That Mitchell And Webb Sound - No-One Drowned

Robin Verhagen-GuestCited 3× on HN, 2015–2026

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comedy · general · evergreen · 2015–2026 on HN

A short sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Sound, the BBC radio comedy, about a safety measure that works perfectly and so gets no credit for the lack of disasters.

It is used as a joke or shorthand for the prevention paradox, where successful safety work looks unnecessary because nothing bad happens.

Stand-up & sketch comedy Satire & parody #mitchellandwebb #sketchcomedy #safety #bbcradio

3 comments from Hacker News

@rhet0rica2026-03 · in “Helsinki just went a full year without a single traffic death”

I am reminded of a certain Mitchell and Webb skit that suggests the absence of deaths by drowning in a county indicates perhaps too much public funding has gone into preventing them: ▶ this video

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@orthoxerox2024-05 · in “Bollards: Why and What”

Yes, we've all heard [0] and probably agreed with the person Mitchell plays, but the cost of bollards is actually really low. I can buy concrete hemispherical bollards for less that $20 a piece. Let's make the total installation cost $50 per bollard. How many bollards does a 7/11 parking need? [0] - ▶ this video

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@mryan2015-09 · in “Safe from what?”

This reminds me of a sketch by Mitchell and Webb (a pair of British comedy actors). It is a satirical news broadcast, in which Mitchell points out that the fact that there was not a single death from drowning in the local region proves that too much money is being spent on anti-drowning measures. ▶ this video

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