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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, welcome to the Taskmaster podcast. It's me, Ed Gamble, host of the Taskmaster podcast. It's another Zoom one this week. Zoom is, I'd say, fine. That's how we always used to do it. I like being in the caravan to record them. We get a good video, obviously. But this was necessary. This was another necessary Zoom one. Last week was Jason Mantzoukas, of course, lives in America.
And this week... We had to have Kumail Nanjiani on the podcast. He is a brilliant competitor in this series of Taskmaster season, if you want to be like that. It's late on to get Kumail, episode nine, but he's a busy man. We're very happy we've made this work.
delighted to have Kamail on the podcast very excited to speak to Kamail about his time on Taskmaster we've also got so many episodes to talk about so many things that have already happened so it's an exciting time to get someone on we're going to crack on with it I hope you've seen Taskmaster series 21 episode 9 that's what we'll be talking about if you've not go and watch it on channel4.com or YouTube if you're international wherever you watch it and then come back and listen to this podcast it's going to be a fun one I've got loads of things to chat to Kamail about
especially his Gambelian energy. Gambelian is a direct quote from Jason Manzoukas. Let's crack on with it. This is Taskmaster Series 21, Episode 9, with Kumail Nanjiani. Welcome, Kumail, to the Taskmaster Podcast.
Hey, thanks for having me. I wish I was there in person. I'm sorry I couldn't make it over.
That's absolutely fine. You're the second Zoom interview in a row. It's perfectly acceptable. If someone's American, they get an immediate pass on doing a Zoom interview. Who was the other Zoom? Jason? Jason Manzoukas, last week.
He's always just before me, isn't he? I will... But you need to let go of this bitterness now, Kermane. No, but you have to... No. It's my engine. Bitterness is my engine.
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Chapter 2: How did Kumail Nanjiani get involved with Taskmaster?
You have to let people know that I was set to do it two series before him so that it's not just my word for it. You know I was there and making it and then couldn't quite get it to work.
Well, what I will say is Jason on the podcast last week said that you got into Taskmaster after he recommended it to you. It's absolutely not true.
That is fucking infuriating. He's... We know he's an agent of chaos, and I don't think we should listen to anything he says.
Well, he also said you were very good on the show and he's really enjoying watching you. Should we listen to that? We should listen to it. It's chaos.
It's not fully lying. Fully lying would be predictable. There's genuine wisdom and truth amongst, you know, blatant lies.
We'll pick and choose. He also said, I just want to get this off my chest immediately. He compared your energy in Taskmaster. He described it as Gambellian, meaning it was in the style of Ed Gamble. How do you feel about that? Because I know that's something you were specifically avoiding.
No, I didn't specifically avoid it. I think what we have, both of us, is we both like to win and we're both fairly competitive. And I had this weird thing where, you know, if I'm at a party and a board game breaks out, Emily's always like, you have to be a little bit careful. And so I went in... wanting to be extra careful for a couple of reasons. One, I know that that demon is inside me.
And two, I'm also, you know, I'm an outsider. I'm not from there. Everybody else knows each other and are friends. I'm sort of the new guy in. So I was like, I can't be the guy coming in and then being violently competitive at a game where that does not matter. But obviously I see that popping up.
What did help slash hurt is that I started off so poorly that very quickly I realized, okay, this is, if I try and keep winning, it's just going to lead to more and more heartbreak. And so I guess that helped, but yeah, a little bit Gambellian about the rules because there are rules for, for a fucking reason.
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Chapter 3: What are Kumail's thoughts on the Gambelian comparison?
Yeah, of course. That was the homework. You used this as Google. You're like, who are these people and what do I need to know?
Yeah, which usually I do that for the beginning of every season. I text you guys and I say, all right, who is it? I can guess which ones you're friends with. A lot of the ones with Gambelian energy you guys end up being friends with. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew Armando because I'd done an episode of Veep and I'm a huge fan of his and, you know, the thick of it and all that stuff. So, knew him.
Also was a fan of Gavin and Stacey, so knew Joanna's work, but did not know her personally.
I think all of us are going through something where we know Joanna from Gavin and Stacey, we have no idea of Joanna the woman until we watch Taskmaster the first time, and there are so many delights to be discovered.
yes and so and then joel you guys said was absolutely lovely and um and then amy the same and uh yeah so that's the research i did and i thought going in oh joel on paper gambelian energy he's going to be my competition he does not have gambelian energy not at all he's a he's a child yeah that's nice so you're saying i'm not a child
I mean, we're two different sorts of children, right?
You and I are similar sorts of children and he's a totally different sort of child. You know, we're the sort of child that's like, hey, I want your toy. And he's the sort of child that's like, I can't spell toy. I don't know what a toy is. Oh, look, a leaf. Maybe this is a toy.
And that's the clip. You've had so many highlights already on the series so far, Kamail. Oh, my God. Obviously, we do need to talk about the browser history. Aha, do we? Well, yeah, kind of, because I was there for that recording, so I got to watch that unfold. I got to see you afterwards walk into the green room with your head in your hands.
A big swing, that could be fair to say it's a big swing.
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Chapter 4: How does Kumail handle competition on Taskmaster?
Yeah. I, you know, I decided I would do that. And then I was like, I'm not going to look at my history at all because if I decide that, then I'll change my mind. And I don't want to change my mind because I know this is... This is a good one. If I don't get five points for this, you know. And so I did not look at the history until Alex sat next to me.
And it is really, really, it's embarrassing for many, many reasons. There were some specific searches that did make it to the VTR that I am not, I wish people didn't know about.
know other than that i guess no regrets on that one look i thought mature women showed you in a very good light okay what i want to clarify is i looked for free mature women because i didn't want to bring a credit card into this and some people thought the original caption said apparently premature women So I have to, that's what the YouTube AI said I said, so I want to clarify.
It is not.
I'm cheap, not a criminal.
Yeah, I don't think anyone would think that, and no one would expect Taskmaster to let that through the edit. I'd imagine you'd be removed from the show if that happened. Also, that could mean many things. That could mean women of age who were born prematurely, which is an odd fact.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're fine. They're in their 40s to 50s now.
they were preemies they had a couple weeks in the in nikku they're fine now everything's fine but there's something about that specifically that really excites you i what yes i specifically want women who are of age but were born a couple weeks early yeah yeah you know there's like a real fight in them yeah it was touch and go for a while but they really pulled through and everything's fine
and now everything's turned out exactly as their parents had imagined yeah so it does it does you know i got nothing to hide that's what that says yeah you know people like things that's that's my defense people like things people like things um before we talk about this episode specifically kamel i also want to talk about the alphabet stairs task Okay, that's another one.
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Kumail face during the tasks?
You think that, why was 11 the cutoff?
I don't know.
A dozen is unreasonable. Eleven.
Yeah, eleven's fine. But ten's not enough. Remember that. You can't just have ten curly whirlies.
Well, ten just feels like a round number, like you wanted to get to ten and quit. I get that. Get past ten. I get it. You know, ten feels like pre-planned. Eleven feels like it came from the soul.
Yeah, yeah. And twelve is, I guess, the jaw just sort of wears out at twelve.
I think you, yeah, I guess. And then you can't stay on 12 because then it doesn't. That sounds weird. 13 is a baker's dozen. Got to get to 14. And then that 14 is too many Curly Whirlies. So honestly, 11 is just the right number, Joanna.
It's perfect, yeah. And she just liked the chewing. It feels like she could have just had some gum at this point if she wanted to chew.
I don't like Curly Whirlies. I don't think they're a good chocolate bar. You don't? I don't.
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Chapter 6: What unique strategies did contestants use in the tasks?
I loved, like, the chewiness of them, right? So I soon went to three curly whirlies, but then I was like, it just wasn't enough, because I was like, oh, God, I need the chewing, I need the chewing. Quite soon I went to eight curly whirlies. Then I was like, if you're going to do eight, you may as well do ten. Then it still wasn't enough, and I went, sod it, get 11.
So I would eat, like, 11 curly whirlies every single day. Can you imagine that all clumped together?
That's like the size of a bowling ball.
I didn't like them after eight. After eight, I was just like... Don't bring after eights into this.
Task one, work out what powers the bulb in the lab. You may only give one answer and you may only enter the lab once. Fastest correct answer wins. Your time starts now.
This one is the one that's frustrated me the most because I came up with a system that is scientific, repeatable, would work 100% of the time, and I was beaten by two people who tied things to long sticks, and Joanna, who's just like, oh, here's a word I know. And they all beat me.
At least Armando had the decency to just read, you know, the first sentence of the task and wander in and disqualify himself. I was very upset at that one. You did beat Amy, actually. You beat Amy, to be fair. Okay, I cannot believe that Joanna just said, it's sunny, it's solar. After Alex five times had said, no, there's batteries. She's like, there's not enough wind for turbine.
He's like, well, no, it's powered. We have a battery. And she still was like, it's sunny, it's solar. That really, really, really, really bugged me.
I'd imagine it did. I was sat there. I was bugged for you. But obviously, knowing how bugged you were, I found it very funny.
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Chapter 7: How does Kumail feel about the scoring system on Taskmaster?
In this specific one, I am struggling to compliment other people because I think their ideas are stupid. That's the only reason. Joanna went in without turning it on either, and she just said solar.
Joanna went in, hadn't turned it on, as Armando did, obviously said the bulb's off because she hadn't turned any switches on, and then just guesses solar because it's sunny, which I guess makes sense as an idea.
No, it does not make sense. There are batteries, Ed. Alex had clarified that it has nothing to do with the conditions of the day.
But the wind, I think, takes longer, maybe, or doesn't produce enough... No, but he's been... There's bad...
It's been going for a while.
It's stored up. But I think it was more sunny than it was windy.
It's got nothing to do with the conditions of the day.
Yeah. But if it wasn't sunny, the bulb wouldn't work, right?
If the battery had stored it, the bulb would have worked.
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Chapter 8: What reflections does Kumail have on his experience on the show?
Which is really smart, but if you do it too early, I guess.
Right, she did it too early. Great idea, did it too early.
Alex is a little bitch and just hit them all back. She also hit the gong and said, woof, which was a lovely moment.
Yes. My only consolation prize would have been if Alex had, you know, gotten his foot caught in the net and fallen on his face, but he didn't do that.
Was that why you were asking him to jump over the net? Of course.
Yeah, I didn't want to see him do a cool thing. I wanted him to fall on his face.
But he did it. No, you looked really cool at the end and he'd really beat you. Yeah. Yeah, you got minus four in the end. Not bad. Not bad. It turns out in the scheme of this game, which is very hard, minus four is a good score. Did I come in second? Yes, you did. You came in second with minus four, but Armando got plus 50.
Joel, of course. Still just one point more than me.
Yeah, just one point for 50 points. And he got 54 points more than you in the game, but only one point more. It doesn't matter. It's just one more point. Yeah, it doesn't matter in the end. Joel, of course, we've talked about Joel. Keeps touching the balls with his hands. He got zero? No. So how do you feel about this? Joel did not get disqualified from this task.
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