Robert Webb makes a flimsy excuse sound settled before anyone has agreed to it. Alongside David Mitchell, that loose confidence becomes painfully funny; we value him most when he lets an awful explanation stand without apology.
Fi1m perspective
In Peep Show (2003), Robert Webb lets Jeremy Usborne offer a flimsy explanation as though it should settle the matter. David Mitchell’s Mark Corrigan sounds as if he has checked each word for objections before daring to say it. Webb leaves those checks to somebody else. We laughed at Jeremy’s easy confidence, then felt uncomfortable about how readily we recognised the urge to excuse ourselves. The pleasure of the performance is that Webb need not make Jeremy appealing before making him funny.
Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong’s writing gives the pair plenty to conceal, while the point-of-view camerawork and internal narration keep exposing it. Webb’s relaxed delivery matters here: the programme already tells us enough about Jeremy’s inadequacies without the actor underlining them. He trusts a poor explanation to be funny without announcing that he knows it is poor. That restraint helps make Peep Show an excellent comedy, though its relentless embarrassment can become tiring.
The sketch series That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006), with Webb also contributing as a writer, gave the partnership a succession of other characters. We would not want Jeremy to be the only measure of what Webb can do. Simon Blackwell’s Back (2017) puts Webb, as Andrew, into another sitcom pairing with Mitchell, where his skill at passive-aggressive exchanges has a use. We are more interested in what the two actors draw out of each other than in demanding that every reunion prove they have changed.
His reputation remains closely tied to the double act, while solo and dramatic work have received less attention. We would not mistake that for evidence that he needs Mitchell in every scene, but their partnership gives us the firmest reason to recommend him. It takes judgement to let another actor seem busier while giving a weak excuse just enough confidence to pass for a considered answer. Start with Peep Show, and leave a little time between visits.
Biography
Robert Webb is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for playing Jeremy Usborne in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show (2003–2015). He formed a long-running comedy partnership with David Mitchell after the pair met at Cambridge University; together they starred in the sketch series That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006–2010) and the comedy-drama Back (2017–2021).
Webb has appeared in other television series including Fresh Meat (2011), Death in Paradise (2011) and Doctor Who (2005). He has also performed in sketch shows such as Bruiser and The Smoking Room, and is a regular panellist on programmes including Have I Got News for You, QI and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He married comedy writer and performer Abigail Burdess in 2006.
