Alexander James Jeffery Horne (born 10 September 1978)[1] is an English comedian and musician. He is the creator of BAFTA award-winning TV series Taskmaster, in which he takes the role of assistant to the Taskmaster Greg Davies.[3] He is the host and bandleader of comedic band The Horne Section. Horne hosts the band's eponymous podcast and television series, and has appeared with them on BBC Radio 4, TV channel Dave, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.[3]
Alexander James Jeffery Horne[4] was born in Chichester, West Sussex, England[5] on 10 September 1978 to a father who worked as a general practitioner.[1][6][7] The middle child of three boys, he was raised in Midhurst.[7] Horne originally attended a public primary school, before he was enrolled into a private school when he was ten years old; he mentioned in a 2024 interview that he was at first "embarrassed about (it) for many years" but he "now fully embrace(s)" it.[7]
Horne began his stand-up comedy career at open mic nights in Cambridge and London while he was still a student, and performed in the semi-final of So You Think You're Funny in 1999.[14] He made his first of many appearances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2000 in the show "How to Avoid Huge Ships".[17] Early in his career, Horne also worked as a journalist for local newspapers in Sussex,[16] and as a runner on television sets.[18]
As a solo performer, Horne wrote and performed "Birdwatching" at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival[25] and "Wordwatching" at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival.[26] He wrote a book entitled Birdwatchingwatching in 2009 as well as Wordwatching in early 2010.[27][28]
On 18 January 2007, Horne became the first comedian to perform in Second Life for a feature on Sky News. Between 24 October 2006 and 24 October 2007, he worked alongside fellow comedian Owen Powell in an attempt to find a person from every nationality living in London. After a year's search, they finally managed to meet people from 189 of the UN's 192 countries, and hence suggested there is nobody in the city from Tuvalu, Palau, or the Marshall Islands.[29]
The Horne Section
Since 2010, Horne has been performing with his band The Horne Section as the compere of comedy variety shows.[30]Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section (2012–14) ran for three series on BBC Radio 4,[31] and The Horne Section Podcast launched in 2018.[32]
The Horne Section performing in 2019
In May 2018, Horne presented The Horne Section Television Programme, a one-off musical comedy stage show based on his BBC Radio 4 show, The Horne Section. The show was recorded for UKTV in front of a live audience at the London Palladium and aired on Dave on 24 May. The show featured his band, The Horne Section, as well as performances from comedians Sue Perkins, Sara Pascoe and Joe Wilkinson, drag act and opera singer Le Gateau Chocolat, and Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle.[33]
A six-episode Channel 4 series, The Horne Section TV Show, was released on 3 November 2022.[34] It is scripted and combines elements of musical comedy, talk show and sitcom.[35][36] A second six-episode series was ordered and was scheduled for production in 2023.[37] The second series aired on 8 May 2025 on Channel 4's streaming service. [38]
The concept of Taskmaster was created by Horne sometime in early 2009. There were many inspirations for the game, including his time working on Big Brother and The Crystal Maze, and his envy of his friend, comedian Tim Key, winning the Edinburgh Comedy Award that same year.[42][43] By September 2009, Horne had created a series of tasks, which he emailed to twenty comedians and asked them to complete over the course of a year;[43][44] these included Tim Key, Mark Watson, Joe Wilkinson and Mike Wozniak, all of whom have since appeared on the British Taskmaster television series.[45][46][47] Their attempts were filmed, and in August 2010, Horne presented their efforts at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Billed as "The Task Master", Wozniak was the overall winner.[43][48]
A second Fringe show, this time billed as Taskmaster II, included ten contestants, nine of whom had been in the first, and was held at the following festival in 2011; Josie Long was crowned winner.[44][49][50][51]
Channel 4 paid for a pilot episode, before the show was ultimately picked up by Dave.[52] Since 2015, Horne has served as co-host alongside Greg Davies in the Taskmaster series. It was originally broadcast on Dave and transferred to Channel 4 in 2020.
In 2018, Horne co-hosted the American remake of the show, which carried a shorter but similar format to the British series. Versions of the programme have also been made in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and New Zealand. The show was awarded a BAFTA.[53] A running joke in the show is that Davies introduces Horne as "Little Alex Horne".[2]
As of 2025, the British Taskmaster programme has aired twenty series, and also produced four "Champion of Champions" and five "New Year's Treat" specials.[54]
Horne has since branched Taskmaster out to other events outside of television. In 2025, he hosted a series of games in a retirement home in Adderbury,[55][56] and that same year he partnered up with English Heritage to tour the UK to set out tasks for members of the public to perform.[57][58][59][60] In 2026, he and Davies will tour the United States in a Taskmaster live experience show.[61][62][63][64]
Other work and appearances
In 2011, Horne appeared on BBC One's Celebrity Mastermind; his specialist subject was the comedian Ken Dodd, and he finished in 2nd place with a score of 25. During Comic Relief 2011's 24 Hour Panel People marathon, Horne appeared on the Call My Bluff segment, on a team with Tim Key and Roisin Conaty. Horne also appeared in the TV show on BBC Three called Britain in Bed in 2011. He appeared as a guest on The Matt Lucas Awards on 16 April 2013 where he won "The Bravest Guest" Award.
In 2025, Horne worked as a producer on a documentary about Chesham United F.C., set to be released on YouTube in episodes in December 2025.[69]
Personal life
Horne in 2018
Horne is married to former BBC business journalist Rachel Horne,[13] whom he met at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.[15] The couple have three sons.[70][13] He has lived in Buckinghamshire for more than two decades.[71][72] He previously lived with his Horne Section bandmate Ben Reynolds, including while at college and for a number of years when they owned a house together.[7]
Horne appeared as a contestant on Countdown in August 2008, winning three matches before being defeated.[73]
He is a birdwatcher, which he describes as the perfect activity "for someone who likes sport but is getting too old to play, likes the outdoors and is slightly anal".[74] He is a supporter of Liverpool F.C.[75] and is a director of his local team Chesham United F.C.[76]
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