Without any fuss, without an explanation or preamble, a non-binary comic and their pronouns has joined the cast of a mainstream television show. Mae Martin, a Canadian actor and comedian, is one of five contestants on the current series of the Channel 4 show Taskmaster, joining Frankie Boyle, Jenny Eclair, Ivo Graham and Kiell Smith-Bynoe.
Now in its 15th season, Taskmaster goes from strength to strength. It’s a tonic of a show, harmless and so, so funny. The premise involves a cast of five comics and comic actors competing in rounds of absurd tasks in order to please the titular Taskmaster, Greg Davies (otherwise best known for his role as the teacher in The Inbetweeners). The tasks are administered by Davies’s right-hand man Alex Horne. They can range from the simple: consuming as much watermelon as possible in a given amount of time to the still simple but much more involved: being told to improve one’s hula hooping skills significantly in the time between the tasks being filmed and the “live” day of reckoning in front of the Taskmaster and a studio audience.
Some require little brain power while some call on critical thinking, creativity and plain old cop on. The calibre of contestants is consistently high – Bob Mortimer’s star turn in series five is the golden standard. Taskmaster feels like a family show, even though some bad language and occasional adult humour push it into post-watershed territory. There is a “clean” version of each episode made available so younger fans can enjoy. The show has been criticised for a lack of gender balance and for several series featured just one woman on a panel with four men. Things have improved on that point somewhat, with women outnumbering men in some of the recent series.
It’s a breath of fresh air to see a concept that some have trouble with in the abstract applied in a real-world setting
I read somewhere once that Taskmaster is cast somewhat like a sitcom. There’s usually some diversity in the ages of contestants, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z, and a wide range of personality types, from comically resentful (Romesh Ranganathan in series one) to hysterically polite (Mike Wozniak in series 11). This current series is the first to feature a non-binary person. Mae Martin, probably best known for their Netflix comedy series Feel Good, has already proven to be a strong competitor in the tasks, winning the likes of “bring in the most dependable thing that weighs about 1kg” and “catch the most potatoes in the potato hat”.
Mae was introduced in the first episode by Davies and Horne effortlessly using they/them pronouns. It’s a breath of fresh air to see a concept that some have trouble with in the abstract applied in a real-world setting. One viewer tweeted the presenters and Martin to thank them for “showing me how to use the ‘they/them’ pronouns properly. I’ve always wanted to know but really had no one to ask. So, for anyone else in my age group who may have not known, Boomers, we say thank you!!” Martin responded to acknowledge the “lovely” sentiment and said, “it’s okay to mess up sometimes and not get it right, it’s just nice and respectful to give it a shot, and not that hard once you start.”
The implication that the ‘gender wars’ are being waged during maths or English are misguided at best and insidious at worst
It brings to mind recent reports about schools and teachers “walking on eggshells” for fear of being unable – or unwilling? – to use preferred pronouns. The implication that the “gender wars” are being waged during maths or English are misguided at best and insidious at worst. The idea that teachers are living on a knife’s edge of terror stinks of the wider moral panic around gender expression. Anecdotally, educators have positive or at least neutral attitudes towards trans and non-binary students. Some reactions to the Enoch Burke debacle are just camouflage for palatable transphobia and “gender war” hysteria.
Most teachers are likely genuinely concerned or nervous that they may just slip up as they adjust to referring to a student using their up-to-date pronouns. Many people are just at different stages in their journey of adjusting to the more appropriate language. A simple Google search will give pointers on how to refer to a non-binary or trans person and how to avoid misgendering, while watching even one recent episode of Taskmaster will excellently demonstrate the use of neutral pronouns in practice. Not only that but the sight of Greg Davies also conducting an exam about sausages or Martin and Co wrangling with the potato hat will delight you to your very core.
Taskmaster is on Channel 4 on Thursday nights at 9pm. All episodes are available on All4