Comedians You Should Know: David Mitchell

November 12, 2010 Features 0

This week’s comedian is probably best known in Britain as the Mitchell half of comedy duo Mitchell and Webb and as PC (to Robert Webb’s Mac) in the UK Apple ads. He’s also well known for appearing on numerous panel games and writing a column in the Observer on Sundays. Between his appearances as team captain on “Would I Lie To You” on TV and as host of “The Unbelievable Truth” on Radio 4, it seems David Mitchell is largely earning a living these days by lying.

David Mitchell, from Telegraph.co.uk (Photo credit: Rex Features)

As I said, Mitchell is primarily known for his comedy with Robert Webb on “Peep Show”, “That Mitchell and Webb Sound” (on radio) and “That Mitchell and Webb Look” (on TV). But Mitchell and Webb together are a feature for another time. This week, I’m concentrating on the things Mitchell does without Webb, namely his panel show appearances where he does love to go off on a rant. This first clip is Mitchell going off on previous CYSK Michael McIntyre, who just does not seem to understand the premise of “Would I Lie To You”:

Here’s a collection of more fun rants from a variety of sources, including “Mock the Week”, “QI” and “Have I Got News For You”:

Now it’s Mitchell’s turn in the “Would I Lie To You” hot seat. Here he has to undergo cross-examination about having a door without a doorknob. His opposing team captain, Lee Mack, is a Northerner from a working class background and class and regional differences often play into their banter. Mitchell is often made fun of for his straight-laced, very middle class upbringing and mannerisms…and the fact that he has no social life.

The Cambridge-educated Mitchell is well known for his intelligence and being able to argue for a position as well as just rant. Here, on an episode of “QI” discussing Pascal’s Wager, he proposes the idea of atheists in Heaven:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AXOmPZ6fo

And here is another clip from “QI” where Mitchell gives an amazingly in-depth answer about the 5,732 provisions affecting the enclave of Baarle Hertog in the treaty of…um, whatever Fry said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdZ6v0Y1Etg

This last clip is from the Radio 4 panel game Mitchell hosts called “The Unbelievable Truth”. The premise of the game is for each panelist to smuggle five truths past the other contestants amidst a lot of lies. For every truth the other panelists miss, the speaker earns a point. For every correctly spotted truth, the spotter wins the point. This episode is a special New Year’s episode honoring “QI”, so Stephen Fry and Alan Davies are among the competitors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KKR54_AvtU

If you enjoyed the first part, here are part two and part three.

Because most of his solo appearances on TV and radio are on panel games that never seem to make it to American shores, there’s very little you’ll find for David Mitchell on Amazon US. There are certainly lots of books listed when you search for “David Mitchell” but, aside from “This Mitchell and Webb Book” written with Webb, all of the David Mitchell books listed were written by another David Mitchell. Hard to believe there’s more than one David Mitchell, isn’t it?

Some additional links: