The It Crowd, Episode 5
September 21, 2007
Not one of our best tonight but some great moments.
10.00pm Channel 4, (unless they’ve changed it again, the rascals).
Why, That\’s Delightful!
Graham Linehan\’s Hompendium of Dorithies.
A load of twite
Tweets by GlinnerBaby Needs Shoes!
Some other things
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Why, That\'s Delightful! 
I must say I find it pretty refreshing of you to say “not one of our best” about an episode of your show.
Obviously no series of any nature in the history of humanity has ever maintained perfect consistency in terms of quality, but it’s not often that people involved admit that… let alone the writer before the episode has even aired (at best they might coyly state that they weren’t quite happy with one joke when they write their memoirs at the age of 94).
That said it’s no excuse for poor produce so don’t do it again. Bold comedyman.
ps – I heard a rumour that you were working on a spin-off of Father Ted where Father Jack dies and gets reanimated/reconstructed with cutting edge technology in a priest-based homage to The Six-Billion Dollar Man. All with hilarious consequences, of course. Can you confirm, deny or speak in vague terms (thus increasing my suspicions) about this?
Is it that time already? Are you sure you don’t want to lock the comments section right now and spare yourself the inevitable armchair criticism?
Have all those bad comments started to plant doubts in your own work? I hope not as you are a wonderful wonderful comic writing man of comic joy.
x love x
Good lord, what the heck is that, Mothra?
I’m looking forward to tonight’s episode, and I’m sure there’ll be some good laughs.
And remember, if all your work was exactly the same quality all the time, you’d be branded as mediocre.
The week seems to take ages waiting for your show. I got my Berry fill watching all of Darkplace lastnight. “Oh my God, that man’s being bummed by a giant eye.” Brilliant.
I find life more intereating when wooly pigs are involved. Go here:
http://widelec.org/wlochate_swinki,id,1406.html
tata G & all.
peace
isn’t the fifth episode of a series generally the weakest? (in fact i think i got that from the commentary of big train. might even have been you who said it.)
on a dvd related note… you said there’ll be a boxed set for series one and two and that you’re writing a third series. if i buy each series separately (which i want to do cos i want them sooner. and also so when friends mention the it crowd i can be all “oh you’re into the it crowd now are you? jesus, i’ve got that on vinyl”) i’m not going to miss out some uber cool three series box with 9 discs of extras and cut outs of each character signed and hand numbered by jesus am i?
Hey Graham, just wanted to say I’ve finally caught up and seen the first four eps.
I enjoyed them all a lot! Seems like the characters are settling into the roles really well. The whole theatre 2nd/3rd act was brilliant! (The cut to Moss behind the bar and Jen’s face was classic!). The way that plot escalated was genius.
The Soviet parody was ace too, as was (quite obviously) the anti-piracy ad, oh and Noel Fielding in the dinner party ep was great, I’m not usually a fan of his but he had two of the funniest moments in that episode (clutching on the ceiling, and the skull line had me pissing myself)
Many other moments too, but those are a few that stand out in my mind :)
Was also really happy to see Matt Berry in his new role (he’s got the coolest voice, second only to Pete himself)
Yeah, so well done on them all so far! I saw a one off ep of Black Books and didn’t get into it… came back later and became a huge fan. Same with I.T Crowd, so I can see that happening here too.
Ta very much!
lemmy
Oh, I don’t want to be too hard on it. As I say, it’s got some great bits (one in particular is definitely one of my top five fave moments from the series) but there was some emergency surgery I had to do on the script during the final week of rehearsal and I can see some of the stitches.
As for DVDs, I can’t promise anything at this early stage. What, you mean like the puffy shirt that came with the Seinfeld set? You know, I got that, and all it is is trash that I have to carry about with me whenever I move home. Get the DVDs when you want, and let the bragging rights be your puffy shirt.
Graham, your worst seems to be other people’s best, so I already know I’m going to have a good time. And don’t all good artists look at their work and see ‘the stitches’? I bet Van Gogh looked at his work and thought, ‘Those sunflowers could do with another coat’.
Good luck tonight.
I saw tonights episode being recorded and i really enjoyed it! I’m really looking forward to seeing it!
Cassie x
I’m always jealous of everyone here .. I have to miss the show on Friday nights for various reasons and don’t have a recordable DVD player. My PC is up the spout so I have to wait until Monday at work to catch snippets on YouTube, while trying to coerce the boss away to the warehouse for feeble reasons, and being shirty with everyone on the phone for interrupting my favourite programme.
Top comedy, Graham. I like.
Whose bright idea was it to schedule tonight’s episode against QI? Thank heavens for Sky+.
I’m charmed by the fact that you consider the puffy shirt “trash,” yet you feel compelled to “carry it about” with you.
Haven’t said it before, but the previous episodes that I managed to download illegally were a thrill and a delight.
You said that about some of the episodes in last season, and they turned out to be my favourite!
You know you’ve got a good show when people are choosing it over Q.I (like myself). Plus, having watched this one being filmed, I could technically watch Q.I instead knowing I’ve already seen this one but no, I’m still sticking with The IT Crowd :)
Give yourself a pat on the back Mr. Linehan, for producing such a top programme.
That was the best thing ever! The IT Crowd is like CRACK to me!
Ha Ha Ha. I laughed so hard some milk came out of nose and i hadn’t been drinking milk. I wish i’d taken a photo of me watching it so you could see how much i enjoyed it. My girlfirend left for the toilet while it was on so im telling her all about it now.
Lots of stuff to enjoy in that, it wasn’t noticably weak at all.
– “Morning, beautiful”
– The nod to Guy Goma
– Roy’s bizarre stilted walk up the stairs of the Dragon’s Den.
– Moss rousing from his bra-faint all confused.
– The combusting bra, even though you knew it was coming.
Even if there’s not a labyrinthine Curb style plot – not that there has to be, every show has its own style – the performances totally push the whole thing into two thumbs up territory.
Fantastic! I feared my bigotry of your low expectations. But this was fantastic. I didn’t want to miss a moment, so even kept the toilet door propped open so I could see the screen when I had an urgent appointment. Belly laughs indeed!
OMG that was soo funny I think my sexual orientation has been changed!!!1
Aw, guys, what would I do without you? Thanks so much. Looking at it tonight, it actually played a lot better than I thought it would. I was especially nervous about their appearing on two tv shows in one episode. I still think it was a mistake, but now I feel like it’s a mistake we just about got away with.
Not up on 40D yet :( :(
Graham, I think this means we can no longer trust your judgment :)
Excellent episode, keep ’em coming…..
Excellent! At one point I laughed so loud I think I woke the neighbours. I’ll have to go round with a cake tomorrow and apologise.
lol when the bra started burnin again i couldnt breath! i dunno how you come up with them but keep them comin init
i am a moth in a bath he he
It wasn’t the bra burning that killed me but Jen’s asthmatic breathing leading up to it. Someone needs to give Katherine Parkinson a medal or something. That was brilliant.
Yeah, I don’t think I can say too much without spoiling, but the entire moth “plot” was just great, especially Moss’s sad resigned statement/punchline that wrapped it all up. That one will make me grin for weeks. And the bra catching fire was exquisite.
Definitely some of the funniest moments so far, Graham.
I am a US resident who has fallen in love with the show, sadly through illegally downloads, the only way I can watch. The minute the DVD set comes out, I’ll over paying for the insane-shipping-costs-awesomest-purchase of my life. I thought tonight’s episode was great, as were the last 4. The series is really expanding more on the character’s personality and the timing of everyone on the show is perfect, To pull off subtle and well placed humor, a la The Office and I guess many British comedies, while doing it live, is simply amazing, If you think this episode was not on of your best, you are crazy sir and should get checked in you know where, after you finish season 2..3..etc.
One question though, can anyone tell me what the song was the played during the Moss and Roy “training montage” before Moss was to go on the TV show and promote the AbracadaBRA? Thanks so much, that song is great, reminds me of The Go! Team a little.
Thanks again,
A viewer from across the pond,
Andrew
i’m also desperate to know this…. a freakin amazeballs track
The same here… I spent insane amount of time looking for that track :/
Funny how you thought it was weak, a lot of folks on the forums are calling it the strongest episode of the second series! In fact the opening comment in the torrent thread I got it from (missed this weeks Channel 4 airing) reads:
“Props for the upload… one of the funniest episodes I’ve seen in a dog’s age, too bad they only do 6 episodes a season.”
Roy, holding the bra up: “I’m a woman!”
Hahahaha.
Graham,
Fantastic episode! Who did the music on this one? (the first song and the training bit?) I’m a HUGE fan of classic library music and was thrilled to death when you used “Penthouse Suite (AKA Man Friday)” by S Dale on the Father Ted episode Speed 3. It appears on the “Hotel Easy” compilations. If you don’t have these albums, GET THEM!
Well, I really enjoyed it as usual. Moss has to go to bed too early to see it as he is training at 6.45 each morning at the moment. We had to stay up and watch twice as the recorder is new and we could not correct the fact that it did not record the first time and do a manual record the second time.
I truly am Moss’s Mum as she has got my sewing machine, though I have got rid of the candlewick bedspread.
OK there were some seams showing, but anyone with a brain can make the leap to cross them. Plenty of great things in this episode.
This is up there with the “Gay Musical” episode!
I couldn’t help feeling it has a hint of Father Ted in some scenes which was a joy to see again!
Google? Now I wonder what happens if I put that in ^H^H^H^HH^H^H^H R: TAPE LOAD ERROR.
Psst: Hey Hey 16k
great episode :D
Graham you are far too hard on yourself! No one can make a perfect thing*! It was an excellent episode.
*Da Vinci could supposedly draw a perfect circle but in all honesty I never saw him do it.
Really enjoyed it. One I’d definitely want to watch again.
Good episode. I especially liked the conversation that Moss has with Jen using a disguised voice. Great writing there. The two disastrous television appearances worked well too.
I also enjoyed Roy’s bizarre stilted walk up the Dragon’s Den stairs and the whole lipstick thing. Good stuff. :)
So far, they were all good. My order from greatest to just ordinary greatness:
Episode One: The Work Outing
Episode Four: The Dinner Party
Episode Three: Moss and the German
Episode Five: Smoke & Mirrors
Episode Two: Return of the Golden Child
I totally dug it and laughed hard enough to disturb the neighbours!
Serves ’em right too, them and their neighbourly ways.
The end bit when presenting the bra to the Dragons could possibly be one of the funniest moments I have ever witnessed on television. :)
Do I get bonus points for debugging some Javascript whilst watching last night’s excellent episode! Great stuff!
It had me and my dad crying with laughter. “Some idiot left it in the toilet.” “The Ordin-ary boys.” Fantastic!
How many laughs can you get in one episode? Loved it.
just realised if this is episode 5 already, does that mean there is only one episode left? :(
“Jen – Take your top off….”
Man I’ve been thinking that since I first saw the show!
Hey Graham, just wiritng to say that I think the IT Crowd is a great show, I have enjoyed every episode and hope there are many more to come!
I came along to the filming of episode 2 and thought it was fantastic! – fascinating to see how its put together and hear some commentary from yourself! Any idea when a filming of series 3 will be? I’d love to come see it again
all the best and congrats on a great series
Tim
Wow! Well, that’s me told. Thanks, everyone. This happened with ‘Old Grey Whistle Theft’ too. we buried it in the series because we thought it didn’t work, then it goes out and everyone loves it…quite overcome by the response to this one…
Hello, Graham.
Almost definitely the wrong place to ask this, but I don’t see any other contact details anywhere… I was wondering if you might give a few details as to the extent of your contribution to Blue Jam. I’ve read that you and Arthur wrote a sketch here and there, and I’ve always wondered which ones they were. My only guess would be the lovely ‘Bowie’s Romantic Dinners’ sketch from series three, which always felt like one of your sort of ideas.
Cheers if possible.
Love the series here in the US. Been downloading them as they hit BitTorrent.
If they ever get a finger out and release the Series one NTSC/Region One DVD set here, I will buy it the first day of sale. And I’ll do the same for Series two!
[…] geek sitcom from Graham Linehan, the creator of the uproariously funny Father Ted. On his blog Graham noted that this wasn’t the best episode ever, but it still made me laugh out loud. There’s a lot more transvestitism and boob-jokes in […]
hi graham… writing from here in california where The IT Crowd has become ‘appointment tv’, as they say, for me… (though i wish i could get it through more ‘legitimate’ channels)…
yesterday was a crap day, so around midnight i fired up Episode 5 and within minutes i was laughing, out loud (deep belly laughs)… i thought this was a terrific episode… the pacing was great… the ironic use of music set the tone nicely… the Moss voice-change gag was inspired… lovely writing, lovely acting, everything that makes a comedy such a treat…
just so you know, i find myself watching each episode of The IT Crowd multiple times, (a) because the things i laughed at the first time make me laugh the second and third time, too, and (b) because every viewing i pick up something else i missed (slight… coy… subtle)… the episodes are like wine… as they breath the more complex flavors are revealed… the only other show i ever watched multiple times was The Sopranos (again, too much to take in on the first viewing)… draw your own comparisons… and THANKS!!! for making me laugh again and again and again!
cheers
robin
I am not sure why but the line by Roy:
“I’m a Woman!”
has replaced
“I hear you’re a racist now father!” as one of my favorite lines by Graham.
‘Blue Jam’–the only thing I definitely remember writing was the security guard who couldn’t stop people falling down the lift shaft. We did do more (we must have, as we did loads of meetings on it) but I honestly can’t remember what.
Nice episode! I *think* the dinner party got more laughs out of me but I like this kind of mad plotting more. Flammable bra was priceless, and the brand name a Thing of Perfection. And I really liked Third Woman’s reaction shot!
I shall me purchasing the DVD Next Monday from my local Virgin Megastore minus my 10% Student Discount and skipping right to episode 5 commentary.
Oh yes, Graham, don’t forget to shill the DVD release in a post!
I thought it was a great episode, far better than the series opener which I thought was pretty weak…
The allusion to the Guy Goma incident was great — alas, the Ordinary Boys had split by the time of transmission. Be less explicit with the pop culture references lest they date so badly.
I think that the second series has been a massive improvement over the first.
Well we cracked up. Repeatedly. Both TV shows, the moth punchline, the “as the only two women here” line, and pretty much every 30 seconds on cue. I thought it was brilliant, so there. Worst thing about the IT Crowd is that there are too few episodes — that and the fact Cory gives the plot away on Boing Boing each time, so I have to avoid reading blogs at the weekend.
Oh BTW the other sucky thing about the IT Crowd is how depressed the comedown makes me feel on Sunday. The inter-episode comedown is bad enough but the inter-series one is going to kill. Didn’t Alan say it best when paraphrasing Bono: “Sunday, Bloody Sunday!”
I work in IT. I’ve been on Dragons’ Den. It’s too close for comfort.
Really? What was the product?
Matt Berry is what makes the show go from great to Super Awesome!
Thank you for casting Matt Berry!
I laughed so much at the theatre episode I actually let out a little bit of wee.
@Graham – I was demoted to an “and these people also pitched” montage. I guess the dragons weren’t vitriolic enough to me, and my witty responses back to them were cut out. However it did make Fridays IT Crowd episode all the more hilarious to me. I didn’t get on News 24 when I auditioned either — but I did see TV’s Will Mellor in the BBC reception. Showbiz, eh?
I loved the first series (i bought the dvd!) and loved the first episode of this series but then forgot to watch it again! After reading all this i decided to get 4oD on my PC to catch up. I ended up downloading all 5 episodes and enjoying them all. This episode 5 was excellent! Seeing a tv programme ‘go on’ another tv programme is weird, and it never really worked for Only Fools and Horses when they tried it. But i thought this really worked here because the dragons den scene was short, it was all about the characters and very funny. I’m still laughing now :)
I will be watching Episode 6 on Channel 4 this Friday!
The missus and i have been watching this seasons episodes and love them so much that we bought the first season on DVD and have watched that twice already. I’ve downloaded all the second seasons episodes that have aired through 4od and shall be watching them again in the next few days. I don’t think there has been an episode that has been poor and am looking forward to the rest of the series and for it to come out on DVD. Keep up the good work as i find myself rolling about on the floor during each episode. :)
A yankee here, who loves the show so much that I want it inside of me. Received an iPhone for my birthday and have yet to take it out of the box as I have not had the time to slog through hackmyiphone.com directions to customize my ringtone to the theme song that is already on my treo. Now how is that for worship? People, did you hear me? I haven’t even taken it out of the box because I cannot immediately get the IT Crowd theme song onto it! Top that!
Oh yes, and Mr. Linehan would you mind if I had the line. “Congratulations! You’ve bagged yourself a normal.” put onto a T-shirt? I promise to do it just this one time and for my own personal use. Please?
I was at the recording of this and really enjoyed it then and watching it on TV. The Dragon’s Den scene is a brilliant pay-off with Roy still asking for the cash.
At the recording it was noticeable that you were pacing around, tweaking a few things, even asking us if the ‘pizza in the toilet joke’ should stay in. I just thought that was Graham Linehan!
But the comedy masked any stitches for me. Moss’s ‘eat your words’ line was genius. I think he did a few takes of it and every time it was hilarious. I’m fairly new to comedy writing and an ‘ex-IT’ man so I would love to come to more recordings.
Whatever, it’s still damn funny. This series has improved on the first immeasurably. You should be really proud. I was rooting for it.
Hey, this episode made me cry with laughter, just like all the episodes have so far, so as far as i’m concerned it’s great :D
I have to agree – great episode…
You obviously just tease us by saying its a duff episode to keep our expectations low :)
I’m curious what last minute script changes were made? (I love these behind the scenes snippets)
thanks!
Hey Graham. I really love the IT crowd, but you’re really straying away from the whole geekiness that made the show great in the first season!
Hmm…but everyone says this is better than the first season! I so confused!
Obviously, (after seeing clips for next episode 6) you are running out of IT jokes. The jokes for episode 5 and 6 are OK, but we nerds like jokes that have to do with bits and bytes. Thus, I propose, and you may or not choose to accept, let the readers of boing boing refresh your vault of IT (AKA nerdy) jokes! Please reach out and ask someone for anecdotes at B+B. I’m sure there is plenty of material out there waiting for you and IT Crowd :)
Great episode, excellent series … Graham you’re a legend!
What’s the name of the song that is playing at the very start of the episode when Roy is walking around with the lipstick on?
Hi!
I write you cause i’ve find you were searching for the song that is playing when Roy is walking around with the lipstick on, you know, IT crowd scene. I was wondering if you have got it name because it has been 2 years i’m looking for it.
Thank you
another good episode, the only thing missing for me was a scene with moss in a bath looking at a moth trinky-dinking up a small ladder on the side
“Hmm…but everyone says this is better than the first season! I so confused!”
I didn’t see much of the first season so my opinion is probably woefully uninformed, but I would say the second series is much better, and I’m a big fan of geek humour.
As I said before, I personally attribute it more to the characters being more developed, they’re much more likable and well defined this time, Roy and Jen in particular I find a lot more likable characters. This may be down to the writing, or the acting, or more likely a combination of them both, I’m not sure when the casting happened but can only assume having the characters in mind whenwriting the second series can only have helped with this? I dunno, but either wayt, geek humour doesn’t make or break a comedy IMO.
That all said, I didn’t see a good few of the first series so my opinions here may be ill-informed, and if so I apologize. I’m mouthing off about comedy like I know what I’m talking about, but I don’t really :-S I suppose everyone has opinions about what makes them laugh…
Thanks!
lemmy
PS: Oh yeah. Ep 5 was cool! I liked both TV scenes a LOT. Also the Dragon’s Den presenter explaining every little thing they do before/when they do it was priceless, I had a conversation with my brother about the SAME thing literally the morning before the episode aired… Observational indeed!! :) Quality.
As far as jokes-for-nerds go, I thought that the anti-piracy spoof in the previous episode was pretty good, and that the character humor is funnier anyway.
Graham, I am a stonemason and sometimes I make something like a carved fireplace or a pinnacle for a church and I’m not happy with it. I can see all the little imperfections that to me stand out a mile but to everyone else not noticeable at all.
Last Fridays episode was hilarious, I laughed my cock off.
So relax like me you’re a craftsman, and you just have to live with what you see as imperfections and what the general public don’t.
We are HUGE IT Crowd fans ….waiting with baited breath for each new episode …now that we’ve seen the 6th episode, we are devastated since we’ll have now sit and chew our nails til next season.
The 5th episode was priceless.
Now, about the 6th episode – had some really funny moments but overall we felt that it was not up to the usual excellent standard. Hope this is not a trend ……..;-//
We heard that this series may be picked up by some dopey U.S. outfit – that will ruin it for us. The Americans have no clue when it comes to comedy. (Hmm, or anything else for that matter …..)
Oh, Louise, please leave the anti-Americanism at the door when you come in here. I got no time for it.