The Dignified British Ranting of David Mitchell’s Soapbox

David Mitchell’s Soapbox is a series of 3 to 5-minute videos featuring monologues by the eruditely irritated British comedian David Mitchell who vents on such topics as phones, naming your child and signing boobs. The series, co-written by Mitchell and John Finnemore, has run for 64 episodes over 3 seasons.

If you like Stephen Fry but you wish he wouldn’t be so *nice* about being so *smart* (though you like the patterns of *em*-phasis in his well-mannered *rants*) then David Mitchell will be right up your street. Your street will be in England, and you will sneer down at it from an upper window with a comfortable certainty that it IS okay to feel a bit superior (as long as you are parenthetically a bit self-deprecating soon after). “Consensus“, you should know by the way, is a trap.

Actually Mitchell is the British John Hodgman. He’s the “PC” character in the UK version of the Apple “Get a Mac” campaign anyway, the role that Hodgman played in the U.S. ads. Here’s a collection of the ads that were unique to the British market (there were others that were based on the US originals).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8iw_LrNjOo

Mac in the ads is played by Mitchell’s comedy partner Robert Webb. Mitchell and Webb have co-starred in a film and two TV series together: “That Mitchell and Webb Look” is a sketch show which grew out of their successful radio show and “Peep Show” is an award-winning sit-com whose 8th season starts later this year. Both shows are available on Netflix and Hulu at the moment. Here’s one of my favorite sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look: Bronze Age Orientation Day.

Beyond his work with Webb, Mitchell stays quite busy appearing on and hosting various panel, quiz, and news satire shows including 10 O’Clock Live (which also features Charlie Brooker who we’ve covered before). Mitchell also writes a column for The Observer. He was interviewed by Jesse Thorn on The Sound of Young America (now “Bullseye“) in 2008.

Here’s one more from the Soapbox, David Mitchell’s honest opinion on “LOL”…

mikl-em
Mikl-em

Actor, nerd, poet, producer, writer mikl-em made his name short so you wouldn't have to. In addition to his blog you can find his writing in "Hi Fructose" magazine and witness him almost life-sized in various plays at The Dark Room Theater in SF's Mission district.

He tends to write about theater, humor, San Francisco culture and history, and stuff that's just plain weird. He thanks Scott for sharing the keys to the Laughing Squid virtual HQ and promises to uphold whatever it is that the mirthful cephalopod would prefer to be uplifted.

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