The one where we finally go see the show…
We went on a Mitchell & Webb misssion… to Oxford for some reason. That reason being that we were given tickets as a wedding present because we asked nicely and fancied a trip out. It was a bit of a palava to get there, involving the car, some trains and a bit of walking but we did it. I discovered that First Great Western trains make the Metropolitan line of the tube look like a good thing as both stations had no customer information at all. Well done. I discovered that I can eat a lot of food but it’s not always a good idea. I also discovered that there are many real life Sir Digbys around Oxford and some of them hang around outside theatres…
Look! It’s the view of the stage from the street! I had tramps harrassing me while I took this! There’s bloody dedication for you!
As official uber-fan I had to be the first person to buy way too much merchandise. I could start a mug shop now with all the mugs we are forbidden to drink out of that I own. Who can resisit a Numberwang mug? It almost veered into L****e B*****n territory with the merchandise but there wasn’t too much of it so phew and all that. The programme was rubbish though. A couple of good gags but mostly not tickling the funny bone. Sorry…
The show? Well it was good of course, but then I am biased. I wouldn’t have put all the effort into this site if it was a bit meh. I would call it The Mitchell And Webb Greatest Hits Tour as it featured material from TMAWLook, TMAWSound, TMAWSituation and Bruiser. Yes, Bruiser. Only with a role reversal and some equally scary acting…
The majority of the other reviers’ complaints about the show have been about the over-reliance on old material but that is the whole point of the greatest hits tour. Only a true geek would recognise all of the stuff but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. The interludes with James (that man Bachman) and Abigail Burdess (an able replacement for Olivia and much more mental but in a good way) doing their own spoof of their very own greatest hits that never were was funny (we particularly liked the wine tasting sketch) and stupid (of course!) but there may have been too many bits of that sort of thing, as the audio interludes (the joy of a radio format) provided handy costume change moments…
As is the way with these things I got confused as to whether some of it had actually been on the recent TV series because of the huge amount of material we had seen in earlier rougher versions at those rehearsals all that time ago. The heartwarming cricket movie for example, was never on the telly but fitted in well with the stage format, and that non-visual sketch at the beginning of the show seemed totally brand new but I am getting old and foolish. Enough was changed and tweaked throughout to keep us entertained and they gave the people what they wanted, i.e. a bloody good laugh. All of the favourite characters made an appearance (except Chip & Pin and The Green Clarninet Man but then I have odd taste) and the audience interraction made it more than just like watching telly being remade on a stage. Fantastic!
Look! A giant picture on a curtain! I have seen that somewhere before…
We didn’t hang around afterwards to lunge them as the trains were a bit shit and we would never have got home. Still, it was a great evening and we’ve done the scary fans thing before.
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