By The IT Crowd is an internationally Emmy winner British sitcom created by Graham Linehan, starring Chris O’Dowd, Katherine Parkinson, and Richard Ayoade.
Katherine Parkinson plays Jen Barber, the relationship manager who wished to work in upstairs but, due to a false claim on her CV, was placed in the basement as the head of the IT department.
Richard Ayoade plays Maurice Moss, the absolute IT guy.
Chris O’Dowd plays the Irishmen Roy, the other absolute IT guy.
So, Is This Diversity in the UK?
An Irishmen, an Indian man, a redheaded woman, and a hairy man!
Graham Linehan, the creator of the show, is also Irish, which has sparked the idea of Roy.
“Yeah, I just wanted it to be about three people. I was getting a bit bored with the Irish thing. For instance, every time it’s St Patrick’s Day, I get a phone call from about eight papers asking me to write something. And it’s quite annoying being defined simply by your nationality. So I thought I’d avoid it this time. But, as happens with the best-laid plans, Chris came in and just blew us away. He was so effortlessly funny that I couldn’t say no to him.” says Graham Linehan.
Chris played this man who is known for his notoriously unlucky love life, being a sugar addict, and his distinguished quote
“Hello IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?”
flawlessly organic. It’s not easy to deliver a line like
“I’m disabled.”
countless times in one episode and make it ridiculously funny.
Roy:
A fire at a Sea Parks. It’s wrecked in my head. I mean, if she has said that her parents are drowned, I’d be the happiest man in the world. But, a fire?… At a Sea Parks?
The other beloved IT guy, Moss, was an adult with Asperger’s syndrome who’s known for his desire for board games and the “Countdown”. He is just keen to have self-confidence. In all fairness, I can’t criticize Richard Ayoade’s portrayal of Maurice Moss because I don’t know how autism works. It’s not my place to judge. However, I can readily say that Maurice Moss is one of the best characters that television has ever witnessed.
Moss:
Awright, Harry? See that ludicrous display last night?
Postman:
What was Wenger thinking, sending Walcott on that early?
Moss:
Fing about Arsenal is, they always try an’ walk it in.
Postman:
True. See you later, Moss.
Moss:
“I wanna go back to being weird. I like being weird. Weird’s all I got. That, and my sweet sweet style.”
Jen ” Ich bin ein nerd.” Barber is a woman with good communication skills, which provided her to be the helpful navigator of everyone’s life in the basement. Jen has ambitious career goals and somehow is not a victim of feminist Hollywood.
Her character is a middle-aged woman with no kids or boyfriends. She still endeavors to figure out the small details in her life even though she hopes to be a working woman on the upper white collar.
Even though Jen is not a character, that is complicated as Roy or Moss. It is still fair to say that Katherine Parkinson, of course, did an incredible job!
Jen:
Do you brush your teeth in the bath?
Roy:
Yeah, so?
Jen:
That’s where your balls are.
Did you know that Katherine Parkinson and Chris O’Dowd Knew Each Other Before?
Chris O’Dowd and Katherine Parkinson were friends from acting school. After Chris got cast, he influenced Katherine to audition too.
Their on-screen chemistry was impeccable, which led to the “male gaze” lenses expecting to see them as a pair.
Why You Should Be Glad That Jen and Roy Didn’t Date?
Roy is one of the most laid back characters that the sitcom history has ever written. Meanwhile, Jen is an organizer. She is a manager. Also, pairing them would be treason to Moss because Moss and Roy were already dating. I rest my case.
How did the “IT Crowd” become favored after a series like “The Office”?
“The Office” that most of us know with Micheal Scott and Dwight Schrute precisely is not the original one. “The Office” was created by the beloved British comedians Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.
“The Office” become unbelievably popular all over the globe after winning multiple Emmys. Ricky Gervais’ and Stephen Merchant’s “The Office” is, even, marked as the “greatest sitcom the TV has ever seen” by so many critics.
If you have ever seen a little clip, even from the US version, you’d certainly know that “The Office” is much darker than the “IT Crowd”.
Despite the artistic environment, the “IT Crowd” has managed to outlast, for a long time, even though it was an old-fashioned TV show.
Although stylistically, the “IT Crowd” was an old-fashioned sitcom, it carried a very modern and futuristic theme like technology.
“It was originally set in travel agents, and had one joke to do with being a travel agent, which was he’s on the phone to someone, and he says ‘No, no, I wouldn’t go to France, France is very rude at this time of year’. That was as good as it got. I couldn’t think of any more jokes to do with travel agents, and I didn’t want to do the research, because it bored the hell out of me. So I decided to turn it into something I was interested in, which was technology, and how it affects our lives. Oddly enough, although it’s about technology and modernity, it’s a very old-fashioned sitcom.” said Graham Linehan
The year that the first episode aired, 2006, statistically
roughly 50% of homes had computers; therefore, most of us were ready to celebrate this experience on TV too!
“It’s very cheerful, very optimistic, with people you’re supposed to quite like. There’s a real thing at the moment that comedy should be dark, and I just think that is the last thing we need at the moment, ‘cos everything’s so grim anyway. We’re facing all sorts of extinction threats, so why have a comedy that looks at the gloomy side of things? Bit of the Blitz spirit. I call it ‘singing in the underground’.”
‘singing in the underground’ What A Great Way to Describe British Comedy!
The differences between American humor and British humor is a very controversial topics. However, after watching the “IT Crowd”, I’ve come to a few realizations. On the surface, “IT Crowd” has a similar tone to an average American sitcom. The moment the difference hit me was in the episode where Douglas Reynholm’s robot hand appeared again like it was a thing that certainly would happen. If that scene would have taken place in an American sitcom, the robot hand would frame as a metaphor rather than a real comedy tool.
While talking about British sitcoms…
Why does The IT Crowd only have six episodes per season? Is that normal for a British sitcom?
Will There Be a Remake of the ” IT Crowd?
The answer is clear: there shouldn’t be.
Hollywood already had tried to make a remake but failed miserably. British humor doesn’t work with American delivery;
therewithal technology has developed massively; therefore, the jokes and the concept wouldn’t work sufficiently.
Also, in Hollywood, it’s time to create something original like >>> “IT Crowd”.
