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In Mitchell and Webb's peculiar world you can listen to
the Alpine Archers on Radio Switzerland or Imagine
That, in which the panel tries to imagine the biggest baked
potato possible. You could hear Rabbit Newsnight or
tune in to Jason from daytime TV broadcasting live from Makeover
City, where you can get a complete sock or handbag makeover.
Including tips for dealing with a relationship break-up and
a fresh look at 21st-century marriage vows, Mitchell and Webb's
take on the world is brilliantly skewed with misfits, eccentrics
and a few stray Radio 4 presenters...
Those wacky folks at BBC Audiobooks have decided to release
the first series of Mitchell and Webb's Radio 4 series after
the second
one. Goodness knows why. It isn't because the first
series is weaker than the second. In fact, it's every bit
as hilarious.
Fortunately,
it doesn't really matter in which order you listen to these
series. Very few characters from the first one are repeated
in the second, and, unlike Little Britain, you don't
need to be familiar with the likes of snooker commentators
Peter and Ted or the excitable talk-show presenter Raymond
Terrific in order to fully appreciate the humour.
What
do become familiar are the themes that the comedians like
to explore. As in the second radio series and their previous
television show, The
Mitchell and Webb Situation, much time is spent
spoofing TV programmes, particularly discussion shows and
daytime TV. Charity advertising campaigns again come in for
some stick in the sketch Just £3 a Month. So do telephone
call centres, but, unlike the Milk Helpline skit in the second
series, this time our sympathies are with the call centre
staff as the Understanding Man sketches challenge the logic
of choosing to speak to a real person rather than an efficient
automated service, and youngsters are exploited in the Child
Call Centre sketch. Those of you who enjoyed the Fox and Badger
routine in the second series will be glad to hear that there
are more anthropomorphised animals here, including a couple
of luckless pit ponies, a hopeless flock of flightless birds,
Mowgli's parents and - a personal favourite of mine - Rabbit
Newsnight. I just can't imagine these zoological sketches
working nearly as well on television with the actors in animal
costumes (though perhaps the panel on Imagine That
can).
Talking
of television, viewers of the comedians' recent BBC TWO series,
That Mitchell and Webb Look will recognise several
scenes here, including the memorable Now We Know and Touching
Cloth sketches, the lazy writers of a hospital drama, Friends
of Moneypenny and The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken-Caesar
(here known as Sir Digby Caesar-Salad).
Meanwhile, science fiction/fantasy fans should appreciate
the numerous genre-based gags, which include Friends of Darth
Vader and of Freddy, Daphne and Velma; a Middle Earth Dinner
Party; three different sketches on the theme of secret agents;
and a challenging look at the dubious selection process employed
at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
For
those of you who, like me, really enjoyed the second series
of That Mitchell and Webb Sound and wanted to hear
what the original one was like, now we know. Oh yes, now we
know. Now we know...
Richard
McGinlay
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