NumberWang

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The Numberwang logo.

NumberWang is a recurring sketch featured on Robert Webb and David Mitchell's BBC sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look, and previously on their BBC Radio 4 show That Mitchell and Webb Sound.

1 Format
2 Alternative versions
3 Cast
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Format

Image:Numberwangstage.JPG

The NumberWang set.

The sketch centres on a maths-based game show consisting of a series of rounds with completely inexplicable rules, mostly featuring the two players shouting out apparently random numbers until the host exclaims "That's NumberWang!". The sketches are written by James Bachman and Mark Evans, and the phrase 'That's NumberWang!' was invented by David Wolstencroft, the creator of Spooks.^{[citation needed]} It was originally a one-off sketch on That Mitchell and Webb Sound, until the writers decided to capitalise on positive internet response.^{[citation needed]}

The BBC's That Mitchell and Webb Look webpage features an online version of NumberWang, and also defines the show's rules as follows:

How to play

1. There are 10 rounds.

2. Each round lasts 10 seconds. You're up against the clock!

3. Play your numbers, as long as they're between 0 and 99.

4. That's NumberWang!

However, this has little connection to the game as "played" on television, in which a round can continue for an arbitrarily long time, and numbers outside the given range are often played.

Image:Rednosewang.png

A NumberWang special for Comic Relief

As each number is shouted by the contestants, a number on the scoreboard lights up, although it is always a number wildly different from that shouted by the contestant. Although middle rounds vary, the final round of the game is always "Wangernumb", a reversal of the title. After each round the host gives an update on the scores, which is generally nonsensical, along the lines of "Simon is on 28 and Julie is also on 7". Partway through the game, the host shouts "Let's rotate the board!" and the contestants' deck is briefly spun round to reveal something on the other side. Things on the other side of the board have included:

Two different contestants who wave as the board makes a 360 degree turn, so they never play.
A shocked newsreader (David Mitchell in the series, Bill Turnbull on the Comic Relief special)
A Nativity scene.
The torture scene from Marathon Man.
The Russian roulette scene from The Deer Hunter.

In the TV series, each Numberwang sketch features the same two contestants, Simon (announced as hailing variously from Somerset, Northampton, Space and Anglesey) and Julie (announced as coming from Somerset, Southampton, Dulwich and Anglesey). Most of the games are won by Simon. Julie's only victory came in the October 5, 2006 episode, although as she won by being the first to inhale a lethal dose of poison gas number 2, this could be considered a pyrrhic victory.

In one game, Gyles Brandreth features in "Number Corner", to offer number-related anecdotes. This is a parody of "Dictionary Corner" in Countdown, in which Brandreth features regularly as a guest.

[edit] Alternative versions

Also seen in the series are the German version of the game, "Nümberwang", (entirely performed in German, with Julie and Simon billed as a Hamburger and a Frankfurter (a joke reference to Hamburg and Frankfurt) and a supposed spin-off version called "Wordwang", in which Simon was announced as hailing from "a factory" and being "made of a special kind of metal", at which point he slapped himself on the head, producing a metallic clang. It is also suggested that he has killed a man and appears to enjoy admitting it to the host.

The live version of Numberwang performed on their live tour added a few in-jokes for regular viewers, such as the presenter rotating instead of the contestants (to the confused look of Robert Webb who is then replaced with David Mitchell), and Webb telling the audience that Simon and Julie have "regenerated into cheaper actors" (a reference to Doctor Who).

A celebrity Numberwang special featured as part of the proceedings of Comic Relief 2007. The contestants were Carol Vorderman and Johnny Ball, both of whom are famous for hosting maths-based television shows (Countdown and Think Of A Number respectively).

Numberwang is strikingly similar to a sketch from The Adam And Joe Show, entitled Quizzlestick, which similarly parodies complicated and inane quiz shows.

[edit] Cast

Image:Numberwang.jpg

Robert Webb as the host of Numberwang.

Olivia Colman plays Julie, Paterson Joseph plays Simon, and the host is played by Robert Webb except in the German version where David Mitchell portrayed the host.