Fancy Things Friday: The IT Crowd

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

Okay, this week's Fancy Thing is an old one but a good one. It is four series of pure English comedy. I'm bringing it up now because I've started rewatching them on Netflix, so you can check it out on there. 

The Fancy Thing is a TV show called The IT Crowd. 

It's about an IT department in a big corporate company and it is all sorts of excellent. If you have ever worked in an IT department (like I have) it will be even funnier, as some of the jokes are massively accurate to the way these departments work.  

It consists of three main characters, two geeky guys and a their manager, a woman who has no clue about computers. It has stopped now, I think mainly due to the fact that Chris O'Dowd (who plays one of the geeky guys) is all sorts of famous in America now, thanks to the film Bridesmaids. 

As much as I love this show on a whole, and thoroughly recommend it to all people who read this blog, there are a few hit and miss bits about it, in my opinion. For example, in the first series, whilst they are finding their feet, there are some not so great or funny moments. But this is to be expected for a show that has only just started. Besides, they completely make up for it in the future episodes. Also, and before I say this next bit, I want to add a disclaimer that this is not an opinion that is shared by most of my friends, but one that I have nonetheless, I am not the biggest fan of the main lady in it. The character is called Jen Barber, and she is played by Katherine Parkinson. She's not completely bad and does have some good moments in it, but sometimes she comes across as a little over the top. Again, this improves as the series goes on, and I do like Parkinson in other things she has done (in particular, The Boat That Rocked). 

The thing that makes the show for me, is the character of Maurice Moss, played by Richard Ayoade. To be honest, there isn't really anything Ayoade has done that I don't completely adore. The other favourites of mine include The Mighty Boosh and Garth Meringhi's Darkplace. Both shows are cult British comedies that I have spent a part of my life obsessed over at one point or another. I'm not going to go into these too much at the moment as, especially in the case of 'Darkplace', I need a whole Fancy Things Friday just to get across the genius of the concept of the shows. 

In The IT Crowd however, he plays a very nerdy character who is your classic 'obsessed with computers and all things sciency' type. He looks like this, which in itself tells you he's hilarious: 

His storylines throughout the series are my favourites. I can't think of a single line that he doesn't deliver with complete genius, but then that is the amazingness of Ayoade, who always comes across as naturally a little awkward but in the most awesome way. We could all learn to be a little awkward like him. You might recognise him from the Ben Stiller film 'The Watch' but other than that, he's mainly done low key (but still freakin' awesome) shows and films. 

When I first started watching this show, I began working in an IT department of a hospital about halfway through. I remember sitting down at their helpdesk and listening to the people talking to the customers there. There is an ongoing joke throughout the whole series about how, whenever anyone calls down to IT, the first thing that they ask is "Have you tried turning it off, then on again?" Then there are a series of other fairly basic questions they follow this up with, if that hadn't worked. Everything I heard the helpdesk ask on that first day could have been a direct quote from the show. I remember hardly being able to concentrate on account of looking around for one of the cast to turn up. 

The show is cleverly written, albeit silly in places, but you learn to love that about it. I'm not really a fan of the overly silly "big" humour, in fact, I tend to run away from it, sprinkling holy water as I go, but this show manages to do it in such a way that it's just enough to be hilarious, before turning it into annoying. 

It is completely 2 dimensional in its characters and plots. There are no deep messages and no moments of real character development or growth, it is a comedy; simple as. And it does the comedy incredibly well. If you want something that will not require a great deal of thought and yet will cause you to giggle like a school girl, then watch this show this weekend. If you have already seen it, might I suggest a rewatch? That's what I'm doing and I can confirm, it's still as funny now as it was when it came out. 

That's all for today. Have an awesome weekend. I will be... didn't I mention? Ex-Housemate-Anna (remember her? From three houses ago?) is getting married tomorrow! How freakin awesome is that? MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Speak soon!

Peace out my lovelies.