Battlemouth

Having no idea how to open this article, I’ll just say this - The IT Crowd finally makes it’s way to stateside DVD! Of course I realize that I’m probably the only one looking at the article and getting excited just thinking about the prospect, so I’ll break it down for you.

The IT Crowd is a spectacular British Comedy from the mind of Graham Linehan, who Britcomophiles (probably not a real word) may recognize from the other show he created, Father Ted. The IT Crowd is a pretty formulaic situational comedy – Jen Barber (Katherine Parkinson) has just landed a job at Renholm Industries as the head of the IT department, consisting of Irish-born dork Roy (Chris O’Dowd) and his dimwitted-but-brilliant partner Moss (Richard Ayoade). It’s just Jen’s luck that she doesn’t know a lick about computers! Throw in the eccentric boss Denholm (Chris Morris), and you’ve got a recipe for success!

Now my description makes it seem very cut-and-dry, but really there’s no other way to explain the premise. The situations are very standard for a comedy show, but the execution is absolutely hilarious. Since each season consists of only six episodes (most Britcoms follow this method), the writing is top notch. A lot of the humor revolves around sight gags and line delivery and the situations that the characters get into are not only ridiculous, but escalate until the resolution explodes. If the world we live in was a tad more ridiculous, we could relate to these people. Now, I’ve never come close to going out on a date where the girl thinks I have shit on my forehead, nor have I called for the fire department via email, but if it had to be like that this show would be a fantastic learning tool.

The cast works very well together, but in my humble opinion the ones who stand out the most are Richard Ayoade (Moss) and Chris Morris (Denholm). Pushing the envelope is an understatement – these two make th emost ouf their roles, and are damn memorable. Fans of cult British show The Mighty Boosh will also be pleased, Noel Fielding (Boosh’s Vince Noir) becomes a recurring guest. It’s unfortunate that they’re only releasing the first season – the second is even better, mainly because it brings into the fold one of today’s most brilliant comedic actors, Matt Berry.

I apologize if this wasn’t enticing enough, but really you have to see it for yourself. I’ll give it my blessing and say that it’s one of the funniest shows I’ve seen. So with that, I encourage you to buy (or Netflix it, whatever) the DVD when it hits stores March 31st 2009. So uh, jump in your time machine to Tuesday and pick up The IT Crowd, you’ll be glad you did.-AK