At one end of the row of comedians awaiting their next challenge on this season of Taskmaster sits seasoned performer and producer Rove McManus. At the other – after Celia Pacquola, Joel Creasey and Perth “bogan” Brett Blake – is Anisa Nandaula, a slam poet turned stand-up sensation, and the face of a new generation of Australian comedy.
“Anisa absolutely shines in this show,” McManus says. “Anisa Nandaula will become one of the biggest names in Australian comedy … [Yes, she’s] actually born in Uganda. But we will be claiming her as our own for decades to come.”
Nandaula and McManus are paired for team tasks in the fifth season of this Tom Gleeson-hosted comedy series, with the former saying they “got along like a house on fire”.
“That’s the coolest thing that I love about stand-up,” she says. “You’ll get a young Ugandan Muslim woman being best friends with this, like, older white guy. In what other scenario can we become besties?”
The Gen Z team captain on Ten’s Talkin’ ’Bout Your Gen describes her humour as “very dark”. “For Gen Z, there’s so much going on. We’re so aware of political and social issues, but we love to laugh about them as a way to discuss all of these issues. And I don’t know if [McManus’] generation does it as blatantly.”
Since filming the show the pair have been out to dinner on the festival circuit and Nandaula attended a party at McManus’ house in Perth, where he lives with his wife, actor and novelist Tasma Walton, and their teenage daughter.
“Anisa is naturally gifted,” McManus says. “You could be fooled into thinking she’s been at it for longer than she has.”
Indeed, Nandaula appears to have transitioned seamlessly to comedy from the spoken-word arena. A former law and political science student who migrated to Australia with her parents at the age of seven, Nandaula was the 2016 Queensland Poetry Slam champion, and went on to perform at the Sydney Opera House, expressing her feelings around identity, justice and racism.
“When I came to Australia, to live in Rockhampton, I was around people who you could describe as racist,” she says. “But I don’t think they’re bad people. I think they’re just yet to make a friend from a different culture. And the moment that happens, they can change completely. I don’t believe in writing people off.”
At poetry festival performances, another talent emerged: “I would talk to the crowd and be silly. And this guy said to me, ‘Oh, you’re actually really funny between your poems’. So if it weren’t for me meeting him that day, I would not be a comedian.”
She left the poetry scene and never looked back – although she still writes for leisure.
“The minute I did stand-up comedy, I was like, ’Oh, this is what I’ve been searching for my whole life.”
The first time she tried improv was on national television, in a 2024 appearance on Ten’s Thank God You’re Here. And on Taskmaster, Nandaula is a scream in solo scenarios involving everything from pushing eggs on a trolley down a bumpy driveway, to posing for naughty photobooth snaps.
“I was peeing myself,” Nandaula admits. “I was so frightened and nervous. You’ll have no idea how you went until you watch it back with a live audience.”
McManus fell back on his live-TV technique. “Even when I do stand-up, I love colouring outside the lines and seeing where you are in the moment,” he says. “I think my history of live television has put me in very good stead for Taskmaster.”
“He would hate me saying this, which is why I’m going to say it: Tom Gleeson is an absolute softie.”Rove McManus
He also sought the advice of mates who’d been on the show: Peter Helliar and Wil Anderson.
“The piece of information that helped me the most was from Pete: pack spare dry underwear. What he pointed out is if you get wet [on location] and need to change, even the shoes, they have a whole extra outfit ready to go. What they do not have is underwear.”
Still, he struggled during long days filming at the ranch outside Auckland (where the New Zealand version of the British original is also made), with only Gleeson’s assistant, poker-faced comedian “Lesser” Tom Cashman, for company.
“Tom Cashman is the life-preserver that we are all clinging to in this raging ocean of creative fear,” says McManus. “There’s a crew watching you and they say nothing. They give you zero feedback. They don’t laugh at anything – they’re stone quiet. It is the most creatively fulfilling and creatively exhausting thing I have ever done.”
And that’s all before they face Gleeson’s notorious roastings back in the studio.
“If he thinks you can handle something, he’ll push you to that limit,” Nandaula says. “You’re like, ‘Wait, what did he just say?’. And then he’ll move on quickly. So you don’t have time to emotionally respond.”
McManus was prepared to be “ripped to pieces”. “As it turns out, I shouldn’t have worried because poor Joel [Creasey] copped it more than I did.
“I know Tom very well,” he goes on. “TV Tom is a very different Tom to the Tom that you have a beer with. He brings this aura of intimidation, when that’s not him at all. He would hate me saying this, which is why I’m going to say it: he’s an absolute softie. He’s a good dad. He’s a good husband. He’s a good mate. And yes, I want to absolutely ruin every success he’s had by letting everybody know what an actually really nice guy he is.”
Taskmaster returns at 7.30pm, May 7 on Ten and 10Play.
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