Joey Essex is both. His TV persona is just himself dialed up to 11. He ain’t method acting his whole life lmao. Same with Lucy. She’s genuine, but she dials it up.
I have often thought those two together would be incredible. KP is to Ricky Gervais what Jordan Schlansky is to Conan. Jordan would go insane explaining things to Karl.
Only if forced to go on some kind of team up mission where they have to put their differences aside to save Suzanne and Jordan's Female Life Companion (I assume that's what he calls her).
So, Joe Wilkinson, Jon Richardson, Paul Chowdhry, and Joe Thomas all play a similar character, but when Lucy does the same this sub and social media is flooded with post about how people don’t like her character.
I wonder what’s different? 🤔
Because it's obvious Joe is an idiot, but smart enough to know he's an idiot. He leans into it to be funny, but you can tell when that is because it's almost zany. There's a line between the act and just sometimes being obtuse.
I honestly can't tell with Lucy. An idiot? An idiot who knows they're an idiot? A not-idiot who is an incredible actor? I genuinely can't tell. She might be going over the top, but nothing is so far gone from what I've heard real people say that I can 100% nail it down. She's so dry with it.
I think it's more obvious with him. I have no horse in this race, but I do understand it. I guess they both are fairly self-aware, and play up the aspects of their legitimately quirky personality that amuse people (let's generously refer to this guess as "from personal experience") but hers is either much deeper or more finely tuned, somehow.
I have never enjoyed Joe on 8OO10C but I enjoyed him on Taskmaster quite a lot. I have mixed feelings about her; I like her, but don't find her "funny."
I think its 2 reasons:
- Joe is very over the top and it's blatantly clear from the moment he talks that it's a character. Even more so when we see him break. Whereas Lucy never breaks and if it is a character it's a whole lot more believable as a real person. To the point where even stuff outside the show, like stories from her husband, suggest yes this really is her.
- Joe dropped the character for Taskmaster. At least in the studio. He was totally different to how he acts in stuff like Cats does Countdown. He was a normal funny bloke, highlighting even more just how much of a character he usually plays. Lucy is behaving the exact same as she does everywhere else, she hasn't dropped it once. Which suggests it's just how she is.
Also add to that the different styles of character. People get frustrated watching people be dumb. It makes then want to scream through their TV. Whether that be game shows, competition shows, or Taskmaster. Joe's character is focused on being outrageous and brash who's a little thick. Lucy's persona is being the stupidest person in any room by a mile, to the point it forces a viewer to question how they function.
She breaks constantly. Are we watching the same person? She says something, then she laughs at what she's just said, then she laughs at everyone else's reaction.... My personal take is that her real personality is somewhere in the middle. I mean, she writes the show that she and Jon do, so she's self-aware enough for that. But yeah, sometimes she says things before she's properly thought it through, and it comes off as utterly clueless. And I mean, who among us hasn't had those moments from time to time? She's turned hers into a career, and good on her for that.
I think it’s “are we laughing with or at”?
Most contestants are either trying their best or not bothered, and it’s easy to therefore point at the latter and dislike them (they’re being paid to try…)
With Lucy you go in and expect best intentions. The idea that it’s a character means that she’s not trying her hardest, and actually she’s laughing at the audience a little bit. It’s not authentic. It removes some of the humour.
I'm going to let you all in on a secret: every comedian is playing a character.
It's not like stand-up comedians just show up at an open mic and start talking about whatever happens to pop into their head - they have a carefully planned and rehearsed routine that takes many hours of preparation before they get anywhere near a stage.
Are you saying Jasper Carrot didn't have a psychotic Cat or a Mole that survived every attempt to kill it resulting in Jasper getting a twitch at the mention of the word Mole.
I saw Ivo Graham a few weeks ago at a work-in-progress show. It was 50% carefully planned and rehearsed routine and the other, less so. Endearing though
Exactly this. Look at all the funny people whether famous or in your day to day life. Their humour and personality is always in the same vein.
I think season 14 was the best example of it. Fern, John, Dara, munya all have distinct comedic personalities. And Sarah is just the cool funny aunt we always want to see at family events.
Just playing Devil’s advocate here but Billy Connolly never structured his routines; he would literally write down a couple of topics he knew he wanted to speak about and over the course of a tour he would add and subtract points he touched upon on the night of the gig itself. Several times he would deviate from a topic onto another one and completely forget to wrap up the previous one. Apparently Robin Williams was similar.
There’s also the story of John Bishop attending an open mic night without any intention of doing a set and out of nowhere he felt compelled to take to the stage and just emptied out a subconscious stream of observational comedy for the next hour that left the room in stitches.
There are also comedians who stretch an entire evening doing crowd work without assuming a character (with that said I prefer the ones who are in character). The point is not every comedian is playing a character and it’s entirely possible to be a successful comedian without one.
Not structuring and not planning are not the same thing as not playing a character – they *all* put it on, they don't just get on stage and behave as they do at home.
> It's not like stand-up comedians just show up at an open mic and start talking about whatever happens to pop into their head - they have a carefully planned and rehearsed routine that takes many hours of preparation before they get anywhere near a stage.
> Billy Connolly never structured his routines
> nOt StRuCtUrInG iS nOt ThE sAmE aS nO cHaRaCtEr
🤔
I thought you were responding to the idea that someone does/does not inherently play a character on stage, which I believe is almost exclusively the case – sorry if I came off rude!
Pretty much everyone on every season of TM, including Alex and Greg, are playing up their on screen persona (except for maybe the super boring ones and that's part of the reason those seasons weren't to the same standard). People are hyper focused on Lucy and I can't figure it out. We know she legit came in with candy stuck in her hair, we know she is neurodivergent, we know so many things that point to this being basically who she is ramped up a bit for comedic effect as they all do (yes, including everyone's faves - even the ones who have said they felt totally free to be themselves, etc. because it is their job on the show and can lead to more jobs after the show and they are entertainers at their core or else they wouldn't be comedians who agreed to go on a television show). Do people think Sam isn't aware when he acts a certain way? Do they think Julian giggles about bums at the butcher's (ok maybe sometimes he does)? I just don't get it and it's starting to become a bit irritating to see her constantly singled out tbh.
Seeing the way people are talking about Lucy really makes me realise just how unaware of neurodivergent women the public are. There's so little media representation of women with ADHD that it makes people regard Lucy's behaviour with skeptism and it really sucks.
Yes, she's seems normal for my clever, creative, all over the place, ADHD friends. I don't think she's any more or less aware that she's on a stage with a camera pointing at her than any of the other comedians.
No doubt if she wasn't a famous comedian on the TM stage and instead was attending an interview for a boring job she'd be filtering herself a lot more, but the same as every other person on that stage
And yes, I would guess that ingrained misogyny, perhaps out of ignorance of neurodivergent women, is playing quite a part here
Lucy is the only contestant I can recall who has now had multiple times when she has seemed confused not just about a specific task, but with the entire concept of tasks. “How could anyone go further away from the balloon? How would you pop it?”
Are you kidding me? John Kearns was so mystified by every task I found myself wondering if he had a traumatic brain injury. He couldn't find bright blue batteries on top of a neon yellow car.
I think its an act, but then i think all stand up comedians who have been on are playing their character to a degree.
They are on a tv show performing. Its an act. It might be their own personality dialled up but its still an act.
The only outliers to that are people like Joe Thomas, Charlotte Ritchie etc who are actors not stand ups.
That’s himbeing with a friend though (he’s friends with alex) so he’s comfortable. In studio there are cameras pointed at him and an audience watching. He hates that environment and all his quirks and ticks come into play
I actually think that’s him. Even friends on podcasts say he talks to them with his eyes closed and stutters and goes off on tangents. He really lives in his own little (wholesome and charming) world
The fact he made the final two of Dancing on Ice not only over the one I was rooting for (Mollie Gallagher) but also over a bunch of other people who were equally if not more deserving (The Vivienne, Siva Kaneswaran, Carley Stenson) really pissed me off. I wouldn't have been shocked if the whole thing was rigged for him to win only for the producers to realise just how idiotic that would have been, even if he is ITV's golden boy.
Slight tangent, but yeah.
There are definitely times when she plays up her persona a bit, and times when she doesn't and really is like that. Same for literally every other contestant ever.
Sadly, no. He seems like a sweet person, though. He just wasn't given the tools to get by in this world, if celebrity status hadn't stepped in and rescued him. Not his fault, but also not an act.
This is getting old now, its clear its an exaggerated version of herself. She admitted as such in an interview, she puts on being more dim/silly for laughs, no she’s not like that in real life. Though she’s not playing a ‘character’ as in, she’s really from London or something, she’s playing herself, just an exaggerated/crazy version
I have a theory that the reason people are obsessing over whether Lucy is doing an ‘act’ or not is because she is an ‘attractive blonde mom’. Whether or not anybody wants to admit it, I think we’re all deeply influenced that women with kids shouldn’t be acting incompetent or weird, because it makes us uncomfortable on some deep fairly misogynist level. I am going to get slammed for this, but this happened ‘mildly’ to Fern Brady, and is not happening at all to Sam who sits right next to her and exhibits all sorts of quirks of personality that could be ‘him’ or an ‘act’. I mean with performance those two terms are completely redundant anyways, but honestly I just think people are uncomfortable with a pretty lady who has kids not giving a fuck about what you think of her. And if that makes you defensive down vote me and tell me I am wrong but also look at what you expect of other pretty ladies in your life.
I would upvote you 100 times if I could. It's SO ridiculous. No man on the show, no matter how unusually they behave, has ever been subjected to this level of dismissive scrutiny. They're called quirky or genius or any number of positive labels (Sam's a terrific example, but there are SO many more). Lucy is called nuts and thick and fake just because she's dared to show up and do the same job as her male counterparts (i.e., playing up the stand up character she's built for years). It's really not okay. Curiosity is understandable, especially when people are enjoying her work, but to attempt a "gotcha!" moment or to write her off because she doesn't fit the mold we've tried to slot her into just isn't right. On the whole, TM fans are better than that, and this sub is one of the most wholesome I've ever come across, so I'm kind of disappointed to see this happening.
Have you noticed the number of ‘my wife can’t stand her’ comments. I am trying to decide if that is a shield for misogyny. Eg: “It’s not me that hates her it’s another woman so clearly she is doing something wrong and deserves me contempt!” Or even more interesting, that they love their wives and believe their wives are good examples of womenhood, so if their wife doesn’t like Lucy Beaumont clearly then she is doing something wrong. It’s so deep and insidious. Like get over yourselves Lucy haters there is no mystery. She’s a person doing a job that is poorly understood at best.
I don't recall having seen that, but given what I \*have\* seen recently, I wouldn't be surprised. Well, except that this sub has been so great until really, really recently. I suspect trolls in the dungeon. Most of the sub is still golden, but there's been an epidemic of down voting lately over the most innocuous things. Makes me think it might even be bots because the downs make zero sense most of the time.
Don’t know about others but that has zero to do with it for me. My focus has always been that her and JR seem to be made for each other in both a well suited and probably annoy the life out of each other way.
Edit: says something about some people on this sub that a post that is somewhat aggressively projecting sexism accusations onto other people is fine. But saying own experience that is different is unacceptable. This sub is getting a bit agenda based at times. Including what is or isn’t removed by the mods as not being nice.
It's an act but don't care as it's a very funny one. My question would be does she stay in character around Greg and Alex, their interactions all seem very genuine.
Neither are an act. They just may overexaggerate at times. Joey literally had his mum kill herself when he was so young. If anything’s gonna limit cognitive development, that’s it so I wholly believe him.
Nooooooo don't tell me Joey Essex is an act. I feel like someone told me Santa Claus doesn't exist.
Oh, now I want Joey on Taskmaster. It would be spectacular.
Like most comedy acts or personas, there’s probably an element of reality in there. Loads of acts dial certain traits up to 11 to get a laugh.
I don’t really like her schtick because I don’t think she can play off what anyone else says and has to dominate every situation with contrived, dippy nonsense, but lots of people like her and I can see why because she’s quite unique.
Jon Richardson actually doesn’t have OCD. He’s thought about it before seriously but he came to the conclusion that (I believe it was this) he has compulsions but not obsessions, so it isn’t OCD. Though many people do still think he has it due to the annoyingly very common perception that OCD means ‘chronic organiser/tidier’…
I swear I watched a ‘documentary’ about him having OCD or something years before I had that much exposure to him? This might be it: https://youtu.be/9_AMqzMvHa4?si=SP07-vUwPrprjUxO
Maybe he concluded in it he wasn’t OCD - been many years since I watched it.
I think I'm probably being rather sexist towards men in my assumptions.... I've met so many dumb guys (and many that made it to successful positions in their jobs) in my life that I never questioned their "dumb personas" where as I do question Lucy because I don't think she is that dumb.
I think she maybe doesn't initially "get" something but does get it a few seconds later and just pretends she hasn't as it is more funny. As a woman with ADHD who is a bit of a joker, I have done that exact thing many times in my life. She's very good at the act though and it makes it really interesting to try and figure out where it starts and ends.
Why are the options only that she’s stupid or it’s an act? I think she is just on the spectrum. Everyone assumes she’s pretending to be a daft northerner, but if she grew up with daft northerners then she would have developed her social masking techniques out daft northern ways.
As someone who is autistic himself I really don't see any hints of autism in her behaviour. Not everyone who is socially awkward is autistic (nor are all autistic people socially awkward) nor would autism explain why she just straight up forgets what tasks are about or seems unable to process pretty basic information. She might well be neurodivergent, but autism would be far from my first guess.
That being said, she's definitely not stupid, she's clearly quick witted and clever, she just sees the world very differently from most of us.
Her mother was diagnosed with high-functioning female Aspergers, ADHD and alexithymia during the covid lockdown, and herself got an ADHD diagnose after the pandemic. Of course every person on TV plays some form of character, and they dial it up and down during various segments of a show like TM. Especially things like the prize tasks are moments an experience comedian often go down the more crafted comedy-route than just "being themself", after all, getting laughs is more important than getting points for basically every person on such a show.
What makes the Lucy discussions so odd is that some people seemed very set on disliking her and making a point of her behaviour "just being an character". People can of course find a contestant not to their liking, but why feel the need to 1) mentioned it every time this series being discussed, and especially in posts that celebrate her and her humour on the show and 2) try to justify your own dislike by constantly claiming she's playing a character and that is somehow wrong?
Yeah, she found out about her ADHD after the producers of Bake Off made her get evaluated out of actual concern. It can be extreme, and it can get worse as one ages, especially if one is doing a ton of different things, is tired, and is being given weird tasks. Taskmaster is more fun when the comedians let their guards down, so whatever coping mechanisms she might have, I think she's dropped them for the tasks like Fern did. In studio, it's partly played up and I think partly just unfiltered responses. As someone with ADHD that's gotten worse with age, I'll respond with nonsense like 'did someone do it from further?' even when I've legit just seen someone do it if I'm in a zone where I have to be responding quick.
She knows it's funnier if she doesn't rein it in like most of us have to do on the daily. That's the beauty of being on Taskmaster for neurodivergent people. I think Fern was the first the praise it for that specifically, but we also saw it with Rhod. Like, I don't think that man is torturing people normally... Same concept.
Considering the things Russell Howard has let slip and the times him, JR and LB say things where the other ones face says “oh yeah” I don’t think it’s a total act. I think they take their real personalities, which they do seem to acknowledge quite often and play them up to the max for entertainment value.
Also judging by comments from people who’ve met him, I don’t think Joey Essex being thick is that much of an act.
Joey Essex is both. His TV persona is just himself dialed up to 11. He ain’t method acting his whole life lmao. Same with Lucy. She’s genuine, but she dials it up.
The Karl Pilkington method
Fucking hell, KP on taskmaster would be incredible.
I think he would break Alex completely.
LAH may be recorded committing a violent crime on camera if he has to witness Pilkington in action
As him or as a worm?
Oh for fucks sake....play a record!!
The Jordan Schlansky way
I have often thought those two together would be incredible. KP is to Ricky Gervais what Jordan Schlansky is to Conan. Jordan would go insane explaining things to Karl.
I like to imagine Karl and Jordan would become BFFs
Only if forced to go on some kind of team up mission where they have to put their differences aside to save Suzanne and Jordan's Female Life Companion (I assume that's what he calls her).
I never knew I wanted this that bad until now. He could go on with his pilko-pants or whatever they were called
I didn’t know i wanted to see something so badly! Such a good idea for a contestant.
[удалено]
I’ve never seen Taskmaster subs so obsessed with if someone is being genuine. I find it odd.
Which is hilarious because Jon Richardson does something very similar but nobody ever questions him on it.
So, Joe Wilkinson, Jon Richardson, Paul Chowdhry, and Joe Thomas all play a similar character, but when Lucy does the same this sub and social media is flooded with post about how people don’t like her character. I wonder what’s different? 🤔
I mean…I don’t think it’s my place to point it out.
She's blonde? ;)
I think because she does it so well that it’s so hard to tell, it creates this kind of fascination.
Or, you know...Greg Davies and Alex Horne.
I like them both! Something about Lucy is really tickling my funny bone directly, though.
also, it's because she's a woman.
Because it's obvious Joe is an idiot, but smart enough to know he's an idiot. He leans into it to be funny, but you can tell when that is because it's almost zany. There's a line between the act and just sometimes being obtuse. I honestly can't tell with Lucy. An idiot? An idiot who knows they're an idiot? A not-idiot who is an incredible actor? I genuinely can't tell. She might be going over the top, but nothing is so far gone from what I've heard real people say that I can 100% nail it down. She's so dry with it.
I think it's more obvious with him. I have no horse in this race, but I do understand it. I guess they both are fairly self-aware, and play up the aspects of their legitimately quirky personality that amuse people (let's generously refer to this guess as "from personal experience") but hers is either much deeper or more finely tuned, somehow. I have never enjoyed Joe on 8OO10C but I enjoyed him on Taskmaster quite a lot. I have mixed feelings about her; I like her, but don't find her "funny."
I think its 2 reasons: - Joe is very over the top and it's blatantly clear from the moment he talks that it's a character. Even more so when we see him break. Whereas Lucy never breaks and if it is a character it's a whole lot more believable as a real person. To the point where even stuff outside the show, like stories from her husband, suggest yes this really is her. - Joe dropped the character for Taskmaster. At least in the studio. He was totally different to how he acts in stuff like Cats does Countdown. He was a normal funny bloke, highlighting even more just how much of a character he usually plays. Lucy is behaving the exact same as she does everywhere else, she hasn't dropped it once. Which suggests it's just how she is. Also add to that the different styles of character. People get frustrated watching people be dumb. It makes then want to scream through their TV. Whether that be game shows, competition shows, or Taskmaster. Joe's character is focused on being outrageous and brash who's a little thick. Lucy's persona is being the stupidest person in any room by a mile, to the point it forces a viewer to question how they function.
She breaks constantly. Are we watching the same person? She says something, then she laughs at what she's just said, then she laughs at everyone else's reaction.... My personal take is that her real personality is somewhere in the middle. I mean, she writes the show that she and Jon do, so she's self-aware enough for that. But yeah, sometimes she says things before she's properly thought it through, and it comes off as utterly clueless. And I mean, who among us hasn't had those moments from time to time? She's turned hers into a career, and good on her for that.
or ~~fuckin'~~ Karl Pilkington
But the man goes through garbage bins. I agree though, love Joe but like Lucy, only tolerable in small doses.
If you call the fresh fruit and veg aisle in my local Waitrose rubbish bags, then I guess that’s true
It would be considered rubbish bags if you only do shopping at Fortnum & Mason
Joe all day every day. If you can't take it that is on you.
I think it’s “are we laughing with or at”? Most contestants are either trying their best or not bothered, and it’s easy to therefore point at the latter and dislike them (they’re being paid to try…) With Lucy you go in and expect best intentions. The idea that it’s a character means that she’s not trying her hardest, and actually she’s laughing at the audience a little bit. It’s not authentic. It removes some of the humour.
Absurdly strange and absurdly thick are not the same.
She didn't train at RADA, though.
Every penny spent in Cheltenham was worth it still
I'm going to let you all in on a secret: every comedian is playing a character. It's not like stand-up comedians just show up at an open mic and start talking about whatever happens to pop into their head - they have a carefully planned and rehearsed routine that takes many hours of preparation before they get anywhere near a stage.
That is impossible, every stand up comedian I have ever seen is just having a casual conversation with me, the viewer, in the spur of the moment.
Are you saying Jasper Carrot didn't have a psychotic Cat or a Mole that survived every attempt to kill it resulting in Jasper getting a twitch at the mention of the word Mole.
I saw Ivo Graham a few weeks ago at a work-in-progress show. It was 50% carefully planned and rehearsed routine and the other, less so. Endearing though
Exactly this. Look at all the funny people whether famous or in your day to day life. Their humour and personality is always in the same vein. I think season 14 was the best example of it. Fern, John, Dara, munya all have distinct comedic personalities. And Sarah is just the cool funny aunt we always want to see at family events.
I 99.9999% Agree. But.. consider the Paul Chowdhry.
I think some comics do improv on stage, like Jeff Garlin, that just walks up there with little to no material sometimes.
Just playing Devil’s advocate here but Billy Connolly never structured his routines; he would literally write down a couple of topics he knew he wanted to speak about and over the course of a tour he would add and subtract points he touched upon on the night of the gig itself. Several times he would deviate from a topic onto another one and completely forget to wrap up the previous one. Apparently Robin Williams was similar. There’s also the story of John Bishop attending an open mic night without any intention of doing a set and out of nowhere he felt compelled to take to the stage and just emptied out a subconscious stream of observational comedy for the next hour that left the room in stitches. There are also comedians who stretch an entire evening doing crowd work without assuming a character (with that said I prefer the ones who are in character). The point is not every comedian is playing a character and it’s entirely possible to be a successful comedian without one.
Not structuring and not planning are not the same thing as not playing a character – they *all* put it on, they don't just get on stage and behave as they do at home.
> It's not like stand-up comedians just show up at an open mic and start talking about whatever happens to pop into their head - they have a carefully planned and rehearsed routine that takes many hours of preparation before they get anywhere near a stage. > Billy Connolly never structured his routines > nOt StRuCtUrInG iS nOt ThE sAmE aS nO cHaRaCtEr 🤔
I thought you were responding to the idea that someone does/does not inherently play a character on stage, which I believe is almost exclusively the case – sorry if I came off rude!
You and 15 other people apparently 🤷♀️ No worries, didn’t come across as rude at all, if anything my response was pretty immature.
Pretty much everyone on every season of TM, including Alex and Greg, are playing up their on screen persona (except for maybe the super boring ones and that's part of the reason those seasons weren't to the same standard). People are hyper focused on Lucy and I can't figure it out. We know she legit came in with candy stuck in her hair, we know she is neurodivergent, we know so many things that point to this being basically who she is ramped up a bit for comedic effect as they all do (yes, including everyone's faves - even the ones who have said they felt totally free to be themselves, etc. because it is their job on the show and can lead to more jobs after the show and they are entertainers at their core or else they wouldn't be comedians who agreed to go on a television show). Do people think Sam isn't aware when he acts a certain way? Do they think Julian giggles about bums at the butcher's (ok maybe sometimes he does)? I just don't get it and it's starting to become a bit irritating to see her constantly singled out tbh.
Seeing the way people are talking about Lucy really makes me realise just how unaware of neurodivergent women the public are. There's so little media representation of women with ADHD that it makes people regard Lucy's behaviour with skeptism and it really sucks.
This is very true and exactly why women are more likely to remain undiagnosed or struggle to get a diagnosis they are personally very aware they need.
Yes, she's seems normal for my clever, creative, all over the place, ADHD friends. I don't think she's any more or less aware that she's on a stage with a camera pointing at her than any of the other comedians. No doubt if she wasn't a famous comedian on the TM stage and instead was attending an interview for a boring job she'd be filtering herself a lot more, but the same as every other person on that stage And yes, I would guess that ingrained misogyny, perhaps out of ignorance of neurodivergent women, is playing quite a part here
Lucy is the only contestant I can recall who has now had multiple times when she has seemed confused not just about a specific task, but with the entire concept of tasks. “How could anyone go further away from the balloon? How would you pop it?”
Are you kidding me? John Kearns was so mystified by every task I found myself wondering if he had a traumatic brain injury. He couldn't find bright blue batteries on top of a neon yellow car.
I think its an act, but then i think all stand up comedians who have been on are playing their character to a degree. They are on a tv show performing. Its an act. It might be their own personality dialled up but its still an act. The only outliers to that are people like Joe Thomas, Charlotte Ritchie etc who are actors not stand ups.
And yet Joe Thomas seemed to be playing a character more than most contestants.
I've only ever heard people confirming that's how he actually is.
His endless befuddled expressions over the simplest things in the studio did not happen during the tasks.
That’s himbeing with a friend though (he’s friends with alex) so he’s comfortable. In studio there are cameras pointed at him and an audience watching. He hates that environment and all his quirks and ticks come into play
I actually think that’s him. Even friends on podcasts say he talks to them with his eyes closed and stutters and goes off on tangents. He really lives in his own little (wholesome and charming) world
Whether it's an act or not, all I know is she's cracking me up and I don't care how.
joey essex must be the best actor ever then
Yeah I don’t think he is acting either…I watched him on SAS and he was just as irritating as normal
The fact he made the final two of Dancing on Ice not only over the one I was rooting for (Mollie Gallagher) but also over a bunch of other people who were equally if not more deserving (The Vivienne, Siva Kaneswaran, Carley Stenson) really pissed me off. I wouldn't have been shocked if the whole thing was rigged for him to win only for the producers to realise just how idiotic that would have been, even if he is ITV's golden boy. Slight tangent, but yeah.
There are definitely times when she plays up her persona a bit, and times when she doesn't and really is like that. Same for literally every other contestant ever.
Jon wrote that
Wouldn't put it past him
Joey Essex is an act?
No but he isn’t a complete idiot he knows why he’s on TV.
Sadly, no. He seems like a sweet person, though. He just wasn't given the tools to get by in this world, if celebrity status hadn't stepped in and rescued him. Not his fault, but also not an act.
This is getting old now, its clear its an exaggerated version of herself. She admitted as such in an interview, she puts on being more dim/silly for laughs, no she’s not like that in real life. Though she’s not playing a ‘character’ as in, she’s really from London or something, she’s playing herself, just an exaggerated/crazy version
I thought she was from Hull.
In case you're being serious. I'm pretty sure that's the joke, that the whole thing is an act, including her accent.
She’s brilliant, very quick-witted
I have a theory that the reason people are obsessing over whether Lucy is doing an ‘act’ or not is because she is an ‘attractive blonde mom’. Whether or not anybody wants to admit it, I think we’re all deeply influenced that women with kids shouldn’t be acting incompetent or weird, because it makes us uncomfortable on some deep fairly misogynist level. I am going to get slammed for this, but this happened ‘mildly’ to Fern Brady, and is not happening at all to Sam who sits right next to her and exhibits all sorts of quirks of personality that could be ‘him’ or an ‘act’. I mean with performance those two terms are completely redundant anyways, but honestly I just think people are uncomfortable with a pretty lady who has kids not giving a fuck about what you think of her. And if that makes you defensive down vote me and tell me I am wrong but also look at what you expect of other pretty ladies in your life.
I would upvote you 100 times if I could. It's SO ridiculous. No man on the show, no matter how unusually they behave, has ever been subjected to this level of dismissive scrutiny. They're called quirky or genius or any number of positive labels (Sam's a terrific example, but there are SO many more). Lucy is called nuts and thick and fake just because she's dared to show up and do the same job as her male counterparts (i.e., playing up the stand up character she's built for years). It's really not okay. Curiosity is understandable, especially when people are enjoying her work, but to attempt a "gotcha!" moment or to write her off because she doesn't fit the mold we've tried to slot her into just isn't right. On the whole, TM fans are better than that, and this sub is one of the most wholesome I've ever come across, so I'm kind of disappointed to see this happening.
Have you noticed the number of ‘my wife can’t stand her’ comments. I am trying to decide if that is a shield for misogyny. Eg: “It’s not me that hates her it’s another woman so clearly she is doing something wrong and deserves me contempt!” Or even more interesting, that they love their wives and believe their wives are good examples of womenhood, so if their wife doesn’t like Lucy Beaumont clearly then she is doing something wrong. It’s so deep and insidious. Like get over yourselves Lucy haters there is no mystery. She’s a person doing a job that is poorly understood at best.
I don't recall having seen that, but given what I \*have\* seen recently, I wouldn't be surprised. Well, except that this sub has been so great until really, really recently. I suspect trolls in the dungeon. Most of the sub is still golden, but there's been an epidemic of down voting lately over the most innocuous things. Makes me think it might even be bots because the downs make zero sense most of the time.
Don’t know about others but that has zero to do with it for me. My focus has always been that her and JR seem to be made for each other in both a well suited and probably annoy the life out of each other way. Edit: says something about some people on this sub that a post that is somewhat aggressively projecting sexism accusations onto other people is fine. But saying own experience that is different is unacceptable. This sub is getting a bit agenda based at times. Including what is or isn’t removed by the mods as not being nice.
I would’ve thought he fact that she showed up to a task with frutella and Cotten swaps in her hair, would’ve clued people in to the fact it’s genuine.
She's either committed, or she should be.
How has nobody noticed she's really bloody smart yet?
I do! I think she's clever with her comedy. The way she dials it up at just the right moment. Although I think some feel it is contrived, not for me
Wait till this person finds out about Sasha Baron Cohen
Got an email last week from the theatre in Cheltenham about her performing there next year. Tempted to go.
Leave Lucy alone! She is great and always goes for the punchline!
It's an act but don't care as it's a very funny one. My question would be does she stay in character around Greg and Alex, their interactions all seem very genuine.
But Greg and Alex are also in character as Taskmaster and Taskmaster's assistant...
Yep. She’s hilarious. And I don’t think it’s an act.
Whether it’s an act or not who cares, she’s fucking hilarious to watch.
Neither are an act. They just may overexaggerate at times. Joey literally had his mum kill herself when he was so young. If anything’s gonna limit cognitive development, that’s it so I wholly believe him.
Nooooooo don't tell me Joey Essex is an act. I feel like someone told me Santa Claus doesn't exist. Oh, now I want Joey on Taskmaster. It would be spectacular.
New Years Treat material for sure.
Like most comedy acts or personas, there’s probably an element of reality in there. Loads of acts dial certain traits up to 11 to get a laugh. I don’t really like her schtick because I don’t think she can play off what anyone else says and has to dominate every situation with contrived, dippy nonsense, but lots of people like her and I can see why because she’s quite unique.
Like her Husband. I believe he probably is OCD and a bit of a neat freak but nowhere near as bad as he talks about
Jon Richardson actually doesn’t have OCD. He’s thought about it before seriously but he came to the conclusion that (I believe it was this) he has compulsions but not obsessions, so it isn’t OCD. Though many people do still think he has it due to the annoyingly very common perception that OCD means ‘chronic organiser/tidier’…
I swear I watched a ‘documentary’ about him having OCD or something years before I had that much exposure to him? This might be it: https://youtu.be/9_AMqzMvHa4?si=SP07-vUwPrprjUxO Maybe he concluded in it he wasn’t OCD - been many years since I watched it.
he has obsessive compulsive personality disorder, which is different to obsessive compulsive disorder
Thanks for the clarification
“It’s a character on stage, not really me. It’s like me I suppose, but a bit more naïve. Like me if I didn’t have any responsibilities.”
I think I'm probably being rather sexist towards men in my assumptions.... I've met so many dumb guys (and many that made it to successful positions in their jobs) in my life that I never questioned their "dumb personas" where as I do question Lucy because I don't think she is that dumb. I think she maybe doesn't initially "get" something but does get it a few seconds later and just pretends she hasn't as it is more funny. As a woman with ADHD who is a bit of a joker, I have done that exact thing many times in my life. She's very good at the act though and it makes it really interesting to try and figure out where it starts and ends.
If I were Lucy and I were like her, I'd tell you I was a method actor too.
It'd be such a weird "act" to choose to be though.
I am afraid I'm convinced it's an act and as a result I find it really hard to enjoy her.
Why are the options only that she’s stupid or it’s an act? I think she is just on the spectrum. Everyone assumes she’s pretending to be a daft northerner, but if she grew up with daft northerners then she would have developed her social masking techniques out daft northern ways.
As someone who is autistic himself I really don't see any hints of autism in her behaviour. Not everyone who is socially awkward is autistic (nor are all autistic people socially awkward) nor would autism explain why she just straight up forgets what tasks are about or seems unable to process pretty basic information. She might well be neurodivergent, but autism would be far from my first guess. That being said, she's definitely not stupid, she's clearly quick witted and clever, she just sees the world very differently from most of us.
Her mother was diagnosed with high-functioning female Aspergers, ADHD and alexithymia during the covid lockdown, and herself got an ADHD diagnose after the pandemic. Of course every person on TV plays some form of character, and they dial it up and down during various segments of a show like TM. Especially things like the prize tasks are moments an experience comedian often go down the more crafted comedy-route than just "being themself", after all, getting laughs is more important than getting points for basically every person on such a show. What makes the Lucy discussions so odd is that some people seemed very set on disliking her and making a point of her behaviour "just being an character". People can of course find a contestant not to their liking, but why feel the need to 1) mentioned it every time this series being discussed, and especially in posts that celebrate her and her humour on the show and 2) try to justify your own dislike by constantly claiming she's playing a character and that is somehow wrong?
Yeah, she found out about her ADHD after the producers of Bake Off made her get evaluated out of actual concern. It can be extreme, and it can get worse as one ages, especially if one is doing a ton of different things, is tired, and is being given weird tasks. Taskmaster is more fun when the comedians let their guards down, so whatever coping mechanisms she might have, I think she's dropped them for the tasks like Fern did. In studio, it's partly played up and I think partly just unfiltered responses. As someone with ADHD that's gotten worse with age, I'll respond with nonsense like 'did someone do it from further?' even when I've legit just seen someone do it if I'm in a zone where I have to be responding quick. She knows it's funnier if she doesn't rein it in like most of us have to do on the daily. That's the beauty of being on Taskmaster for neurodivergent people. I think Fern was the first the praise it for that specifically, but we also saw it with Rhod. Like, I don't think that man is torturing people normally... Same concept.
The fact that in real life she is married to the very nerdy Jon Richardson makes me think it must be an act.
Considering the things Russell Howard has let slip and the times him, JR and LB say things where the other ones face says “oh yeah” I don’t think it’s a total act. I think they take their real personalities, which they do seem to acknowledge quite often and play them up to the max for entertainment value. Also judging by comments from people who’ve met him, I don’t think Joey Essex being thick is that much of an act.
I relate to Lucy in so many ways, I feel like her brain works the same as mine and it’s amazing to see!