September 15, 2006
SIMULACRUM NEWS!
THAT MITCHELL & WEBB LOOK AND QUIZZLESTICK
I’ve been getting a few messages from people asking if I checked out That Mitchell & Webb Look last night on BBC2. It featured a game show spoof called Numberwang that was similar to a thing we did on the 4th series of The Adam & Joe Show called Quizzlestick. Sometimes people point out this kind of thing and sort of expect you to be outraged that you’ve been ripped off or something. I just don’t know anyone in comedy who would actually do that and Mitchell & Webb are certainly no exception.
I suppose if I’m honest it was a little hurtful that neither they nor anyone working on the show had seen Quizzlestick and so avoided doing something too similar but that’s my problem not theirs. Anyway the Numberwang sketch was actually pretty funny and I liked the rest of show too. Plus they were doing the demented gameshow thing purely as a sketch and Quizzlestick was designed by Joe to be part prank as well and the two contestants believed (though probably not for very long) that the show was real. A lot of the laughs also game from the amazing graphics that a post production company called Jump supplied to Joe’s specifications, so it was really quite a different thing.
So why’s everyone going on about it being similar? I don’t know what the fuck they’re on about. If anything we ripped off Mitchell & Webb who are brilliant by the way. Now let that be an end to it.