A Spicy Hot Taskmaster Take (Part 2)
In yesterday’s newsletter, I mentioned that E and I have been watching Taskmaster, a British comedy game show. And something that recently struck me about this show is the sexual tension between the men on it. Specifically, the tension between the two hosts, but also between the hosts and the contestants.
The hosts are Greg Davies, who plays the Taskmaster and is in charge of awarding points to contestants, and Alex Horne, who plays his assistant. I say “plays” because, although they are using their real names, they’re definitely playing particular versions of themselves. Alex Horne, especially, has crafted a persona. He’s actually the mastermind who created the show, but he has cast himself as the awkward assistant who tries his best and worships his boss, Greg Davies.
When I first brought up the topic of sexual tension on Taskmaster with E, I called Greg and Alex’s dynamic homoerotic. E quickly suggested that it’s more homoromantic, and I completely agree. The two hosts often give off old married couple vibes and make reference to things they do when they’re at home together. Sometimes Alex will tack an “I love you” onto the end of a statement about how amazing Greg is, but Greg doesn’t typically say it back. The humor comes from the power imbalance between narcissistic Greg Davies and hopelessly devoted Alex Horne. The humor doesn’t come from the fact that it’s two men in a relationship that reads as romantic. At least to me, it doesn’t feel like queerness is being played for laughs.
I think it’s safe to say that comedy - from stand-up to Disney films - is rife with homophobia. And comedy is also very personal - we don’t all find the same jokes funny and we don’t all find the same jokes offensive. I think Taskmaster has done a nice job of making same-sex romantic and sexual tension the context for humor without making it the butt of the joke, but maybe other queer folks will disagree. I can imagine someone else looking at the same source material as me and deciding that Greg and Alex’s power imbalance plays too much into the harmful stereotype of gay men as predatory.
One other layer that I think is worth mentioning is that Greg Davies is a queer man. I don’t know specifically how he identifies, but he has said, sincerely, on the show, “I like men and I like women.” So, even if queerness is the butt of the joke, a queer man is making it the butt of the joke. A member of a marginalized group is making a joke about that marginalized group - it’s punching sideways instead of punching down. That doesn’t necessarily make it okay, but it does put it in a different context.