That Accidental Gag Thievery Moment
Interesting extract from Rob’s recent Telegraph column:
I wrote a sketch for That Mitchell and Webb Look, where a job candidate is being interviewed by a panel of three, one of whom is there to provide “extreme negative feedback”. As the interviewee (Mitchell) responds to questions, the negative feedback panellist (Webb) reacts with obscene comments and eventually violence. The sketch went down well enough; especially the end, when I threw a rubber typewriter at David’s head. Ding!
A few months later, I was watching a DVD of the first episode of one of my favourite sketch shows of the 1980s, Absolutely. In sheer horror, my nostrils expanded to the size of bowling ball finger-grips as the negative feedback sketch started to play itself out before my eyes. I’d seen it in 1989, loved it, forgotten it, and then “had the idea” 17 years later.
The next time I ran into Jack Docherty who had played “my” part in the original, I explained and apologised. I was both relieved and disappointed to see that he obviously didn’t know what the hell I was talking about. He hadn’t seen my sketch and could barely remember his own. “Still, sounds like a good idea,” he said. “Someone should write that.”
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