This Thursday, one of the best shows on TV is back for its 22nd season. 

It’s called "Taskmaster," and it’s the antidote for every depressing news story and doomscroll right now. Created by comedian Alex Horne, the show originated as a one-off comedy performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010. In the years since, it’s been tweaked for television and has developed a devoted international following. 

 The premise is simple, sort of. In each episode, five entertainers—comedians, actors and other celebrities—complete a series of tasks handed down by the “taskmaster,” who’s played with delicious fervor by comedian Greg Davies. Davies is joined by his assistant, show creator Horne, and their power-hungry boss/beleaguered secretary schtick sets the tone for the whole show. 

 In one episode, to do the deliberately complicated—and sometimes downright impossible—challenges, contestants were required to find a single photo of their own hand among thousands of others taped up inside a garage. In another, they have to impress a random British town mayor (techniques include bribery using Popsicles, impromptu interpretative dances and singing). In yet another, they’re ordered to repurpose a cement mixer into something “unexpected”; the results include a makeshift shampoo station, cocktail mixers and a sausage-spinning device that you have to see to believe. 

The psychology of it all is fascinating, too. No matter how much they might want to, the contestants can’t tamp down their happiness, frustration, terror and joy. The tasks are democratizers. Comedian Jason Mantzoukas (season 20), the first American to appear on the show, became more and more unhinged as the series progressed; at one point, he proclaimed that his guiding principles were to “destroy, dismantle and engulf in flames.” BAFTA-winning actress Daisy May Cooper’s temper flared while drawing a stick-figure animal because her teammate, comedian Richard Herring, kept guessing the wrong kind of creature (season 10). Comedian Rhod Gilbert (season 7) repeatedly tweaked the show’s rules for his own benefit and harassed the Taskmaster throughout his season, which ended with him throwing tennis balls at a crew of extras in an attempt to recreate the video game “Space Invaders” in real life. (At one point, a man groans when Gilbert hits him in the groin.)

Sound chaotic? It is—but it’s pure fun. Every episode has multiple belly-laugh moments, no one is out to win at the expense of another person and, with the exception of a few offhand remarks, each episode is utterly detached from the slog of the never-ending news cycle. The full series is now available on YouTube, giving it a huge international distribution (more than 2.3 million subscribers), and early this year, Davies and Horne performed a small set of live shows here in the U.S.—a mini-tour of Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia and New York City.

That’s where it gets personal.

I’ve watched almost every episode of "Taskmaster." When I found out about the American live shows late last year, I was hell-bent on getting tickets. It was the depth of winter, and I was desperately in need of some joy. My best friend, Shun, was suffering through the end stages of pancreatic cancer. I’d been traveling back and forth to Boston every few weeks for more than a year to hold his hand through prognoses, treatments, clinical trials, pivots and, finally, the decision to bring in hospice. The staff who ran the CLEAR security line at the airport began to recognize me, and more than once I sat next to the same businessman on my 6 a.m. flight. Every time I saw him, I clocked how far along he was in the book he was reading. 

Tickets for the U.S. live shows sold out in 13 minutes, but I was able to score a pair for the Jan. 19 show in Philadelphia. My cousin Emma, who lives in Philly, and I bundled up and headed to the Miller Theater, where Davies and Horne did a Q&A before hosting a live version of the show, with audience members performing a few popular tasks from its 21 seasons. 

For a few hours, I felt like myself again—bubbly, quick to laugh, happy to be with my cousin, game for whatever might happen. I wasn’t actively thinking about my best friend dying of cancer or clinical trials or leaving my husband and our dogs at home while I traveled again. Emma and I laughed so hard our faces hurt. We chatted with seatmates who’d flown in from the Midwest just for the show and plotted the best time to buy merch. On the way back to her apartment, we linked arms and traipsed through snow-covered Rittenhouse Square. Our teeth chattered as we recapped our favorite moments from the show and admired the cozy golden glow emanating from restaurants and row houses. When I got home, I watched the videos I’d taken on repeat. Each one was like a Snickers bar—a jolt of sugary energy right when I needed it. 

Five days later, Shun passed away. I was with him in Boston, holding his hand, when he died. The day after, 24 inches of snow fell in New England. As Shun’s partner, brother, sister and I rattled around his house, making arrangements and watching snow fall, I scrolled through my phone’s photo album, finally stopping at the "Taskmaster" videos. I hit play on one when it felt like the grief of looking at pictures of Shun and me—some of them taken just two weeks before—was going to swallow me whole. 

“Finger…or sausage?” Davies’ voice boomed, the prompt for a particularly inane task. 

That’s the power of "Taskmaster." For the first time in days, I laughed.

"Taskmaster" returns for its 22nd season on Thursday, Sept. 3, featuring Greg Davis and Alex Horne as hosts and Richard Ayoade, Chloe Petts, Isy Suttie, Matt Lucas and Nina Conti as contestants. New episodes are posted to YouTube every Thursday night, and the show’s entire archive is available on YouTube, too.