Mitchell and Webb are a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

double act A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases f ...

, composed of David Mitchell and

Robert Webb Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell. Webb and Mitchell both starred in the Channel 4 sitco ...

. They are best known for starring in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

Peep Show A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the ci ...

'' and their radio and TV sketch shows ''

That Mitchell and Webb Sound ''That Mitchell and Webb Sound'' is a comedy sketch show on BBC Radio 4 which started on 28 August 2003. A second series was broadcast in 2005 with a third starting on 24 May 2007. The series became adapted for television as '' That Mitchell and ...

'' and ''

That Mitchell and Webb Look ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'' is a British sketch comedy television show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb that ran from 2006 to 2010. Many of its characters and sketches were first featured in the duo's radio show ''That Mitchell and W ...

''. The duo first met at the

Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

in 1993 and collaborated on the 1995 revue while at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Works

Television and radio

After graduating from university, the duo performed in two-man shows at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and some sketch writing, including a series of ''

Big Train ''Big Train'' is a British television sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan. The first series was broadcast on BBC Two in 1998, while the second, in which Linehan was not involved, aired in 2002. Overview The series starr ...

'' and also for

Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller are an English comedy double act consisting of the actor-comedians Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller. They have performed in two eponymous television sketch shows, the satirical ''Timeghost'' podcast, and many individual ...

's eponymous show. Their big break came in 2000 when they joined the writing team for the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

sketch show '' Bruiser''. The following year, the short-lived

Play UK Play UK was a television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom as part of the UKTV network of channels. Play UK broadcast all day on the digital platforms, but on the Sky Analogue platform on the Astra 19.2°E satellite system it broadcast ...

channel invited them to write their own sketch show, ''

The Mitchell and Webb Situation ''The Mitchell and Webb Situation'' is a British sketch comedy television show originally shown on Play UK in 2001. Written by and starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, it lasted for one series of six episodes and was released on region 2 D ...

''. Later, they wrote and starred in the Radio 4

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

'', later adapted for television on BBC Two as ''

''. The first series of ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'' won the BAFTA for Best Comedy Programme in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. They often appear with actors

Olivia Colman Sarah Caroline Sinclair ( Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. Known for her comedic and dramatic roles in film and television, she has received various accolades, including an Academy A ...

James Bachman James Hamilton Bachman (born 24 February 1972) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He has written for and acted in many British television and radio programmes, including ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'', ''Saxondale'', ''Bleak Expectati ...

, Mark Evans and

Paterson Joseph Paterson D. Joseph (born 22 June 1964) is a British actor. He appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of ''King Lear'' and '' Love's Labour's Lost'' in 1990. On television he is best known for his roles in ''Casualty'' (1997–1998) ...

. In 2008, the duo wrote a pilot script for their first original TV sitcom, ''Playing Shop''. The two star as Eric and Jamie, friends who set up a business together after they are made redundant from their old jobs.

Hartswood Films Hartswood Films is a British television production company founded by Beryl Vertue in 1979. They have also produced dramas such as '' Jekyll'', as well as documentaries, and the 1990s ITV/BBC sitcom ''Men Behaving Badly''. In 2009, Hartswood opened ...

recorded the pilot episode on 20 December, with a view to producing a full series for BBC Two. Although approved by BBC, plans for future episodes fell through as Mitchell and Webb decided not to proceed with it. Mitchell and Webb collaborated with Armstrong and Miller again for the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Red Nose Day Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Definition Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...

fundraising event. They co-wrote and starred in two short sketches incorporating Armstrong and Miller's World War II airmen characters from ''

The Armstrong and Miller Show ''The Armstrong & Miller Show'' is a British sketch comedy television show produced by Hat Trick Productions for BBC One. It features the double act Armstrong and Miller and a number of notable scriptwriters including Andy Hamilton, co-creator ...

'' and their characters Sir Digby and Ginger from their radio show ''

''.

In 2012, the pair provided the voices for the pair of robots in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' TV episode "

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is the second episode of the Doctor Who (series 7), seventh series of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. It first aired on BBC One in the UK on 8 September 2012 and on BBC America on the ...

" in addition to starring in the BBC Two comedy-drama ''

Ambassadors An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

''. In 2017, they appeared in the

sitcom ''

Back The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column run ...

'', on which they also worked as executive producers. In 2022, they appeared in the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

series "

Rick and Morty {{Infobox television , image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png , alt = , caption = , genre = {{Plainlist, * Animated sitcom * Adult animation * Science fiction * Black comedy * ...

" as "Knights of the Sun" in the episode titled "A Rick in King Mortur's Mort" alongside

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

Matt King (comedian) Matt King (born 31 January 1968) is an English actor, DJ and comedian currently residing in Brighton. He is best known for his role as Super Hans in the British sitcom ''Peep Show''. Early life King was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England ...

and

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...

Other

Mitchell and Webb have also appeared in the U.K. regional versions of the '

Get a Mac The "Get a Mac" campaign is a television advertising campaign created for Apple Inc. (Apple Computer, Inc. at the start of the campaign) by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the company's advertising agency, that ran from 2006 to 2009. The advertising camp ...

' advertisements for

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

. They also voiced a pair of peas on the ''

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway ''Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' (referred to simply as ''Saturday Night Takeaway'' or ''SNT'') is a British television variety show, created and presented by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (colloquially known as Ant & Dec), and b ...

'' sponsorship TV adverts for Bird's Eye. ''

Magicians Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

'', a film starring the pair, was released on 18 May 2007. They have also published the comedy book '' This Mitchell and Webb Book''.

References

{{Authority control English comedy duos Apple Inc. advertising English male comedians British comedy duos