Television series
The IT Crowd
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
- Dip in and out
A sitcom about three IT support workers at a vast corporation: Roy and Moss, brilliant but socially catastrophic; Jen, hired to manage them despite knowing nothing about computers. Laugh-out-loud British comedy that mines absurdity from workplace desperation, corporate incompetence, and the specific loneliness of being the smartest person in the room. Essential viewing for anyone who's felt stranded in an office.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love sitcoms built on awkward silences, deadpan one-liners and a bickering office trio whose petty schemes spiral into absurd, perfectly timed chaos.
Skip it if you want a show that rewards long attention or emotional depth, since its jokes run on quick, repeated gags and characters who rarely change much.
What it asks of you: Thirty-minute episodes that arrive quickly and keep their rhythm light, asking you to laugh at small, daft moments rather than follow a slow, serious build.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Parks and Recreation2009
The same DNA of workplace comedy wrapped around characters you grow genuinely fond of. Leslie Knope's optimism in a dysfunctional bureaucracy mirrors Roy and Moss's bewilderment, and the ensemble finds depth beneath the absurdity.
But The first season takes a while to find its footing, and the mockumentary style isn't everyone's rhythm.
30 Rock2006
Rapid-fire jokes, workplace chaos, and a central trio navigating television production's insanity. The writing is similarly dense, the characters are similarly flawed, and the laugh density is remarkably high.
But It sometimes prioritizes gags over character, and a few storylines haven't aged gracefully in tone.
Severance2022
Also finds profound unease in the corporate workplace. Ben Stiller's direction brings dark, surreal dread to office life, examining what happens when work colonises everything—but from the opposite emotional register.
But It's genuinely unsettling rather than funny, and moves at a measured pace that will feel glacial if you want immediate laughs.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The IT Crowd
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Halt and Catch Fire2014
Both centre on the emotional intensity of people whose primary relationship is with systems and ideas; both ask what it costs to care deeply about things the world doesn't value.
Like The IT Crowd, it's about people who speak a technical language no one else understands, trying to build something in environments hostile to their vision. But it's a drama about the personal cost of obsession, gorgeously shot, with deep character arcs spanning seasons.
But It's serious and sometimes melancholic. If you came for laughs, you'll find instead a meditation on ambition, failure, and love that might feel like tonal whiplash.
More like this (5)
Veep2012
British comedy sensibility transplanted to American politics: relentless, profane, and built on characters trying to appear competent while failing catastrophically. The insult writing is phenomenal.
But The tone is meaner and more cynical. There's no heart underneath the chaos like there is in The IT Crowd.
Community2009
A study group at a community college in the same vein: misfits bonding in a dysfunctional institution, genre pastiche, and characters who are awkward in recognisably human ways. Excellent ensemble chemistry.
But Quality varies significantly by season, and it can veer into self-aware meta-comedy that overshadows character development.
NewsRadio1995
A 1990s newsroom comedy with ensemble chemistry so strong you believe these dysfunctional misfits genuinely like each other. Sharp writing, excellent ensemble cast, and a real sense of camaraderie despite the chaos.
But It's harder to find than more recent shows, and the 90s office aesthetic might feel distant rather than nostalgic.
The Booth at the End2010
Both understand that comedy and pathos live in the same confined spaces where people are forced to know each other completely.
A single-location experimental miniseries where the same five characters occupy one booth in a diner for every episode. The constraint mirrors Roy and Moss's basement: from limitation comes genuine intimacy and strange comedy. Deeply weird and utterly transfixing.
But The format is genuinely strange—minimal plot, maximum character, no musical score. It requires patience and a tolerance for obliqueness that goes far beyond standard sitcom.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying1967
Both are bittersweet comedies about smart people navigating systems designed by and for idiots, finding solidarity with other misfits in the margins.
A 1967 musical where the protagonist is a lovable fraud navigating corporate machinery through sheer shamelessness. It's The IT Crowd's DNA transported to song and dance: the absurdity of workplace hierarchies, the gap between appearance and reality, characters speaking languages no one else understands.
But It's a film musical from the 1960s. If you're allergic to tap dancing and Robert Morse's manic energy, nothing here will convert you.
People
Cast
Writing
- Graham LinehanCreator
Production
- Ash AtallaExecutive Producer
Recommended by
Toast of London, The Big Bang Theory, Coupling, The Inbetweeners Movie, Man to Man with Dean Learner, Black Books, Spaced, Miranda, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, My Hero, Moone Boy, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Teachers, Big School, Father Ted, Nathan Barley, Not Going Out, Drop the Dead Donkey, The Valleys, Green Wing, The Grand Tour, Dead Pixels, The Office, Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, Starter for 10, Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie, David Mitchell's Soapbox, Facejacker, Ideal, A Very Peculiar Practice, Getting On, F.I.R.