Alex Horne Honorary Doctorate Speech

I hereby invite Dr. Ali strs to present for an

honorary

degree to Alex horn Chancellor. I'm delighted to introduce you to our

honorary

graduate this afternoon Alex horn Alex horn, as many of you will know, is the creator and star of the hit TV show Taskmaster, where five comedians compete against each other in meaningless tasks to try to earn score points. almighty foreman Greg Davis. I first contacted Alex in November 2021 to ask him a question. I'm a law academic, so see if you can guess what was at the top of my Please note, dear Alex, I have created a university extension project based on the Taskmaster format for our local 5th year classes, but do you think Will the producer sue me?

His response was: I don't think I'll sue you, but let me check it out here. We are two years later and not only has the production company Avalon not sued me, hooray!, but with Alex's support, the homework project has become huge; It started as a small seed of an idea to make our primary outreach work more engaging and interactive. It has become a national competition held at 32 universities across the UK and Ireland. Alex's unwavering support of homework speaks to his genuine desire to see Taskmaster used for good. The show itself brings immeasurable joy to its legions of fans and through initiatives like homework. is introducing a new generation to the concept of, to borrow Alex's own words, competing against each other in solidarity and doing ridiculous things for no good reason, but School Tasking is actually doing these things for very good reasons.

Teams of law students across the country are introducing fifth-year classes to address aspects of the law that are central to the Taskmaster himself, interpreting language, trying to find semantic loop polls, or convincing a particularly nice judge or Taskmaster not to like him. tell Greg Davis that his reasoning is superior, but the project is also doing something else. Introducing young boys from less advantaged backgrounds to the notion of university study as something they can strive for and achieve if they want to be Taskmaster is the brainchild of Alex Horn and, in my opinion, is the most beautiful vehicle for ED education in the program itself.

It is not the Oxbridge graduates who stand out nor is it exclusively the sporting contestants, the flamboyant entertainers or the gifted orators. Instead, the show's format is genuinely inclusive, encouraging each contestant to showcase their own particular talents and skills, and homework does the same in the classroom, allowing all contestants to shine. The kids meet Alex through of videos he records especially for them through live Q&As and this year they will meet him in person at the Grand Final here at War Alex has said about receiving this PhD that he has made his parents proud and his children embarrassed, but probably I'm about to embarrass Alex even more by saying nice things about him in front of a full auditorium, sorry Alex, anyone who has met Alex will know that he has a unique way of making everyone feel important. and valued, his achievements are abundant and they are achievements that should be shouted, but he is too humble to do so by shouting himself.

Taskmaster has won numerous major television awards, including two National Comedy Awards, but perhaps what speaks to Alex's character more than anything is that. You'll find his baa not in a place of honor on the mantelpiece, but hidden in a corner of his downstairs. Speaking for myself, I think that if this PhD finds a place downstairs from Alex, Lou, War University should be proud of Alex's support. for school tasking has been fundamental to its growth and its ability to reach thousands of children each year. Everyone involved really appreciates you taking the time out of your incredibly busy schedule to make the project a little more special for all the children. involved and I in particular will always be indebted to him.

I have no doubt that he played a big enough role in the production company not suing me, so thank you Alex Alex Horn really is one of the good ones and generous with his time when he has little to spare, modest when his achievements are notable , passionate about letting everyone share in the joy of the Taskmaster universe, and unquestionably hilarious to boot, which is why I'm so proud to say Chancellor on behalf of the Senate. I present you for admission to the degree of doctor of letters honoris Cowa a little Alex horn only the formal part by the authority of the Senate I admit you to the degree of doctor of letters in Oris coai the lecton is yours thank you uh thank you very much Chancellor, thank you Ali I enjoyed every second of it um and mates, by the way, you're my hero, amazing um, so when I got an email about this from Warick University, they sent me some instructions, which was a bit of a task and I actually did it.

I printed. They sent me this. They said you must receive a degree from the War University. When you do, you should give a short

speech

in response. You only have 4 and a half minutes I have the stopwatch here we go your time starts now here we go uh I should explain how Ally already did it. I did a show called Taskmaster on television uh. I am aware that many of you may not know this. I felt relieved about that. some of you did, uh, it's a cult show, so I understand if you don't know, you're important people with important things to do, but just to explain it again very briefly in the show, five comedians compete against each other doing tasks ridiculous I came up with it to impress a giant and the tasks should be fun or at least intriguing, so if we had a task like receiving a degree and giving a short

speech

in response, we would probably add another layer or two. something like you shouldn't use the letter F at any time, no f-word and you should wink six times during your speech, so from now on that's what I'm going to do.

Well, I'm not good at winking, unfortunately, good luck everyone. 2020 is either a big year for me or a big year for me because 2020 is a leap year, so it's a bigger day than a normal year, but it's also big because in June my why and I'm going to go to dinner with Mark. 25 years after we both started our own university, we are also celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. 20. Yes, okay. 20th wedding anniversary at the end of this year, so it's definitely a big year, so we're going to start this big year with this big extraordinary occasion.

What's really exciting and humbling is that when I finished my own university course I didn't have a plan, I didn't put on any professional airs, I hadn't done any learning, I hadn't done any networking. I didn't know what I wanted to do or make a living, so what I had done was I had created a lot of Ren, including my why, and I had played a lot, I had played sports, I had written in the university newspaper we had two and a half minutes , two and a half minutes. I started doing stand-up comedy and, looking back, I realize now that I've basically continued doing that stuff for a quarter or a century, but without lectures or rehearsals getting in the way, it's been almost 25 years, so, what? how am I going to end up in television and, more importantly, at this stage getting a PhD?

Well, I think it's because of all the things that Earth is good at or that I've been lucky over and over again in my career, anyone who can make a living as a comedian has to rely on provocative elements, but part of that luck It has to come down to perseverance. I've always worked hard, even if that work is really bullshit. I've always had a strange, almost stubborn a, I've also had a b, that things will be okay again. To put all your eggs in one comedy basket, you have to be optimistic, but I think that's the most important reason I'm standing. here today it has nothing to do with me, there is a minute and a half left, it has to do with other people, as the chancellor said.

I think it is necessary to trust other people. I have always had the ability to bend other people more talented than me. It is a very useful skill to have, so I am told that this honorary title is specifically a Dr. Oletas in recognition of the support and commitment you have made through our homework outreach program which is now being rolled out as a national competition. Ali has already told me some details of what it is, but this is what it means to me. Homework is a project that could not have been devised by me or the AI.

It is the result of years of playing and working hard with academic rigor. There is not much time left and we leave complete nonsense, it is the privilege of the television world and generosity or education combine to make something strange, intriguing or childish, it is something I am immensely proud of or and it always surprises me, so They have given me this. Honorary

doctorate

because I have supported a program that other people have been more responsible for and by other people I mainly mean Dr. Ali Struthers and she can say that the program that I do was what launched a program that she does, but my program is done. for another hundred people I'm just a small percentage of that and I had the opportunity to do that program because of another 100 people who helped me get to that position so that's 1% or 1% which means I have "In reality, I have only obtained a small percentage of this

doctorate

and yet I am here accepting it very happily because in part it is a wonderful thing, but also because I do it with Bal or Dr. strs and their team and with everyone who They work on Taskmaster and the kids who have embraced nonsense and I want to dedicate it to anyone who also doesn't really know what they're going to do in their lives.

I think it's absolutely okay to not know what you want to do, it's okay to not have a plan with. a little RA no luck a little luck hard work I knew it was going to happen I knew it was going to happen hard work optimism and the support of those around you everything will be okay eventually so thank you very much for this and congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to get the royal titles today on this fantastic, bloated, and oh-so-reasonable occasion.