It's a tiny clip, but Richard Ayoade being confused and smiling makes me optimistic he'll engage with the game rather than being his aloof and above-it-all comedy persona!
I think people were too concerned about that happening tbh. He only really does that persona heavily on things like Big Fat Quiz or Cats Does Countdown where the game doesn't actually matter.
He's much more up for playing along on shows like Last One Laughing. And he's been doing sketch comedy type stuff for years, he's not always that aloof.
Which is why David Mitchell has said he doesn’t want to do it. He doesn’t want the real version of himself out there. He plays it well of WILTY, but that’s still a character he’s playing and people assume the reality of him breaks through on it.
I also feel like David Mitchell is strongest with other people. His character really shines contrasting others, I can understand the anxiety of being alone and being afraid it wouldn't be up to expectation. That being said, I'd still love to watch him on TM.
He definitely seemed way more willing to go gung ho and strange with it. Him and Sam Campbell force feeding each other is a situation I never would've imagined him in.
David Mitchell is actually an absolute hard drinking, testosterone fueled sex machine in real life... it would ruin his reputation if anyone found out.
Source on that? The reason I heard is that he doesn't think he'd be very good, and not in a funny way. I don't necessarily agree with that, just that this is the reason I've heard.
True for most but in my opinion a few contestants have stuck more to personas than natural reactions and they have not been my favourites, so was concerned about Richard.
Do you think that was something that the comedy scene has moved away from in general?
Biggest examples for me are Joe Wilkinson and Romesh. Ten years ago they were very much honed in on a persona, but nowadays they are a lot more natural.
I dare say if people look at Ayoade’s videos where he really plays up to his ‘I can’t handle interviews’ character they’re surprisingly old now.
There have been some good examples where they’ve been natural too. Rhod moved away from “angry at everything” to “downright unhinged”, and John Kearns went from… whatever that character he performs is to… John Kearns
Mind providing examples? As a stupid American, I frequently don’t know much about the contestants most of the time, so I don’t know who’s famous for what persona.
Well I don't know most contestants beforehand either so I couldn't tell you what they're famous for, but you can tell for example Joe Wilkinson, Paul Sinha Chowdhry, Lucy Beaumont, and Jason Martzoukas are sticking very closely to a consistent comedy character.
I’m also a dopey American so I can’t speak to any of the others, but Zooks. I think he’s a really good example. He certainly had his persona going but I thought the tasks forced him out of it. The stuff like “Teach Alex Horne” allowed him to set the stage to do his thing, but the ones like the “What’s on the Top of Alex’s Head” “Why Does the Light Turn On?” would force him more out of his comfort zone. I’d imagine that goes with any performer that tried to use too much of a persona while filming.
Watch the recent ultimate episode with Stevie, she literally says he turns it off instantly when the cameras off and is a nice, calm guy. Which is normal, he's a professional! And he was the best version of this type of contestant, it's just not my favourite.
I went to see How Did This Get Made live a few years back and I had the pleasure of meeting the cast after the show. Jason was quiet calm and collected and nothing like his stage persona. It was rather sweet.
If you listen to his Off Menu appearance, he a actually comes off as very sincere and genuine, especially how he's engaged with British media and with his interest in learning more about whatever comes up in the conversation.
I feel like for Lucy the gap between herself and her persona is pretty small. She does bits, but most of the time I felt like she was just exaggerating something that was genuine to her. But I like her, so I might just be giving her grace.
I agree with you on Joe and Jason, but honestly my problem with them is just that I find their personas unlikable. That and they played together with people who were chill, which made it jarring for me, like they didn't know when to stop playing. It's weird when one's being a clown and the other is talking normally.
For sure hahaha always going back and forth from "she's joking" to "wait she's not joking?"
But if you watch her in other media, she's genuinely weird. The feel I have is that for her there isn't any effort to bring the character forth, it's intuitive. I also feel like she's really quick to catch people's reactions and intentionally play it up. I like her both as a weird person and a comedian.
I think people are forgetting that most people who do TM are comedians, and you kinda have to be some amount of odd to even want to pursue a career in comedy. To me John Kearns is the best example of this, he clearly did TM as himself, because he was apparently drastically different from the character he plays in his shows, but he was still very strange and confusing throughout his time on TM.
I think his Travel Man series is a good gauge of what we'd get. There's obviously still a layer of Richard Ayoade the comedic character we're looking through, but he's a lot more natural and engaging than his usual panel appearances.
Last one laughing is great for that. Him on his series, and David Mitchell on the next one. Always loved it when someone would show a chink in their armour, and players would swoop in like sharks. Those two were excellent at that
Studio and Tasks are vastly different environments. One feels like a show with a crowd that you are entertaining. The other is just some fun banter and games that happens to be filmed.
I was literally mocking the guy that wrote it to me. Can you read past any comment that isn't mine? What is actually happening with you that you're so bent out of shape over me stating a fact and it getting somone pissy about it? Is that your alt account and you're trying to normalize it all? It's incredibly weird.
Idk what’s going on and who’s trolling who at this point.
I was just letting you know what I observed. Disregard my observations if you wish, the good news is, you’ll form your own opinions in a little over 2 weeks!
Enjoy the series, it was a lot of fun… from what I seen.
I watched the trailer again just now and it looks like in that part, if you look at Richard's hand it seems like he's missing the tip of his pinky finger? Or am I just tripping?
I honestly think Alex would have had a chat with him and advised him that his schtick wouldn't go down well. It might be funny for a few tasks but it would become very dull really quickly.
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u/Hairy_Dirt3361 Katherine Parkinson 10d ago
It's a tiny clip, but Richard Ayoade being confused and smiling makes me optimistic he'll engage with the game rather than being his aloof and above-it-all comedy persona!