"I'll just watch some Mitchell and Webb, that'll cheer me up"

robert webbs reaction is beyond heartbreaking, phenomenal acting

He always calls him Watson, right until he says "I know John", it's when he moves from colleague to friend

Fun fact: this was the last sketch of That Mitchell and Webb Look. Perfect, heartbreaking way to end the show.

You only laugh once at this. The first time.

when David delivers delivered that line "I can't get the fog to clear" i was so shocked. i thought it would be way more piss takey. amazing performance.

They did it. They Blackadder Four'ed us after all.

"I can't get the fog to clear." WHAM! Right in the feels! :'(

I lost my Dad to dementia. He had moments where he was lucid, but he just couldn't clear the fog, it was so distressing to watch him disappear. Tears running down my cheeks right now.

Many have mentioned Robert's brilliant acting in this( rightly so) but the devastation in Mitchell's eyes when he tells John ' I know' is what always gets me..the releasation that this brilliant man has not only lost everything that made him remarkable but that he is aware of it and aware of his friends pain as well..so much conveyed through so few words, it's a shame neither of them have been cast in more dramatic roles since then

Jesus thats brutal. Life long friends and for that one brief moment he was back snapped out of it. Just to tell him he knew that he was gone. Horrible.

'I know John' Broke my heart

TV Producers. Please let Robert Webb act in a drama. He's clearly brilliant. Plus, it may stop him from doing those bloody awful Movie Mistakes programmes on BBC3.

This goes down with the “Over the top” scene in Black Adder season 4 as one of the starkest contrasts of humor and pain in a comedy series’ histories. While the Black Adder scene invokes a hollow feeling like you’ve just had the wind knocked out of you, this scene is absolutely devastating. Having experienced a close relative go through memory loss and a loss of cognitive and later physical function, this scene never fails to wreck me emotionally. I find that I come back to it even years later because it hit me on such a visceral level. Mitchell and Webb were an absolutely brilliant duo.

Fucking Monsieur Garnier. Alzheimer's could have been prevented if he didn't use his laboratoire for the Sleek and Shine series. Joking aside, this is one of the best emotional sketches I have ever seen.

This should be shown in every writing class, the perfect blend of comedy and tragedy one of the greatest sketches ever.

This is that odd mix of absolutely hilarious and horribly depressing

While everything is heart-breaking, Lestrade's slow realization that the brilliant Holmes is just gone and he'll have to solve the case himself is particularly powerful when you keep in mind their relationship in canon (and most adaptations) is usually very antagonistic and bickering. It's almost like Lestrade is wondering if he took Holmes for granted all this time.

My grandfather had Alzheimer’s, so it’s always been difficult to watch this, but I commend Mitchell and Webb for their respectful seriousness in this scene. Their acting ability is on full display. As heartbreaking as this is to view, its quality cannot be denied

This is a brilliant sketch. Superbly acted. I work as a nurse in aged care and yes I have seen residents with dementia have brief moments of lucidity as Holmes does at the end of this sketch. In a way it makes the disease even more cruel as they get a tantalising glimpse of what they once were combined with the harsh understanding of what is happening to them. It’s heartbreaking to witness. We do our upmost to keep them as comfortable, cared for and as dignified as possible but there’s only so much we can do. It’s good that lots of people in Australia are talking about aged care at the moment after recent royal commissions revealed serious flaws in our aged care system. By 2040, it’s estimated there will be 1.3 million Australians with dementia.

This is a comedy show they said.

Man that ending hit me. My grandad had dementia, and whilst for a while it didn't affect his intellect too much in that it still allowed him to make witty quips. For example one time a year before he died we were asking him about some of the stuff in his house, and we moved onto some spoons and we asked him "did you buy them when you were traveling the world with Joyce (his wife)" and he just said "nah, i stole them". His dementia affected him in other ways tho, like he would often piss himself or spill his tea on the floor and the like and other stuff like this. But one time he had messed himself all up in the night and stuff, and so my grandma called me up to help clean him up, and when i got there and was washing him and stuff, he started crying (the first time i'd ever seen him show any emotion like that) and constantly being like "am i a nuisance" and "do i make your life hard". It absolutely broke me, as he had always been a witty funny sort of guy.

Robert Webb is a stunning actor. Just the nuances in his facial expressions alone. Beautiful acting.

mustn't cry, mustn't cry,.... cries a whole bunch

I hate this sketch because of the fact that every time I think about it, I need to watch it, and every time I watch it, I cry. Robert Webb & David Mitchell, two of the funniest actors in Britain, and two of the best actors in the world. R.I.P my tear ducts.

It's that moment of clarity at the end that really gets you. Painful as hell to watch the second time.

This is seriously moving, the ending just breaks your heart and it proves both Mitchell and Webb are fantastic actors, it truly is a standout moment even in such a vast catalogue of brilliance that these two have created. But I have to point out I still laugh like an idiot at: "he has one of the most brilliantly incisive minds of his generation" "where's my slipper?" XD

I'm not familiar with this show, but had heard this sketch had a huge sad ending. I was initially doubtful, but it's everything that's been claimed. It's touching when Holmes has that brief moment of semi-clarity, and you find yourself convicted of laughing at the deterioration of an Alzheimer patient. It really leaves a mark on your mind and heart, and it's an unforgettable series finale.

this and the final quiz show were both very touching.

The makeup is amazing in this.

The first time you see this it's usual Mitchell & Webb.. dear god, the second time.. fighting back tears..

Christ, the “I know john” hit me like a fucking truck

I've always loved M&W but, wow, this sketch is absolutely stunning.

THAT BLACKADDER ENDING. THEY WENT AND DID IT. THE BLACKADDER ENDING. I was totally expecting a darkly comedic twist, but no, they let the gravity and tradgedy hit so well. makes you wonder why they haven't become dramatic actors.also, I love how they have tied in their conversation about the blackadder ending from an earlier episode. just great

As much as Davids portrayal is touching I find Roberts reaction equally as moving, the way he mouths and his eyes tear up always gets me, what do you say in that situation? Someone who you thought was entirely lost in their own world suddenly resurfaces in your world, you now know they are there somewhere in the cage of their own mind and there is very little you can do. Though to be honest Holmes did drugs so he might have induced some kind of psychosis on himself. Still a great scene.

Genuinely moving. It's funny when he smears the jam on his face, but then at the end the jam looks like a tear is rolling down his cheek. There must be some dust in my eyes...

And *that's* why you always go over the waterfall in your prime, if you get the opportunity to do so.

"..a trap laid for him by his nemesis, Moriarty." "Yes please!" xD That was a clever one

Beautiful writing

Fuck I was going through their sketches having a laughing marathon and then I get hit with all this emotion What are you doing to me

This is the one sketch - especially then and there, at the series' very end - that finished to convince me that both Mitchell *and* Webb, although often subject to a good measure of (self-) typecasting - respectively the posh repressed bourgeois and the ignorant but still-more-socially-adept-than-Mitchell young-ish idiot (i.e. much like their characters in _Peep Show)_ - are indeed *incredible actors.* I was so glad to get it confirmed that they have both the talent, the range - _the acting chops,_ as they say - needed to play heavy drama in a way that is at the same time touching and looks genuinely sincere. And do it well. If they wrote it too (I didn't check), then all the more power to them. I thought I was going to cry just as much as Webb's Watson seemed to contain his own tears. Brilliant and (halfway) unexpected. It was also nice to see them play Holmes and Watson again, this time without beating on each other for having the better role of the play on that night. *_CRUMPETS!_*

Well I cried, so damn sad, felt the bit where he silently thanked the guy for faking he was helped was touching.

I just saw this on netflix and since none of my friends watch the show, I had to come to KZfaq to see if everyone else was just as moved as I was by it. So thank you, KZfaq, for showing me I'm not crazy.

The ending actually gave me the shivers. I thinks it shows that they are excelent actors, being able to pull off that serious part so well. Even just the way the smile fades from Robert Webbs face at the end.

Hats off to the director too. The way its shot is simply amazing. The lighting the music. Genius.

I didn't expect that at all out of this cast. That was wonderful, funny, and sad all at once.

I knew they were talented, but this just took it to a whole new level. A master class in what comedy can do. Make you laugh, then with a single line bring you to tears.

4:17 Tears, mastery.

For someone like Holmes who was set on clear thinking and sanity...this would be hell for him.😢

After all the silly sketches Robert Webb and David Mitchell have given us, they end with showing us just how incredible they really are at acting

The way Michael turns his town down at the end of "can'tget the fog to clear" is overpowering. It's clear he's been dealing with this fight against his mind for a long time and he's just starting to give up trying. It's defeated yet trying to give it one final push, kind of represented by the assurance that he does know. He knows he's fading and even with his legendary mind, this sadistic mental illness is too much for him to handle. I also love the stutter on the sending attempt at the "I know", watching the best mind in the world become submissive and almost afraid. Michel and Webb. You are Gods of the screen and stage, no matter the genre.

So beautifully acted and, despite the intense sadness of it all, still raised a few chuckles. My poor old Mum died of Alzheimer's this year. I think their approach to this was amazing and very well done.

Holy shit balls! This is so beautiful. They truly are brilliant. So simple, some touching

It's such a short sketch (compared to like a full movie or show to build connections to characters) and yet it touches me like nothing else. It always leaves me in a puddle of tears. Especially Robert's acting is absolutely phenomenal here. And by the time Holmes says "I can't get the fog to clear", I usually look through very misty eyes myself. Absolutely heartbreaking. Thank you ever so much for uploading this video, it was gone from KZfaq for a long time and it's some of their best work.

I have deduced that Sarah Hadland looks cracking in a nurse's uniform

In my opinion the best sketch they did together.The acting, particularly on the part of Robert Webb is first class and extremely moving.Who wants to laugh all the time?

I lost my father to dementia (and a stroke) just over six months ago. This portrayal was so accurate and so touching that it reminded me of the heartache I went through, and that beneath the strange behaviour and the oddities, there was still a very real, very human person that I loved, and always will.

"Yes please". Man so powerful.

There's a very definite moment when you realise that this is far deeper and more terrible than just "The Drunk Sherlock Holmes Sketch"

Dementia is an awful disease, I have so much sympathy for anyone (and their family) going through it. 😢

This is a spitting image of my grandfather. Damn that hit hard...

This and the last quiz show sketch just confirms for me these two are brilliant writers and actors. I've always thought the best comedy is as humourous as it is gut wrenching and soul baring, and in these two sketches in particular, they did that perfectly. And they did it in a way that feels genuinely true to them and their friendship.

It is heartbreaking to watch this scene, but heartening to see Watson visit his dearest friend despite the pain it brings him. Altruism at its finest.

Watson's reaction at the end truly gets to me. First time I watched this, a piece of me died with him. And I can still feel it. I'd never wish such a fate as this on anyone, fictional or not.

That jam slowly falling down his face mirrors my heart sliding down my throat

You can actually see Watson look scared when Sherlock says "I know".

True work of art. From laughter to tears. Simply amazing. Thank you.

The absolute balls of ending four seasons of a comedy with this fucking gut-punch. I assume the people who find the sketch purely funny have never been touched by the realities it portrays. Which is fine, but I watch this as a drama with incredible acting.

This and the drunk old guy on the fast show where he talks about his love are epic examples of brilliant acting, switching from comedy to serious in a heartbeat

They pretty much announced something like this and it still hit me like a bullet train, being a big fan of A.C. Doyle's. As if it being the last episode wasn't bad enough. Fantastic.

Why did KZfaq wait over a decade to show me this? Perhaps I just wasn't ready at the time.

That one line about fog at the end really hit me hard. And I'm 16. I can only imagine how this must feel to an older person.

I love this. The final part is deeply moving. And perfectly acted. Well done, M&W.

This has got to be a subtle reference to the end of Blackadder Goes Forth

I love the transition of the audience's reactions to this. The laughter becomes so unsure after about a couple of minutes, and then it's gone. I think it's just the sign of Mitchell and Webb's absolutely awesome work.

Was not ready for the end there. My grandma had a slow moving dementia. I still remember sitting in the sofa and her out of the blue saying "This is not any fun". I didn't know at the time. Later it all made sense. She felt herself slipping away yet there was nothing she could do about it.

I couldn't believe this. I thought at the end Watson was going to kill Holmes out of mercy. I just finished re-watching the whole series, and in the previous episode they talked about ending things soberly, like with Blackadder, they did something similar with the Quiz Broadcast. I laughed a lot, but still reminds me of how sad Alzheimer's is. This made me realise that Mitchell and Webb can actually act. I wonder how much this sketch was influenced by Robert Downey Jr's and Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes. The first RDJ Holmes film was released a year before this series, but BBCs Sherlock was finished it's first season before this series started so probably didn't have to much influence, I imagine this series is written long before it's aired.

Wasn't expecting that. Just kicked me right in the bollocks.

Just rewatched all of these series and this moment still makes me well up. So unbelievably well written, paced, and acted. The abruptness of the mood change from silliness and levity to gut-wrenching heartbreak is so powerful. It's that moment when we realise that Holmes is not, in fact, living in a blissful ignorance of his dementia but rather is a prisoner of his own mind. Watson searching for words but failing to find them is masterfully acted, you can see a million thoughts and feelings running through his head and ultimate powerlessness to help his mentor and friend.

I currently live in the same house as my nan, who has dementia, and depressingly it is very much like this. Thankfully it hasn't got to the stage of her forgetting members of her family, but she'll ask you the same question every time you walk past, forget what day and even month it is (roughly 5 days prior to christmas she asked me to take down the decorations in her room because she thought it was January), and is eating less and less because she thinks she's already eaten. Sometimes I wonder if the extended life that advancements in science have given us is worth it when things like dementia and cancer still have no cures. It's like, what's worse? Family members dying at 60 or family members living long enough for their brains to stop functioning properly and essentially entering a near-vegitative state? Are those extra years really worth the pain and suffering? I just don't know.

Only a 5 minute sketch, and yet I actually cried, amazing writing and acting!

I keep coming back to this sketch, months later. Fuck its depressing but it's one of the most brilliantly heart-wrenching things I've ever witnessed. Brilliant.

I've watched this sketch several times over the last ten years. It always hurts. Unbelievable work from a team of geniuses.

Never thought I'd get teary-eyed (and not from too much laughter) from a Mitchell and Webb clip. This is too amazing. Great performance by both of them.

so in one sketch Mitchell and Webb produced a better drama than every episode of Hollyoaks, Eastenders and Coronation street combined, was not expecting that!

I'm so grateful to them for doing this. It's so beautiful.

I know john, still gets me

I think that the level of ambivalence in this sketch is wonderful. I giggled so hard when he shouted "Look, I'm a China man!", and yet I cried so much at the end. It makes you realise how talented David and Robert actually are at acting, and shows that they have more to them than making us laugh our arses off. To that, I salute them! *Salutes*

I worked with Dementia sufferers for 27 years. These moments of clarrity do happen and are indeed the person inside once again....just for that moment.

This just made me cry in 6 yrs!

It's easy to forget for all their humour and silly costumes what great actors these two really are!

I always come back to this video after all these years. Why do I do this to myself.

A couple of episodes before this, they talked about ending the series in a sad dramatic way. And they did, it was very touching.

So sad and so beautiful.

I have to say I never quite got their comedy. Probably more me than anything else but this is just one of the best things on KZfaq! Just a work of genius. Amazing performances from both of them and the other actors involved too. Comedy and tragedy!

I laughed then cried.... This is true friendship.

Genuinely exceptional acting by Robert Webb

Worth noting that this was (I think) the final sketch in the final series of "That Mitchell and Webb Look" - what a way to go out.

There's only a small handful of videos i watch on KZfaq whenever i'm in the mood for a good cry. This video, and the scene from 'Return of The King' when Frodo say's goodbye to his friend at the Grey Havens.

Ian McKellen will be playing an elderly Holmes in an upcoming movie, so that's vaguely related to this.