I do not, and cannot let myself, understand the enduring appeal of That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC2, Thursday, 10pm). I don’t understand why this show has even been commissioned… let alone repeated on the funniest TV night of the week.
David Mitchell is, quite clearly, a very good comedy actor. He creates characters and gets the slap on to really get his teeth into his roles… whether it’s an old drunk or a snooker commentator. However, Rob Webb is completely unable to play anyone but himself. Watch this show… or any show with these two in for that matter… with your eyes closed and it sounds like a series of sketches starring Robert Webb and another character. He’s only got the one voice… and he’s only got a couple of characters in him, no matter how you dress him up.
My main concern with That Mitchell And Webb Look is that it simply doesn’t have the intelligence to take a joke very far, or worse still, the show often has a punchline that you can see charging at you from the horizon with its arse on fire, but it aimlessly ambles up to you instead of cutting to the quick. If a sketch lasts 3 minutes, it takes you 20 seconds to work out the punchline… and then, because David Mitchell is a likeable chap, you give it the benefit of the doubt and wait for a twist. It doesn’t come and you are left feeling like you’ve very much wasted your time.
The skit that best sums up this tawdry programme is Numberwang. Each ‘wang’ is the same as the last, offering nothing new at all. It goes like this. “Peter” “8″ “That’s Numberwang!” “Janice?” “34.5″ “That’s Numberwang!” and it goes on and on and on and on. Last night, we saw a change which essentially meant the exact same gag, only this time, performed in German. It worked a little better, but it didn’t go unnoticed that it was Mitchell at the helm instead of Webb.
The ‘Oh and that’s a bad miss’ pairing is the one that promises the most. Two pissed up old codgers in the commentary box at the snooker, with complexions like the inside of a chain smokers mouth and voices as gravelly as dry muesli. I pluralise when really I mean David Mitchell. Once again, Robert Webb is performing in his own voice with a wig on. That’s it. Someone is letting the side down. That said, I wish it was that clear cut. It blatantly isn’t. Mitchell’s appearance in Blunder was, putting it kindly, the worst thing ever committed to film.
This pair are seemingly loved by all… and I just don’t know why. Predictable, uninspired, dull, one dimensional and lacking in invention. Soon, these repeats will be off our screens, and TV will be all the better for it. [Mof Gimmers]
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