David Mitchell

At 49 years old, David Mitchell has this physical status:

David James Stuart Mitchell (born 14 July 1974) is a British comedian, writer, and television presenter.

He appears on the comedy team Mitchell and Webb as well as Robert Webb.

Mitchell and Mark Corrigan appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, in which Mitchell appears in Mark Corrigan's role.

In 2009, Mitchell was named the British Academy Television Award for Best Comedy Performance for his work on the programme.

The pair have written and appeared in several sketch shows, including Bruiser, The Mitchell and Webb Situation, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, and also That Mitchell and Webb Webb.

Mitchell and Webb also appeared in Apple's Get a Mac a Mac commercial campaign in the United Kingdom.

Magicians was their first film to be released in 2007. The duo appeared in the short-lived Ambassadors in 2013.

In Think the Unthinkable, Mitchell also appeared as Owen.

He currently hosts The Unbelievable Truth (2007–) on BBC Radio 4 panel show The Unbelievable Truth (2007–), co-starring Robert Webb, and the critically acclaimed BBC Two historical comedy Upstart Crow (2016–). Mitchell, a regular participant on British panel shows, and a former host of The Bubble and Was It Something I Said? as well as a frequent guest on other panel shows such as QI, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, Mock the Week, 8 out of ten Cats Does Countdown and Have I Got News for You.

He appeared on O'Clock Live as a co-host.

Mitchell regularly contributes comment columns to The Observer and The Guardian as a writer.

Early life

Mitchell was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, to Ian Douglas Mitchell and Kathryn Grey Mitchell, who were, at the time, hotel administrators. In 1977, when Mitchell was two years old, his parents quit their jobs to teach hotel management, giving them more time to look after him. He attended Napier House Primary School. He is the older of two boys, with his brother Daniel being born when David was seven years old. Mitchell's parents became lecturers at Oxford Polytechnic, now Oxford Brookes University, and the family moved to Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, England. Mitchell attended New College School, which is a private preparatory school in the city. Mitchell related to his childhood dreams in a 2006 interview with The Independent:

Mitchell was educated at Abingdon School, a public school in Oxfordshire, from the age of thirteen. "Because he was always in the top of the class at primary school and prep school," he realized that there were plenty more intelligent people than he was, so he turned his attention to debating and drama, "where [he] had a chance of being the best." Mitchell performed regularly in plays, "mainly because you had to play cards backstage." He performed little bit of time in between until he was granted the role of Rabbit in Winnie-the-Pooh. This was the first time he was "aware" that I was "performing well" and that "was better, even better than playing cards." Mitchell had been "obsessed" with comedy writing from his youth, as he "always believed that doing a joke was the right thing" and that "would always prefer a parody of something to the real thing itself."

Mitchell was born at Merton College, Oxford, in 1993, and he travelled to Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied history. He began performing with the Cambridge Footlights, of which he became President for the 1995-1996 academic year.

Mitchell was in his first year at university when he met Robert Webb during rehearsals for a Footlights production of Cinderella in 1993, and the two men soon formed a comedy team. These factors, according to Mitchell, had a detrimental effect on his academic success at university, and he scored a 2:2 in his final exams.

Personal life

Mitchell's Merseyside-born father's family were from Scotland and his mother, who is Welsh, thinks he is British rather than English. In an episode of the television show Who Do You Think You Are? he explored his ancestry, establishing his links to the Gaelic scholars John Forbes and Alexander Robert Forbes. Mitchell was one of 200 public figures to send The Guardian a letter on August 7th, expressing their hope that Scotland will vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on the subject. Mitchell's participation in the open letter came after he column in The Observer in May 2011 in which he says, "If Scotland ever goes it alone, the British will have lost their country."

In interviews, Mitchell has often joked about his personal life. In 2005, he said he had "been in so many situations where I've just said nothing to someone I've adored." "I'm sort of okay on my own," he later said. I don't want it to be forever, but the main thing is that I'm all right alone." As the flatmate of novelist Robert Hudson, he lived in Kilburn, London, for many years. In 2006, he was the best man at Robert Webb's wedding to Abigail Burdess.

Victoria Coren was first "completely smitten" at Jonathan Ross' annual Halloween party in 2007. She decided to date someone else and he pined for her, but they began dating in December 2010. In March 2012, their engagement was revealed in The Times, and they married on November 17, 2012, with Robert Webb as his best man. Coren and her daughter were born in May 2015, the first in May 2015.

In an interview with The Observer, he maintained his interest in history, adding to the National Trust and wandering around the odd castle. As the rage of middle age creeps in, I think I'll be that resentful." In his Parkinson's interview, he said that if he could go back in time to do one thing, it would be to ask them "why they were bothering."

He is a cricket and snooker enthusiast, and he also plays squash and tennis. He does not drive. He is an agnostic.

Mitchell walks for an hour a day to support a bad back and has shed weight as a result, but he "probably has" a bad diet and "probably drinks too much." He describes himself as a worrier.

Mitchell cites Evelyn Waugh as one of his favorite writers outside of film and television. He appeared on the radio program Desert Island Discs. Mitchell has admitted that he attended a Shirley Bassey performance once and that he has only two CDs: Phil Collins'... But seriously, Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream.

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Career

Mitchell served as an usher at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and in the TFI's cloakroom on Friday.

Mitchell's first project with Webb was in January 1995, a retrospective look at the Post-Apocalyptic Age. It was later described as "fucking awful" by the Webb. After graduating from university, he and Webb began hosting a number of two-man shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

As a result of their appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe, the pair were offered the opportunity to write for Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller and for two more of Big Train series two. They first camety Show and Comedy Nation in 2000, after minor appearances on The Jack Docherty Show and Comedy Nation, on a short-lived BBC sketch show Bruiser, which they mainly wrote and appeared in. Olivia Colman, the current Academy Award and BAFTA winner, as well as Martin Freeman, a later version of The Office, was also on display. Matthew Holness and Charlotte Hudson were among the cast members. Various individuals, including Ricky Gervais and James Bachman, contributed to the show's additional information.

The two men were recruited for The Mitchell and Webb Situation, a sketch show of their own, which ran for six episodes on the now defunct channel Play UK. The performance was well received. "What the series lacked in budget, it made up for in spectacular detail," Wessin Richman said, "far superior to the massively overrated Little Britain" and "probably the most forgotten sketch show of modern times" in which "perhaps the best forgotten sketch show of modern times."

Eureka!

The Mitchell and Webb Situation on DVD, 2005, featured that the program "gushes forth an amusing collection of surreal and quirkily original sketches" as well as calling it a "cult triumph." Mitchell said in an interview with Wessex Scene that he was "more proud of the way it came out than angry that it was only on a small channel."

Mitchell and Webb's next project appeared in 2003, with starring roles in Channel 4's Peep Show as flatmates Mark Corrigan and Jeremy Usbourne respectively. Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain's failed attempt to complete a team-written sitcom for the BBC; they had an old script that they wanted to revive, and Mitchell and Webb helped with the transition to Peep Show. Despite poor viewing numbers (which almost got the show cancelled after series three) the performance was met with soaring critical scoffing. "Under a doubt one of the finest sitcoms of the decade," the British Sitcom Guide described it. "The last thing I was really excited about on British television was the Peep Show, which I think was the best sitcom since Father Ted," Ricky Gervais said. Mitchell's role in the series was lauded by the BBC, who said "As Mark Corrigan, David reached out to all those middle-aged guys in a twentysomething's body, who believe drugs are boring and that machinery are essential if society is to function at all." Mitchell has expressed sympathy with Mark and is delighted with him, as well as that he "agrees with many of [Mark's] views." The Peep Show aired on nine series, making it the longest-running sitcom in Channel 4 history.

Mitchell received the British Academy Television Award for his work on the Peep Show in 2009, despite losing in the same category the year before. In 2010, he was nominated a second time. At the 2007 British Comedy Awards, he received the award for "Best Television Actor," and the pair shared the Royal Television Society Award for "Comedy Performance." At the 2006 British Comedy Awards, they were also nominated for "Best Television Actor" as a pair. "Best situation comedy" has also been a winner in 2008 and the British Comedy Award for "Best TV comedy" in 2006, and the British Comedy Award for "Best situation comedy" has continued to be coveted the following year. It also received the "Best TV Comedy" award at the South Bank Show Awards in 2004, earning a Golden Rose in 2004.

Mitchell and Webb returned to sketch comedy with their BBC Radio 4 sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Sound, which aired for five seasons, after the success of Peep Show. That Mitchell and Webb Look was adapted for television and became That Mitchell and Webb Look. Gareth Edwards, a producer, referred to it as "the shortest pitch [he] had] ever written." The show lasted for four seasons. The pair opened their first tour in 2006 with a show called The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb. Brian Logan of The Guardian criticized the tour as just "a series of largely unrelated scenes," giving it a rating of two actors.

At the 2007 awards, Mitchell and Webb Look received their BAFTA for Best Comedy Program or Series, and they received a second nomination in 2009. In 2006, it was nominated for two British Comedy Awards: The Best New TV Comedy Award in the United Kingdom and the Highland Spring People's Choice. The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb was nominated for the British Comedy Award for Best Stage Comedy, and That Mitchell and Webb Sound were nominated for a Sony Silver Award.

Magicians, the company's first film, was released on May 18, 2007. Andrew O'Connor directed it and Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain wrote it. Mitchell portrayed Harry, a magician. Mitchell played Ray, a science-fiction writer, on a pilot BBC Radio 2 sitcom called Daydream Believers later in 2007. Mitchell and Webb appeared on the programme as a one-off television pilot from Channel 4's Comedy Lab, as well as actor Mitchell and Webb.

This Mitchell and Webb Book, Mitchell and Webb's first comedy book, was released in 2009. A new book is in the works. They also produced and filmed Playing Shop, a BBC2 comedy television pilot about two men who run a shop out of their shed. Although the BBC commissioners were happy to it, Mitchell and Webb scrapped it themselves because it was too similar to Peep Show. A new pilot had been sent, but the scheme was later shelved. In the Doctor Who episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," Mitchell and Webb voiced a robotic pair.

Mitchell played the PC in 2007 and the pair fronted Apple Inc.'s "Get a Mac" advertisements, with Mitchell appearing on Apple Inc.'s "Get a Mac" advertisements. The advertisements have received a lot of flak over them. Charlie Brooker, a journalist, wrote in The Guardian that the use of Mitchell and Webb in the advertisements was a strange choice. In the Peep show, he likened the characters of PC and Mac to those of Mark and Jeremy, saying that "PCs are a little sour but ultimately lovable," the ads said, while Macs are merely smug, preening tossers.' The pair were also chastised for "selling their souls," according to the British Sitting Guide. One journalist called the advertisements "worse than not funny," and accused Mitchell and Webb of "an act of grave mistrust" for doing corporate jobs. "Do you want to do some funny ads for not many days in the year and be paid more than you would be for a complete series of Peep Shows?" Robert Webb replied to the duo's readers in a tweet interview with The Telegraph.' The answer, of course, is, "Yes, it's fine." "I don't see what is morally inaccurate with a comedian doing an advertisement," Mitchell said in the same interview. Isn't it legal to sell computers? If you believe that capitalism is evil, I don't agree. We're not here to help flog a baby-killing machine."

The pair were ranked ninth on a list of the UK's top television stars in 2005 and ranked twelfth on a list of the most influential people in television comedy by the BBC in 2005.

Mitchell has appeared on several shows on his own as well as his collaboration with Webb. Owen was a technical expert on Think the Unthinkable, a Radio 4 sitcom. In the BBC2 sitcom Doctors and Nurses, he played Dr. Toby Stephens. In 2005, he appeared in The Taming of The Shrew, the BBC's newest version of The Taming of The Shrew, the hapless secretary to Kate's hapless secretary Tim in the BBC's reconstruction of The Taming of The Shrew in its Shakespee Old Series. Mitchell appeared on Channel 4's sketch show Blunder as a variety of characters. The show was not well-reced, with the British Sitcom Guide naming it as the worst thing Mitchell did in all of 2006 in their "British Sitcom Awards" of that year. In the BBC sitcom Jam and Jerusalem, he played Dr. James Vine's recurring character. Mitchell was cast in the film Can't Be Your Woman, starring an English writer and also named David. When filming in Los Angeles, he discovered that he did not like the scene much and preferred filming in the United Kingdom.

He produced series five of BBC2's impressionist sketch show Dead Ringers and voiced Mitch in the Disney animated film Phineas and Ferb. He also narrated the reality show Beauty and the Geek. The four hosted ten O'Clock Live, a series of live shows examining the week's affairs following the success of Channel 4's Alternative Election Night in 2010, which Mitchell hosted with Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker, and Lauren Laverne. Mitchell has a solo segment titled Listen to Mitchell. The show lasted for three seasons.

Mitchell has appeared in four series of David Mitchell's Soapbox, a series of short monologues co-written with ChannelFlip's John Finnemore. Mitchell has discussed a variety of topics, including the BBC show Doctor Who and 3D television. According to Matt Warman of The Daily Telegraph, the series may be a sign that new comedy will be more available online rather than on television. On DVD, the film was released.

"Pablo the Drug Mule Dog" was the voiceover for a £1 million government advertisement for FRANK, alerting of cocaine's dangers, as well as the Driving Standards Agency's "The Highway Code." He contributes to The Observer and The Guardian as a columnist. He appeared in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held at the O2 Arena in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Mitchell signed a contract with HarperCollins and its imprint Fourth Estate in October 2009 to publish a collection of memoirs and a novel. Back Story: A Memoir was published in October 2012 with the book slated for 2013.

In all three series of the sitcom Upstart Crow, Mitchell Shakespeare appears in all three series, the first series of which was broadcast in 2016 as part of the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death.

Mitchell made his stage debut in Ben Elton's The Upstart Crow, which premiered in London in February 2020 at the Gielgud Theatre. In the television series Upstart Crow, he played Shakespeare.

Mitchell has performed on many panel shows, including The Independent's James Rampton, who christened him "if not king, then certainly prince regent of the panel games." Mitchell is a team captain on BBC's "Do Not Lie To You" opposite Lee Mack. The show has been running since 2007, and it is now in its 15th season. He has hosted 20 episodes of The Unbelievable Truth, a panel game on BBC Radio 4. In October 2013, Mitchell's inaugural episode of Was It Something I Said?, a panel comedy show hosted by Mitchell, was shown on Channel 4.

He appeared on Channel 4's comedy quiz show Best of the Worst, opposite Johnny Vaughan. Mitchell has also appeared on ten episodes of Have I Got News For You. The Bubble was hosted by Mitchell on a panel discussion. He appeared in an episode of Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, a panel show parody, on Channel 4's FAQ U. On Channel 4's show TV Heaven, Telly Hell, he also appeared on several episodes of Question Time, and has appeared on several episodes of Question Time. Other appearances include QI, Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, and 8 Out of ten Cats, as well as appearances on The Big Fat Quiz Of the Year in 2005, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020. Mitchell said in a 2007 interview with Digital Spy that he loved panel shows because they are "a game worth playing." He then expressed his appreciation for the panel style by criticizing Fast Show co-creator Charlie Higson's comment in September that panel comedies were overtaking television programming at the expense of sketch shows and sitcoms.

"He's amazingly witty" and "even started to make Paul Merton look slow on the uptake," the Radio Times voted him "the Best Comedy Panel Show Guest" in the world, describing him as "the best comedy panel show host" in the world.

Mitchell was ranked No. 1 in BAFTA rankings following his BAFTA win, and he was ranked No. 2. In the 2009 MediaGuardian 100, an annual list of media people in The Guardian, 53 people feature. The Guardian's column referred to him as the "go-to funnyman of the moment" despite his ubiquitous presence in broadcast and print media. The Times named Mitchell "a national institution" in their article describing the Peep Show on their list of "The top 50 TV shows of the Noughties."

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