Of Robinson’s small but esteemed list of famous alumni, Robert Webb is arguably top bill – and certainly less controversial than its red brick facade. At the beginning of my first year, it seemed everyone had read his 2016 memoir How Not to be a Boy, hoping to glean which rooms he’d stayed in – H1, 4 Adams, and a house on Mill Lane, for those curious. Though Webb fondly recalls his time at Cambridge, it was when reading old diary entries to write his memoir that he realised “I spent a really quite large fraction of my life really f*cking miserable”.
Webb puts a lot of this down to the neurosis of being in your early 20s: “The privilege of being young,” he tells me, “is that you’ve got absolutely no sense of perspective. A lot of things are happening for the first time, and there has never been anything so wonderful as falling in love, and there has never been anything so heartbreaking as being dumped”. These extremes were an integral part of his student experience, and he reflects upon them fondly, concluding that: “as far as three years of one’s life go, it was pretty hard to beat”.
“I slightly lost my mind, and that’s kind of necessary when you’re determined to do something so unbelievably unlikely”
When he matriculated in 1992, Webb was single-minded and “hell-bent on becoming a Footlight”. But his path was far from straightforward; after his mother’s death during sixth form, he was forced to take a year out to re-sit his A-levels, deferring his Cambridge offer. Though he’s careful to deny there being “tears behind the mask,” he confides that: “I think what losing mum did – because one immediately starts looking for silver linings – is it kind of emboldened me … I think I slightly lost my mind, and that’s kind of necessary when you’re determined to do something so unbelievably unlikely”.
“Unlikely” for Webb wasn’t just a successful career in comedy, but being admitted into Cambridge in the first place. We speak a little about his experience applying as a first-generation university student, a process that felt “impossible”. “I mean, it was everything. Getting there was just everything. So I remain amazingly grateful that it all worked out”. Although his journey to Cambridge was complicated, the friendships and opportunities his time at Robinson gave him were unparalleled; from sketch shows to successful sitcoms, his work (eventually) paid off.
Yet, despite his experience writing sketches at school, Webb was rejected from every Footlights show he auditioned for in his first year at Cambridge. He laughs as he tells me that “I was absolutely outraged when I wasn’t cast. I was so full of myself and, quite frankly, wasn’t lacking in ego or self-belief”. Though he’s forgiven the committee for not casting him in the panto – “you needed to be able to sing” – Webb admits that he’s “still bitter” for not getting a part in the Spring Revue… though some would argue that’s for the better.
“Webb admits that he’s ‘still bitter’ for not getting a part in the Spring Revue”
Sometimes it seems there’s unjust animosity towards student comics, and I ask Webb if the same was the case when he was a Footlight. As it turns out, quite the opposite: “There was nothing really scathing until Edinburgh, when The Scotsman got a hold of us – traditionally they just really f*cking hated us … I remember one review opened with: ‘they’ve got horrible middle class names like Matt and Claire’ – Matt’s from the f*cking Bible!”. Yet he admits that, even in Mitchell and Webb’s student heyday, there was a sense that the troupe had gone downhill. He assures me that “there’s never been a Footlight show that wasn’t a terrible and pathetic shadow of what Footlights used to be … and no doubt Peep Show was used as a stick to beat you round the face and neck. That’s how Footlights works … but you go and see if there’s someone like David Mitchell there – and would you believe it, David Mitchell himself was there!”
Our conversation comes a month after the release of his latest sketch show, Mitchell and Webb are Not Helping, which marks the duo’s return to TV after a 15-year break. I’m curious to hear why they’ve chosen to stage their comeback now, and Webb confides that: “as it turns out, we spent 15 years politely waiting to be asked”. The offer came out of the blue, following a dinner between Jesse Armstrong and Channel 4’s Chief Content Creator, Ian Katz. When Katz let slip that he’d love to see the pair reunite, Armstrong replied: “Well, I’m sure if you asked Rob and David, they’d be receptive to the idea”. So, Webb tells me: “he did, and we were. And like most good things on TV, you’ve got Jesse Armstrong to thank”.
“Like most good things on TV, you’ve got Jesse Armstrong to thank”
The show doesn’t shy away from the fact its stars are getting older, and jokes about it – including an entire sketch about Googling ‘Robert Webb dead’ – abound. I ask Webb whether they feel this has offered them a new perspective, and he assures that it’s “a lot less pressure. I think it would be strange if we didn’t acknowledge that we’re entering the, uh, autumn radiance of our years … the stakes feel lower and we’ve got less to prove.” Being able to write and perform his own material has been a real treat for Webb, and though he’s more than happy to act in other people’s sitcoms, he’s appreciated the return to form.
When we get onto his collaboration with David Mitchell, Webb appears delighted to be working side-by-side with his old friend again. He tells me that: “This series is the most heavily Mitchell and Webb-written show since the first series of the BBC show in 2006”. Back then, he says: “We took it for granted … whereas now we’ve got a bit of perspective. I go over to my best friend’s house and try to make him laugh for three hours and that’s a hell of a way to make a living”.
Inevitably, our conversation veers back to Peep Show, though Webb assures me that: “I like Peep Show, it’s fine!”. Regarding its popularity on platforms like TikTok, I ask why he thinks the show is still resonating with young people. “I get to be very modest about Peep Show because I didn’t write it,” he says. “I think it taps into everybody’s insecurities: that they’re not part of the mainstream, that we’re always going to be in our weird little puddle, isolated from the cosmic party that is going on elsewhere … The question of the show is: ‘Is it going to be OK?’ and I think that’s a very personal question for young people. As it is, there’s just enough hope that maybe Jez will make it as a musician and Mark will get together with Dobby, and maybe it’s going to be alright”. When it comes to a reboot, Webb is adamant that it just wouldn’t work: “If you come back and they’re 53 and they’re still living with someone they don’t want to live with and they’re still not fulfilled romantically or professionally, well, the jury’s back in, and you f*cked it. The show would just be so sad”.
“You go, f*ck, it’s Olivia Colman!”
Mitchell and Webb are Not Helping features the return of some familiar faces, the highlight being fellow Footlight Olivia Colman as a detective. Since the end of Peep Show, she’s gone on to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and several Golden Globes. “It’s strange,” Webb confesses, “because it’s that distorting thing fame does … on the one hand, you’re talking to Colly, and then suddenly you remember this is the person you’ve seen on various red carpets in various unbelievably glamorous locations and you go, f*ck, it’s Olivia Colman! But [working with her] was lovely, it was just like old times”.
The show has also offered Webb the opportunity to work with a new cast, which has been “absolutely lovely”. Though the ensemble is a little younger than the show’s stars, Webb assures me that: “We don’t spend the whole time going on about VHS tapes and days before the internet”. His advice to young comedians? “If you’ve got something to offer, and you’ve got evidence of that, then you just need to keep going. If you have no evidence, then maybe they’re right and you shouldn’t be doing it … but if you think you’re funny, definitely keep going” – he puts a heavy emphasis on “if”.
While things were left uncertain for Mark and Jez, when I ask what’s next for Webb, he seems to have things worked out. “I’m just living my life. I’ll go for a run, I’ll do some reading. I go to the shops and cook tea and we’ll all watch TV together. You know, it’s not a bad life”.
