Victoria Coren Mitchell on telling jokes to silence and Taskmaster - from RHLSTP 418 

In a Taskmaster prize task, when Victoria chose a bag of diamonds as the nicest thing to sit on, saying "I'm looking for the greater comfort of long-term financial security", she became my new favorite person.

When she learned to ride a bike, on her own, on TV, it was one of the funniest, and bravest things, I'd seen in ages. She is just such a marvelous person.

David may not enjoy Taskmaster but I would very much enjoy David on Taskmaster

For all the times she did badly on the tasks, she more than made up for it by single handedly beating the riddle task which Alex and the whole production team thought was unsolvable by one person, that was truly spectacular (especially when you see how the team of three stuffed it!)

She destroyed the riddle task alone with no help from Alan, she had a phenomenal moment of displaying here abilities in maths, she learned how to ride a bike on the show and the best moment by far - she gave Manchester United games tickets voucher to an Arsenal fan as a present because "he likes football so he should be able to watch the best one". She was brilliant on Taskmaster!

Victoria often complains how badly she did on the prize tasks but her bringing that crappy plushie second time in a row was my absolute favourite prize task moment in the entire TM series

I’d love to see a “2nd chance” taskmaster with the last place contestants trying to redeem themselves. Nish, Baddel, Joe Wilkinson and VCM were all brilliant

I'm so happy to hear that Victoria loved being on Taskmaster. imo Taskmaster is all about the laughs and winning the crowd over, which Victoria definitely did. I loved her work from before the show but after seeing her on Taskmaster, I was completely enamoured. She was wonderful, gave everything a go, and was snarky to Greg Davies. Can't ask for anything more than that!

She was my favorite person on taskmaster. I think she is so funny. And she learned to ride a bike so fast!

Ah, old goosebump arm, nice to see you here.

While I had seen Victoria on a number of things in the past, I had no strong feelings about her one way or another. That changed when she was on Taskmaster. I mean she was great with the riddle and the jokes about customized inhalers, but the exact moment I fell in love with her was when she not only learned to ride a bicycle sixty seconds before the task, but when she declared she had found a new skill and wanted to continue to practice.

Victoria learning to ride a bike on TV was a great, human moment. Genuinely sweet

Just one of my favourite people on the planet.

Even though she had to learn how to ride a bike as an adult on national television, she did it with panache'! VCM always rises to the occasion with grace!!!!!

Victoria is one of my favorite people, period, and I loved watching her on TM. Her combination of off-the-charts smart and completely-relatable awkwardness is just the best. And the way that she's both entirely serious, and yet not taking herself too seriously, all at the same time. That's skill, and it's completely charming. Yes, she's a kind of smart that maybe people thought might do a little better on TM, but the best/funniest bit is that, as a poker player, you'd think she'd have a poker face....and yet, Greg could read her like a book, without even trying. That was FUNNY. She's so charmingly NOT cryptic. But the other best bit is that her empathy showed through. I absolutely loved how she said that she doesn't like practical jokes, she thinks they're aggressive - I'm like, YESSS! I SO related to that. And when she (and Desiree) sweetly clapped back at Greg for making fun of Alex using Rachel Horne's name - again, that was so humanly lovely of the both of them. I really think that Victoria is someone I'd love to know. 💗 (The bit with Rachel's name - honestly, Alex flubbed that one up. The 'Rachel Horne' that Greg uses to make fun of Alex isn't really 'Alex Horne's wife', but rather, "LITTLE Alex Horne's wife' - she's somewhat of a 'character' in the world of the show, to a degree - and Alex's reaction to Greg's joke there was a bit more 'serious' than it should have been, in the context of the joke, and as a result, it really triggered Victoria's and Desiree's empathy, to the point of actually missing the joke - and that's on Alex, not the ladies.)

Fantastic woman. David is a very lucky man, and I love that he realises it.

Victoria's price tasks was brilliant, i just think Greg played her to get more laughs from the viewers.. but VCR won in the end by learning to bike on TV with absolutely no hesitation . I would LOVE to see David on cause he would be absolutely livid with rage because nothing is logical.. Such fun!

I think David would actually be a great taskmaster, if they ever had to replace Greg. I feel like his brand of angry logic would play really well off some of the more bizarre attempts of the contestants, and it would be fun watching him point out all the flaws in the contestants’ approaches to various tasks.

I would love to see David Mitchell on Taskmaster, he would hate it, but it would be so fantastic to watch.

I love her layers joke. It’s a groaner but goodie.

"Lots of layers" with the chickens was PRIMO! Victoria was robbed on the prize tasks over and over again.

Victoria is so ridiculously charming! She's very funny, but she also has such charisma.

I adore her. She seems so fun and to be a truly decent person.

I also thought that Victoria should have gotten more points for her prize tasks

When they announced her for Taskmaster I thought I like her but I don't know about that, she seems pretty uncompromising and might not fit into the vibe of the show. The first prize task with the diamonds I remember thinking no I was wrong, she's terrific. I just adore the way she is so unashamedly herself, they tease her a bit about it on Taskmaster calling it eccentric, giving her low scores and she takes it so well but without ever backing down from who she is and even though I'm not an Only Connect fan I love how protective she is of that fanbase.

I remember practicing my best man's speech alone, speaking it out loud to complete silence, and then imagining that silence when I cracked my jokes, it made my nerves so much worse... Once I actually started on the day, it went so well from the beginning that I relaxed and everyone laughed and cried at the right bits.... Phew, I felt more relieved than anything else... 😀

I played bridge against VCM at a charity event a couple of years ago. She gave a good impression of trying hard, certainly she made no mistakes, scored well and was charming too.

Regular person now knowing how to ride a bike: "Oh damn, I won't be able to do this task... I guess I'll have to forfit" Victoria: "All right, let's just LEARN to ride a bike!" Victoria was Awesome in Taskmaster and it shows that she genuinely tried her best, and her being able to enjoy her own failed attempts just shows off what a remarkable character she is. I was genuinely happy to see when Richard finally got to have a go at it, and in the beginning he seemed to be struggling, but he found himself and he looked like he genuinely just enjoyed all of it. And then winning was a great feat! And the actual price will now be that he will bring up Taskmaster at EVERY occation he sees fit. ...Not gonna lie, I would definitely do the same!

I wish David was on the show… he would be perfect… I love him…

"quite a revelation" Guz Khan would be proud

I thought her best price task on TM was gifting Alan Davies (half of) a season ticket for Manchester United and then acting all oblivious as to why Alan doesn't want to have it. :D

She's Just so gosh darn amazing!

Good ep! 😃 ‘Ep’ is short for episode. ‘Good’ is short for famous character actor John Goodman.

She said she struggled with bringing prize tasks in but I thought in general hers were great (and did get strong reactions from the audience that wasn't present) - in particular she brought in one of the best in all of Taskmaster history. Obviously I'm referring to the prize for Allan. The whole exchange was hilarious, especially after all the other contestants had brought in sappy heartfelt prizes that just made eveybody go "awww". The whole segment risked being a bit cringe but then she swooped in and made it hilarious with what Allan I think described as "the most vicious personal attack..." She turned the whole round into a cohesive routine where her prize was the big punchline. Couldn't have been scripted better. She performed exceedingly well on Taskmaster.

I like the chicken farmer joke.

She is brilliant.

Is there a full version of this interview anywhere?

She's glorious.

Love her and David Mitchell. ❤❤

I watched all of this and it was surprisingly short.

He, naturally, disrespected Only Connect contestants. She did well to defend them without putting him down. I would have slapped him, big Willy style. 🤣

i loved her bring an item on task master! i laughed everytime at her joke and then laughed at everyone elses reaction lmao

Victoria on Taskmaster was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. xD

That theme tune sounds like Fleetwood Mac: Coming Your Way.

David Mitchell is a very lucky man

Victoria and David would be one couple I would love to be at a dinner party with 😊👍

Oh i adore her😁

Lurv this lady; looks, brains and humour ❤

0:22 burn! Herring's going to pay for that one day!

All of my jokes are obscure historical and/or nerdy references. I completely relate.

She's nicer than I thought.

Love the idea of Taskmaster - last of lasts would be really great

Although I didn't find it to be quite as good overall as the one before, I thought her season had the strongest studio environment out of the three socially distanced ones, and was the least awkward.

❤

Shes lovely...

High score? What does that mean? Did I break it?

I would love to watch a nerds edition of Taskmaster… bring back Victoria and Paul and all the other eggheads

I absolutely loved when she bought tickets for some sportsgame (sorry, sports idiot here) as a gift for Alan Davies. It was a top notch deadpan pile-up of making fun of something, most hilarious. :)))

I thought Victoria Coren Mitchell was brilliant in TaskMaster. Very funny...😊

To me, Victoria is utterly captivating. I could watch her for hours. She was great on Taskmaster, but then again, that show brings out the best in most people.

She demonstrated how intelligent she is when she got a 9 in countdown.

Victoria's prize tasks were my favorite. Even her gift for Alan was great. I think she's incredibly funny.

Even when being rubbish Victoria is magnificent.

I’d love to have dinner with her and David. ❤❤

...Someone likes yoghurt!

"I'm not very competitive" -says the person who had lists of lists on Unbelievable Truth

What happened to your podcast? It used to be the highlight of my week!

"I'm not AT ALL competitive"...I've seen her on Cats Does Countdown and other shows...She's VERY competitive. She'd have to be to win at poker. Nothing wrong with that BTW...But she IS VERY competitive.

Richard, does your involvement with Acast make you an Acaster?

i was really hoping for victoria to absolutely crush taskmaster. she was still a great contestant and morgana was just too hard to beat. i just hope we get david to go on at some point.

I wish David did Taskmaster :/

I'm sure the studio audience is great fun for the people involved but as for the people watching, we agree with Mrs Coren Mitchell.

Two of my fantasy dinner party guests would be VCM and Pam Ayres - a man can dream !

My crush married my man crush.

The hard struggles of the Corens to get work in UK media is an inspiration

VCM Class Act All the way.

What an extraordinary blend of beauty and brains! She's the total package!

They could put David and four mannequins on a TM season, and it'd be a glorious season.

she is good looking

she is one of the smartest people in any room.

Victoria: We don’t have a studio audience, which is amazing. The studio audience: 🗿

I loved her on Bake Off !

Yes, trying to be funny on taskmaster is a rookie mistake. You just try to do the task well, and in the edit it will be funny anyway.

I'm embarrassed that I'm leaving something here, but here it goes... *** i apologise if I'm being hyperbolic or if you feel like I'm including you unfairly in the following body but it's worth considering your tact when leaving comments on people's channels. Do a wee bit of research to see if what you've said has been commented or covered elsewhere, what the tone of the responses are and consider the wording or the impact and you'll probably not find yourself in the same situation as the worst offenders *** The people demanding full video episodes for free on all these clips make me cringe so, so much - you don't read back your comment or someone elses and think it makes you come off as incredibly ungrateful? "other creators do it for free" he's not ya divorced dad, you shouldn't be trying to guilt trip someone out of their livelihood and you should conduct yourself with a bit more decorum than a stroppy toddler. It's sad that you feel like you've had something taken away from you, that's reasonable. Like, i honestly feel for you, no shame. But the way you voice that opinion and argue back with Richard isn't getting you anything and it really puts a downer on these clips that everybody else is trying to enjoy. I'm all for the market place of ideas, but arguing with him when he's taken the time to reply and point you in the right direction is miserable to see. And if he's being a bit snappy then take a step back and see how you're the nth person to make the same claims about being robbed or giving shortsighted business advice to someone whose business it is to do all of this. Nobody should be made to feel small or have their pov or feelings rebutted or scorned for the worse, but just check the wording and read the links, description and other comments before you pile in and you might not find yourself being let down or angered by Richards response. That being said, it's a shame if you don't want to watch or listen anymore because that means you used to enjoy the show. If anyone reads this far and still feels like they want to chip in their two cents vis what I've been talking about, please don't because you'll only end up disappointing yourself and making these comment spaces uncomfortable for everyone else. Instead please Just think, if other content creators give it away for free, so does Richard. There's a podcast after all and how many other content creators are audio only? AND you're getting the chance to see free video clips up to 10 minutes from this audio podcast, isn't that more than you'd get with a lot of other podcasts? And if you want to see the whole thing pretty badly you can. He hasn't taken anything away from you. It's still there, just support the man and be glad you have the chance to miss it, because that means you once had it. As a sort of PS, I've been watching for years and years now and he's always been reluctant to put in adverts or hide the show behind a pay wall. Always. I remember his first advert was from an independent brewery (i think) and it was honestly good to see! Look around at how expensive everything is in day to day life, how awful our country has been ran, the energy crisis, the strikes, the constant bad economic news... I doubt Richard is screwing you because he's a disaster capitalist, i don't think he's turning the screw at all. He's finally putting the proper price on something he's done for free for you for ages because he has to. This itself is a really cringe comment but i felt it's worth adding one that's at least positive. Thanks for the show Richard, I'm glad you're making it all work for you and hope you're feeling OK (it was nice seeing you on Gone Fishing, if that's ok to say?)

Victoria is a rare combination of personality, intelligence and physical attractiveness.

You can see why David fell in love with her on there first meeting .

I know she'd hate to hear it ,but she really is a National treasure.

no make up and still good looking

Herring winning at anything only proves that the competition isn't fit for purpose.

I wasn't a fan of her on TM, she always seemed like she was upset.

I'll watch almost anything if VCM is on. I find Tastmaster tedious, but you bet I watched her learn to ride a bike! I admit; when it comes to VCM, I'm a total fanboy! YOWZA!

VCM is such an intelligent, charming, witty person. No insult intended to DM, but how did he possibly manage to marry her? I'm in awe...

one of about 5 of the greatest sets of legs on a woman from the UK... i mean DARNIT

Didn't know she told jokes.

i feel like after she married david that was when her career took off. shes talented and clever nontheless.

That explains a lot, because she's never made me laugh.

She’s a very good presenter. First noticed her when she was in a series about the derivation of words. Then other presentations. But now she seems to have stopped that and she’s somewhat of a bore.

She's such a beautiful woman. I hate David Mitchell! 🤣🤣🤣 {:o:O:}

Sorry I am in Seagull mode today - my son was watching Taskmaster so I said I would watch 1 Episode to see what it was like. It was absolute drivel. Inmates at a Mental Hospital would have drooled. I almost choked on vomit at its inaneness. Absolute rubbish. Got it?! And RU-vid spellchecker doesn't even know that 'inaneness' is a word because its not stupid enough to watch Taskmaster.

Worst part of only connect is her painfully unfunny monologues