The IT Crowd

Working in IT Support myself, I can automatically see a lot of the funny side of jokes and the attacks on the usual stereotypes that occur with IT. It’s also being a slight fan of geek-humour that there’s a lot of the references and hidden slight gags I can get straight away and start laughing like a loon. T-Shirts with ‘RTFM’ on it and the bemusement of people thinking the internet is a black box: it’s all incredibly funny stuff.

The IT Crowd, from the guy who did Father Ted, is a slightly absurdist comedy with some quiet unrealistic situations and visual humour. It’s along the lines of the left-field stance to comedy that Ted took, but manages to get itself a strong and solid identity of its own. It features the adventures of laid-back Roy and the tech-geek Moss and their manager Jen who knows nothing of PC’s(she only got the job by lying she could use a computer on her CV).

It took a bit to get there, as it didn’t know just how absurd it wants to be – but once it does it has a lot of fun. The first season tinkers with the characters, but the second series just nails it all. The first episode of the second series where the team end up trying to figure out whether Jen’s date is Gay (and ends up taking everyone to a musical called GAY!)  is one of the funniest things seen today. The introduction of Douglas is a great step, though it does sacrifice Chris Morris, and the use of Noel Fielding as Richmond is also good stuff.

The third series doesn’t have Richmond, but it does have refined characters to play with. As the characters get hooked on social networking and try to be football fans – the scenarios are incredibly funny and just fun to watch. Once it gets it’s way it never lets go.