When David Mitchell and Robert Webb transferred their Radio 4 sketch show to BBC2, That Mitchell & Webb Look became an award-winning success. Together with their infamous roles in Peep Show, this "double act" were suddenly red-hot talent. Mitchell became a regular of the comedy panel show circuit, while Webb... well, he won Let's Dance For Comic Relief by reenacting Flashdance in tight lycra and a wig. A disparity the pair themselves poke fun at in the third series of TM&WL, this one aiming to scrub away the bad taste of that sorely disappointing second series...
With the proviso that first episodes of sketch shows are intentionally the strongest to lure audiences in, I found this opener solidly written and very funny for the most part. There were only a few obvious duds, with most of the sketches hitting their marks and a handful eliciting big laughs.
The great: Mitchell as Poirot, deducing the culprit of a crime by waiting for one of the suspects to use "the evil voice"; a spoof of The Apprentice where the candidates are all super-talented business brains, so the Sir Alan figure is forced to fire "the fat one"; a terrible quiz show being broadcast after some unspecified post-apocalyptic "Event" with constant warnings that viewers don't go outside, featuring a contestant referred to as Unknown Male 282; and a spy drama consisting entirely of clichés because the writers have no experience of that profession.
The good: Webb as grinning Euro inventor Jan Hankl, who has patented the action of slapping your thighs to help find a missing item; a brain surgeon mingling at a party, making full use of the phrase "it's not exactly brain surgery, is it?"; Mitchell and Webb's action figures (Mitchell's has a huge vocabulary, Webb's comes with an extra T-shirt); Queen Victoria being lambasted by an aide for daring to comment that a tree species being given to England smells like cum; and Webb inventing an alternative to doorbells that involves shooting dogs through windows with a note attached.
The bad: A policeman sneering at having to patrol with a lowly Community Support Officer; a '70s sitcom-style golf sketch that just didn't make much sense to me; a Newsnight-style show on "dumbing down" being filmed on a cooking show set (wisely lasting only a few seconds); and Santa Claus' scoundrel brother Russ coming to stay, bemoaning how his Winterfest X festival hasn't taken off like Christmas, then making a move on Santa's wife Joan.
Altogether, this was a promising start. I think the key to M&W's success is that, besides being talented performers, they avoid the trap of merely regurgitating catchphrases (a nasty hangover for UK comedy thanks to Harry Enfield and The Fast Show), and the wit and intelligence of David Mitchell is evident in the writing. Even the sketches that don't amuse are at least nicely-written and unfunny. The best kind of unfunny, obviously.
If That Mitchell & Webb Look has one failing it's that their comedy tends to revolve around poking fun at media tropes, history and literature. This is possibly because you "write what you know" and the pair are in the TV biz and a university upbringing has instilled a love of British history and books -- which is fine, but episodes feel a bit constricted by their aim at times. It's not exactly holding a mirror up to contemporary life, which is what the greatest sketch shows do.
They can also become very preachy at times. While their Apprentice sketch was cynical and funny, it was spoiled when M&W (as TV producers) started to talk condescendingly to the audience about exactly why The Apprentice formula is so manufactured and its viewers idiots to enjoy it. A reality show that a huge portion of M&W's audience probably really like. Way to alienate, guys! At least we've moved on from Big Brother being the whipping boy, but now the decent reality TV is getting it in the neck?
Still, considering their audience are going to be young adults raised on TV, it's perhaps not so unwise for them to focus their efforts on parodying the goggle-box like this. I guess I'm just bored by the amount of TV spoofs around these days. Whenever M&W do shift focus to everyday concerns, it's never their finest work (see the policeman sketch this week.) But I know they CAN go beyond easy showbiz targets, as David Mitchell's excellent vodcasts tackle humdrum topics with wit and insight. Search for them on iTunes.
Overall, I'm going to resist proclaiming this a return to form without seeing more, but there was nothing here to make me think ill of the new series. They even appear to have axed Sir Digby Chicken Caesar and Numberwang before those fan-favourites were stomped into the ground -- thank God. Famous last words..?
Anyway, it's great to see a sketch show that appears to have been crafted with care and attention, despite its inevitable flaws and a few concerns. Compare this episode to a whole run of any sketch show BBC Three throw at the screen... and there's no competition.
11 June 2009
BBC2, 10pm
