There's a lot riding on the return of David Mitchell and Robert Webb to the world of sketch comedy. Given the amount of advance discussion about them you'd think the entire future of the genre was relying on this run. But given that the world of online comedy is drowning in short form funnies that hardly feels like the case. However, it is true to say that there isn't much sketch comedy on conventional TV these days. So it's a great relief that these veritable veterans of the format have come back with a flourish.
They've clearly thought about covering all bases by teaming up with a diverse ensemble cast, mainly Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lara Ricote, Stevie Martin and Krystal Evans – hardly newbies to comedy fans (particularly Taskmaster fans) – but maybe newbies to the wider public.
And while the sketches definitely have the Mitchell and Webb stamp on them – Mitchell often a pompous twat, Webb the more cynical – there's a sharper, more cutting edge at times. I've seen the first two episodes and one of the recurring sketches is a spoof Australian drama with so much swearing in it C4 is claiming some kind of record - though I doubt if it's one that appears in the Guinness Book of Records.
Another clever pre-emptive device that the duo use are the self-referential cutaways to the writer's room, where the team both discuss what we are watching and also crack in-jokes about the thorny writing process of sketch comedy. Mitchell and Webb are more than happy to be the butt of the jokes here, with the C-word lobbed liberally around during a marketing-speak routine about mind cloud thingies and the way audiences perceive the performers.
Elsewhere there's the occasional exploding animal, some gratuitous vomiting, a porn star who accidentallty becomes an in-demand plumber and a pair of airport customs Nazis that does have a feel of an old Catherine Tate sketch.
Mitchell and Webb are clearly acutely aware of the pitfalls of sketch comedy and have put a huge amount of effort into avoiding them. In fact they've joked in sketches in the past that programmes like this are "hit, hit, miss, miss,, hit, hit, miss, hit." It's a relief to say that Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping is pretty much "hit, hit, hit, hit, hit." Though dog lovers might disagree.
Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping, Fridays from September 5, 10pm, C4.
Picture: C4
