It Crowd S2

I came across this show on IFC after watching another movie on that channel and being too lazy to turn just thought I would take a peek then turn if it wasn't interesting. Like the other reviewer, within minutes I was laughing so hard my neighbors came up to my unit asking what in the world was so funny as they could hear me through the ceiling. It was the episode where they were doing the geek calendar! The thing about british humor is that you eiter get it or you don't. I haven't laughed this hard since Ab Fab. I can't wait for my copy of season one arrives. I feel myself laughing already.

The first season of the Britcom geekfest "The IT Crowd" was absolutely brilliant, technonerdy, and gutsplittingly funny. Guess what: the second season is actually better than the first -- it introduces a new insane boss to make life difficult for the IT department, and has them grappling with the difficulties of dinner parties, funerals, gay musicals ("It's a gay musical called 'Gay'... that's very gay") and assorted other problems.

Jen is annoyed when a possible date with the attractive Philip is turned into a "work outing" to a musical, and further annoyed when Roy pronounces Philip to be gay. Except the musical turns out to be a gay extravaganza, and Philip is well-acquainted with every gay person associated with it. In the meantime, Roy and Moss's efforts to find a bathroom without an attendant lead to a disastrous pair of mistaken identities.

Then when Denholm (or Reynholm, I'm not quite sure) walks out a high window, the IT department is threatened with doom at his disastrous funeral, and Roy becomes convinced that he's about to die. Then Roy becomes obsessed with watching a Korean zombie movie (with a twist!), while Moss's efforts to see new people ("We're stagnating, Roy! You're my wife!") have him signing up for a cookery course... except it's not really a course, but a personal ad run by a German cannibal.

Then when Jen has a dinner party for her friends and her new boyfriend's friends, she ends up having to invite Roy, Moss and Richmond... and her friends turn out to be a twittering nervous flake, a mummified model, and a drunken randy divorcee. Hijinks ensue. And when Jen complains about her bad bras, Moss creates the ultimate bra (which he calls the "Abracadabra") and plans to patent it... but as Jen finds out during a vital meeting, there are downsides to this bra! Finally, the new boss Dougkas makes Jen his new P.A., despite her reluctance to leave her nerdy friends -- but of course it's all a big clumsy attempt at seduction. With naked pictures and suggestive commercials.

Living bras, dead flies, really mean anti-piracy ads, German cannibals ("He WANTED to EAT YOU!"), the ultimate cell phone vibrate setting, handicapped bathrooms, gay musicals and a guy with the unfortunate name of "Peter File" (say it fast and out loud). "The IT Crowd: The Complete Second Season" piles the increasingly bizarre sitcom problems on our already overburdened, underappreciated IT personnel, and it actually is funnier than the season that came before it.

Part of this is from the brilliant writing, which is riddled with surreal situations (Moss's bra bursts into flames... on Jen's body) and weird dialogue ("If two grown men can't make a pervert happy for a few minutes in order to watch a film about zombies, then maybe we should pack up and move to Iran!"). And while the IT department's social awkwardness is still the main theme, their problems have become even stranger with time (Jen finds that the smoker's area looks a lot like a downtrodden Communist country, complete with Eastern European accents).

The three main actors are still utterly brilliant -- Katherine Parkinson's Jen struggles to avoid Douglas' ridiculously blatant come-ons, and falls prey to an old addiction; Richard Ayoade's twitchy Moss remains socially inept and jerky, but turns out to have some brilliant scientific skills; and Chris O'Dowd's Roy remains a bored slob who ends in over his head more than once. And Noel Fielding has some fun with mellow goth Richmond, who finds an unlikely girlfriend, contemplates evil omens ("I trod on a piece of Lego"), and turns out to have Spiderman-like powers.

And Matt Berry joins the cast as the very dramatic Douglas Denholm ("SPEAK, PRIEST!"), whose main goal seems to be to have sex with Jen. He's as crazy and out-of-touch as his dad, but way more lecherous.

More potent in its surreal comedy and awkward hilarity, "The IT Crowd: The Complete Second Season" is an absolute must-see for comedy fans.

This is one of the best shows I have ever seen! I caught part of season 1 online when it first came out, and I was busting out laughing through the whole episode! I was hooked from that point on.
Being in IT myself, I guess I can relate to it in a way. "Have you tried turning it off and on again?". Well, that's pretty much the first thing I ask when there's a problem!
I do wish the seasons of this were longer than a handful of episodes, but I guess they do things a little different overseas. I guess they shoot for quality, not quantity. :)

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