If you haven't seen That Mitchell and Webb Look, you don't know Numberwang. And you're missing out.
Numberwang is absurdist comedy in the tradition of Monty Python or the sketches SNL shows in the last five minutes of the program. A gameshow, contestants must guess the correct number in a variety of challenges. Losers suffer humiliation or even injury. But how does one win? That's numberwang. Let's rotate the board.
Of course it makes no sense whatsoever.
So why is it funny?
Numberwang is funny, in one way, simply because it makes no sense. Watching it, you don't know what's coming next, and you are baffled why "eleventy-six" is the correct number. Or why a black contestant is wearing lederhosen.
In another light, Numberwang makes fun of game shows in general. All you need is a competition with blinking lights, playful colors, an enthusiastic host, buzzers, and spinning wheels. It works. I mean, look at Let's Make a Deal, which is a stripped down (pardon the pun) version of the standard gameshow. Yet it's hugely popular and has revived Howie Mandel's corpse from the cemetary of dead laughter.
The genius of Numberwang is that we are the subjects of comedy. Numberwang is funny because of a ridiculous tendency in human nature to sit and watch any competition. Mix together some competitors, a running score, and some threat of jeopardy. That's all. We'll watch it. Add blinking lights and a raucous theme tune and we're transfixed. Watching Numberwang, we get it. Game shows are dumb. We're dumb for watching them. It's absurd!
Numberwang is absurdist comedy in the tradition of Monty Python or the sketches SNL shows in the last five minutes of the program. A gameshow, contestants must guess the correct number in a variety of challenges. Losers suffer humiliation or even injury. But how does one win? That's numberwang. Let's rotate the board.
Of course it makes no sense whatsoever.
So why is it funny?
Numberwang is funny, in one way, simply because it makes no sense. Watching it, you don't know what's coming next, and you are baffled why "eleventy-six" is the correct number. Or why a black contestant is wearing lederhosen.
In another light, Numberwang makes fun of game shows in general. All you need is a competition with blinking lights, playful colors, an enthusiastic host, buzzers, and spinning wheels. It works. I mean, look at Let's Make a Deal, which is a stripped down (pardon the pun) version of the standard gameshow. Yet it's hugely popular and has revived Howie Mandel's corpse from the cemetary of dead laughter.
The genius of Numberwang is that we are the subjects of comedy. Numberwang is funny because of a ridiculous tendency in human nature to sit and watch any competition. Mix together some competitors, a running score, and some threat of jeopardy. That's all. We'll watch it. Add blinking lights and a raucous theme tune and we're transfixed. Watching Numberwang, we get it. Game shows are dumb. We're dumb for watching them. It's absurd!
And that is the joy of absurdist comedy done well.
Follow Numberwang on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/numberwang
Follow Numberwang on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/numberwang
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