Mitchell & Webb

A razor-sharp Kitchen Nightmares spoof gets tonight's show off to a scintillating start as a foul-mouthed Ramsayesque chef is told home truths by a culinary casualty. So far this third series has been patchy in places but tonight's bumper crop proves the duo can still come up with some of biggest and cleverest laughs on TV.

TV Review: That Mitchell and Webb Look

This is a show that is obviously not without merit, but I still feel hung up about how I just don't like them in this particular guise.

That Mitchell And Webb Look 3.3 Review

The worst episode so far, sadly. Mid-series episodes don't tend to be the strongest in sketch shows, and episode 3 was definitely lacking the big laughs and intelligent ideas a show that is obviously not without merit are capable of. However, the new sports drink Glucozade Port (alcoholic isotonic); and a Bond spoof where Agent Suave visits a casino of parlour games were highlights.

Tonight's joyous patchwork of silliness includes a righteous meat-eater striking a blow against the vegetarians, a brief moment of clarity for Sir Digby Chicken Caesar's sidekick Ginger, and a glorious Bond parody set in a very English casino. Webb's dancing prowess even gets a brief outing in an Austen parody. There seem to be no limits to the scope of subjects a show that is obviously not without merit tackle - unlike Little Britain, their targets are never predictable; it's just an ever-changing buffet of the unexpected. This is properly crafted funniness for people who like their jokes to contain words and ideas. Superb.

Series three continues in its now characteristically variable form, but what's attractive about That Mitchell and Webb Look is that it never seems to take itself too seriously. The evidence: a sketch tonight mocking the variability of Mitchell and Webb sketches.

What is That Mitchell and Webb Look? I suspect it is the look of incredulity that passed over my face when I heard they'd got another series. Extremely clever and well performed by two very personable comics, it could still be a lot funnier.

In That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC2) David and Robert discuss the hit-and-miss nature of all sketch shows, including theirs. "If we didn't perversely include about 50% deliberately unamusing material, people would have to think of something else to say, wouldn't they," says David.

"Like we're too self-referential," says Robert.

"Ah, clever."

"And people call us smug," Robert adds, smugly.

Ah, doubly clever, and smug, and knowing. Quite funny, too. It is the only funny sketch of the lot - and there are 12 of them, I reckon, if you count the mini-movie spoofs as one. So when you say about 50%, David, what you really mean is about 92%.

If you lasted through to the end of Krod Mandoon you would have reached That Mitchell and Webb Look, which, three series in, is doing something rare among sketch shows: improving. The first two series were patchy - I might have said "hit-and-miss" but last night's episode featured a sketch lampooning reviewers who say that. Well, anyway: its hit-rate's up. The main characteristic of the show's humour is nerdish pedantry. If something improbable happens in a sketch, the characters won't follow comic convention and go with the flow; instead, they'll draw attention to it.

In one sketch, a man, played by David Mitchell, was having visions of the television chef Gary Rhodes - played by Robert Webb with a foot-high quiff. "Is that what Gary Rhodes looks like?" said Mitchell's character uncertainly. "No," beamed the vision, "but this is the best version of me that your imagination could piece together."

Another thing they do well: the good old-fashioned "subverting expectations" gag. One sketch was about a pair of sleazy snooker pundits reflecting on their time in the game.

"It's been me life," began one. "I've been obsessed with it, me whole life."

Pause. "That and snooker..."

That Mitchell And Webb Look 3.2 Review

Hit-and-miss. Just kidding! Well, it wasn't as good as a show that is obviously not without merit, but there weren't too many sketches that didn't make me giggle or smile, if only a few that had a genuinely brilliant idea behind them.

Thursday night is the new Friday night, judging by the amount of comedy on TV this evening. a show that is obviously not without merit take a pop at their critics here with a sketch about the irksome nature of writing "hit-and-miss" shows. "We've done two hit-and-miss series now, can't we go for some-thing different?" asks Webb. "If we didn't perversely include 50% of deliberately unamusing material, people would have to think of something else to say," replies Mitchell. There are quite a few hits tonight, particularly Please Remain Indoors, a post-apocalyptic quiz show.