The first bit gets especially funny when you've read David Mitchell's memoir. I don't know if they meant it to be some kind of self-aware reflection on their own relationship, but David mentions that each of them used to try and outdo the other every night when they did theatre. They had been working together for so long and on so many different projects that they were sick of each other. Every night, one of them would stand further and further from the crowd whilst talking to the other so that more of his face would be visible to the audience and more of the back of the other person's head. Literally upstaging one another. So that might have been the inspiration for this sketch.
i'm just laughing because i love sherlock holmes and imagining holmes randomly smashing a vase over watson's head to make a point is the funniest thing ever
@@RetractedandRedacted he's giving the most sensible, perfect deduction for how the crime took place whilst beating the absolute shit out his wounded comrade
This is my favourite. The "acting" portion of the sketch has a phenominal premise and the "break" section has some of the best line delivery I've _ever_ witnessed!
Honestly the idea of a play where the actors swap roles night by night, or two cuts of the same film with the actors swapped is fucking amazing and i want to see it.
See Frankenstein with Cumberbatch and Lee Miller, they have two versions where they swap being the doctor and the monster. It's a stage production that was filmed for showing in theaters. It was directed by Danny Boyle.
Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams played Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots in a play called Mary Stuart. Who played which role each evening of the performance was decided by flipping a coin. It ran for 2 months at the Almeida.
@@Demiglitch don't think it was. Guess you'd want to see both actors playing the roles but no way of guaranteeing that unless you went to 3 or 4 performances in a row. Think they flipped the coin in front of the audience so you found out who was playing who when the two actors did! More than just a gimmick as it had some great reviews.
@@waynemarvin5661 I still don't understand why people like him, he's like a really awful, stupid and crass imitation of Jim Carrey and everything he stars in is like some kind of bizarre fever dream
@@strawberrypencl Indeed. It's this celebrating of childishness that's led to the 'dumbing down' of entertainment. Cinema today is mostly infantile and empty. Superheroes and overgrown children. And Will Farrell led the way.
"Well, certainly I'm sufficiently insecure to have felt the need to establish to my own satisfaction, before the age of 33, whether or not humans can fly. That makes me a chippy little autodidact in your eyes, then so be it." That's glorious!
There was a film (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) that starred the late Heath Ledger, and filming wasn't finished when he died. So they brought in Johnny Depp, Colin Farell, and Jude Law to play his character in some scenes and they kept as many of Heath Ledger's scenes as they could manage. The result is very disorientating, in part because the scenes with Johnny Depp, Colin Farell, and Jude Law playing Heath Ledger's character are framed as dream-like sequences divorced from reality. I remember watching it and not understanding the ending of the movie at all.
This is especially funny since two actors who played Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller) did a stage show of Frankenstein where they alternate playing Frankenstein and The Monster.
They were both amazing, Jeremy couldn't have done Sherlock Holmes without both of them. I'm not here to cause and argument if thats what you're thinking.
Next night; "So you see, Watson. The advantage of my unique powers of observation." (Pulls out pocket knife and stabs Alec in the knee) Alec: AAAAAAHHHHHOOWWWW!
Ironically, Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller did exactly the same thing in a production of Frankenstein. Don't know whether they tried to kill each other, though. It'd have made a great final night performance.
The second part speaks to me on a spiritual level. So many times I've asked questions, some reasonable, others in hindsight not the smartest, but either way I was confused in the moment and all the time people look down their nose at you and make you feel stupid. I hate people like that.
Yeah some people really want to take the piss just to feel superior. And it represents well the smugness that comes with how those kind of people view the world. I've been that way myself some, honestly, and I'm not proud of it. In my case, some of it came from frustration of dealing with certain types of religious zealotry that seemed (well, still does seem) extremely contradictory morally. But I also allowed it to become too pervasive of a mentality about life in general, in matters I hadn't investigated as well.
So funny to me how people really think that Holmes thought poorly of Watson. They both expressed such affectionate admiration for each other. Of course this is all an exaggeration for comedic affect but I listen the complete Sherlock Holmes on audio book about twice a year.
One of their very best; I've seen it so many times but still laugh at it. And the links by some stereotypical British luvvie subtly patting himself on the back are spot-on too.
I've just noticed the book he appears to be reading is Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go...(it's got the exact same cover as mine). No leviatating in that lol.
They brought it full circle in the last sketch of the series, with what many see as that sappy boring bit that sort of ripped off the equally mawkish ending of Blackadder, but people often miss the comic genius of how they brought it back to the poo jokes. It was always about the poo.
thats not actually a flaw because the concept is that when ever they switch shots they switch places so when the cut from the one room to the other Mitchell would then change from being Watson to Holmes then back to Watson again.
Last I saw of him, he was doing some interview where he said men should talk about their feelings and cry more, and women are horribly oppressed in 21st century Britain. Careerwise not much I guess.
Could you imagine there being actors out there who were that competitive with each other to the point where both actors refuse to be in 1 role but to keep going back and forth being sherlock then watson over and over again threw the whole film that would be just straight up werid on another level lolo
The way Mitchell says 'yes, it is no' just absolutely kills me every time. It is just the most perfect delivery of a line possible.
SAME.
Agreed. Such a simple line, four one syllable words, and yet it is probably the most memorable line in the entire series.
@@DodderingOldMan It's a great line, I agree, but without a doubt "Hans, are we the baddies?" is the most memorable line of the series.
3:18 in case anybody trying to locate that line.
@@Palmit_ thanks!
"I'm just trying to get to the root of why you felt the need to ask such a humiliating question."
I feel like I need to remember this the next time a colleague says something stupid
3:21 - The depth of mockery conveyed in David's simple 'Yes, it is no' is just brilliant! 😂
The first bit gets especially funny when you've read David Mitchell's memoir. I don't know if they meant it to be some kind of self-aware reflection on their own relationship, but David mentions that each of them used to try and outdo the other every night when they did theatre. They had been working together for so long and on so many different projects that they were sick of each other. Every night, one of them would stand further and further from the crowd whilst talking to the other so that more of his face would be visible to the audience and more of the back of the other person's head. Literally upstaging one another. So that might have been the inspiration for this sketch.
It's so cool that they were able to recognise that, get past it and then make fun of it in a sketch.
So that's where the term "upstaging" came from! I hadn't considered the logistics of moving upstage.
@@abbieb8130 I think I seem to remember it's called satire although don't quote me on that. Irony or some shit.
I blame The Greeks. :P
ua-cam.com/video/6zkL91LzCMc/v-deo.html :P
i'm just laughing because i love sherlock holmes and imagining holmes randomly smashing a vase over watson's head to make a point is the funniest thing ever
I find it funnier that holmes would kick someones crutch away, kick them to the ground then spit on them
An aluminium crutch perhaps?
@@RetractedandRedacted he's giving the most sensible, perfect deduction for how the crime took place whilst beating the absolute shit out his wounded comrade
It would be a crashing point, to be sure.
This is my favourite. The "acting" portion of the sketch has a phenominal premise and the "break" section has some of the best line delivery I've _ever_ witnessed!
Ahh, the irreplaceable, yet interchangeable, genius of Robert Mitchell and David Webb.
As a matter of fact, I know two people called like that. I should ask them to form a duo (after I introduce them to each other, that is)
@@ivanputignef2418careful, they could go the way of Chip and Pin
Honestly the idea of a play where the actors swap roles night by night, or two cuts of the same film with the actors swapped is fucking amazing and i want to see it.
See Frankenstein with Cumberbatch and Lee Miller, they have two versions where they swap being the doctor and the monster. It's a stage production that was filmed for showing in theaters. It was directed by Danny Boyle.
@@ayebraine will check out
Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams played Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots in a play called Mary Stuart. Who played which role each evening of the performance was decided by flipping a coin. It ran for 2 months at the Almeida.
johnny king was it filmed?
@@Demiglitch don't think it was. Guess you'd want to see both actors playing the roles but no way of guaranteeing that unless you went to 3 or 4 performances in a row. Think they flipped the coin in front of the audience so you found out who was playing who when the two actors did! More than just a gimmick as it had some great reviews.
Still a better version than Ferrell/Reilly.
In fairness, Alvin and the Chipmunks set that bar pretty high.
A plate of braised pus would be preferable to anything with Ferrell 'acting' in it.
@@waynemarvin5661 I still don't understand why people like him, he's like a really awful, stupid and crass imitation of Jim Carrey and everything he stars in is like some kind of bizarre fever dream
@@strawberrypencl Indeed. It's this celebrating of childishness that's led to the 'dumbing down' of entertainment. Cinema today is mostly infantile and empty. Superheroes and overgrown children. And Will Farrell led the way.
That's not exactly tough to beat
the crumpets bit was so python-esque
Yeah, it's the same sorta voice they'd do whenever they were in drag.
Yeah like three headed knight that debates whether to cut sir robin's head off as a piss take of beuracracy
I’d genuinely watch such an insane cast swap movie, that’s a brillant exercise.
He's reading "Never Let Me Go" which contains no levitation at all ... I wonder where his mind was ...
Why do you think they mustn't let go?
@@David-ln8qh - Most brilliant response ever! 😀
@@David-ln8qh nice.
"Well, certainly I'm sufficiently insecure to have felt the need to establish to my own satisfaction, before the age of 33, whether or not humans can fly. That makes me a chippy little autodidact in your eyes, then so be it."
That's glorious!
Peak british comedy
When I was younger I found this funny. Now I just want to see a movie do this. The disorientation would be wonderful
The closest I have seen was Cloud Atlas, but there were just the same actors playing many different roles throughout the film.
There was a film (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) that starred the late Heath Ledger, and filming wasn't finished when he died. So they brought in Johnny Depp, Colin Farell, and Jude Law to play his character in some scenes and they kept as many of Heath Ledger's scenes as they could manage.
The result is very disorientating, in part because the scenes with Johnny Depp, Colin Farell, and Jude Law playing Heath Ledger's character are framed as dream-like sequences divorced from reality. I remember watching it and not understanding the ending of the movie at all.
Now I really want to see a movie where the two lead actors randomly switch characters in every new shot.
I'd love to see David Mitchell play Hercule Poirot and Robert Webb as Holmes in something together be amazing.
The mustache appearing and disappearing is brilliant!
Something tells me this isn't them acting, the camera was just on them as they were being normal.
Webbs delivery of ‘Er 12 minutes you TWAT!’ And Mitchell’s frustration and be patient gesture is perfect!
Despite being the 'stupid one', Webb makes the better Holmes in these sketches
He somewhat reminds me of Jeremy Brett
That just a “good looks belong to the MC prejudice”.
"Er, twelve minutes you TWAT!"
BAHAHAHAHA BEST LINE EVER.
I lolled for ages xD
An elegant vocabulary for a more... civilized age.
@@SneedFeedAndSeed You can immediately say the comment was made more than 10 years ago since it has "xD" and "lolled" in it xD
@@Aquaquake Some people to this day still use XD unironically. It's a scary world we live in.
Holly wood needs to actually make a movie like this switching actor roles every scene cut.
That sounds like a weird French Art film
You’ve clearly never seen the cinematic masterpiece Lethal Weapon 5
@@user-dg3ug7ny5d Thats a Pixar Short! can't remember the name but it is brilliant
@@MrSpikethefirst Geris Game, it played after the credits to Bug's Life
I'm surprised David Lynch hasn't made such film already.
"Crumpets" is going to give me nightmares.
What have you got for us Mrs Hudson?
CRUMPETS!!!
This is still one of the funniest skits I’ve seen ❤
Highlight: the well-timed, very level, "...yes it is no."
Mitchell is a master of comic delivery.
This is THE hardest I have ever laughed at a Mitchell and Webb sketch. Love it!
Amazing stage show and movie I would totally watch that...that crumpets line from the conjoined twins maid sent chills of suspense down my spines
I was starting to think David was going to try to levitate when Robert wasn't looking
CRUMPETS
Oh my god.
2:45 onwards is literally an extension of any Peep Show conversation between Mark and Jez.
This is especially funny since two actors who played Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller) did a stage show of Frankenstein where they alternate playing Frankenstein and The Monster.
They missed a golden opportunity by not having someone levitate in the background.
Haha! So true!!!
I suggest you look again, but more closely and to the left of the doorway.
2:27 See Mitchell trying not to crack up as he drags Webb through the doorway.
The behind the scenes bit at the end was like something out of Peep Show
I bet Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke would love this if they were both alive today!
Its fab! XD
***** David Burke was better damn it
They were both amazing, Jeremy couldn't have done Sherlock Holmes without both of them. I'm not here to cause and argument if thats what you're thinking.
I wonder what happened to David bruke i wonder. They switched watson half way through.
He had to take care of his son, so he got his friend Edward in to replace him.
A chippy little autodidact - going to have to remember that one.
''So you see, Watson. The advantage of my unique powers of observation.''
*tap*
*fall*
*kick* *kick* *kick* *spit* *kick*
Yes, we all saw it.
@@waynemarvin5661 Well done you pointed out the comment happened in the video. Good for fucking you.
Next night;
"So you see, Watson. The advantage of my unique powers of observation."
(Pulls out pocket knife and stabs Alec in the knee)
Alec: AAAAAAHHHHHOOWWWW!
Ironically, Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller did exactly the same thing in a production of Frankenstein. Don't know whether they tried to kill each other, though. It'd have made a great final night performance.
The second bit gets funnier when you remember that they both went to (met at!) Cambridge
damn girl r u gravy granules cos u r reFINEd
So you see Watson, the advantage of my unique powers of observation.
Imagine, if Holmes just randomly started beating on Watson XD
Granada's version would have been VERY funny indeed then!
Beating what on Watson?
Bravo!!!! This is brilliant!!
hm... that reminds me of Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, alternating roles in Frankenstein, both playing Sherlock now... weird^^
I love David, but Robert had the better Holmes vibe. :)
I think it's his voice. Robert has a great voice.
Honestly Robert is better at both parts. Like the detective/captain sketch where David plays both.
Overall Robert is probably a better actor, but David's writing and character acting puts him ahead in important ways.
Until I watched Mitchell and Webb I'd only seen him on Peep Show. I was amazed at his range.
True. Poirot is right up David's street, though.
Robert Webb makes a perfect Watson, who would have thought
I'm torn between the choices because Robert fit both roles better.
So you see Watson the advantage of my unique powers of observation.
I would love to see someone interpret this for Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead.
That would be a trip.
There's a mistake at 1:54, the voice speaking from the library should be Robert's and not David's.
The second part speaks to me on a spiritual level. So many times I've asked questions, some reasonable, others in hindsight not the smartest, but either way I was confused in the moment and all the time people look down their nose at you and make you feel stupid. I hate people like that.
Yeah some people really want to take the piss just to feel superior. And it represents well the smugness that comes with how those kind of people view the world. I've been that way myself some, honestly, and I'm not proud of it. In my case, some of it came from frustration of dealing with certain types of religious zealotry that seemed (well, still does seem) extremely contradictory morally. But I also allowed it to become too pervasive of a mentality about life in general, in matters I hadn't investigated as well.
Love how well they switch them
That was awesome!
I am in tears.
I swear this is what Bette Davis and Joan Crawford must have been like to work with.
the book he's reading is Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never let me go"
Yeah, it has a very distinctive cover. I was racking my brain trying to remember if the subject of levitation ever came up in it though.
Effing brilliant.
This is absolutely a movie that I would watch.
So funny to me how people really think that Holmes thought poorly of Watson.
They both expressed such affectionate admiration for each other.
Of course this is all an exaggeration for comedic affect but I listen the complete Sherlock Holmes on audio book about twice a year.
The best duo since Fry and Laurie
I haven't laughed so hard in ages
Hehehe!!!!!! It had such a Ripping Yarn feel too it. Blest laugh in ages. Can people levitate? Lmao!!! 😂😂😂
Show is called "Dead and British Actors"
the behind scene sketches are some of there best
I had no idea people mixed up their/there all the way back in 2010... scary.
Watson was always my favorite
Pure comedy gold.
CRUMPETS!
that will haunt me in my dreams....
0:42 Well, it escalated very quickly 😂
Can people Levitate....?
They need to make a movie like this
Bloody brilliant
One of their very best; I've seen it so many times but still laugh at it. And the links by some stereotypical British luvvie subtly patting himself on the back are spot-on too.
that's not a luvvie. it'll be a director or writer, given he's talking about his involvement in the film
@@DaveDexterMusic 🤦♂️
1:54 Hang on, that's Sherlock talking still!
It's when he spits on him that gets me! 🤣🤣🤣
The holmes-watson sketch is definitely one of their best ones.
I've just noticed the book he appears to be reading is Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go...(it's got the exact same cover as mine). No leviatating in that lol.
"No, I'm not. What is it?" -> most ominous words ever :D
I think that's intentional, cause the actors are only supposed to change when they leave the room.
lol but seriously, Robert Webb would be a boss Holmes.
The advantage of my unique powers of observation...
Rob would be such a good holmes
I need a Sheen vs Tenant remake of this.
They brought it full circle in the last sketch of the series, with what many see as that sappy boring bit that sort of ripped off the equally mawkish ending of Blackadder, but people often miss the comic genius of how they brought it back to the poo jokes. It was always about the poo.
...."if that makes me a chippy little autodidact then so be it".
Genius
Dr. Moriarity is laughing hysterically
I'd like to see a Sherlock Holmes movie like that.
I would watch that.
I felt called out by that last bit
Never let me go
thats not actually a flaw because the concept is that when ever they switch shots they switch places so when the cut from the one room to the other Mitchell would then change from being Watson to Holmes then back to Watson again.
No s***...
@@JohnyG29 lol thank you for commenting on a post I made 11 years ago. It was in response to someone else's comment saying it was a mistake.
this would be a great gimmick for a movie
UA-camr with fewer than 1000 subs, and this video has 1.3 million views. Incredible.
2:57: As far as I remember, there are no instances of levitation being performed, or even mentioned, in the novel 'Never Let Me Go'.
We see David Mitchell everywhere now, so where is Robert Webb?
Last I saw of him, he was doing some interview where he said men should talk about their feelings and cry more, and women are horribly oppressed in 21st century Britain. Careerwise not much I guess.
Doing Strictly, very soon!
It's just like "That Obscure Object of Desire" but with British detectives....
I would watch this movie.
Could you imagine there being actors out there who were that competitive with each other to the point where both actors refuse to be in 1 role but to keep going back and forth being sherlock then watson over and over again threw the whole film that would be just straight up werid on another level lolo
@1:00 It appears that Robert was using David as a stand-in for a trial run of the future "therapeutic beatdown" of Big Mad Andy.
@3:57 Autodidact- A self taught person.