David James Stuart Mitchell (born 14 July 1974 in Salisbury, Wiltshire) is a British actor, comedian, and writer (although not the same as the novelist of the same name) best known for his work with long-time comedy partner Robert Webb, particularly on the "Mitchell and Webb" line of sketch shows; That Mitchell and Webb Situation, That Mitchell and Webb Sound, and That Mitchell and Webb Look. The pair also star in a Black Comedy / Cringe Comedy Brit Com, Peep Show, with Mitchell playing Mark, an uptight, socially-repressed sad sack, to Webb's Jeremy, an aspiring musician with delusions of adequacy. He and Webb were also the dominant writers in the short-lived sketch show Bruiser. The two also appeared in the feature film Magicians, written by the same writers as Peep Show and casting the pair as a magician double-act bearing similarities to their characters in the show. They have also appeared together in Ambassadors and Back (2017).
In his own projects, Mitchell is the king of the Panel Show, with numerous recurring appearances on QI, Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week and Would I Lie to You?, the last of which he is a team captain; he also turns up on The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue now and again. He is the host of the radio show The Unbelievable Truth, which requires panellists to discern true facts from false. In 2013 he began hosting a new quotation-based panel show called Was It Something I Said?, and was also one of the hosts of the news/comedy show 10 O'Clock Live.
Mitchell's comedic style is characterized by witty, intelligent barbed commentary on the illogical nature of the world, which almost inevitably erupts in a ranting monologue which has the audience (and often the target) in stitches. He is the most likely spiritual successor to Stephen Fry, though he would be the first to deny it. Mitchell often seems self-conscious about his own success, presenting an occasionally shy face to the world at odds with his rapid-fire delivery when frustrated or annoyed, as when he claimed he would have liked to succeed David Tennant as the Doctor on Doctor Who but doubted he would be attractive enoughnote .
He also made a web video series; David Mitchell's Soapbox on Youtube
, he guest starred in an episode of Hey Duggee, he has a column in The Observer and has written an autobiography "Back Story". On The BBC, he has starred in the sitcom Upstart Crow, part of their 'Shakespeare 400' season, in which he plays William Shakespeare trying to break into theatrical writing but who is woefully unappreciated by the prosaic Brummie-accented people he grew up with, who cannot understand his vision and think he's got too many big ideas in his head, and the Dramedy Detective series Ludwig, where he plays a neurotic man who is persuaded to impersonate his identical twin brother who mysteriously goes missing, and ends up having take over his brother's job as a Detective, with all the hijinks that entails. He studied history at Cambridge University and in 2023 wrote Unruly: A History Of England's Kings and Queens, which takes a humorous view on English history and the monarchs between the Roman Empire and the end of the Tudors *.
He is married to presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, of Only Connect fame, and they have two daughters together.
As mentioned, he has no relation to the author David Mitchell, who wrote Cloud Atlas.
He's also done voice acting, such as Mitch on Phineas and Ferb and Theo on Hey A.J.!.
Tropes associated with Mitchell or his characters:
- The Ace: David has appeared 11 times on the Big Fat Quiz of the Year shows, and has won 7, giving him more victories than anyone in the series aside from Jonathan Ross (who has 8 wins out of 16 appearances). The closest person to usurping the two of them is Noel Fielding (with 4 wins out of 10 showings).
- Beard of Sorrow: Judging from his public appearances at least, he appears to be something of a real-life inversion. His public persona, as seen on shows such as Would I Lie to You?, was notably spiky and prone to aggressive rants when he was clean-shaven, but after he decided to grow a beard he became notably more relaxed about things (if still prone to comedically exasperated monologues). If his autobiography is to be believed, this may coincide with the periods before his relationship and marriage with Victoria Coren Mitchell, in which he admits to being lonely, insecure, dissatisfied, and heartbroken, and after, which cheered him up considerably.
- Comedic Sociopathy[on The Bubble, asking panelists to guess whether a headline actually appeared in the previous week]
David: "Comedian David Mitchell has announced he is to split from his long-term comedy partner Robert Webb [Webb starts furiously pounding his buzzer] in order to concentrate on a solo career."
Robert Webb: [visibly upset] Fake!
David: It is fake. [beat] Hell of a way to break it... - The Comically Serious: Some of his characters, and to an extent the man himself.[going on a rant about William and Kate doing "the Wave" at Wimbledon] Before everyone screams for me to get over myself, let me say that it's no use, I never will.
- Deadpan Snarker: When he's not ranting.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: While he frequently makes jokes about his (apparent) loneliness, he doesn't appreciate the audience going "aww". Or cheering too much. What would be the appropriate reaction remains a mystery.[Hosting Have I Got News for You: The Missing Words headline is "(Lack of item price) surprises many customers about bar codes"]
David: [reading autocue] To be honest, it doesn't bother me that prices aren't included in bar codes, because, over the years, I've come to know the prices of every single Ready Meal for One.
Audience: Awww. [David looks mortified]
Paul Merton: Shall we start a collection?
Andy Hamilton: Yeah!
David: [waving his hands] The pity's worse! - Fat and Skinny: The "chubby" one, at least compared to Webb. He was quite noticeably chubby when he first came to public prominence but lost weight owing to increased walking he started doing to help ease a back condition.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Averted in "Unruly" for the two greatly popular kings of the Hundred Years War, as he firmly believes the war was a futile effort by the English, the cause wholly unjust, and the impressive English victories all lopsided as they are invading France. He likens the English to thieves, and states that the French are homeowners being robbed. Would anyone root for robbers just because they are outnumbered?
- For Edward III he wonders aloud what glory actually accomplishes from the get-go, before then going on to say that glory's fleeting nature passes and distracts everyone from looking objectively at Edward III's reign that it began chaotic with the deposition of Edward's father Edward II, and Edward's ailing health and loss of his heir in his final years make the glorious middle just a misleading distraction from the overall picture of Edward's reign.
- With Henry V he is fundamentally skeptical that Henry could have truly succeeded in his conquest of France. Even if he had, Mitchell speculates that he would have focused entirely on Paris and France, abandoning England.
- Historical Villain Downgrade: Discussed in "Unruly" with some of the infamous English Kings bad reputations that have been so horrendous that more contemporary historians have tried to temper and re-evaluate. He concluded that most bad Kings reputations really were well deserved.
- Played somewhat genuinely straight for William II as Mitchell admits there is so little that appears beyond historians at the time loathing William II's possible homosexuality for reasons as why he had such a negative reputation. Though he does admit that his assassination may have prevented the world from knowing eventual misdeeds.
- Averted with King John whom he is delighted is genuinely as awful as his reputation suggests.
- Discussed at length with Richard III, whom he admits is presented far worse by Shakespeare than how the man actually was. Mitchell still emphasizes that he is certain Richard killed the Princes in the Tower, though he gives the feint praise that aside from this he seemed mostly a decent person.
- Neat Freak: He is, in his own words, a little bit OCD (though he is at pains to point out that he's never been diagnosed with anything and is primarily speaking colloquially to mean "fussy and picky"). Here's an excellent example.
- Not So Above It All: In 2009's Big Fat Quiz of the Year, following a short clip of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face"note , he and his teammate Charlie Brooker were greeted with incredulity by the other teams (particularly Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand) when he said he felt no want or desire to dance to the music. Disbelieving them, the producers started up "Poker Face" again, focused the cameras on David, the audience cheered... and David proceeded to sit completely immobile until the music stopped.David: [to the audience] What the fuck makes you think I was gonna do that? This isn't the fucking Generation Game! Fuck off, I'm hired to sit here and be sarcastic, not dance around like some cunt! [...] The world is full of people trying to make people who don't want to dance, dance, at weddings and things. "Go on, have a dance, you want to, really." No! I really don't want to!
- Odd Couple:
- The general dynamic of the Mitchell and Webb collaborations, including Peep Show. Quite possibly Truth in Television. Ironically, however, behind the scenes it may be inverted to a degree; Webb tends to be cast as the confident, charismatic one while Mitchell is usually the socially awkward dweeb with No Social Skills, but according to Webb himself, Mitchell is a lot more confident and natural in social settings whereas he tends to be more reserved.
- Much of the comedy in Would I Lie to You? also stems from his having this dynamic with Lee Mack and, to a lesser extent, with Rob Brydon.
- Quintessential British Gentleman: There have been a couple jokes of Would I Lie to You? about him having had a posh upbringing with stories such as ringing his grandparents with a bell if he wanted anything or drinking milk from a wine glass. Even when he says something that implies his upbringing gets joked about, such as him offhandedly mentioning having a courtyard in his school gets Lee jokingly wondering if David's school also had a moat.
- Rant Comedy: In his "Soapbox" webcast, his column in The Observer, and wherever else he gets the chance.Stephen Fry: I've missed your angry logic, David.
- Shout-Out: The backdrop to this rant is Reference Overdosed.
- You Need to Get Laid: A frequent joke at his expense, particularly since he was a long-time bachelor.
- From the first episode of The Bubble, when Mitchell went on a tangent about how a cat's head found in somebody's bed would not have been sent by the Cat Mafia, but by the Mafia of a species which considered their cats the equivalent of our horses. After a second of silence, Reginald D. Hunter said:Reginald D. Hunter: After the show, let's get you a girlfriend.
- Funnily enough Victoria Coren Mitchell, his future wife, laughed at that put-down and was sitting right next to him.
- From the first episode of The Bubble, when Mitchell went on a tangent about how a cat's head found in somebody's bed would not have been sent by the Cat Mafia, but by the Mafia of a species which considered their cats the equivalent of our horses. After a second of silence, Reginald D. Hunter said: