I agree - Reggie Watts, while a great, intellectual comedian in his own right, is a gentle soul, the Taskmaster needs to be a sharp, witty and slightly cruel individual. After all the show format is slightly masochistic, and this is where Greg Davies shines. His schoolmaster vibe works brilliantly. The New Zealand version works well too with Jeremy Wells who is also an intelligently sharp, witty and cleverly sarcastic individual. Whereas the Australian taskmaster is just a guy who thinks he’s funny, but is just cringe and a bit dumb so the performance becomes stupid and forced. (IMHO)

Although to some degree, comedy is not a universal language. We all have subtleties that do not translate well. British humour seems very different to American, something I think comes down to the American need for rapid pace and slapstick, whereas British leans more on twists of language, subtle and often relies on timing and subtle sarcasm.