The only David Mitchell I know is the British comedian. (If you haven't seen "Upstart Crow" or the quiz show "Would I Lie to You," they're highly recommended, though they're not in the category of "and you call yourself a Professor of Film!")

The novelist sounds fascinating as well.

"...if we play the game longer"--you're probably referring to the Embarrassment Game, which was popular among masochistic lit grad students when I was in school--people in the game name a major work that they haven't read. I was too unread to even play.