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Peep Show’s latest series signalled a return to our screens for David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Ok, so it may seem like Mitchell and Webb never actually left our screens, after all, they are omnipresent media whores, but they got us folk at Channel 4 Comedy thinking: What comedy double acts are floating our boats and which comedy double acts have well and truly sunk our sailing vessel and left it to rot with Davey Crockett’s locker at the bottom of the ocean?
We put on our thinking caps and came up with the following double acts who we think are “two good” and are, lamentably, “two bad”. By no means is this list definitive, in fact, it’s just our point of view, so if you’re easily offended by criticism of Cannon and Ball, well, you’re a very silly person indeed, and you’re probably about to get even more offended. “Rock on, Tommy!”
Two Good
Mitchell & Webb
We at Channel 4 Comedy are first to admit that not all David Mitchell and Robert Webb vehicles have been winners. ‘That Mitchell and Webb Look’ was hit-and-miss to say the least. Sketches such as ‘The British Broadcasting Network’ were hackneyed, old hat and struggled for originality, but then the late-night quiz parody ‘Numberwang’ would come along and make the whole show worth watching. Of course, the zenith of their careers came with ‘Peep Show’. The situations that writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain threw Mitchell and Webb’s characters into perfectly suited their juxtaposing straight man, funny man personas. However, if the two dare feature in another Mac and PC ad they’re out of here!
Lee & Herring
Though Stewart Lee and Richard Herring went their separate ways in the late 1990s, they performed together for the first time in nearly eight years at a stand-up gig in early 2007. At the gig, Richard Herring made reference to Mitchell and Webb’s Mac and PC advertising campaign, “It could have been us, Stew, it could have been us!” And Herring’s spot-on, Lee and Herring could have been as commercially popular as Mitchell and Webb had they toned down the controversy that made them such a cult hit in the first place. Bizarrely, considering their leftfield leanings, back in 1998, Lee and Herring were handed an early Sunday afternoon slot on BBC2 and they utilized this to the full with This Morning With Richard Not Judy. Not wanting to miss out on this opportunity to offend middle England, Lee and Herring performed an array of provocative sketches that had the Points of View mailbox bursting to the brim.
Reeves & Mortimer
What do you get when you cross a factory inspector with a solicitor? Why, you get Reeves and Mortimer, one of the best comedy double acts the world has ever seen. The most surreal combination since cheesecake got together back in the late 1980s when Bob Mortimer jumped onstage during Vic Reeves’ ‘Big Night Out’ and the two have never looked back. Bob took equal billing with Vic in the BBC’s ‘The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer’. Such classic sketches as Slade In Residence gave Vic and Bob the chance to showcase their anarchic tomfoolery in the comedy panel show Shooting Stars. The show went on to launch the careers of Matt Lucas, Mark Lamarr. Continuing in the subtle surreal vain that ‘The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer’ left off in was ‘Bang Bang, It’s Reeves and Mortimer’, which inspired a whole host of 21st century comics, including Russell Brand and the two scamps below.
The Mighty Boosh
Taking Vic and Bob’s surreal comedy baton and running with it at lightning speeds are Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh. The duo formed over a mutual appreciation for the Goodies and first performed as their zookeeper characters, Vince Noir and Howard Moon, in 1998. After taking a few shows to Edinburgh, the boys were signed up for a Danny Wallace (of ‘Are You Dave Gorman’ fame) produced radio show. The production was eventually transformed to BBC3 and the Mr. Benn-cum-Goodies adventure comedy became a slow-burning hit sensation. Some quarters have even said that The Mighty Boosh has made comedy the new and rock’n’roll. If that’s the case, Noel and Julian could well be comedy’s Mick and Keith for many years to come.
Two Bad
Hale & Pace
Some of you may think picking on a washed up 1980s comic combo is like shooting fish in a barrel – we beg to disagree, it’s much easier than that. From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, Hale and Pace, along with the Antiques Roadshow and Last of the Summer Wine, seemed to have a shareholding on Sunday television and we at Channel 4 hold much resentment towards them for this. The two also gained notoriety for pretending to microwave a cat, and as we all know, pretend animal cruelty is not funny, well, not as funny as picking on a washed up 1980s comic combo. Talking of which...
Cannon & Ball
There is a part of us that feels bad about knocking the efforts and achievements of two born again Christians who met in humble beginnings as welders in Oldham. And true, the duo were the light entertainment kings of the 1980s, but, come on, that was the 1980s, people even wore cycling shorts without ever cycling - bad times. What truly tipped Channel 4 Comedy into lumping these two in the "two bad" section was the following: They appeared in the Generation Game with Jim Davidson. Someone pass us the bucket.
The Krankies
Scarred. That's how we’d describe how we felt when we realised that 4'5" schoolboy “Wee Jimmy Krankie" was in fact a middle aged woman named Janet. Need we justify our argument further? Nope.
Mel & Sue
Channel 4 Comedy may have spent a fair few guilty strewn days eating beans on toast in front of the telly box while watching Light Lunch, the programme that put Mel and Sue into public consciousness, and what’s more, we even think Mel and Sue seem like lovely people, but as a duo? No, no, no. Their anodyne and clumsy styles did nothing for us and presumably did nothing for the programmes they latterly appeared in. Casting Couch, anyone?
