Top 10 Numberwangs

The other day, a friend introduced me to a glorious recurring Mitchell and Webb sketch called Numberwang.  Watch all of these, in this order, first, then endure my musings.

1. "Numberwang"

2. "Numberwang, Pt. 2"

3. "Numberwang, Pt. 3"

4. "Numberwang, Pt. 4"

5. "German Numberwang"

6. "Wordwang"

7. "The Numberwang Code"

8. "Numberwang: the Board Game"

9. "The History of Numberwang"

10. "Live Numberwang"

What's really brilliant about this concept, I think, is the way that they capture the manic energy of the rapid-fire game shows that they're parodying, but manage to remove absolutely all of the content.  They end up with something that feels familiar to and is just as eminently watchable as World Series of Pop Culture or The 64,000 Dinari Pyramid or whatever, but without anything discernable that the game show is about.  For my money, the best ones are the first one for being so original and spot-on, and "Numberwang: the Board Game," which has one of the funniest lines I've ever heard in any sketch.  The "History" one loses me a little; I prefer to think that there is absolutely no system to determining what is "Numberwang" and what isn't, which seems to fit the spirit of the sketch more than "an extremely complicated system."  But I'm nitpicking.  This shit is awesome.