This weekend I checked out some more Mitchell & Webb. I watched some episodes of “That Mitchell & Webb Look”. I found myself mainly exclaiming: “Jesus!” and “Fuuuck!”, cause a lot of the sketches I found gross, weird and/or incomprehensible. Especially the Numberwang special left me confused. Though somehow they must have done something right, because when I was taking a bath and trying to pleasure myself it was still bouncing around in my head: “Thaaaaaaat’s Numberwang!!!” I don’t even know what it means and if it’s good or bad.
Yesterday I decided to check out Peepshow. I planned to start at the start. Even though I enjoyed that more, it left me feeling awkwardly foolish loser like. It’s not exactly that I can relate; I’m not as socially awkward as Mark is and I’m not such a slob like Jeremy. What made it uncomfortable to me is that it reminded me of my current situation. It’s not satisfactory, my situation, and in a way I am living both Mark’s and Jeremy’s life. Not quite, but somewhat. I do like the start of every episode in the first series at least; it immediately puts across the awkwardness of the following 30 minutes.
The weirdest thing of it all is that I seem to lose my idea of who David Mitchell is. Not that I have a clue, but I do have an idea. Watching him being Mark or any other character in his sketch show throws me off. Let’s start at the beginning; the beginning of me discovering David Mitchell:
Finally getting round to checking out Mr. Alan Rickman, I surfed YouTube to catch as many clips as I could. (That reminds me, I need to check back in p394) One clip was a QI clip in which Alan was discussed shortly and in which John Sessions did some excellent AR impressions. David was there too making a (funny) comment. I had no clue who he was and I could easily step over his presence in that video. I did to be honest, though I wanted him to be remarkable if only for those few seconds. He didn’t seem to fit in the environment at first sight and I, because partly of that reason, wanted him to succeed. It’s something I always have, when someone seems not quite right in the environment I want them to succeed. And when they do, those are the people I love most. Now I come to think of it, the description of his looks as looking like an accountant is very apt. He seemed a nice guy to me; a little quiet and nice and unremarkable like an accountant.
The format of the show really spoke to me and I decided to watch some more QI’s (I suspect all QI episodes ever broadcast are on YouTube). I noticed how the same people seem to come back all the time. At some point I was even cheering after finding out it was another episode with David in it. He was hilarious and managed to put his point across at the same time. Valid points which were well thought through. I was impressed. At that point I was wondering (out loud): “Who the hell is that guy!?” So I YouTubed him. What I found was mind blowing. What I found out was that Mr. Mitchell is an excellent ranter. Trying to blog about this is impossible, because I can’t even think of what I want to write about it, I’d rather put on one of those collection video’s of his rants.
It wasn’t love at the first sight; it took me a week or so to learn to really appreciate his contributions. Now I’m terribly in love with him. I’m trying to find and catch every little tidbit about him and with him in it. And now I have a clue of who he is. I have an idea of what I can expect from him and there I seem to go wrong. At first I mainly watched quiz shows he took part in. That’s as close as a view of David Mitchell you can get. I realize he probably doesn’t spill all the beans and keeps his private self to himself as much as possible. Yet, in the way he plays his games and the way he presents himself and the vibe it causes gives me at least a good idea of who David Mitchell is. I’m so used to seeing only his top half that watching him walk around already throws me off; he’s got long legs, he’s taller than I expected him to be. Then when he does sketches or acts he throws me off completely. His voice even seems to change somewhat. I don’t know, it just feels uncomfortable to me. I want David and not someone impersonating, though Rob Brydon does an excellent David Mitchell impression.
Those quizzes and the other comedians in them don’t fool me either, no matter how hard they try. They’re often trying to paint David as a ridiculously posh person or as a nerd. They often seem to pick on him or tease him trying to get a rant out of him. What’s so funny about that is that they don’t succeed and David often puts them in their place. So in the end David wins. The audience agrees.
I’m not sure, but I think he sometimes worries about they’re trying to paint him in a way he isn’t in reality. I think the audience already has an idea about who he is, and I don’t think they see him as posh or nerdy. I think they see an intelligent witty person they appreciate a great deal. And yet if not the other comedians succeed, he does himself. The vibe about him when he’s doing especially “Peepshow” and sometimes “That Mitchell & Webb Look” provides more that nerdy posh feel. I suppose that means David does his job, both of them, really well, but it makes me nervous and it doesn’t help in creating the most correct idea of who David Mitchell is. I find myself craving to watch my favourite QI video’s or rant videos after watching “That Look” and “Peepshow”.
I also have the feeling my grammar and spelling and overall writing is terrible in this blog and that I don’t do David any justice for which I apologize.
After all this blog doesn't turn out to be numberwang at all...or does it? Time to google.
No comments:
Post a Comment