The IT Crowd

This is truly a comedy of pure genius. All the elements involved are spot on, and combine to make a show of pure brilliance. Brilliant scripts, wonderfully acted, the mix of Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade and Katherine Parkinson combine outrageously well. Huge credit to Graham Linehan too, previously successful with Father Ted and Black Books his pedigree is there for all to see.

The out and out funniest episode in my humble opinion had to be The work outing, which I can watch again and again and still be belly laughing, it's immense, other top quality episodes include The Speech, Calamity Jen and finale The internet is coming. Very few dips in quality.

What a shame it had to finish, this was gold. 10/10

The IT Crowd is an absurdist satire of office dramas, featuring those most indispensable of nerds, tech support geeks.

The first thing I noticed watching this series was director Ben Fuller's patience. He has a willingness to let a joke build that evades most television directors. Some jokes are set up in the opening scene and wait until the final segment for the payoff.

The show is further bolstered by great chemistry and timing between stars Richard Ayoade, Christopher Morris, Chris O'Dowd, and Katherine Parkinson. Each actor emits a brave willingness to take their characters to extremes for a laugh.

It's all helped a great deal, of course, if you have a vague notion computer technology and its various sub-cultures, but for the most part, the audience is along for clever dialogue-related humour, not in-jokes.

Like Father Ted and Black Books before it this show is packed with great comedy. There are real gems in here (as well as some stuff we've seen before). Katherine Parkinson does a fine job as Jen, the voulnerable but strong IT manager (who doesn't do IT!),this is particularly satisfying as many Female characters don't fare well in comedy and can quickly fall into the 'say line to the camera, move off screen' rubbish we see so often. Chris O'Dowd is great as Roy and although he provides many of the 'stock comedy moments' this is mixed with new material and isn't detrimental to the overall piece. Richard Ayoade as Moss is another great character, to see how he peels an Orange is worth the DVD price alone. It is worth noting that this is already being traded on Ebay.

The show's got a few episodes that bring side plots together for a 'grande finale'-esque bit, which is a very difficult style to pull off, especially for 22 minute episodes. The majority of the show is that awkward humor we geeks know and love so much. This show reminds me an awful lot of the cartoon series "Clerks" but with a more grown up feel. There are, as with any series, a few episodes that go so far over the top you groan from pain, but the chances of a deliciously laid out bit is well worth the endurance.

Given the simple premise of the show, the script stays remarkably fresh. Brilliant acting on the part of the 3 primary leads and excellent writing make this an easy show to marathon over a weekend.

"The IT crowd" is an excellent comedy but requires the viewer to watch the second episode rather than base their judgement on the first episode then snub the entire series.

The first episode was a decent attempt to gain the viewers approval however, it was hyped far too much, which made the viewer think that "The IT Crowd" was the next best comedy. When the first episode ended, everyone was disappointed due to the lack of good jokes. There were moments in the first episode that somehow reminded me of the great mind of Graham Linehan who was the writer to "Father Ted" and "Black Books" due to random jokes such as the joke in the credits.

The second episode was almost redemption to the first as the cast and Graham Linehan ultimately revealed their true performance. It was almost surreal and had it's connections to "Father Ted" equally weirdness. There was uncontrollable laughter in a lot of areas of the second episode such as the stress class which delivered powerful comedy that would even make "Father Ted" mediocre.

I give this comedy a round of applause and wish for an encore.