Robert Webb
Webb in June 2018
Born	Robert Patrick Webb (1972-09-29)29 September 1972 (age 53) Boston, Lincolnshire, England
Education	Robinson College, Cambridge (BA)
Occupations	Comedian actor writer
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Abigail Burdess ​ (m. 2006)​
Children	2

Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He rose to prominence alongsideDavid Mitchell as part of the comedy duoMitchell and Webb.

Mitchell and Webb starred in theChannel 4 sitcomPeep Show, in which Webb playsJeremy "Jez" Usbourne. The two also starred in the sketch showThat Mitchell and Webb Look, for which they then performed a stage adaptation,The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb. The duo starred in the 2007 filmMagicians, and in the short-lived seriesAmbassadors in 2013. Webb headed the critically acclaimed sitcomThe Smoking Room and was a performer in the sketch showBruiser. From 2017 to 2021, he starred alongside Mitchell in theChannel 4 comedy-dramaBack.

Webb is also a regular comedy panellist, appearing on shows such asThe Bubble,Have I Got News for You,Never Mind the Buzzcocks,QI,Mastermind,Argumental, andWas It Something I Said? He has also hosted and narrated several programmes. His other sitcom appearances includeBlessed,The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, andFresh Meat.

Robert Patrick Webb was born on 29 September 1972 inBoston, Lincolnshire, and grew up inWoodhall Spa.^[1][2][3] His parents divorced when he was five years old, with his mother remarrying a year or so later.^[4] He has two older brothers and a younger half-sister.^[5][2] He grew up on acouncil estate, and was educated atQueen Elizabeth's Grammar School inHorncastle.^[6][7] Having grown up watching the sitcomsThe Young Ones,Blackadder, andOnly Fools and Horses, he became interested in drama and poetry while in school, and began writing parodies.^[8] At the age of 13, partly because of resentment towards his father, he made a conscious effort to lose his nativeLincolnshire accent and now speaks with a more neutralEnglish accent.^[9] When he was 17 and in the lowersixth form preparing for hisA-levels, his mother died of breast cancer, and he moved in with his father and re-sat his A-levels.^[10][11][2] In 1992, Webb attendedRobinson College, Cambridge, where he studiedEnglish and became vice-president of theFootlights, where he metDavid Mitchell.^[12] The two met at an audition for a Footlights production ofCinderella in 1993.^[5]

The two put together their first project, a show titledInnocent Millions Dead or Dying – A Wry Look at the Post-Apocalyptic Age (With Songs), in January 1995.^[13][14] Webb later described it as being "fucking terrible".^[13] From this the duo were given the chance to write forAlexander Armstrong andBen Miller, and for series two ofBig Train.^[15] After minor work onThe Jack Docherty Show andComedy Nation, their first break into television acting was in 2000, on the short-lived BBC sketch showBruiser, which they primarily wrote, and starred in.^[16]

In 2001, the duo were commissioned for a sketch show of their own, entitledThe Mitchell and Webb Situation, which ran for six episodes on the now defunct channelPlay UK.^[15] Mitchell and Webb's next project came in 2003, with starring roles in theChannel 4 sitcomPeep Show, as flatmatesMark Corrigan andJeremy "Jez" Usbourne respectively.^[17] The pair shared the 2007Royal Television Society Award for "Comedy Performance",^[18] and were jointly nominated for Best Television Comedy Actor at the 2006 British Comedy Awards.^[19] Webb was nominated for the Best Television Comedy Actor award again, this time without Mitchell, in 2009.^[20]Peep Show ran for nine series, making it the longest-running sitcom in Channel 4 history.^[21]

After the success ofPeep Show, Mitchell and Webb returned to sketch comedy with theirBBC Radio 4sketch showThat Mitchell and Webb Sound, which ran for five series. The show was adapted for television and becameThat Mitchell and Webb Look; producerGareth Edwards described it as "the shortest pitch (he had) ever written".^[13] Towards the end of 2006 the pair made their first tour, with a show calledThe Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb. The tour was criticised as just "a succession of largely unrelated scenes" byThe Guardian's Brian Logan, who gave it a rating of two stars.^[22]

That Mitchell and Webb Look won them theBAFTA for "Best Comedy Programme or Series" at the 2007 awards,^[23] and they earned a further nomination for it in 2009.^[24] It was nominated for two British Comedy awards in 2006: "Britain's Best New TV Comedy" and the "Highland Spring People's Choice".^[19] Their stage tourThe Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb was nominated for the British Comedy Award for "Best Stage Comedy",^[19] andThat Mitchell and Webb Sound won a Sony Silver Award.^[25] Their first film,Magicians, was released on 18 May 2007. It was directed byAndrew O'Connor and written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain.^[26] Webb played the role of modern magician Karl.^[27]

They filmedPlaying Shop, a comedy television pilot forBBC2 about two men who operate a business out of their shed, which they also wrote.^[28] Although the BBC were happy with it, Mitchell and Webb scrapped it themselves, as they felt it was too similar toPeep Show. A new pilot had been commissioned,^[29] but the plan was later shelved.^[30]

The duo fronted the campaign of the UK version ofApple Inc.'sGet a Mac adverts, with Mitchell playing a PC.^[31] The adverts proved controversial. Writing inThe Guardian,Charlie Brooker claimed that the use of Mitchell and Webb in the adverts was a curious choice. He compared the characters of PC and Mac in the adverts to those of Mark and Jeremy inPeep Show, stating that "when you see the ads, you think, 'PCs are a bit rubbish yet ultimately lovable, whereas Macs are just smug, preening tossers.'"^[32] The British Sitcom Guide criticised the pair for "selling their souls".^[33] One journalist called the adverts "worse than not funny", and accused Mitchell and Webb of "an act of grave betrayal" for taking corporate work.^[34] In an interview withThe Telegraph, Webb responded to the critics of the Apple adverts, stating that "when someone asks, 'Do you want to do some funny ads for not many days in the year and be paid more than you would be for an entire series ofPeep Show?' the answer, obviously, is, 'Yeah, that's fine'".^[34] In the same interview, Mitchell also said "I don't see what is morally inconsistent with a comedian doing an advert. It's alright to sell computers, isn't it? Unless you think that capitalism is evil – which I don't. It's not like we're helping to flog a baby-killing machine".^[34]

Webb has appeared in two series of the BBC Three sitcomThe Smoking Room (2004) and the Radio 4 sketch showConcrete Cow. In 2005 he appeared in theBen Elton-scriptedBBC One sitcomBlessed asArdal O'Hanlon's 'perfect' counterpart.^[15]

He andOlivia Colman also featured as anaturist couple inConfetti, a 2006 film about a competition for the most original wedding. Webb has since said that he believed that his genitals would be pixellated out but only discovered at the screening of the film that they were not.^[35][36] Also in 2008, Webb made his West End stage debut in the UK premiere ofNeil LaBute'sFat Pig.^[37]

Webb won the 2009 seriesLet's Dance for the charityComic Relief, parodying the audition sequence from the filmFlashdance.^[38] He narrated the seriesYoung, Dumb and Living Off Mum.^[39] He hosted a 2010 Channel 4 series looking at the week's online news,Robert's Web.^[21]

He has appeared on several panel shows, includingHave I Got News for You,Never Mind the Buzzcocks andQI. In January 2011, Webb appeared on a celebrity version of BBC quizMastermind,^[40] answering nine questions correctly on his specialist subject (the novels ofIan McEwan) and 11 correctly on the general knowledge round.^[41] In 2011 Webb played Dan, a geology lecturer, in the Channel 4 seriesFresh Meat. Later that year, he was cast in thecostume comedyThe Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, a parody ofCharles Dickens' works. From 2011 to 2012 Webb replacedRufus Hound as team captain on the BBC comedy panel showArgumental.^[42]

Webb was the narrator ofChannel 5's anti-nostalgia series10 Things I Hate About, which began on 16 April 2012. In each episode, Webb presented his opinion on the awful aspects of a particular year (1995, 1990, 1987, and 1999).^[36]

In 2011 Webb presented "Groundbreaking Gags" onBBC Three, in which he looked at the significantgags for which the animated showFamily Guy has been recognised.^[43]

From December 2012 Webb featured in adverts forcomparethemarket.com, as its founder Maurice Wigglethorpe-Throom.^[44]

From September 2021 Webb was a contestant in thenineteenth series ofStrictly Come Dancing, partnered with professional dancerDianne Buswell.^[45][46][47] The couple completed three dances and were in 13th place, when Webb withdrew on 13 October, due to his heart condition. He said he had an urgent consultation with his heart specialist, after experiencing symptoms, and that she had recommended he pull out of the competition. Webb said he was "extremely sorry" to have to leave, adding: "It became clear that I had bitten off way more than I could chew for this stage in my recovery."^[48]

Webb was the invited guest on theRadio 4 long running seriesDesert Island Discs, hosted byLauren Laverne in March 2023.

Together with Mitchell, Webb published his first comedy bookThis Mitchell and Webb Book, which was released in the UK and the US in 2009 by HarperCollins imprintFourth Estate.^[49][50] An abridged edition of highlights fromThis Mitchell and Webb Book, entitledHow to Cope with Mitchell and Webb, was released only in the UK on 1 October 2009.^[51] The pair signed a two-book deal with Fourth Estate but, as of November 2013, a second book remained unpublished.^[52]

Webb wrote articles for the comments pages of theTelegraph newspaper between 2009 and 2011.^[53] He criticised those who commented on the online versions of his articles in aNew Statesman piece.^[54][55] In a 2013 interview, Webb explained his experience with the publication:

I wasn't particularly busy at the time, so what I should have been doing in three hours, I was taking a day and a half to do, while getting drunk. I'd sit in the garden, drinking and talking to myself, then go back upstairs, write another sentence, go, "Oh, this isn't right." I'd make such a meal of it. If I'd been more professional, I'd have just done it and got on with my life.^[36]

Webb thinks it is harmful for men to 'keep a stiff upper lip' and hide their feelings.^[56]

In 2015, Webb began writing his first solo memoir,How Not to Be a Boy, on growing up in working class Lincolnshire. The memoir was released in August 2017. A spoken-word adaptation, read by Webb, was featured asBBC Radio 4'sBook of the Week to coincide with the launch.^[57]

In 2020, Canongate published Webb's first novel,Come Again.^[58]

In August 2014, Webb was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter toThe Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September'sreferendum on that issue.^[59]

Webb was a staunch supporter of theLabour Party;^[55] he joined the party in 2013 in response toRussell Brand's interview onNewsnight in which Brand suggested people should not vote as a form of protest.^[60] By November 2015, Webb announced on Twitter that he was leaving the Labour Party, citing his lack of confidence in party leaderJeremy Corbyn.^[61] He also expressed his disapproval at the appointment ofGuardian journalistSeumas Milne as Labour'spress secretary, and was quoted as saying that paying his party subscription with Milne in the post made him "feel sick".^[62] However, he endorsed the Labour Party in the2017 general election.^[63]

In December 2018, Webb tweeted his support of an article byJanice Turner in which she criticisedMermaids (a charity which supportstransgender children and their families) that had sought and was eventually awarded a £500,000UK National Lottery grant.^[64] He also identified himself as a "gender-critical feminist" but emphasised that he opposestransphobia.^[65] He stood by his comments in a 2020 interview withThe Sunday Times.^[66] In a 2021 interview withJesse Thorn on the NPR showBullseye, he said that his criticism of Mermaids should not be confused with an opposition to supporting transgender children, and that the debate around gender-nonconforming children had become overheated. When asked for details on his opposition to Mermaids, he declined to elaborate further and stated he could no longer remember the specifics.^[67] He has been criticised by someLGBT news outlets, charities, and activists for this stance.^[65][68][69]

In 2006 Webb married fellow comedian Abigail Burdess, with whom he had worked on theBBC Two comedy showThe Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. His comedy partnerDavid Mitchell was the best man.^[70][5] They live in London'sWest Hampstead area and have two daughters.^[71]

In a 2008Independent article, Webb explained that he was a "swaggeringatheist" prior to the death of his mother, but that the loss led to him starting to pray. Upon reflection, however, he stated that his temporary departure from atheism was a coping mechanism for the loss and he returned to atheism after he learned to "co-exist" with his mother's death: "I've returned to total non-belief. I don't know how long it'll last, but God, it's good to be back!"^[11] That same year, Mitchell & Webb faced criticism and accusations of "selling out" for appearing in an advertisement forApple Inc.^[11] Webb responded, "I'm not a sell-out. The problem is that that presupposes a set of principles we don't actually hold. We never said comedians shouldn't do ads, or that we somehow operate outside themixed market economy... really, we're just doing a job.^[11]

In his 2017 memoirHow Not to Be a Boy, Webb revealed that he isbisexual.^[3]

In 2020, Webb underwent emergency surgery on his heart for amitral valve prolapse after being diagnosed with the condition at a routine medical check. He had attributed the symptoms tobinge drinking, saying, "I just assumed, that's the booze... I thought this is what you feel like when you're 47 and you treat your body like askip." He thengave up drinking alcohol entirely and said, "The drinking crawled up so gradually that I was slow-killing myself... it was certainly an addiction at the end, a dependency. I was thinking of [drinking] at any given time of the day."^[72][73]

• How Not to Be a Boy (Canongate Books, 2017)

• Come Again (Canongate Books, 2020)

Webb has appeared on a number of podcasts, includingThe QuaranTea Break Podcast^[77] with Simon Ward,The Two Shot Podcast,^[78]Podcast Secrets of the Pharaohs^[79] andRHLSTP.^[80][81][82]

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