David Mitchell and Robert Webb are back with their first new sketch show in 15 years. It’s a comedy smorgasbord that is as random as it is funny, and will feel like a glorious throwback for fans of their 00s series That Mitchell and Webb Look. And this time they have brought some friends, with guest appearances on Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping including Ghosts’ Kiell Smith-Bynoe and podcaster and Taskmaster star Stevie Martin. We caught up with the pair to chat about Gogglebox, The Two Ronnies, Downton Abbey and snooker.
A recurring joke in the show is that the younger comedians you feature think you are a couple of old farts. Are sketch shows a young person’s game?
Webb: Well, hopefully, we’re not about to prove that they are.
Mitchell: The Two Ronnies were quite old. But people seemed to look older in the past than they do now, so it might turn out that in the last series of The Two Ronnies, Ronnie Barker was 36.
Webb: With the greatest respect, David, you are finally dressing your age because you have been dressing like a 50-year-old man since you were a student.
Why do you think sketch shows have been in short supply in recent years?
Mitchell: They’ve always come and gone in TV fashion. Now a lot of sketches happen online, so the thirst for the genre is, to a certain extent, sated by random YouTube material. That might be part of the reason. People say it’s because they’re expensive. I don’t think they are, really. It’s definitely cheaper to make Gogglebox than a sketch show, but it’s probably cheaper to make a sketch show than Downton Abbey.
Webb: I’m marginally cheaper than Maggie Smith was, for a start.
David and his wife, Victoria Coren Mitchell, have been on Celebrity Gogglebox. Were you disappointed, Robert, that David didn’t pick you as his partner?
Webb: I was neither disappointed nor surprised as I don’t live with David. Actually, Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping is on after Gogglebox, so maybe they’ll watch it on Gogglebox. I’m not expecting Mary and Giles to really go for it. But if the Siddiquis don’t like it, I’ll be quite upset.
What’s the idea of getting other comedians involved this time?
Mitchell: It’s important to have people who are under 50 represented in comedy. We were younger comedians who came through on Channel 4. So it felt like a good way of doing a show is to bring through some younger comedians.
Do you realise when you have written a fan favourite sketch like “are we the baddies?” or Numberwang? Or does it surprise you?
Webb: We are not Tony Blair. We don’t think in terms of legacy. Sometimes you get a feeling you’re on to something and have to write it down immediately. Other ideas, you go: we’ll just let that live in the notebook for a little while. But you can’t predict what the audience are going to go for. You can only give them what you think is good, then sit back and wait for hilarious results.
So what’s it like working together again? If you can say that you love each other, that would be handy, so we have a good quote.
Webb: Well, we do, so go ahead.
Mitchell: We were best men at each other’s weddings. Of course we love each other, but equally, that’s not what people tend to say to each other, being English.
Webb: You knew that would make us squirm, but you’ve got it out of us. My best-manning was easier. It was harder for David because it was at the end of a very busy year. I genuinely wondered if he was going to be able to find anything nice to say about me at all. But he did.
How long did you spend arguing whether it was Webb and Mitchell or Mitchell and Webb?
Webb: I was KO’d in the first round. I think David just muttered something about the alphabet and I kind of went along with it.
Mitchell: I mean, I did deploy the alphabet as the reason.
Webb: I could have deployed – if I’d had the wit, which I demonstrably didn’t – that one syllable comes before two syllables.
If you hadn’t become a comedy double act, what else might you like to have become?
Mitchell: How about Mappin & Webb, the jewellers? I’m not interested in setting up a separate business where I get second billing. Not only do I have to stop being a comedian and become something I don’t want to do, like be a lawyer, an estate agent or a silversmith, but I also have to play second fiddle.
Webb: And I have to carry on just being “and Webb”. You can only imagine how much I’m not into this.
