That Mitchell and Webb Look (Series 2)
Many talented comedy duos have come from the UK: Morecombe and Wise, Flanders and Swann, The Two Ronnies, Gryf Rhys-Jones and Mel Smith, and, more recently, Armstrong and Miller, and Mitchell and Webb.
David Mitchell and Robert Webb, carrying on the tradition of many English comedians, met whilst at Cambridge University. Their on-screen collaborations have brought us the innovative Peep Show (shot from the perspective of the actors thinking in voiceover whilst looking at the action we're shown on screen, or talking straight into the camera, when talking to another character). Peep Show is wickedly funny, but doesn't have the broader appeal of their broader comedy sketch show: That Mitchell And Webb Look.
As with many sketch shows, there are regular characters, such as the delusional drunkard Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, but most of the sketches are comprised of stand-alone sketches.
Much of the success of this show is due to the charisma of Mitchell and Webb themselves: they have a great presence on screen, and a wonderful rapport.
They also workshop their sketches in front of a public audience, to road-test them, as it were. The consistently high comic standards demonstrate this technique as a worthy one for sketch show comics to adapt.
Mitchell and Webb did a very amusing Mac ad, which can be viewed on youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz9NMVMwB9o