Television series
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley follows Richard Hendricks and his hapless startup crew as they try to keep control of a game-changing algorithm while venture capitalists, rival engineers, and their own social ineptitude conspire against them. It's a workplace comedy fluent in real tech jargon, turning boardroom jargon and Burning Man platitudes into precise, quotable absurdity. Sharp, cringe-heavy, and weirdly accurate about how money actually works, it's for anyone who enjoys watching smart people humiliate themselves in real time.
If you liked this
Veep2012
Same profane, escalating-incompetence engine, just swapped from tech bros to the White House. The dialogue is savage, the characters are all monstrous, and the plotting is just as tightly wound.
But Politics instead of code — if you wanted more startup specifically, this scratches a different itch entirely.

The Office2005
The mockumentary template Silicon Valley riffs on, with a similarly deluded boss and a workplace full of people who'd rather not be doing their jobs. Warmer, but still cringe-perfect.
But Gentler and more sentimental — nobody's building a world-changing algorithm, just surviving paper sales.

Arrested Development2003
The same density of jokes-per-minute and a family of catastrophically self-absorbed people failing upward. If you love the writers'-room precision of Silicon Valley's gags, this is the mothership.
But No single driving business plot — it's more sprawling farce than one company's slow-motion collapse.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley2019
Same startup ecosystem, same pitch-deck mythology and investor gullibility, but with the comedy stripped away to show what it actually costs when the bluff doesn't get called in time.
A documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos that plays like the horrifying true-crime cousin of everything Silicon Valley jokes about — the fundraising theater, the reality-distortion field, the belief that confidence beats competence.
But There's nothing funny here. It's a sober, unsettling account of real people getting hurt by exactly the culture the sitcom satirizes.

More like this (8)
Barry2018
Bill Hader's half-hour HBO comedy about a hitman trying to become an actor shares Silicon Valley's gift for finding comedy in people desperately overestimating their own competence.
But Considerably darker and more violent — this tips into genuine tragedy in ways the tech satire never does.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia2005
A toxic little group of schemers convinced they're smarter than everyone around them — sound familiar? The scheming and self-sabotage are just as gleeful, just filthier.
But Much cruder and more chaotic, with zero interest in redemption arcs or believable stakes.

Community2009
A misfit ensemble bouncing off each other's egos and insecurities, with the same fondness for hyper-specific in-group jargon and meta jokes about its own genre.
But Set in a community college study group, not a boardroom — the tech-world satire is entirely absent.

30 Rock2006
Swap Pied Piper for a failing sketch show and you've got the same rapid-fire industry satire, skewering ego and incompetence at every level of a company nobody quite understands.
But Broader, more cartoonish jokes — less interested in realism than Silicon Valley's grounded absurdity.

Parks and Recreation2009
Another mockumentary-adjacent ensemble of oddballs trying to build something against bureaucratic odds, with genuine warmth underneath the jokes.
But Far sunnier and kinder — if you came for cynicism about ambition, this show believes in people too much.

Superstore2015
A big-box retail version of the same corporate-absurdity engine, with a lovable-loser ensemble and management that's just as clueless as any tech CEO.
But Broader, sitcommier humor with a laugh-track sensibility that's a big tonal step down from HBO's dry style.

The Hudsucker Proxy1994no page yet
Decades before startups had algorithms, this film ran the same joke: a company built entirely on hype, ego, and one guy's half-baked invention, staged as fast-talking satire rather than mockumentary.
A Coen brothers screwball comedy about a naive inventor installed as a corporate stooge, with the same absurd boardroom scheming and a hero whose big idea might just be genius or might be nothing at all.
But Old-fashioned screwball rhythms and a fairy-tale plot structure — nothing about it looks or sounds like a modern workplace comedy.
Start-Up2020no page yet
Strip out the cynicism and jokes and you're left with the same bones — underdog coders, ruthless investors, a pitch that could change everything — just filtered through an entirely different genre and culture's idea of drama.
A Korean drama about a startup incubator, rival founders, and a make-or-break pitch competition — the same premise, played completely straight as swoony melodrama instead of comedy.
But It's a soapy romance first and a tech story second — if you want jokes about VC culture, you won't find many here.
People
Cast
Writing
- Dave KrinskyCreator
- John AltschulerCreator
- Mike JudgeCreator
Production
- Jonathan DotanAssociate Producer
- Anthony KingCo-Executive Producer
- Chris ProvenzanoCo-Executive Producer
- Clay TarverCo-Executive Producer
- Dan O'KeefeCo-Executive Producer
- Graham WagnerCo-Executive Producer
- Jamie BabbitCo-Executive Producer
- Jim KleverweisCo-Executive Producer
- Ron WeinerCo-Executive Producer
- Jeremy BeimCo-Producer
- Peter PhillipsCo-Producer
- Carrie KemperConsulting Producer
- Carson MellConsulting Producer
- Clay TarverConsulting Producer
- Jonathan DotanConsulting Producer
- Josh LiebConsulting Producer
- Ron WeinerConsulting Producer
- Alec BergExecutive Producer
- Clay TarverExecutive Producer
- Dave KrinskyExecutive Producer
- Greg DanielsExecutive Producer
- Jamie BabbitExecutive Producer
- Jim KleverweisExecutive Producer
- John AltschulerExecutive Producer
- Michael RotenbergExecutive Producer
- Mike JudgeExecutive Producer
- Tom LassallyExecutive Producer
- Aaron ZelmanSupervising Producer
- Adam CounteeSupervising Producer
- Carrie KemperSupervising Producer
Recommended by
Veep, The Social Network, General Magic, Halt and Catch Fire, Something Ventured, WeCrashed, Super Pumped, King of the Hill, Office Space, The Big Bang Theory, The Studio, Entourage, Utopia, The Righteous Gemstones, Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals