When Alex Horne graduated from Cambridge University in 2001 with a degree in Latin and Greek, he probably didn’t expect that less than two decades later he would be eating dog food and being stripped half-naked every other week on national TV. ‘I do think, “I’m not sure if that education was worth it” when I’m sitting on a cake’ he explains, after being reminded of the time actress Liza Tarbuck made him perform this ungodly task.

I do think, ‘I’m not sure if that education was worth it’ when I’m sitting on a cake

A few weeks ago, Horne agreed to be interviewed by me and Abi Kinsella, another TV writer for Redbrick. His pride and joy, Taskmaster, has actually just won even more awards, this time Comedy of the Year and Best Entertainment Show at the British Comedy awards. Horne is the mastermind behind the hit show – which is currently preparing for a whopping thirteenth season – and he originally presented it under a different format (and slightly different name, The Task Master) at 2010’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

‘I did the Edinburgh Festival in my final year at university,’ he told us, explaining that it was the best grounding for his career that he could possibly get. ‘I made a lot of friends at university that are still my friends now in the comedy world’ – namely Tim Key and Mark Watson, both of whom have appeared on previous seasons of Taskmaster – but he didn’t realise that he was destined for the world of comedy for a while. It might surprise you to find out that Horne is actually a self-labelled introvert, and told us that at a dinner party, he’s probably the quietest person in the room, but found making people laugh too addictive to ignore. 

Alex is actually a self-labelled introvert, and told us that at a dinner party, he’s probably the quietest person in the room

Abi and I found common ground with Horne as student journalists – we discovered that he wrote for Varsity, Cambridge University’s official newspaper, as a sports journalist and satirist, before he moved onto the local paper. His history as a student writer is one of the reasons why he agreed to my tweet asking to interview him, although he did joke that Twitter is hard to ignore because you feel guilty – perhaps I simply just guilt-tripped him into an interview. We chatted for a while about how difficult it is being young and not knowing what you want to do for a living in the future, and he imparted some of his wisdom to us about how life is full of surprises, and you never really know what is just around the corner.

Although Horne is best-known for being the brains behind Taskmaster, he is also in a band, The Horne Section. An average day for him at the moment involves working on both of these, but there were certain things he wasn’t allowed to tell us, which apparently makes his life sound far more exciting than it really is. He also has a dog, Loky – not a pandemic-related name – who he’d walked that day, and apparently she was feeling rather grumpy that day. Although they adopted Loky just before the first lockdown and her name isn’t linked to the pandemic in any way, this is not the only spooky Coronavirus prediction that Alex was involved in. Joe Auckland, the trumpeter in The Horne Section, actually wrote a song about the Spanish Flu after spending quite a lot of time researching it, eventually concluding that there was going to be another pandemic, an entire year before the first lockdown hit. ‘We should’ve warned more people!’ he joked, but apparently no one wanted to take a trumpeter seriously.

I asked Horne if there have been times when he has ever felt genuinely embarrassed on Taskmaster, like the aforementioned cake incident. His ‘real job’ is a stand-up comedian, though, and he told us that this entails ‘putting all your dignity to one side.’ He shed some light on what making people laugh for a living is really like, explaining that it can actually be very exposing, particularly when you’re on stage and no one laughs – ‘even though it doesn’t matter if no one laughs – it’s not like you’re a soldier or a fireman – it’s pretty awkward.’ He’s had to develop a pretty thick skin over the years, and refers to doing humiliating tasks on Taskmaster as the ‘easiest job in the world.’ Every time he’s asked to do something potentially embarrassing, he just has to think about the fact that it’ll make great television. 

Every time he’s asked to do something potentially embarrassing, he just has to think about the fact that it’ll make great television

We also chatted about the increase in diversity on Taskmaster that has occurred since Season One. He told us that although they’re pretty good on diversity and gender balance now, having two middle-aged white men running the show doesn’t help their image – ‘the trouble is, we need to get rid of either me or Greg!’ In the beginning, there was only one woman to six men, whereas nowadays he wouldn’t even think of doing that. He also notes that they’re in the fortunate position to be able to help younger and slightly less well-known comedians find the spotlight, so they make sure that at least one person in every season is someone who deserves more attention. 

We had to cut the interview slightly short because Horne was scheduled to wake up at 4:30 the next morning to chaperone his son at work experience, but it was an absolute pleasure being able to chat to him. Keep your eyes peeled for Taskmaster Season 13, and in the meantime, catch up on (or rewatch) all of the previous seasons on All 4, or go and listen to The Horne Section podcast on Spotify. 

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