Mitchell & Webb are Back..

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

So, what are the chances of there being a " ' Back ' Is Fucking Brilliant " thread 14 years down the line ?

THIS NEW PAGE IS FUCKING BRILLIANT

[ersatz99]

Tim muttering "litterbugs" during Simon's bullshit go-kart story is a lovely piece of subtle humour.

It was during the speedway story, not the go-kart story.

[Virgo76]

First episodes of comedies are rarely brilliant.
This wasn't either but it was fine and does show a lot of promise. I'll be watching again.

And, yes, David Mitchell is intelligent. I think that's been definitively established already.

[Twed]

It's so predictable. Especially the ending with the Bluetooth speaker porn. If that's your punchout ending, feel ashamed.

[weaseldust]

No that's exactly what I meant! They managed to have a dog in most episodes of a very long running sitcom without having to resort to him doing any of these obvious tired cliches (apart from maybe the occasional mention of shenanigans in the park). Sorry I didn't phrase it very well.

ohhhh yeah sorry i read it wrong, i get it now!

[Icehaven]

ohhhh yeah sorry i read it wrong, i get it now!

No mea culpa, my sentence construction was dire.

In other news I'm just rewatching this and have paused it, and a massive ad for Peep Show on 4 On Demand appeared.

[KennyMonster]

And, yes, David Mitchell is intelligent. I think that's been definitively established already.

I beg to differ.

[KennyMonster]

I beg to differ.

Pleeeeeeeeease can I differ?

[KennyMonster]

Pleeeeeeeeease can I differ?

Told you.

[Virgo76]

Differ to your heart's content.
I think even if you dislike Mitchell - and I certainly don't- he's clearly not stupid.

[Lee Van Cleef]

The Vinyl and Cancer lines were pretty good. Aside from that it had some moments, bit predictable though.

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Holness was also in Free Agents, a show that seems to have been entirely forgotten. I didn't see it, did anyone?

This episode reminded me vaguely of Goodbye Mr Kent, a 1-season BBC1 sitcom with Richard Briers. In which Briers played a mysterious character who gets by wheedling favours and apparently never doing any work or paying rent. It's never clear whether he's a con man or a sociopath or just a chancer. The final episode ended with him locked outside, suddenly proposing marriage to the female lead. It's interesting because I think if it went out like that now it would get a much more negative reaction than the indifference it expired from. A bit like that piano bloke in the social media feeds right now.

Anyway, what I mean is it seemed Webb's character was a bit like Mr Kent, even though he sounded like Jeremy Peepshow all the time.

[Icehaven]

Why did the guy say Mitchell is short when he's 5'10?  How is Webb mysteriously taller than him in scenes when he's 5'7"?

It blew my mind slightly when I discovered that Mitchell is both taller and younger than Webb.

[Old Gold Tooth]

It blew my mind slightly when I discovered that Mitchell is both taller and younger than Webb.

Bloody hell, I never knew this. That's not the Peep Show dynamic at all.

No, I don't like that.

[Shit Good Nose]

Ahhh, it were alright.  I like the bleak flashbacks - like a very British version of the flashbacks in Brooklyn 99.

And I think I've got to a point where I will happily watch Mitchell in pretty much anything.  Except for HIGNFY.  And Upstart Crow which, for some reason, and despite Mitchell fitting the character perfectly, I couldn't stomach at all.

I'll stick with it.

[Icehaven]

Bloody hell, I never knew this. That's not the Peep Show dynamic at all.

No, I don't like that.

No I don't, it's just wrong isn't it?

Edit; and the Peep Show opening seems to agree

[alan nagsworth]

HAHA THE BIT ON THE PLANE WHERE JEREMY SPEAKS IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE GOBBLEDIGOOK! HAHAHA

THANKS AGAIN TO FOSTER'S LAGER FOR SPONSORING YET ANOTHER ORIGINAL COMEDY

[kidsick5000]

A missed opportunity to do the first episode twice, but switch the lead roles.

I'd like to see David Mitchell play the manipulator.

[KennyMonster]

Differ to your heart's content.
I think even if you dislike Mitchell - and I certainly don't- he's clearly not stupid.

He seems to have been well educated, appears to have read a few books and probably keeps up to date with current affairs.

So it is the very definition of stupidity to have let Alastair Campbell walk all over him in that interview and link 9/11 to the reason for invading Iraq. He really couldn't apply the information he must have absorbed to the situation he was in.

Can't apply knowledge and info? -stupidity mate.

If he's not stupid then it is more sinister that he purposefully allowed the link to be made, unchallenged, yet again. I suppose then you could align him with other Oxbridge alumni in the entertainment world who help to define what the established norm is and try to tell us exactly how left wing we are allowed to be.

[Virgo76]

I haven't seen the interview you're talking about. But Campbell is a) more experienced as a debater than Mitchell and b) famously something of a bully.
So I don't think Mitchell losing one argument with him (if that's what happened) proves David Mitchell is stupid.

"I suppose then you could align him with other Oxbridge alumni in the entertainment world who help to define what the established norm is and try to tell us exactly how left wing we are allowed to be."

I don't understand this bit at all. Can anyone help me out? I think it might just be crap.

[Artemis]

Thought it was pretty reasonable. Yes it was very El Dude but that's going to follow them everywhere now. I thought it cheapened as it went on, weirdly. By the end, the weird voicemail deletion felt very focred (why did he press play in the first place?) and the 'porn on the speakers' thing revealed itself as a bit shit due to the reliance on sexual explicitness in place of something more cleverer.

[Steven]

It's so predictable. Especially the ending with the Bluetooth speaker porn. If that's your punchout ending, feel ashamed.

Made worse by the fact it was signposted, let's not credit the viewer that they've seen the character going on about how he loves his iPad and playing music over bluetooth speaker and just have him walk off to the bathroom with it, he literally goes "I'll just take this.." as he picks it up in case you're fucking stupid.

[Twed]

Same with the answer machine message. Just really old sitcom tropes with nothing more to them. A dog pissing and shitting being used as a comedic device. Mitchell saying "literally" as an embellishment. It's absolute crap. Nothing surprises, or confounds the most base expectation of what a sitcom should be.

[Artemis]

The cunt-drop was well done, though. That got the biggest laugh here, and the missus doesn't even like that word. Also enjoyed the characters in and of themselves. It was when the plot happened that things went a bit south.

That said, like most things that CaB as a whole rips apart, it's actually not so bad if you just relax a bit and try to enjoy it.

[Twed]

That said, like most things that CaB as a whole rips apart, it's actually not so bad if you just relax a bit and try to enjoy it.

Oh, absolutely. It's passable, and there's no pressure on it to aim any higher so it doesn't. Completely non-essential and non-challenging. If I had a TV in the bath this is what I'd watch.

[up_the_hampipe]

Made worse by the fact it was signposted, let's not credit the viewer that they've seen the character going on about how he loves his iPad and playing music over bluetooth speaker and just have him walk off to the bathroom with it, he literally goes "I'll just take this.." as he picks it up in case you're fucking stupid.

Also he mentions how much he loves PornHub earlier in the episode.

[Steven]

Also he mentions how much he loves PornHub earlier in the episode.

Yes, I forgot about that, completely nonsensical and inappropriately as well just to further set up the shit iPad joke.

[alan nagsworth]

The cunt-drop was well done, though. That got the biggest laugh here, and the missus doesn't even like that word.

Nah, I don't really think so. A good "cunt drop" would be something like Nathan Barley's forcibly venomous "Can't you see she's too fucked to laugh? You cunt" to Pingu, or Larry David lightheartedly blurting it out at the poker game to the absolute disgust of everyone at the table (especially Michael Halbreich). I didn't really get the same effect from this. "Cunt" in these instances should be crowbarred into a scene to deliberately provoke a reaction from either the characters or the audience. Wasn't feelin' it mate soz

Am I reading too much into this? PROBABLY.

That said, like most things that CaB as a whole rips apart, it's actually not so bad if you just relax a bit and try to enjoy it.

I dunno, bit patronising there. I don't consider myself to be a part of "CaB as a whole" these days as I'm very rarely here, and furthermore I was very relaxed and ready to enjoy this when I watched it. I'd had a couple of beers, I was with my girlfriend, we were cosied up in bed, and we both thought it was pretty shit.

[olliebean]

Made worse by the fact it was signposted, let's not credit the viewer that they've seen the character going on about how he loves his iPad and playing music over bluetooth speaker and just have him walk off to the bathroom with it, he literally goes "I'll just take this.." as he picks it up in case you're fucking stupid.

Yes, and by the fact that they didn't even try to just turn off the speaker.

[Steven]

Yes, and by the fact that they didn't even try to just turn off the speaker.

Bluetooth is weak and would be really choppy or not work once he had walked out of the room and the signal would have to pass through a few walls, including presumably a tiled bathroom. Either way, he'd be sitting on the bog in a tiled bathroom with porn playing on his iPad on full volume which would echo loudly - and he's at a wake in another person's house. It's just a ludicrous setup and not in a good way, that and the shoehorned mentioning of his penchant for porn earlier to prime the later payoff. Just shite.