Dave Hughes, one of Australia’s most recognisable comedians, sits down to chat about his time on Taskmaster Australia.
Dave Hughes has done it all – from topping the class as dux at his Warrnambool high school to battling for his (celebrity) survival in the jungles of South Africa. He’s been around the block, a few times at that. But the Taskmaster mansion? Well, there’s a first for everything.
Now in its fourth season, the Australian version of the BAFTA-winning and international Emmy-nominated British comedy show has seen some of our brightest – and funniest – comedians take the show to task, to widespread critical acclaim.
Taskmaster Australia
- Thursdays at 7:30pm on 10 and 10 Play
- More info here
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Currently airing on Thursday nights on 10 and 10 Play, this season of Taskmaster Australia features a hilarious meeting of minds with Tommy Little, Lisa McCune, Emma Holland, Takashi Wakasugui and – of course – Hughesy. Each contestant must take on a series of challenges in an attempt to charm the always-unimpressed Taskmaster that is Tom Gleeson, assisted by Tom Cashman – also known as Lesser Tom.
The show has presented a rotating trophy case of Australian gold when it comes to the comedians it features. This season, however, has secured one of the best of the best, with none other than Hughes himself hitting the Taskmaster stage.
“I’ve known other comedians who’ve done the show and said that it was so much fun,” Hughesy says. He’s a known workaholic who has brought his larrikin sense of humour and deadpan delivery to more television, radio and stage performances than one can count, so it made perfect sense for him to take on the Taskmaster frontier.
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In each episode, the comedians tackle five tasks – most at the Taskmaster mansion, plus one performed live in-studio – as they compete not only to win each challenge, but also to earn some laughs. As predictably hilarious as Hughesy is on the show, it prompts the question concerning the real goal of Taskmaster. Did he actually want to win, or did he just want to be funny?
“I absolutely wanted to win,” he says, dead-seriously. “That’s how I approach things in general. I think if I just take it seriously, it’s funny. I think whatever I do is funny, basically, so the more serious I take it, probably the funnier it will be. And probably the more I’ll fuck it up, if you know what I mean.”
“I was trying to do whatever I could to win,” he continues – perhaps revealing that same competitive streak that’s won him so many awards. “The funny [parts] were just sort of a byproduct, I suppose.”
The hilarity of the program is also a product of this version of the show’s uniquely Australian take on comedy. While the original British source material is filled with all the satirical irony you would expect, Taskmaster Australia leans into the absurdity of the challenges at hand and the always silly, sometimes naughty jokes that can be found within them.
Previous winners of Taskmaster Australia have included Aaron Chen, Lloyd Langford and Danielle Walker. While game plans and methods seem to vary between each of the contestants throughout the seasons, when it came to how Hughesy tackled the bizarre challenges, the approach was simple. “I honestly was trying to get it done as quickly as possible,” he admits with a laugh.
Training for Taskmaster with Hughesy’s in-laws
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Perhaps it was because of the haste with which he tackled the challenges, but Hughesy says that as soon as he completed a task, he’d already forgotten he’d done it. “They’d describe a challenge,” he says, referring to the studio taping that happens months after the on-site tasks are filmed, “and I’d turn to whoever’s next to me and go, “I just can’t remember this. I can’t remember what happened.”
“So it was like I was watching it for the first time [in the studio], to be honest. Which was fun, even watching what I did for the first time. It was all such a blur when we did it.”
While the comedian didn’t do any official training for the show, Hughesy reveals that he’d unknowingly been building the muscles for the Taskmaster battleground with his family at home. “My in-laws love doing charades and parlour games, which is something my family never did,” he says.
“Whenever I do charades with my extended family on my wife’s side, I generally get heaps of laughs. And I don’t mean to, because I’m just trying to do the right thing. I’ll get annoyed that people don’t get what I’m doing, or, you know, it comes across comically. So I knew this would be an extended version of that.
“[I knew] that I would get frustrated,” he continues. “Or that my way of approaching problems would be seen as being comical. Even though, in my own mind, I’m doing the exact right thing and the logic works for me. But for other people, it looks like I’m insane.”
Just Hughesy being Hughesy
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So, is the Dave Hughes we see on TV the same person he is at home? “Absolutely,” he says emphatically.
“The way my brain works can just make my family shake their heads. I’m not putting it on. This is who I am. Probably, what is seen on TV or stand-up comedy is a heightened version of who I am. But it really is who I am.”
While translating stand-up or broadcast comedy to Taskmaster may seem like a difficult challenge, it’s clear that Hughes’ – and the show’s – success comes down to his steadfast belief in being authentically himself.
Taskmaster Australia is on at 7:30pm on Thursdays on 10 and 10 Play. For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Channel 10.
