David Mitchell says the term “mansplaining” is unfair as he believes it’s simply “conversation”.
The Ludwig star suggested the phrase was inaccurate as men also “do it to each other” – not just to members of the opposite sex.
“I feel there’s an unfairness to the term ‘mansplaining’, which is taken to be men explaining things in a boring way to women,” Mitchell told The Sunday Times.
“Because they do it to each other and they take turns, that’s what men call a conversation.”
“Mansplaining” is the phrase used to describe men explaining something to a woman, often in a patronising or condescending manner.
Mitchell, who is married to Only Connect host Victoria Coren Mitchell, starred in the award-winning Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show from 2003 to 2015 with his comedy partner Robert Webb.
They also appeared in the Bafta-winning That Mitchell and Webb Look, which ended in 2010 after four series on BBC Two – and the duo have reunited for their first sketch show in more than a decade.
Mitchell said he hoped the result – Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping – will save the genre from what he said has been a neglect of sketch shows in recent years.
“It has been resting but there is still a beep on the machine so let’s hope it is ready to get up and eat a hearty meal,” he said.
“It’s slightly odd that it stopped. The short amusing item that hopefully doesn’t outstay its welcome is quite a major part of TV comedy. It has continued on the internet in a low budget way but it has been abandoned by TV.”
Channel 4 has not aired a sketch series since 2014’s Cardinal Burns, which was co-created by Dustin Demri-Burns, who has gone on to appear in Stath Lets Flats and Slow Horses.
Mitchell and Webb said of the new show: “When Channel 4 asked us to do another sketch show we were startled, bemused and available. It’s a perilous time for the industry and so it’s our hope that relaunching the trickiest genre of comedy is a brilliant piece of counterintuitive commissioning.”
The show will air on Channel 4 in September.
