Mitchell and Webb discuss future plans
Digital Spy Saturday, December 16 2006, 15:59 GMT
By Daniel Kilkelly

David Mitchell and Robert Webb have confirmed that Peep Show is returning for another series in 2007. The comedy duo will start filming for the new series of the Channel 4 sitcom next year, while their BBC Two sketch show will also be making a return.

“We’re going to make another series of Peep Show and David and I are going to do more of our award-losing sketch show,” Webb explained at the British Comedy Awards this week. “And after that I don’t know what will happen.” The pair are also making their film debut in Magicians next year. The movie, written by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, follows two magicians competing in a magic competition. “It was good fun to do, and Sam and Jesse wrote it,” David added. “They’re good at that. It’s magic brackets metaphorically. I learnt to make a billiard ball turn into two, and then three and then four billiard balls, as if by magic but actually by trick.”

Asked to reveal the secret of the trick, he replied: “I can’t possibly, I’d be thrown out of the magic circle, that’s the second half of my career scotched then!”

There’s something about Mitchell
By Jessica Hopper Handbag.com November 16th 2006

It’s November 16, 2006, and the genius that is David Mitchell, he of quick wit, charm and Hitler haircut, is travelling on the motorway, somewhere ‘tween Southport and Hull. He’s on his way to the next leg of his live show, ‘The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb’, with partner in crime Robert Webb, the taller, strawberry-blonde one, in tow. A couple of years ago, it’s likely that you wouldn’t have heard of these two incredibly funny gentlemen, unless you were a diehard supporter of the comedy circuit. The cult success of their portrayal of hapless losers Mark and Jez and their slightly awkward, at times touching, co-dependent relationship in Channel 4′s ‘Peep Show’ has seen them rocket to the top of the comedic charts. Their latest TV escapade, ‘That Mitchell and Webb Look’, introduced us to such classic characters as Sir Digby Chicken Caesar (the greatest campaigner for truth and justice this side of Nelson Mandela), The Snooker Commentators (Ted and Peter, who, after one too many cocktails, often forget their microphones are on) and, in more bizarre moments, the man with powers of biscuit telekinesis and Numberwang, a gameshow with no apparent rules… or point. And now with a whopping five nominations under their belt for next week’s British Comedy Awards, it looks like there’s never been a better time to be David Mitchell. It was during this journey ‘tween Southport and Hull that I managed to grab a cheeky 15 minutes with David on the phone. With that instantly recognisable voice, almost droning but hilarious, he’s scarily articulate (Cambridge educated, don’t you know?), instantly loveable and a true gent if ever I met one. In these 15 minutes I manage to milk him for info on the sell-out tour, the new DVD – definitely one for my Christmas list – and what’s next for him and Robert…

You had a ‘sound’, then a ‘look’, and now you’ve come to life, currently touring Britain’s biggest venues with ‘The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb’ – how’s that going?
It’s going really well, thank you. We’re getting big audiences and they’re all laughing so, yeah, great!
Was it difficult to make the shift from radio to TV and now to the stage?
Radio to TV is always tricky because there’s always a lot of stuff that you want to use from the radio show but basically isn’t visual. You have to be strong and say, ‘No, funny as that is, that’s just people talking’, so that was tough. But the great thing about the stage is that it’s initially where we started so we were used to it, and it’s a sort of crossover in some ways. You can do stuff that’s wordier ’cause people do listen to the words more on the stage than they would on TV, but you can also do lots of visual stuff. So doing the live show’s been great as we’ve been able to sort of cherry-pick the stuff we’ve written from both media, as well as putting some new stuff in and a few old favourites that no one saw ’cause we only did it when we were on the Edinburgh Fringe – and no one came to see us!
So you’re getting the best from both worlds on stage?
Yeah, yeah… and you can really ham it up on stage [laughs]. On television you have to be a little bit restrained. Playing a big venue with 1,500 people in it – you’ve got a licence to shout!
So this isn’t your first time in front of a live audience?
Well, we have done live stuff before, but not for a few years and then of course no one knew who the hell we were! But it’s made a great change! Back when we were doing the Edinburgh Fringe, we struggled to fill a small 90-seater venue, and now we’re playing big venues full of people, [puts on a comedy voice] it’s the power of television!
Have you had any onstage mishaps on this tour thus far? Any nerves? Forgotten lines? Heckling from audience members? We haven’t had any heckles yet, which is lucky as there’s a bit where we go into the audience for questions for the Big Talk panel, and that’s the moment we’re leaving ourselves wide open for someone to say something nasty, but they haven’t as yet. We’ve had things going wrong; lots of things have gone wrong! But fortunately it’s a sketch show, not like Pinter, so we can kind of use it and make something of it, and actually, the audience really likes that. It’s somehow a little bit annoying that some f**k-up gets a bigger laugh than the joke you’ve laboured over.
Have you got a favourite medium – be it TV, radio or the stage?
Um…I like them all really! I think it’s great to be able to mix them up and do a bit of each, so I’m happy. I think the buzz from the live show is probably the best moment you get, but at the same time if we hadn’t done a TV show we wouldn’t be getting that buzz – because we wouldn’t be playing to 1,500 people, we’d be playing to 15. So that makes all the difference.
Which of your characters have made it onto the stage?
There’s Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, the snooker commentators… Big Talk has made it onto the stage, and the character who hasn’t really got a name but is basically horrible to people in, say, a restaurant or a church – he’s in the live show.
Numberwang?!
Oh yes, of course, there is Numberwang as well.
Please explain the rules of Numberwang to me.
Well, there are no rules…it’s nonsense [laughs]. Unless I don’t know and there is some logic behind it that’s escaped me? I’d be very happy if any mathematicians wanted to spend a few years trying to work it out then tell me.
So, are you and Robert [Webb] anything like any of your characters?
Hopefully not. The great thing about the sketch show is we get to play characters that are really very different from us.
So Robert doesn’t have the telekinetic ability to move biscuits then…?
No, he doesn’t. He wouldn’t be a comedian if he did. I’d have him doing some sort of freak show.
And that sort of talent would always go wrong, as we saw…
[Laughs] Ah, but with ‘Peep Show’ [Mitchell and Webb's cult sit-com] – there’s undoubtedly a bit of a similarity, but we’re just like starting points for the characters. There’s a little drop of us in what are hopefully much nastier and unhappier people.
Love that show! I’ve actually been gorging on the DVDs all week in preparation for this moment…
Oh, excellent!
Are you planning to do a fourth series?
Yes, we are. We should be shooting it early next year and it should be on your screen by maybe spring/early summer…
Will Mark marry Sophie!?
Ah, well, that I can’t say, I’m afraid!
You are strict. Now, going right back to the beginning, how did you and Robert meet?
We were at university together, and we met in auditions for a student pantomime.
Which one?
‘Cinderella’.
Lovely!
Yes, then later that year, Rob came to a sketch show I’d put on with two friends of mine and asked me if I wanted to do a two-man show with him, and the rest is history, as they say.
I hear you both have your first starring roles coming up in a British flick?
That’s right, it’s the film ‘Magicians’ which was written by the guys behind ‘Peep Show’. Rob and I play a former magician double-act who fell out when Rob’s character had an affair with my character’s wife, and then on that same day, I cut her head off by accident during a guillotine trick on stage…And the story of the film is basically us trying to get back together to win a magic competition. It’s a really funny script and we had a lot of fun filming it. It’s coming out next April [2007].
And I hear you’ve done a film with Michelle Pfeiffer?
I had a very small part in it! I did it about a year ago so it should be coming out very soon.
And what’s that called?
I think… I think they’re gonna change the title, but as far as I know it’s called ‘I Could Never Be Your Woman – that’s what it’s called still on [film information website] www.IMDB.com! I got to go to LA and do a few days filming there, which was exciting.
So are you planning to make the move into film now – does Hollywood beckon?
[laughs] I don’t know. I have to say, nice though it was to do a few days work in LA, I wouldn’t want to live there. It’s an incredibly ugly city. Anyone who thinks London’s ugly doesn’t really know what they’re talking about compared to that monstrosity.
Is it all green-tea infusions and bleached teeth?
There’s a lot of that, but then there’s the other side of it – all horrible car-park-like buildings and nasty big cars spewing out fumes. The weather is gorgeous, but you know how everything looks great in the sunshine?
Yes…?
LA is the exception! But, saying that, I’d happily do some more work there! I’d just like to live here. Plus I really enjoy TV. While it’s great to do some film as well, I’d like to keep doing TV. I got into comedy watching TV, so that’s always been my main aim.
And on that note, you’re up for a whopping five British Comedy Awards next month…
That’s right, yes. It’s fantastic, ‘though we probably won’t win any of them!
Well, I’ve seen your competition on the TV front and I personally think you’re going to walk it.
Thank you very much!
But you’re up against ‘Little Britain’ and ‘League of Gentlemen’ in the live show category.
Yes…hmmm
Are you fans of either of those shows?
Oh, very much so, yes. They’re terrific. It’s an honour to be up there with them. In terms of the live award, ‘Little Britain’ have been touring solidly for a year so I think they thoroughly deserve that.
Good luck with that! And moving back to the tour, you have the DVD coming out at the end of the month – so what can we expect from that?
I think it’s our ‘best of’ sketches so we’ve got stuff from the TV show, stuff from the radio show, stuff you won’t have seen, new stuff that’s been put together for the stage – there’s no bit in it that’s not funny. In my view, obviously very subjective, there is no dud sketch in there.
There’s some added unseen extras on there, now what might these be? Dressing-room footage perhaps?
Well there’s some back-stage, frenetic changing and then going back on stage, and there’s also an exclusive trailer for ‘Magicians’!
So you’re on tour till next month?
Yep, till December 14, finishing with three nights at the Brixton Academy. It’s been great. The worst it’s gone, they’ve laughed a lot, and the best it’s gone, they’ve laughed a hell of a lot!

‘The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb released on Universal DVD is available now, RRP £19.99

A Pair Of Reviews For Mitchell & Webb’s New Film, MAGICIANS!!–>
Ain’t It Cool News December 5th 2006
Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.
I didn’t even realize these guys were making a movie. I haven’t had a chance to see their new series together, but I really love PEEP SHOW, the series they star in, and I’m up for whatever they’re doing next. After THE PRESTIGE and THE ILLUSIONIST, will MAGICIANS turn out to be a gem as well? Let’s see what our first spy thinks:

Hey Harry
The name is Johnny Haffatta and I recently got given screener tickets to the movie ‘Magicians’ starring David Mitchell, Robert Webb and Jessica Stevenson. This was my first screener so I was relatively excited. When me and my friends got there we were greeted with the usual “not all the special effects are complete, the music isn’t correct and it is being projected from HD Video” though I did not notice any of this. This movie was is a British production starring some of Britains most funny comedians (the stars of ‘Peep Show’ and ‘Spaced’). Anyway the movie was very good, it was like a comedic version of ‘The Prestige’, and on release the two movies will be compared. It started of with the two main characters Harry (David Mitchell) and Karl (Robert Webb) performing a magic act with Harry’s wife as the beautiful assistant. After the act Harry discovers that his wife is cheating on him with Karl, they then all have to do a magic act together where in a very funny scene Harry accidentaly decapitates his own wife (can anybody say ‘The Prestige’?). Four years later and the magicians have grown apart and have lost their fame but they decide to enter a magic contest against eachother for one last shot at glory. It is a very funny movie with great characters and many funny themes (including a delightful sub plot on how psychics are not magicians and they bring the whole proffesion down). Seeing as it was a screener there were some bad bits, a horrible father/son plot line and an idiotic penis gag, but all the rest was fun I highlyrecomend.
Johnathan Q Haffatta

Okay. Sounds like the film’s still a little rough, but with that cast, I’m intrigued. What did our next spy think?
Well, let’s just say he’s not as impressed:

Hi Harry,
Greetings from London. Hope you’re well, big fella. Got the chance to see a test screening tonight – MAGICIANS, the first big screen outing for TV comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb (Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look). Before the movie started, we were told we were watching a work in progress, no titles, temp music, etc.
The Story
Mitchell and Webb play magicians who fall out when Webb sleeps with Mitchell’s wife during a break in their stage act. At the finale of the show, Mitchell lops his wife’s head off during the guillotine trick. Four years later, having gone their separate ways, they’re both leading miserable unsuccessful lives. Mitchell gets friendly with Jessica Stephenson (from Spaced) whilst Webb has only found friendship with his agent, Otto (Darren Boyd). When the two former magicians hear about a Magic competition, they make up, break up, then end up competing against each other for the prize…and a shot at regaining their former glory!
The Review
Given the recent run of Magic films (The Prestige, The Illusionist), you’d think Magicians would be an easy target for comedy…so it’s amazing (and disappointing) how the makers of Magicians managed to miss the target by so much. The rest of the audience seemed to laugh more than me, but not much more. Lots of stony faces and embarrassed muttering when we all shuffled out of the cinema.
The film’s main problems? Most importantly, it wasn’t funny enough – bad news for a comedy. Most of the jokes fell flat. There were more laughs in United 93. The characters weren’t interesting or funny and they weren’t placed in original or clever situations. Secondly, the movie looked cheap. What was the budget? Did it jingle? It looked cheaper than most things you’d see on TV.
Most of the movie takes place in a hotel and the rest of the “sets” literally look like they were filmed in a the back room of an office. 99% of the movie takes place indoors and, for some reason, the filmmakers decided to shoot the film in scope – they have nothing to fill the frame with! Magicians was directed by a guy called Andrew O’Connor, who used to be a game show host in the 80′s. He now runs a successful TV production company but he’s never directed before. And it shows.
The screenplay was written by the guys behind Mitchell and Webb’s brilliant Peep Show, but their first feature script is, well, shite. It has so many problems. For instance, at the start of the film, the Magicians aren’t even that famous so when they lose everything…they haven’t actually lost that much. If they were, it would give them a reason to want to be back on top. Any attempt at basic character development feels awkward and forced. The competition the Magicians enter isn’t exciting or grand or funny – it’s old-fashioned and flat. Again, probably not helped by its cheapo production values. And considering this is a British movie, it’s peppered with odd Americanisms. Characters say stuff like “Pussy”, “Dickwad” and “I’ve got wood”. Didn’t feel right.
So, how are Mitchell and Webb? They’re okay, but look a bit awkward. You want to like them, but their characters are dull and predictable. It’s a far cry from any of their TV work. Judging by this film, they’re not ready for the big screen yet. Jessica Stephenson was as likeable as ever, but was stuck playing a dumb character. Peter Capaldi’s competition organiser got a few laughs but Darren Boyd, who plays Webb’s agent, Otto, was terrible. I couldn’t work out what I found more annoying – the character or the performance. Whenever he was on screen, I just wanted to smash his face in.
Anyway, wish I had more positive things to say. Really disappointed. Not sure how they’re going to solve all of the film’s Kong-size problems. If it was up to me, I’d rewrite and reshoot the whole damn thing and start all over again.
Please feel to edit my rant and call me The Movie Goblin!

Mitchell and Webb to return
Marissa Burgess Manchester Evening News November 29th
In interviews conducted prior to their tour, David Mitchell and Robert Webb displayed evidence of nerves at the prospect of taking their successful BBC sketch show, That Mitchell and Webb Look, on the road. “We were absolutely cr***ing ourselves,” admits Mitchell. “The last time we had done a live show was at the Edinburgh Fringe five years ago, when we were playing to houses of between 30 and 60 then suddenly we’re playing venues of 1,000 to 2,000, the prospect was pretty daunting.” It’s the price they’ve paid for their rise in popularity; when CityLife spoke to Mitchell he was in demand, doing a bank of interviews for the tour. This Manchester date is their second, the duo having already filled the big room at The Lowry in October.

Mitchell sounds a tad bewildered at the interest he and Webb are attracting. It’s comforting to listen to this slightly hesitant man, the voice on the other end of the line is in keeping with the doe-eyed innocent, out-of-time guy he plays in Peep Show the sublime Channel 4 comedy that brought the duo to public attention and gave them a cult following.Penned by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb, Peep Show follows the lives of flat-sharing former Dartmouth Uni students Mark (Mitchell), the sensible and cautious one with a crush on his workmate Sophie, and Jez (Webb), the irresponsible one with the visa-hungry American wife.
The series’ gimmicks are the jerky point-of-views shots and constant internal monologue telling us the embarrassing things are going through the guys’ heads.”Essentially, we’re comedy whores who will say anything it takes to get a laugh,” chuckles Mitchell. “Sometimes, that’s grimly humiliating, but it’s fine while people laugh – the frightening prospect is saying something that you think is a grim revelation that people share and they just look at you blankly,” he laughs.
Swiftly capping the success of the third series of Peep Show was the TV version of their radio series, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, That Mitchell and Webb Look. But having lived in TV and radio world for the past few years they both felt it necessary to get back out in the theatres again.
“We thought it was very important to keep doing live stuff. The only proof of the TV and radio show’s funniness is hearing your friends laughing at it when they’re sitting in your living room, whereas you know perfectly well at the end of a live show if it’s gone all right or not and that’s very satisfying if it goes well.” So, they’ve brought the characters of the sketch show to life on stage in scenarios familiar to those on the TV show; there’s Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, the self-styled tramp detective, the bored snooker commentators with their minds on everything but the game and the nonsensical daytime TV quiz show, Numberwang. “The sketches that are from the TV show are actually versions of those that were on TV,” explains Mitchell. “We thought that people would want to see the characters and we want to do the jokes we know will work but, at the same time, bring in some new stuff as well. Audience response leads me to think that we’ve got the balance more or less right.”
Like Mark and Jez, the pair met at college, albeit at the more prestigious Cambridge University. Both were in Footlights, the legendary drama club that boasts such alumni as John Cleese and Peter Cook. Webb was a year ahead of Mitchell but after they’d appeared in panto together, Webb watched a sketch show that Mitchell had put on with some friends. “He was one of the big Footlights committee guys and he asked if I would I like to do a two-man show with him, and I was flattered. It was shambolic, but people laughed a lot. It worked better than we expected.”
Between them, they have cultivated an intelligent, yet quirky, look at the world that has stood out in the sea of the mediocre, tired sketch comedy that is churned out of TV and radio.
Things don’t look like they’re going to ease up for the pair, either, with a new series of Peep Show filming next year, another series of the TV sketch show and a film Magician, written by Armstrong and Bain, that hits cinemas in April.
“For the first time in my life, I vaguely know what I’m going to be doing this time next year. You always either have too much on or not enough, so too much on is the best to hope for.”