I think you're more the target demographic than you think. Taskmaster didn't exist when I was still in the UK but the first two were popular enough with my age group at the time (20-30 year old students). You might also like "Have I Got News For You" - it's supposed to have gone a bit downhill recently, but at its peak it was stupendous.

I have a freesat box for the sole purpose of "Dave" which in the evening mostly broadcasts things like Taskmaster and re-runs of HIGNFY, Mock the Week and various other very British shows (best marketing ever for that channel was to do this so consistently that it's now a standing joke on several panel shows that it will be seen forever on Dave).

It's nice to just put on if I want something funny in the background while doing something else without the annoyance of being interrupted by things stopping and having to pick.

"Mock the Week" if you want a more comedic take on the news.

Taskmaster is a fantastic program that everyone should watch at some point. The premise, the tasks, the twisted comedy of the hosts. It's perfect.

There is a lot of those shows because they are cheap to make. In reality the BBC's funding has been squeezed for years, largely for political reasons.

The current government would love to kill it completely but they can't do that directly.

If the current government want to kill it completely why have the ruled out decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee? There are pretty strong ethical reasons for why you shouldn't get a criminal record and, possibly, face prison time for not paying for a TV licence, so it would be politically quite easy to pass.

>If the current government want to kill it completely why have the ruled out decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee?

They haven't, yet.

>There are pretty strong ethical reasons for why you shouldn't get a criminal record and, possibly, face prison time for not paying for a TV licence, so it would be politically quite easy to pass.

One doesn't face prison for non-payment of the license fee.

A custodial sentence can only be imposed if one fails to pay the court-ordered fine imposed as a punishment for non-payment of the license fee.

A lot of those shows aren't BBC though. Take that list in question:

- Taskmaster: Channel 4 (originally Dave. In fact before that it was a Edinburgh Fringe Festival show written by "little" Alex Horne)

- Would I Lie To You: BBC

- 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown: Channel 4 (interestingly it's a spin off of "8 out of 10 Cats" which was C4's sort of version of "Have I Got News For You" but C4 did an anniversary series of one off comedies one year, including bringing back "15 to 1" and a few other quiz shows from the channels early years. The "8 out of 10 cats does countdown" show was "Countdown" with the cast of "8 Out of 10 Cats" (hence the name) and proved so popular it became it's own show).

As for the classics in that list. While most were BBC, it's also fair to say most wouldn't have been the same low budget as Taskmaster et al.

>- Taskmaster: Channel 4 (originally Dave. In fact before that it was a Edinburgh Fringe Festival show written by "little" Alex Horne)

Dave is owned by BBC Studios, which is the commercial arm that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC.

Dave / UKTV might be owned by the BBC but they're not funded by the licence fee and operate independently. Much like the BBC America example I cited elsewhere. As you said yourself, it's a commercial station. So they wouldn't be subject to the same "squeezed" licence fee funding that we are discussing.

That's not fair, no. Channel 4 is a commercial station and doesn't receive any licence fee funding. Yes it is publicly owned but aside from that it shares no relation to the BBC.

It's probably also worth noting that the BBC does also have a few subsidiaries like BBC America which are also commercial entities and operate independently to BBC Television. They are at least owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (albeit sometimes only in part), unlike Channel 4.

>"8 out of 9 cats does countdown"

Jon Richardson's view on many things is realistic and hilarious at the same time.

Would I Lie To You is my second favorite comedy show of all time, the first being Peep Show. I have been trying to score tickets to a taping of WILTY for years now. The form requires you to specify an address and each time I have to note that yes, I really would fly from California to Uxbridge to attend a taping. They never get back to me :)

WILTY tickets are insanely difficult to get, and even if you get them, if you don't have a car, or aren't located very close to the studio, then you're not going to have much luck. We did get the offer for WILTY tickets, but the logistics were simply intractable (living in London at the time).

Most mainstream UK shows are taped within, or nearby, London - and that works reasonably well. Arguably the hardest show to get into is QI, and we were coaxed into being in audience for Pointless in order to bump up our 'score' on the QI queue as it were. It's a weird old arrangement over there.

Don’t forget radio content as well. Radio 4 on bbc iPlayer often has some great shows like the unbelievable truth, just a minute, among others

Also check out the various Mitchell and Webb sketch shows, as well as Bruiser! That's a good rabbit hole.

Please tell me you watch QI. The king of all panel shows.

Of course I also watch QI ;D At least the episodes I can find on YouTube.

Check out Red Dwarf.