Taskmaster Real Season 21 Starts April 9th & WonderCon 2026: Taskmaster LA: Bring Your Own Bestie

 By Jonathan Bilski

Season 21of Taskmaster will air worldwide starting Thursday, April 9th at 2pm PST on the Taskmaster YouTube Channel

The latest participants are: Amy Gledhill, Armando Iannucci, Joanna Page, Joel Dommett and Kumail Nanjiani. 

A man dressed as a pirate was pushing a fancy chair on the sidewalk as I walked by to grab a drink outside of the Anaheim Convention Center. The center had practically shut down for the night with the kiosks shut down and less staff and cosplayers around. I wondered what anime or game this pirate with a fancy office chair was referencing. What strange show was I missing? I didn't expect to see it it an hour later on stage as the Taskmaster's throne!

Friday night at WonderCon, I didn't know what to expect at one of the last panels, but I was pumped. Taskmaster LA returned to WonderCon this year. I've read about it, but wanted to see it. An unofficial version of the game, that pays homage, but not royalty fees, to the beloved British game show. A game where cruel and strange tasks are given to 5 comedians and a taskmaster harshly awards points for how they believe they should be scored. This version's Taskmaster is Ryan Omega and his assistant is Reuben Bresler. They had there friends, many whom are just regular people, participate in their version of Taskmaster. And, much like how the Angels are somehow the Los Angeles Angels even though they are in Anaheim, this was titled Taskmaster LA.

Mixing it up was the idea of: Bring Your Own Bestie. So, bringing your best friend. Kiri Callaghan brought her wife Angelique Rockwood, but this was her second choice, which the other participants and audience did tease. One's a writer of books about magic, another an actress/stunt woman. Another team of ladies was Aki Benson and Shoshanna Ruth Green, and the dude team of Dan Wood and Efran Nava who for the most part have normal jobs like being a librarian.

 

Now, I will say, I get why, you have comedians go on Taskmaster proper. Though, strange to watch this version, it's just not the same flavor of the original. And, you can see why it's hard to replicate the show. Still, hats off to the team behind it replicating as much of the magic of show as the could as this was done out of their own pockets for themselves and WonderCon goers.

Shoshanna, a real comedian did stand out, not for laughs, thought she plays a good elephant in a task, but for the item task. She made a cardboard throne for both Ryan and Reuben, that added a bit of production value to the whole thing.

That may have been the reason her team won. BTW, she was not the person picked for the the game show, but the best friend of the person chosen to participate. So, her being a comedian, had no reason on her being there. 

You need comedians. That's why I look forward to the next season of the real show above.

 

Aki and Shoshanna won that night's version of Taskmaster and that totally deserved it for cardboard craftsmanship.

Check out Shoshanna Ruth Green