Sunday, September 29, 2024

David Mitchell the saviour of TV comedy? I’d have laughed in your face — but it’s true

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Cryptic cases: David Mitchell as a puzzle compiler/accidental detective in Ludwig

DAVID EMERY/BBC

When you survey the landscape of British comedy, what is it that you see? Is it acres and acres of septic stand-ups who can’t do stand-up, sitcoms MIA, a television sketch world that has committed so many heinous crimes, it’s long in witness protection? It is.

The only comedy shows I’m enjoying are shows that aren’t comedies: Love Island (truly, a hideous masterpiece), SAS: Who Dares Wins (see below) and so-bad-they’re-good thrillers like Nightsleeper, while real comedians produce deadly serious, nihilistic paranoia fests like Baby Reindeer.

What is the solution? If at this point you told me “David Mitchell” I would laugh in your face. David Mitchell, the crying one from Peep Show? The corduroy lifer? The stumbling, bearded marsupial with goggling,

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