Oh yes, I can reveal via my sources that there will be a 4th series of That Mitchell & Webb Sound coming soon, it’s being written right now.

Well maybe not right this very second, but you never know.

Psychic transmissions saying “Driiiiillll Haaaallllll” starting now from my brain.

BAFTA TV nominations have been announced:

COMEDY PERFORMANCE
Rob Brydon Gavin & Stacey BBC Three
Sharon Horgan Pulling BBC Three
David Mitchell Peep Show C4
Claire Skinner Outnumbered BBC One

SITUATION COMEDY
The Inbetweeners Production Team C4/BWark Productions
The IT Crowd Graham Linehan, Richard Boden, Ash AtallaC4/Talkback Productions
Outnumbered Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin BBC One/Hat Trick Productions
Peep Show Sam Bain, Jesse Armstrong, Becky Martin, Izzy MantC4/Objective Productions

Would it be disloyal to say that I think The Inbetweeners really deserves that award?

COMEDY PROGRAMME
Harry and Paul Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Sandy Johnson, Geoffrey Perkins BBC One/Tiger Aspect Productions
The Peter Serafinowicz Show Peter Serafinowicz, James Serafiniwicz, Ben Farrell, Becky Martin BBC Two/Objective Productions
Star Stories Lee Hupfield, Ben Palmer, Michael Livingstone, Phil ClarkeC4/Objective Productions
That Mitchell and Webb Look Gareth Edwards, David Kerr, David Mitchell, Robert Webb BBC Two/BBC Productions

Hmmm… I like That Mitchell & Webb Look but I also like The Peter Serafinowicz Show…

From Chortle:

Peep Show gets 7th series
…with the 6th not yet aired
A seventh series of Peep Show has been ordered – before the sixth has even aired.

Channel 4’s entertainment and comedy head Andrew Newman confirmed the news to trade magazine Broadcast this week. Series six is due to air this summer, with the next one now slated for 2010. The programme debuted in 2003, and although it has never been a huge ratings hit has always garnered critical appeal.

Newman has also commissioned a second series of sketch format The Kevin Bishop Show, which will also air this autumn. (so it’s not all good news!) And he is also in talks over a second series of the sitcom Plus One and a fourth run of Graham Linehan’s The IT Crowd.

Rob won at dancing like a celebrity trannnie in a leotard! To celebrate, here are some things from the media…

Behind the scenes at Comic Relief, week one.

From The Sun:

TV’S Peep Show comic Robert Webb confessed he was inspired to go on Let’s Dance for Comic Relief — by cheesy X Factor singer Chico. The comedy star was fired up to take part after seeing the ex-stripper having such a good time on the box. Robert, 36, confessed: “I was watching the X Factor in 2005 when I realised I was jealous of Chico. It was the feed for the whole thing. I thought he had a good sense of humour and rhythm. People were falling over themselves saying, ‘this is marvellous’ and I was like, ‘come on, I want to do that’.”

Robert, in a leotard and fake boobs, had 8million viewers in stitches when he won his first heat of the series with his rendition of Flashdance, from the 1983 musical romance. He’s keen to get the leg-warmers back on for tonight’s final. He said: “I once had to dress up as a banana, so this was quite restrained and sophisticated! In fact, I was suspiciously quick to sign up to do the Flashdance. It is one of those films from the 1980s that people remember — and it comes with a free amusing costume. I didn’t mind wearing the leotard. I had a special dancer’s support garment under it to de-emphasize a gentleman’s profile. I also wore a fake bra with modest little breasts. I didn’t want a big bosom because Jennifer Beals, the original star, was only 18. I didn’t want to get too carried away. I didn’t want to be some grotesque parody of womanhood.”

Webb’s wife, comedienne Abigail Burgess, loved his outfit. He said: “She thought I looked funny, but helped make some of the costume decisions. She was like, ‘no, you must wear American tan tights, you can’t have sheer black. She watched me on TV in the heats but she’ll be coming to watch me live at the final.”

Robert — who has made a string of TV hits with comic partner David Mitchell, 40 — said the leotard gave him confidence to get through the act. He said: “It was pretty nerve-racking as the screens went up. I tried not to think how many people were watching. I was too busy concentrating on what happened next to laugh. It was easy to keep a straight face as it is acting. Besides, the character got me through the embarrassment of standing there half naked! It never crossed my mind to do a routine with David though. He won’t mind me saying that he’s no born mover.”

Robert also revealed how he nearly threw up while in training because he’s so unfit. He confessed: “I rehearsed for four and a half days and it was massively tiring. There was definitely a lot of panting and sweating in the rehearsals! I am massively out of shape. This has been tough.” He said he didn’t think he’d make the final, but now he’s there he’s keen to win. “I’d love that,” he added, “But I think it’s going to be much harder. The pressure’s definitely on.”

And what about volunteering to go on Strictly Come Dancing? “Oh my God, no,” he said. “I don’t want to do any more dancing in public. Anyway, Strictly take ages.”

Rob and David laughing about David’s premature aging in the Sun article. Or something.

Still not all of the Comic Relief Sir Digby sketch…

…but this one is complete:

Bonus film:

Long version of last night’s Rob dancing, with the interview.

The Comic Relief sketches are mostly unembeddable and the YouTubes ones are edited mini versions so I recommend this BBCiPlayer link… the two points to skip to are at around 29 minutes and 41 minutes unless you want to accidentally find Alan Carr being as unfunny as usual (probably in a dress) or Annie Lennox singing a sad song in a jaunty-angled hat.

Shortened sketch clips:

Making Of clips:


Loads of money was raised, which was nice.

It’s on tonight. You must must must vote!

From The Times March 14, 2009

Diary: the actor Robert Webb on Let’s Dance for Comic Relief
The Peep Show star on leotards, Flashdancing and being whistled at by a white-van man

A couple of weeks ago I won the first heat of a charity dance competition called Let’s Dance for Comic Relief. This involved getting dressed up in a spandex leotard and giving a by no means subtle re-imagining of the audition scene at the end of Flashdance; you know the one, Irene Cara’s catchy Eighties number currently and weirdly being used to sell Gaviscon indigestion tablets. Absence of heartburn? What a feeling! (Thank God I didn’t do the voiceover for that one; it’s the kind of thing that sends internet conspiracy theorists into spasm.) Anyway, just before the curtain went up I vaguely wondered what my dad was going to make of this – his third son variously undulating and jumping around in full drag in front of seven million people. I needn’t have worried. By far the best “well-done” message after the show was from my dad. “Don’t worry that you were dressed up as a woman, boy, you looked GOOD!” Thanks mate.

Actually, getting physical compliments from heterosexual men has been one of the stranger aspects of the whole thing. I was ambling down a street recently when a white-van man wound his window down and yelled, “Nice legs, mate! Nice body!” and gave me an enthusiastic thumbs-up. I must have looked a bit freaked out because he then nodded vigorously and rebrandished the thumbs as if to reassure me that he wasn’t taking the p***. I don’t pretend that the mixed sensation of being flattered and objectified at the same time has given me some great insight into what many women have to put up with every day … I’m just saying it’s a new experience. I’ve also just learnt what women have known since the 1950s: a good pair of tights can make your legs look fantastic.

The costume was in fact the subject of some mild controversy. Such is the current climate that apparently a meeting was convened to discuss the wisdom of having a man in a leotard doing an energetic routine on live television for a family audience. Various senior executives had to be reassured that there was no prospect of a – how shall we put it? – catastrophic costume failure. I was quite keen for this not to happen too: if anyone was going to describe my performance as “ballsy”, I wanted this to be only figuratively true. But there was never going to be a problem. I was wearing a dancer’s “support garment” that acts to – again delicacy is required – de-emphasise one’s gentleman’s profile. Not exactly comfy and I’m glad to have conceived a child before putting it on, but all quite secure. Nobody had nightmares.

The point of all this is to raise a massive load of cash for charity. There have always been people willing to be cynical about Comic Relief, journalists, bloggers, even some comedians – let’s just call them twats – who think that the unavoidable queasiness of juxtaposing comic turns with worthy films about deprivation in some way negates the whole enterprise. For me, the idea of setting a minor aesthetic quibble above the unanswerable good that Comic Relief does is the act of a moral thickie. I’m well aware that charitable giving, like practical jokes, is a favourite domain of bullies. How I used to dread Rag week at university: everyone being pressured to sit in a tub of beans or go shopping in a bikini or whatever by humourless spoons in blazers because “it’s for charity”. Please. And I can also see the objection that sending aid to Africa, say, can sometimes cause more harm than good. US farmers being paid to send surplus corn over there and thereby putting local farmers out of business is, I daresay, something that we can all agree is a Bad Idea. Comic Relief, however, is very highly regarded within the charity sector in terms of its accountability and its vigilant monitoring of the real effect the various schemes are having. If you give money to Comic Relief (and that really is up to you – I’m not one of the guys in blazers, I promise) you can be confident that it will be spent with the same wisdom and care that went into choosing my special dancing pants. What a relief.

Yes, really.

Next Monday (16th March) on BBC2 from 9:45-10:00pm. Highlights of series 2, to fill the gap between Heroes and Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle. For 4 weeks only…

To celebrate 60 years of their writing partnership, Radio 2 are doing a Galton & Simpson’s Half Hour series where modern comedians perform classic material and you’ll never guess who is doing one…

IMPASSE
Saturday 14 March

Starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

A Rolls Royce and a banger meet in a very narrow country lane, somewhere in Cornwall, and both drivers refuse to back up. Between the AA, the RAC and the Cornish Constabulary, a solution is finally found, temporarily.

The drama was one of Galton & Simpson’s Comedy Playhouse Scripts for the BBC, first broadcast in 1963.