However, when I arrive at West London\u2019s Bush Hall to meet the Taskmaster creator in person, I can\u2019t help but comment on how incredibly tall he is. \u201cI get that all the time,\u201d Horne says, before adding that his true height (6\u20192\u2033 according to Google) frequently surprises fans he meets on the street. Dressed in a colourful jumper, trousers and trainers, the comedian looks very different to the suit-wearing underling he plays on the gameshow \u2013 a character who is ready to step out of Davies\u2019s shadow in Horne\u2019s brand new Channel 4 comedy.<\/p>\n
The Horne Section TV Show<\/a> follows Horne \u2013 who is playing a version of himself \u2013 and his comedy band as they set about pitching their own chat show to unimpressed Channel 4 executive Ash (played by Doctor Who<\/a>\u2018s Georgia Tennant), who accidentally commissions the project. \u201cIt is a bit of an amalgamation of all sorts of things,\u201d Horne explains. \u201cSo in the telly show, we get our own TV show. It\u2019s a fictional TV show set in my own house.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit like Alan Partridge. It\u2019s been done before \u2013 so like The Alan Partridge Show or 30 Rock in America, which is actually quite a big influence.\u201d<\/p>\n While the comedian has appeared with his band, which is made up of his childhood friends Ben Reynolds, Ed Sheldrake, Joe Auckland, Mark Brown and Will Collier, on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The Last Leg, Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer and audio series The Horne Section Podcast, this meta Channel 4 sitcom marks their first scripted show. \u201cBecause it\u2019s scripted, and that\u2019s different to what we normally do, we\u2019ve also got bits of it where we just break out and we\u2019re in our rehearsal room just mucking about.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there is an unscripted element to it because we wanted to keep the fresh thing that we always do. So it\u2019s a bit of having our cake and eating it. There\u2019s a story but there\u2019s also us mucking about.\u201d<\/p>\n The group is best known for its comedy songs, while Horne is used to the improvisational style of conversation on Taskmaster. Was tackling script-writing a daunting task? The 44-year-old found it \u201cweirdly\u201d easy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been told a lot about how horrible writing is but I find it quite natural, because I\u2019m writing for my friends and I know them really well,\u201d he says. \u201cBut that was only the first draft and then there was about eight more drafts and then it got less and less fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Creating a sitcom was also a big lesson in \u201cthe language of telly\u201d, Horne says. \u201cI learnt very quickly that less is more and how expensive telly is as well. I\u2019d written in things like, \u2018Somebody exits on a skateboard,\u2019 and they said, \u2018Well they can\u2019t exit on a skateboard because you need a safety officer and crash mats in case they fall off.\u2019 So this guy walks out of the scene now.<\/p>\n \u201cI learnt how to do narrative telly. It was really fun but it was different for us because every performance we normally give is live, one take, that\u2019s it. Whereas this was 20 takes, do it again and again from every angle. That was a skill we didn\u2019t possess before.\u201d<\/p>\n When I ask which format he prefers, Horne delivers a rather diplomatic answer. \u201cI think I prefer having a mix. It\u2019s luxurious to have both in your life. By the end, we really enjoyed crafting it and having another go at something and making it as good as possible, but then when I went back to Taskmaster afterwards, it was a real pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n While The Horne Section TV Show is a chance to show off the band, it also has some serious star power behind it, from the Emmy-winning John Oliver and presenter Anneka Rice, to singer Imogen Heap and Taskmaster\u2019s Greg Davies appearing as guest stars. However, just as Horne battles with Channel 4 over which guests to invite onto his chat show in the sitcom, life appeared to imitate art somewhat.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had people in mind, we had people suggested by Channel 4 and in the show, the fictional Channel 4 and us disagree about who\u2019s a good guest \u2013 and that\u2019s pretty accurate to what happened in the real thing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI got Greg [Davies] by asking Greg. I always wanted him to be in episode 1 because he sort of releases me in the show,\u201d Horne adds. \u201cBut he\u2019s really fun, he\u2019s such a big presence, obviously, and he\u2019s a really good actor so I thought, \u2018Let\u2019s start with him.’\u201d<\/p>\n The show begins in Taskmaster world, with Horne growing resentful of Davies\u2019s big personality and desperately trying to break out on his own \u2013 but when the cameras aren\u2019t rolling, their relationship is actually very normal. \u201cThe dynamic off camera is just two mates. On camera, you\u2019ll see in this, his character develops a bit. He\u2019s pretty peculiar, he\u2019s still the overlord but he\u2019s a bit odd and I\u2019m still in awe of him and slightly scared of him, trying to get permission for everything.<\/p>\n \u201cHe steals the limelight and he doesn\u2019t quite want to set me free. It\u2019s quite a fun dynamic,\u201d he says, before adding that they\u2019ve discussed tackling their \u201corigin story\u201d in a new project. \u201cThere\u2019s more we could do, just Greg and I. We\u2019ve talked about doing an origin story or just why the two of us work together. It\u2019s quite a peculiar little double act. But genuinely off camera, we\u2019re just two normal people who work together and are friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Taskmaster\u2019s Desiree Burch takes on the role of Thora, Alex\u2019s wife\u2019s friend who reluctantly becomes a producer on his chat show, working with Tennant\u2019s Channel 4 commissioner, who represents people in the TV industry \u201cwho\u2019ve managed to get in that job and never get their hands dirty or know how to make a programme\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201c[Tennant] is one of the funniest people in the show. She\u2019s really good at acting. She wrote a nice letter to me \u2013 she\u2019s a proper person and she wrote me a letter to say thank you,\u201d he says. \u201cIt said, \u2018Thank you for giving me that character,\u2019 so I think she enjoyed playing it.\u201d<\/p>\n The whole team already have lots of ideas for a second season, although they\u2019re hoping that the real Channel 4 recommissions them. \u201cMy view is everything on telly should have a second series because you only learn by doing it. And if you commission one, that means you believe in it. If you believe in it enough to do one series, you should give them a second. We\u2019re all ready to do it so we need Channel 4 to let us do another one.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if The Horne Section TV Show didn\u2019t return to our screens, we\u2019re never short of Alex Horne content in Taskmaster \u2013 which is currently airing its 14th season, with Fern Brady, John Kearns, Munya Chawawa and Sarah Millican taking part. However, it\u2019s Dara \u00d3 Briain who seems to be dominating the competition, racking up a whopping 102 points so far.<\/p>\n \u201cI think [\u00d3 Briain] is the perfect contestant because he\u2019s a very clever man. He\u2019s got his PhD in astrophysics I think, he\u2019s competitive, he\u2019s watched the show a lot \u2013 lots of comics go on it who don\u2019t really know it \u2013 he knows the show inside out so he knows where the tricks are. He knows to look under the table.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, he\u2019s got children who watch the show so he\u2019s sort of doing it to impress them. He\u2019s pretty, pretty tough to beat but he doesn\u2019t have all his own way.\u201d<\/p>\n Horne says that on the next season, which has now been filmed, there is one comedian who is an even bigger contender. \u201cWe\u2019ve just finished the next series, I can\u2019t tell you who it is but someone is as good or better than [\u00d3 Briain], which is very exciting for me.<\/p>\n \u201cBut also, it\u2019s one thing being good at the tasks, but quite often people who were the worst are the most memorable. I think you can win Taskmaster without winning Taskmaster.\u201d<\/p>\n While Channel 4 is yet to recommission more beyond the upcoming 15th season, Horne says there\u2019s nothing to worry about. \u201cI think we\u2019re hoping [for more]. I think they will announce things one way or another in the next few months. It\u2019s not the end of Taskmaster.\u201d<\/p>\n As for who he\u2019d like to see take on one of the silliest gameshows on TV, the comedian has a few people in mind. \u201cI went up to Edinburgh this year with my family and it was so exciting seeing people I had not seen before.<\/p>\n \u201cSo there are people like Jack Dee or Dawn French at one end of the scale, but there\u2019s also these brilliant comedians coming through like Sam Campbell, who won the Edinburgh Award this year, or Jordan Grey, who I had not seen before who is just so brilliant. I don\u2019t think running out of comedians will be a problem. Running out of ideas might be.\u201d<\/p>\n Taskmaster has become an important platform for rising stars in the comedy world since it first aired in 2015 and with BBC Two cancelling Mock the Week<\/a>, there aren\u2019t too many shows left that offer stand-ups exposure. \u201cWe now feel a bit of responsibility to show off new people as well as having one or two established people. It\u2019s a good way for people to show they\u2019re funny because it\u2019s them being themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a shame [that Mock the Week ended]. That was good especially for people doing a bit of stand-up. It\u2019s difficult. But then there\u2019s YouTube and stuff nowadays, I suppose.\u201d<\/p>\n As our interview begins to wind up, I decide to ask what has to be one of the toughest questions for Horne: what is his favourite Taskmaster challenge?<\/p>\n \u201cIt does change all the time like we just did a load of tasks yesterday and instantly, they\u2019re my new favourites,\u201d he says. \u201cI like ones which are really open-ended. I wouldn\u2019t like to do them if I was a comic but when they walk in and it\u2019s something like, \u2018Surprise Alex when he comes out of a shed in an hour.’\u201d<\/p>\n This was a task that featured in the third season of Taskmaster, which was ultimately won by Rob Beckett, who was also awarded five points for dressing as a granny, telling Horne that he had been a \u201cbad boy\u201d and firing a jet washer at him.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to sit in the shed and it\u2019s all real, so I had to sit in a shed for an hour, thinking, \u2018Ah, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u2019 And that\u2019s a good example of five people thinking in completely different ways and there being a punch line and me being involved. Let\u2019s go with that one.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut then I quite often like the ones that are, \u2018Get the most sweat in an egg cup,’\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n The Horne Section TV Show arrives on All4 as a boxset on Thursday 3rd November and begins airing on Channel 4 on Thursday 17th November at 10pm. <\/strong>Check out more of our\u00a0Comedy<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n By Lauren Morris Published: Wednesday, 02 November 2022 at 12:00 am When typing the name Alex Horne, it\u2019s incredibly difficult to resist the urge to add \u2018Little\u2019 in front of it \u2013 a struggle I\u2019m sure many Taskmaster fans are familiar with. The nickname, which has stuck throughout 14 seasons, a move from Dave to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25052,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/alex-horne-on-his-new-channel-4-sitcom-his-peculiar-little-double-act-with-greg-davies-and-how-to-win-taskmaster.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/alex-horne-on-his-new-channel-4-sitcom-his-peculiar-little-double-act-with-greg-davies-and-how-to-win-taskmaster-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/alex-horne-on-his-new-channel-4-sitcom-his-peculiar-little-double-act-with-greg-davies-and-how-to-win-taskmaster-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/alex-horne-on-his-new-channel-4-sitcom-his-peculiar-little-double-act-with-greg-davies-and-how-to-win-taskmaster.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/alex-horne-on-his-new-channel-4-sitcom-his-peculiar-little-double-act-with-greg-davies-and-how-to-win-taskmaster.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/alex-horne-on-his-new-channel-4-sitcom-his-peculiar-little-double-act-with-greg-davies-and-how-to-win-taskmaster.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/alex-horne-on-his-new-channel-4-sitcom-his-peculiar-little-double-act-with-greg-davies-and-how-to-win-taskmaster.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Lauren Morris Published: Wednesday, 02 November 2022 at 12:00 am When typing the name Alex Horne, it\u2019s incredibly difficult to resist the urge to add \u2018Little\u2019 in front of it \u2013 a struggle I\u2019m sure many Taskmaster fans are familiar with. 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