrible show mm-hmm, but again TV tends to work on the prescription Well, let's should we give them all the questions? Yeah, I
Speaker 1
think we had to go over the line was to persuade the channels that they didn't have to have a script and they didn't have to know what was going to happen and I mean, I think all I do is write half a joke I write a man walked into a bar and then I get these better comedians to come in and do the punchline So all I come up with is here's your materials
Speaker 7
Well,
Speaker 2
I think there's a skill is it's the same as you know Might emerge the questions they look like it's just a man Looking around the room seeing a thing and then writing a question Evolving that thing or going on the internet seeing a thing and then writing a question about the thing and it very much is not that I think it's very much about a question expert sitting down and thinking a question expert Questions that will make people talk about stuff And I think that did you have tasks that you get filmed and don't use to some of them not work I'm gonna ask the
Speaker 1
question you asked first and then I'll ask that question Because otherwise what did I ask before that you asked me
Speaker 2
When did you get your
Speaker 1
crazy idea? No, you
Speaker 3
asked me how basic the idea that yeah other questions just based the tasks are quite basic
Speaker 1
Maybe one of
Speaker 3
the question it was an observation was observation
Speaker 1
because I think they're like your question book is that what it's called?
Speaker 2
More or less. Yes Let's not give each other anymore Some
Speaker 1
of the questions in the question book are very basic some of them are very clever I think And I say with a task some of them are very basic like don't blink and some of them I think are reasonably clever But the ones that are funniest tend to be the most basic ones it's always disappointing But yeah, I put a lot of thought into some of them. Yeah, but the more effort we go into setting up the task the least Well, they the less well they work. That's our sort of law If we put if there's too much going into the setup than the punchline
Speaker 3
isn't as good sure
Speaker 2
your second question Yes, so about whether you always Film do you have a film ones? You don't show? We
Speaker 3
always film the stuff that we show
Speaker 5
That's a
Speaker 2
basic out
Speaker 8
of it sometimes some shows of No,
Speaker 1
it's really important. Yeah, I think for the viewers point of view is a home especially exactly Yeah, because otherwise either you're describing it later Or they'll never know it happened at all. Yeah, so you've got to film it. You have got to film it Unless another thing that we had
Speaker 2
to get I would have gone in and said to the TV people I don't think we should feel that you should film at all I think you should have the same people they
Speaker 6
hear me out
Speaker 1
Same people each week. Yeah each week. Don't tell them what's gonna happen
Speaker 2
Everyone's wearing a sheet yeah, you struggle
Speaker 6
for such a
Speaker 1
long time before getting the worst sheet I was hoping for more
Speaker 7
Do
Speaker 2
you ever film something But
Speaker 8
yes, we do
Speaker 1
we always film something Always film it I thought I'd made that clear No, so again, we always just we as an early decision. We've got a director and he said it was more him than me Actually, he said we've got to film this stuff Because of them because of a lot because of the medium that it's on a lot of the book is not filmed
Speaker 2
Maybe that's why I was getting confused
Speaker 1
that one. Yeah, that's not film. That's typed a lot of these are typed Yeah,
Speaker 8
but you
Speaker 2
always write you always have to write down the stuff in the book. Yeah,
Speaker 3
yeah knows
Speaker 9
Yeah,
Speaker 1
no you do it need to always at some point make sure it's first typed and then printed yeah
Speaker 3
Yeah,
Speaker 2
and they're distributed through the book and have you ever after filming something? Oh? Said let's not show that we might as well not have filmed it like rich said yeah,
Speaker 3
no, I'd
Speaker 1
say 98% of the stuff
Speaker 3
we don't show
Speaker 1
It's very labor-intensive. So we've yeah, we've been filming for 20 20 odd years now No, I think no the other way around I'd say we probably in a series of 10 episodes We do about there's about 40 tasks in that show this 35 to 40 tasks and we probably film about 45 right there's your factual answer Do you like it? I did do you think a good task would
Speaker 6
be a man lives near
Speaker 2
a big field. There's quite full of stones and then
Speaker 6
The contestants each
Speaker 2
have to try and clear that I mean give them a different field But they're all the same size you have to and they've all got as many stones and you have to check They've all got the same amount of stones now that wouldn't work And then they'd have to clear the stones out. They would probably take about 500 years.
Speaker 3
Yeah
Speaker 8
Why
Speaker 1
did you start with there's I know No, that's
Speaker 3
not that wouldn't that's an example of not a good
Speaker 2
okay, so it takes too long It
Speaker 3
takes too long. Yeah, we've been staining.
Speaker 1
I think what you wouldn't get a variety of methods probably no you'd start We had one like that which was Similar in a way which was the we gave them each an enormous role of bubble wrap Yes
Speaker 3
And it was pop the bubbles as fast as basic
Speaker 1
class monster stuff But pop the bubbles as fast as possible and the little twist was your time starts when you pop your first bubble So you have as long as you want to plan it and I was sort of hoping people would take a couple of weeks You know come back with an incinerator one week and say I'm ready But they all started by somebody got a steep a mini cricket steamroll, okay, somebody else got a van Remember the others people got knives, but bubble wraps amazing and they all started and ended up just having to jump on them For 25 minutes Even
Speaker 3
a steamroll doesn't pop all the bubbles. They just
Speaker 1
pushes the air around So it'd be like your field. You just end up seeing five comedians picking up stones like that. I'd like that I'm pitching that show so
Speaker 2
you're saying you don't want that so I can take that you can take that and I can do the field
Speaker 1
Good I didn't fully listen to that story. We're just told early. Yeah, but I knew you were referring to it Yeah, but I didn't I was out. I didn't know what to do with what you
Speaker 2
with with the story. No, you did well You got through it really? Yeah
Speaker 7
So you have done well come back to task myself
Speaker 2
because I've got lots of questions about task monster. Okay, you'd be
Speaker 3
great on it Thank you.
Speaker 5
I would a lot
Speaker 2
of people have said that yeah I thought no, I know I need the people who make
Speaker 5
the decision. Well
Speaker 3
the trouble is it
Speaker 1
all comes when you're picking the car So it basically
Speaker 3
comes down to who I want in the show
Speaker 1
You don't
Speaker 2
want someone who's too good that's the thing no wouldn't work wouldn't work
Speaker 5
Just do all this stuff perfectly do you prefer the
Speaker 2
people who mess around and do it wrong or the people who try their hardest to do it? Right, I don't like you need a mixture of both. Okay three options Something else
Speaker 1
I think I'd
Speaker 6
be be yeah
Speaker 7
You well you've been you're
Speaker 2
in this little Group of people who are very creative they get Edinburgh so I haven't seen all of your head and shows I have seen some of your Edinburgh shows And but you're you and Tim key who you're very good friends with and Mark Watson. He very good friends with yeah we've done quite ambitious projects in Edinburgh
Speaker 1
yes, you do quite you've
Speaker 3
done it. No, I think
Speaker 2
you guys do I mean a there's loads of you So you spread it around you run around Yeah, but it's quite consistently. Well, you know, I say you did Taskmaster in yes that longer 2010 I think you emailed me and asked me if I would take part and Fair dues
Speaker 7
Turn down the Beatles that
Speaker 2
so I am and Your foot
Speaker 7
was your first show
Speaker 2
How to avoid two chips in the year 2000 is that correct? I think
Speaker 1
so yeah, it might be 1999
Speaker 3
no What's 2000?
Speaker 5
I think it was
Speaker 2
2000 because I wasn't in Edinburgh that year and I don't
Speaker 1
recall that I there's no reason why you should recall It was in the old Gilda balloon for I got bent down. We got a one star. We only got one review and it's a one star review right There's a three-hander me and Tom Bell. Yes.
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's very
Speaker 1
Funny man. Yeah, and he's doing great things and then a girl called Emma Conway who's now Works for James Corden's production company in America very high up. So they're yeah, yeah
Speaker 2
We got so that one star was you know, well, it was between
Speaker 5
three as a third of a star each Yeah, how long
Speaker 1
should I talk about this show for? As long
Speaker 3
as you think it's interesting
Speaker 1
it was so it was awful But we had this probably the best month of my life. It was I got together with my future wife During the month one night. We each had every flavor of Picari Breeza before going on stage So yeah, I had a lot I had a lot of fun you remember it was a year when they were the Girls with like you weren't there. They were girls with lighted see Marbury
Speaker 3
girls in no way. Oh,
Speaker 2
yeah, they were there were Marbury girls on other years Yeah, I
Speaker 1
think it was a it was a fun time. There
Speaker 2
was a bit there were girls who walked around the Peasants courtyard. Yeah handing out three cigarettes. Yeah,
Speaker 1
I didn't smoke loads of cigarettes and Rich Hall was I think he probably won the perrier that year I don't know but it was just a one-f- I was a student and it was a very bad show It was set in a submarine, but we didn't reveal that to the end and we're thinking everyone's gonna go wow It was in the submarine the whole time, but there was no relevance to And we got the name from a book of We nicknamed the name there's a book
Speaker 3
of titles
Speaker 1
of books with the funniest titles. Okay, so it makes sense. Yeah the sentence So even the name what I think the name's quite funny how to avoid a few ships. Yeah, we didn't even come up with that
Speaker 3
Okay, so what would
Speaker 2
you because there's a lot of shows? What would have been your which is your favorite of those many shows you?
Speaker 3
Well, you
Speaker 1
know you did that thing where you
Speaker 3
you redid all your old shows. Yes
Speaker 1
How was that sorry to not ask you a
Speaker 2
question? It was you know, that's allowed.
Speaker 5
Okay
Speaker 2
It was good actually I was it was I so did 12 well I did let all the 11 shows I've done and then at the end I did a new show and happy now at the end Which was the first performance of happy now which I didn't really have time to write because I
Speaker 3
was learning the other 11 But still surprised
Speaker 8
and
Speaker 6
came
Speaker 2
out quite well the right from the right from the beginning Because I wasn't doing it for the first time for ages and I kind of thought it'd be interesting to do something in London Near my house where I was living at the time. Yeah, and I thought it'd be a bit of a challenge and I also felt that He I was a much better stand up So I wanted to see if I could go back and do those shows better.
Speaker 8
Yeah, that's why I would yeah
Speaker 3
Do if I was to revisit an old show. Yeah,
Speaker 1
so the first show we did was prove my favorite in 2003 called making fish laugh Which I think was really good, but now I look back at the I was useless a comedy and not say I'm much better now But I think you'd have a much better take on it. Yeah, I think I was so naive and
Speaker 3
I stuck to the script every single night Word for word and they
Speaker 1
wouldn't like much mucking around and it was with Tim Key again Who I underused criminally, you know, you'd put him for friend and I would be assistant So that was probably my favorite show because it's your new to all I actually worked Yeah, but I do sort of think I'd love to I've got no recordings of it.

Retro RHLSTP 63- Alex Horne

RHLSTP with Richard Herring

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