Posh and repressed, or repressed and posh.

November 5, 2017 4:52 PM

Nearly three hours of David Mitchell (previously 1, 2). being hilarious on the BBC show, Would I Lie To You: Posh and repressed?; Barbigerous Harbinger of Exuberance; Mitchellian rants and outbursts.
posted by Room 641-A (83 comments total)

Well, there goes my night.
posted by synecdoche at 4:57 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yessss. Along with Sean Lock and Frankie Boyle, I could watch clips of Mitchell on Brit comedy panel shows endlessly.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:02 PM on November 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm tentatively considering branching out into the other BBC comedy/panel/game shows, from the wonder that is 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (11/5/16, Mitchell is guest captain in place of Sean Lock).
posted by carsonb at 5:05 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

carsonb: WILTY is great. QI too. Never Mind the Buzzcocks when they aren't being completely nasty to one another (and sometimes when they are). Big Fat Quiz. Mock the Week.
posted by axiom at 5:08 PM on November 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Well played when your joke earns a raised eyebrow from Jimmy Carr (nsfw)!
posted by in278s at 5:10 PM on November 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

WILTY is consistently funny and, thankfully, rarely topical. The new series should be here any time real soon now.
posted by maudlin at 5:39 PM on November 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

all i care about is his laughter explosion when rob brydon and nick hewer are stuffed into the orange cuddle jumper.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:39 PM on November 5, 2017 [8 favorites]

My favorite thing about Would I Lie To You? is the quiz about how the panelists know a person and it is always ALWAYS a toss-up whether Mitchell is telling the truth or not. "I bought a year's supply of batteries from this gentleman." Yes, I can totally see him doing that.

Though my all-time favorite story on that program is the guy who bought a horse for about half an hour. I don't quite recall the circumstances but everyone was dumbfounded by it.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 5:53 PM on November 5, 2017 [12 favorites]

The back-and-forth between Mitchell and Lee Mack, refereed by Rob Brydon, on WILTY is great comedy. You can really appreciate the craft to their banter as they drive forward a pseudo-game show format and highlight (or make up for) celebrity guests. It's a bit Odd Couple, a bit stand-up, a bit celebrity worship, a bit Family Feud.
posted by HarshLanguage at 5:54 PM on November 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

Mitchell in the cuddle jumper bit is my mental definition of 'peals of laughter'.
posted by axiom at 5:54 PM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

That's Kevin Bridges, fifteen schnitzengruben.
posted by axiom at 5:55 PM on November 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

I still think, if you squint just right, he looks a little like Mike Myers.
posted by Chuckles at 5:55 PM on November 5, 2017

My favorite bit from WILTY: Did Greg Davies sleep in a bathtub at university? Watch all the way to the end - the exchange between Davies and Mitchell just before he reveals his answer is one of the greatest moments in the history of panel shows.

Also, David Mitchell is not posh; Jack Mitchell is posh.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:07 PM on November 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

Greg Davies is a star and I miss We Are Klang ever so much.
posted by elsietheeel at 6:14 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Greg Davies and Claudia Winkleman are probably my favorite WILTY guests.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 6:15 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Omg, so funny, I converted two of the fpp clips to mp3 so I could load them on my nonvideo iPod a couple of weeks ago. I love David Mitchell so much. There's a YouTube playlist of all ten seasons, full episodes of wilty. Also, see 8 out of 10 cats do countdown.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:17 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Me and a friend watched the entirety of Would I Lie To You a few months back. That's a terrific show, and it'll also show you you aren't the judge of human nature you think you are.
posted by JHarris at 6:18 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

You are all watching taskmaster, right?

Greg Davies and Alex Horn taking a bunch of panel show comedians a little bit out of their comfort zone.

You know where to find it.
posted by Index Librorum Prohibitorum at 6:28 PM on November 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

Oooh, thanks ILP, I'd not heard of it. Yay.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:47 PM on November 5, 2017

So, this maybe a question for askme, but if I buy the Upstart Crow dvd, and it's from England, will it play on my xbox, or is region a thing still in the 21st century like it was for vhs? I want so much to see David Mitchell as Shakespeare, but the YouTube versions are weird and sped up, and I bbc doesn't have season two on their streaming service.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:51 PM on November 5, 2017

What region are you in? Xbox and playstation tend to adhere to region coding. Some dvds are multiregion, and you used to be able to buy multregion dvd players (my $50 dick smith one from 12 years ago is still going strong)
posted by Sebmojo at 7:17 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

What a coinkidink! I was mulling over a British Panel Show post for a while, but it fell by the wayside as I wanted to LINK ALL THE THINGS, but therein lies madness. So, here's a mess of links with half-decent formatting:

Panel shows, a collection of comedians, celebrities and/or regular people answering questions and joking, are nothing new, with earliest programs on US radio was Information, Please in 1938 and Stop Me If You've Heard This One in 1939. The format first popping up on television in 1946 in Play the Game, and since has waxed and waned, with popularity in America dropping in decades past, replaced by late night talk shows. Meanwhile, the quick-fire wit of panel shows flourish in the UK, and there are enough to warrant an alphabetical guide to programs on the radio and telly from the British Comedy Guide.

If the list is daunting, here's a Top 20 from BCG, and a 2011 write-up of the comedy hotbed from Splitsider.

While the ratings for panel shows plummeted in late 2016, there's always online archives to satiate your comedic cravings, and podcasts.

On the last point, here's Do The Right Thing, an antidote to man-heavy ‘I’m funnier than you’ panel shows.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:21 PM on November 5, 2017 [9 favorites]

I wasn't sure if I wanted to link to playlists of episodes (for example, Would I Lie To You and Big Fat Quiz collection), or try to call out specific episodes, so I stalled there.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:23 PM on November 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

I cannot stop laughing. Thank you so much.
posted by Palindromedary at 7:36 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

Why is America so bad at doing this format? It's the best.
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:44 PM on November 5, 2017 [10 favorites]

Because Americans would rather watch morons fight at dinner parties or eat bugs.
posted by axiom at 8:02 PM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think it's more that TV in the UK is supported by the government and is less concerned with making as much money as possible. Because lord knows British TV has its share of people eating bugs and fighting at dinner parties.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:11 PM on November 5, 2017 [11 favorites]

Also: I love all the shirts the guys wear on these shows. Lee Mack and Mitchell always look very spiffy and their shirts are spiffy and nice.
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:39 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Queen Victoria's Linden Trees

(my favorite David Mitchell outburst)
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 8:47 PM on November 5, 2017 [10 favorites]

Index Librorum Prohibitorum - I've been waiting for so long for someone to mention my fav currently-airing show
posted by taskmaster at 9:30 PM on November 5, 2017

Mitchell on You Have Been Watching, hosted by Charlie Brooker. If you only know Brooker as the creator of Black Mirror, you may be surprised that he's a comedian.
posted by adept256 at 11:54 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oh, that David Mitchell.
posted by goofyfoot at 12:42 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's Mitchell on A different episode of You Have Been Watching where you can see him amuse his future wife Victoria Coren.

Thanks for the links all - somehow I missed "Taskmaster". It might beat "Big Fat Quiz" off the top of my list.
posted by mmoncur at 1:12 AM on November 6, 2017

https://www.reddit.com/r/panelshow/
is a good way to keep track of this stuff.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:24 AM on November 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yes, Mitchell has fun, but there is nothing finer than the guest appearances of Bob Mortimer on WILTY. Settle in for the wildest gentle ride possible.
posted by ewan at 2:53 AM on November 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

filthy light thief, I think you should still make that post! There are so many of these shows, and I really only know of them through looking for specific people and findings clips like these. im sure it would be amazing, as usual.

Here's Mitchell on A different episode of You Have Been Watching yt where you can see him amuse his future wife Victoria Coren.

Ugh. I remember there was a post about Victoria Coren (or possibly David Mitchell) where some dude claimed she only married him because of his fame and money and a whole bunch of mefites piled on with "smart is sexy" and "funny is sexy" and it was glorious.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:22 AM on November 6, 2017

Also, why the hell would Victoria Coren marry anyone for their money? She's a killer poker player, who's amassed tournament winnings of well over £2m from the game.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:44 AM on November 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

I've always loved David Mitchell, solo or with Robert Webb. So funny.
posted by james33 at 3:48 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, David Mitchell is not posh; Jack Mitchell is posh.

So says the middle class. It all really depends on where you stand. If you're working class yourself, they're both posh.
posted by Dysk at 4:48 AM on November 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

As an American, is there a non-sketchy way to watch panel shows? I'm pretty creative as far as search terms in youtube, but I'm a bit of a completionist, so I would be willing to pay if I could just watch full seasons of these things in a nice format.
posted by Think_Long at 5:59 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also, David Mitchell is not posh; Jack Mitchell is posh.

So says the middle class. It all really depends on where you stand. If you're working class yourself, they're both posh.

No, Jack Whitehall is posh.

He is also is unintentionally responsible for the single funniest thing to happen on Big Fat Quiz Of the Year (Big Fat Quiz Of the 90s - Mr. Blobby), but the main clip is just the epic punchline — the set-up happens well before, and is both innocent and serendipitous. It’s best to watch the whole show, but someone has made an edit that shows what happens early on in the show, and then what happens at the end.

Whitehall, along with James Corden, is also responsible for the second-funniest thing to happen on BFQotY on the 2012 episode, which runs through the entire episode in a funny but low-key way, then comes to a head during the music section of the program. the humor is amplified by Jimmy Carr’s drop-jawed appreciation that they actually did it, plus the other panelist’s reactions. (The clip, again, doesn’t do justice to it without the whole show around it, but it gives the main bits.)
posted by tzikeh at 7:27 AM on November 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

Yeah, posh is very relative. I'd generally think of Stephen Fry as pretty posh until he does his impression of the rugby-playing really posh boys from his school. It must be on youtube somewhere, but I haven't found the right combination of keywords.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 7:36 AM on November 6, 2017

Regarding the Upstart Crow comment; i'd not seen it before and watched an episode of Season 2 a few weeks ago. I've been a fan of Mitchell, Harry Enfield and, to a lesser degree, Noel Fielding, who were all in this episode, for many years. It was shockingly bad. Rote, by the numbers drivel. Blackadder but done by people who have only had Blackadder described to them in a language they are only passingly familiar with.

I asked my social media circle if this was consistent with the rest of the show, and if so, how did it get a second season. Apparently the second season is not up to the first, by a long shot, so if you've seen the first but can't find the second anywhere easily, then you may not be missing out.

YMMV, of course.
posted by trif at 7:59 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Blackadder but done by people who have only had Blackadder described to them in a language they are only passingly familiar with.

In fact, Upstart Crow was written by Ben Elton, one of the two writers who gave us Blackadder. With Elton on board, the wonder is not that Upstart Crow is so awful, but that Blackadder was so good.
posted by Paul Slade at 8:11 AM on November 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Ugh. I remember there was a post about Victoria Coren (or possibly David Mitchell) where some dude claimed she only married him because of his fame and money and a whole bunch of mefites piled on with "smart is sexy" and "funny is sexy" and it was glorious.

Men - still not understanding that their idea of what women find attractive is NOWHERE NEAR THE TRUTH, EVER.

GAH i’m sorry for venting but GAH.

Dear male friends: Who Framed Roger Rabbit > any given cover of Men’s Health.
posted by tzikeh at 8:37 AM on November 6, 2017 [9 favorites]

I love these shows, and I think the reason they don't or won't work in America is because such a large part of the humor comes from comedians taking the piss out of celebrity guests, and American celebrities tend to take themselves too seriously for that. It seems a uniquely "British Celebrity" thing to have someone mock you mercilessly and to genuinely laugh along as they do it.
posted by rocket88 at 8:38 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

No, Jack Whitehall is posh.

I'm bad with names and didn't clock that, though a quick wiki confirms that Jack Mitchell is also posh, along with Jack Whitehall and David Mitchell. They're all posh to varying degrees. That Whitehall might consider one of both of the Mitchells (no relation) beneath him is neither here nor there. They're all three posh.
posted by Dysk at 9:08 AM on November 6, 2017

I didn’t think it was possible for David Mitchell to go up in my estimation, but his recent clear retraction and apology for making a crappy argument did the trick. His apology isn’t perfect—he doesn’t see that the arguments that apply to his “bad example” actually apply to most examples of things that get criticised for imposing trigger warnings—but it’s still rare and remarkable nowadays for people to flatly admit they were wrong in the public square and it’s nice to see it done.
posted by Aravis76 at 9:38 AM on November 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I have three go-to clips for when I need to laugh.

One - Mock the Week, "Private Browsing." So in love with you love with you love with you. It's not particularly funny (low-hanging fruit kinda jokes), until Ed and Dara lose their minds and laugh uncontrollably.

Two - WILTY, "Did Kevin Bridges accidentally buy a horse?" (mentioned above) I've yet to show this to someone (who could understand the accents involved) and have them not laugh. Bridges is so unconvincing that people on his team rip into his story, which is the opposite of normal.

Three - Lee Mack losing his mind as people fail to understand a simple enough story of misdirection. For some reason, "THERE'S NOOOOOOOOOOOO" gets me every time.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 9:55 AM on November 6, 2017 [6 favorites]

Right then, David Mitchell and Jack Whitehall are posh compared to the working-class Lee Mack, but they're more posh-sounding than actually upper class. For the upper class contingent on WILTY, see Miranda Hart - of the aristocratic Hart Dyke family, doncher know - and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (though Miranda is decidely posher than Hugh).
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:10 AM on November 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Dear male friends: Who Framed Roger Rabbit > any given cover of Men’s Health.

The Crossover: This patty-cake trick will curl her toes and blow your mind!
posted by 1f2frfbf at 10:16 AM on November 6, 2017

His angry logic about horizontal v. vertical stripes on clothing is a favourite of mine.
posted by parki at 10:16 AM on November 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

runcibleshaw: Why is America so bad at doing this format? It's the best.

Splitsider posits it's because the US has late night talk shows to fill the niche of "funny people talking about current stuff," ignoring that they're completely different.

On the other hand, there are only so many (programming) hours in the day, and in the US, the late night talk shows are a tried and true thing, so booting them for comedians riffing on random topics might be a hard sell. Still, Graham Norton is way above anything I've seen from the US in terms of late night talk shows. Sure, Jimmy Fallon has The muvva funkin Roots, and they are funkin' amazing at both music and comedy bits, but that's the outlier, not the norm. For comparison, Stephen Colbert has Jon Batiste and Stay Human, which is super awkward. Forced laughter, fake jovility, and the whole thing seems like bad actors playing well-known roles, so their bad acting stands out even more. Maybe they've improved, I hope so. Their early shows were cringe-worthy, IMO.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:49 AM on November 6, 2017

Right then, David Mitchell and Jack Whitehall are posh compared to the working-class Lee Mack, but they're more posh-sounding than actually upper class.

They both went to very fancy independent schools, and then on to Oxbridge. Absolutely your common man, yes.
posted by Dysk at 10:56 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Like, they might not quite be from families with estates that stretch back hundreds of years, but they're definitely from money, and didn't have to grow up mingling with the riff-raff.
posted by Dysk at 10:57 AM on November 6, 2017

Also, do the weird dotted underlines mean some kind of mouseover annotation? Locks those of us on mobile devices out of that content entirely, should really be discouraged if not disabled on mefi...
posted by Dysk at 11:00 AM on November 6, 2017

Mitchell's parents were lecturers at a polytechnic. That's more money than many, sure, but not exactly "from money".
posted by rory at 11:05 AM on November 6, 2017

They were hotel managers, but both quit their jobs to semi-retire to lecturing after David was born. And he's an Old Abingdonian. The polytechnic thing is misleading.
posted by Dysk at 11:09 AM on November 6, 2017

Mitchell and Whitehall are upper-middle class by dint of money and education, but they don't truly count as upper class since their family backgrounds do not spring from the ranks of the aristocracy or even hereditary landowners. Mitchell's parents were hoteliers, which puts them in the same category Basil Fawlty! His ancestry goes back to Sutherland sheep farmers!

The giveaway is that Mack relentlessly takes the piss out of Mitchell for his allegedly posh background for comic effect, but Miranda Hart is spared such ribbing as it would cut too close to the truth.

The British class system is a source of endless humor in its fine distinctions.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:23 AM on November 6, 2017 [8 favorites]

I think these are covered in the links, but

"WILTY: David's Poshest Moments"
posted by Room 641-A at 11:28 AM on November 6, 2017

And that's the other clue: Mitchell plays along with the "posh" running gag, but Hart and Fearnley-Whittingstall are rather reticent about their class background and do not draw overt attention to it, even when it's there as a subtext. When Fearnley-Whittingstall tells a decidedly posh anecdote about putting Marmite on his face as a treat for the family dog - a Springer Spaniel, a posh breed - he refers to being caught with the dog in the process of licking it off by "members of the household", as posh a phrase as one could ask for.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:44 AM on November 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

Mitchell's parents were hoteliers, which puts them in the same category Basil Fawlty!

Just like Lord Sainsbury is the same class as Bob who runs the newsagents down the road, yes.
posted by Dysk at 11:57 AM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

(Meanwhile, at the House of Lords, the hereditary peers are making disparaging remarks about about Baron Sainsbury's family origins behind his back. It's like Zeno's Peerage of class distinctions - there's always a finer one to make.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:03 PM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

I used to love QI, and I still appreciate it when I remember to watch it, but only WILTY has me hooked as a mad devotee who could re-watch practically any episode at the drop of an H. Panel shows like 8 out of 10 Cats and Big Fat Quiz of [X] don't work for me as well because they're a bunch of comedians competing madly to be the funniest one in the room at all times. In addition, there's just some utterly ordinary showbiz shtick associated with each show. (I think the two part intros for all the cast in the 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown episode linked above took over 12 minutes.) It's exhausting.

In contrast, WILTY runs only 29 minutes, has dead simple rules and gets right down to things. While Mitchell and Lee Mack are obvious stars, there's room for everyone to be funny or spur someone else to be funny. (Here's Gareth Malone's fear of the underside of ships, featuring some angry logic from David Mitchell, via the priceless WILTY? Nope! channel.) It just feels much more like a bullshitting session between friends and family, and that works for me. YMMV, of course.

Oh, look. A playlist of full episodes from all ten series, plus some extras.
posted by maudlin at 12:07 PM on November 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

(They're grocers. From Lambeth.)
posted by elsietheeel at 12:07 PM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

(I mean, WILTY can be exhausting in its own way. I was re-re-watching one of the compilations on my own last night and still laughed at some parts until I literally gasped for breath.)
posted by maudlin at 12:11 PM on November 6, 2017

I'm mad for David Mitchell. Fussy, English, Hilarious, and Clever, with dark glittering eyes, he is many of my crush categories rolled into one. Naturally, a woman who has this kind of taste is likely to be a compulsive completist, and that it why fancying DM (same initials as Danger Mouse, coincidence?) is so absorbing, a lifelong addiction. He's on EVERYTHING.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:15 PM on November 6, 2017 [4 favorites]

Me, reading: "WILTY" "Bob Mortimer"
Me: Ctrl-F hand lion

I haven't been this disappointed since the BBC pulled all the episodes of The Unbelieveable Truth from Youtube.

David Mitchell is a treasure to the whole world.
posted by tchemgrrl at 12:25 PM on November 6, 2017 [5 favorites]

One of the reasons I know the "get any media you want, any time you want" future is a failure is there is no way for me to get That Mitchell and Webb Look on Blu-Ray in the US. Sure, most of them are in mediocre quality on YouTube (including Glucozade Port, one of my favorite things ever), but they're a DCMA takedown notice away from disappearing.

Sometimes you need to watch "Angel Summoner and BMX Bandit".
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 12:30 PM on November 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

"It was very effective!"

Bob Mortimer is a national treasure. I miss Shooting Stars so damn much.
posted by elsietheeel at 12:31 PM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Watching this usually brings me to the inimitably savage stand ups of Jimmy Carr. Could not find his responses to hecklers but there is a fresh show from netflix.
posted by Laotic at 12:49 PM on November 6, 2017

Oh yes, Bob Mortimer. His tales are just spectacular.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:17 PM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's like Zeno's Peerage of class distinctions - there's always a finer one to make

I'm sure these distinctions seem very meaningful to the wankers in the House of Lords, but to me, the exact level of overprivilege someone possess is an irrelevant distraction. They're all invested in a system that positions them near the top.
posted by Dysk at 2:23 PM on November 6, 2017

I don't think I realized that David Mitchell has a running column on the Guardian. So, completists, prepare your reading glasses and dig in!

Also, by British standards, David is middle class, and thence the "posh" running gag. Were he actually upper class or aristo it wouldn't be as funny.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:50 PM on November 6, 2017 [2 favorites]

I really don't understand the appeal of this format. Who wants to watch a bunch of smart asses sitting around yakking?

But also, Metafilter: A bunch of smart asses sitting around yakking. So I guess I'm inconsistent.
posted by Coventry at 9:17 PM on November 6, 2017

It's the same joy as having a neighborhood bar that you hang out at that has a few specific... um... characters... who show up and who are great fun to sit around and listen to and interact with. They are there, you are entertained, you leave satisfied.

I supposed if you've never had a neighborhood bar that you've attended regularly that has characters like this, it's lost on you. But trust me, it's fun.
posted by hippybear at 9:32 PM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

the inimitably savage stand ups of Jimmy Carr

Ehh...he's clearly got a quick inventive mind, but I prefer him on TV where he has to edit himself and work to be truly funny. Too much of his stand-up material descends into over-the-top crude material passed off as "edgy," that's actually just boorishly offensive rather than clever or original.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:58 PM on November 6, 2017 [7 favorites]

During the Simon Amstell-hosted Never Mind The Buzzcocks years, they tried to port that particular panel show to US television. Predictably, it was a disaster, mostly as a) celebrities didn’t understand the concept of a presumably-competitive show with points where the points didn’t matter and the whole stage was only an excuse to rack up comedy b) celebs hated getting the piss taken out of them, which to be fair to Amstell, he could be brutal. But often to people who were just as savage toward him (I don’t think he was out yet) - and sort of had a nice back and forth rapport with others (eg Mel C). I’m afraid to see what the US thought it might be transmogrified into..

WILTY is my comfort food. Bob Mortimer, every single time Mitchell has to do a thing where it’s 50/50 where it could be true (I just watched the dressing gown and squeaky door bits last week, coincidentally), the banter between him and Lee Mack, how quickfire witty the majority of the guests are... it’s just gold and fun. I just remembered: one of my favorite appearances, rest her soul, was the late Tara Palmer Tomkinson (which if you want proper posh), was just so mad - combined with Claudia Winkleman no less... yeah. The horse story cos of the matter-of-fact way it’s told (this goes for Mortimer appearances as well since they’ve been mentioned) has never not failed to crack me up.

(And as someone who looks forward to the Big Fat Quiz every year despite its host (srsly, am I imagining this or has someone not linked early footage of Jimmy Carr laughing normally before he decided to adopt the seal bark? Place him aside the ‘plum pudding/my girl’s so dumb’ comedian from, I think, season 2 of Boardwalk Empire and there’s a possible aetiology for his act - real 1920s comedian and the similarities are striking) - anyway, I will staunchly defend the 2012 year of Big Fat Quiz (I know they’ve branched out into anniversary versions and the like so, whatever New Year’s had been) as one of the best alongside 2006 and 2007 (Lily Allen is quite fun on that go!). Richard Ayoade paired with Gabby Logan, David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker, Jack Whitehall (playing up the posh aspect)... this might be he year contains some of the best Ayoade deadpans yet. Basically, stick Ayoade or Mitchell on a panel show, I’ll watch it (or Henning Wehn esp on The Unbelieveable Truth)).
posted by rallumer at 12:34 AM on November 7, 2017 [6 favorites]

also I think a lot of the faux-posh ribbing on Mitchell lies in the fact that, as many have pointed out, he’s not been born what could be defined as v posh (although if you’re working-class yourself it might seem like it) but as he came up through the Cambridge Footlights, as opposed to eg (random white British (not English) comedian dude, albeit older) Peter Capaldi - or more relevantly Lee Mack or any of the WILTY regulars. (It’s rumored Mitchell and Webb had a hand in turning Zadie Smith down from the Footlights, which might’ve been her well revenge given what an author she became afterwards!) Anyway, for some panelists (o all shows) it’s more of an Oxbridge route thing seems like. Also the image Mitchell likes to project (side note: still can’t compute that his brother-in-law is Giles Coren, restaurant reviewer, although he did do a lovely little series called the Supersizers with Sue Perkins where he had the most atrocious table manners. I just want to know what family dinners are like if ever they do Christmas together; can you imagine because I can’t)
posted by rallumer at 1:01 AM on November 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

I love David Mitchell and am blown away by his and many other panelists quick wit. In the vein of comparing super powers, i think lee mack is the fastest. I like Mitchell's rants and biting repartee more, but the speed at which Mack can pick up on something said and turn it around is truly staggering.
posted by dazed_one at 10:10 AM on November 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

I discovered Big Fat Quiz with the 2016 episode and have watched it multiple times (Crossrail!). Now I have all this new material about different panel shows and why am I stuck at work??
posted by altopower at 12:06 PM on November 7, 2017

The US used to have its own version of panel shows. Hollywood Squares and What's My Line leap immediately to mind. The most recent one it had was @midnight, which I enjoyed when I caught it but it wasn't a DVR timer.

I guess also Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, which I do catch every week.
posted by hippybear at 6:21 PM on November 7, 2017

MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY SERIES 11 STARTS ON MONDAY. Preview (no Mitchell, some bearded Lee Mack, and an enviously flexible American).
posted by maudlin at 8:41 PM on November 19, 2017 [1 favorite]