"Are we the baddies?" is a classic comedy sketch by the British comedians Mitchell and Webb, performed both on recorded television in That Mitchell and Webb Look and live at The Secret Policeman's Ball . [1] The sketch was originally created for the radio series That Mitchell and Webb Sound , but was modified for television. [2]
In it, Mitchell and Webb play two Nazi Waffen-SS officers in a foxhole during World War II waiting for the Red Army to attack. [3] They gradually become aware of the parallels between their own situation and that of movie villains, realising that the fact they have skulls on their hats might indicate that they are the villains, not the heroes of their own situation.
The sketch achieved the status of a meme, being viewed over one million times on YouTube. [2]
The sketch was referenced in real life during the Horizon IT inquiry when the former Post Office communications chief Mark Davies was asked by the investigating counsel "Had you ever asked yourself: might we, in fact, be the baddies?". [4] It has also been referenced by The Times in relation to the state of the United States under the Trump administration. [5]