History Series / TheITCrowd

* [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys All Women Want Bastards]]

* ShoutOut: With [[OneOfUs real geeks]] involved with the show, the list of things in the office that ''aren't'' a ShoutOut to classic computer geekery, nerdly {{in joke}}s and {{memetic mutation}}s would be shorter. To wit:

** The menus of the {{DVD}}s are also {{ShoutOut}}s in their own right:

* FridgeLogic: Lampshaded in "Are We Not Men"- [[BrickJoke as the credits are rolling]] at the end, it cuts back to the scene inside a trailer just after [[spoiler: the bank robbery]], where Roy asks, "Who closed the doors?"
** He follows with, "Did you see that ludicrous display last night" - see ContinuityNod above
** Whoever drove the truck there?
*** Perhaps Derrick drove it there before [[spoiler: Barry shot him.]]

* ShoutOut: With [[OneOfUs real geeks]] involved with the show, the list of things in the office that ''aren't'' a ShoutOut to classic computer geekery, nerdly {{InJoke}}s and {{MemeticMutation}}s would be shorter. To wit:

* ShoutOut: To every piece of British 80s computer gaming nostalgia ever. The range runs from an ''Underwurlde'' poster on the wall to huge piles of Spectrum [=ZX81s=] to the menus from the DVD release being ripped off from ''HeadOverHeels''.
** With [[OneOfUs real geeks]] involved with the show, the list of things in the office that ''aren't'' a ShoutOut of some form, from classic computer geekery, nerdly {{InJoke}}s and {{MemeticMutation}}s would be shorter.

*** A figurine and it's box depicting Pogeybait from ''Comicbook/{{Eightball}}''.
*** A figurine of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, a character from ''Comickbook/AcmeNoveltyLibrary'' (a comic Roy is seen reading from time to time.)

*** A figurine of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, a character from ''Comickbook/AcmeNoveltyLibrary'' (a comic Roy is seen reading from time to time.

** The menus of the [[DVD DVDs]] are also {{ShoutOut}}s in their own right:

** The IT department's set is decorated with various {{alternative comics}}s and their related merchandise:

* ClusterFBomb: Jen shouted a string of swear words at a Japanese company exec after he stomped on her foot with a pair of Doc Martens. After letting out her anger the man turned to his interpreter who [[CrowningMomentOfFunny repeated the sentence ... in Japanese]].
** PlayedForLaughs even more in that the cluster was ''entirely'' bleeped. An act which was apparently controlled by Denholm's subordinate, and saved him his job. Denholm follows this up by immediately turning to Jen and loudly proclaiming "You fucked up!" The subordinate hits the button. Late.

** This also partially contributes to numerous accusations that this show is a 'rip-off' of ''TheOffice'' and similar unflattering comparisons, when even a cursory glance at both shows would reveal that aside from [[WorkCom being set in a modern office]] the two are almost nothing alike, being located on completely different ends of the SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness just for starters. Graham Linehan has been known to get very irate about such comparisons for precisely this reason.

* AnythingThatMoves: Subverted by Dennis, who is putting the moves on a woman when she reveals that she used to be a man. He shrugs and says he's doesn't care at all. However, it turns out that he misheard her. He completely loses interest when he realizes the truth.

** Moss is also [[TheMightyBoosh Saboo]].

[[caption-width-right:350:"Hello, IT. [[RunningGag Have you tried turning it off and on again]]?"[[hottip:*:"Is it definitely plugged ''in?''"]]]]

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLAble: Jen's pronunciation of "compuTERS".
* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism - Jen, on winning Employee of the Month.
* ActingUnnatural: Moss and Roy after Moss shoplifts the ''Grand Designs'' dvds in "Bad Boys". Moss, Roy, and Richmond in "The Dinner Party" in a slightly different variation where Jen tells them to try and look normal to keep up appearances.

* BangBangBANG - Averted when Douglas shoots himself in the leg - it's so loud the [[SteelEardrums ensuing ringing noise]] drowns out the dialogue for a few seconds.

* BewareTheNiceOnes - Douglas may seem like a harmless, if sexually crazed, moron, but his memories of his last moment with his dead wife involve her screaming for help because he was trying to kill her.

* BlackAndNerdy - Moss, of course.

* BlatantLies - "I love that you used to be a man! It's your thing! I love thinking about that operation that you had!"
* BrickJoke - Several per episode, no reference ever seems to be wasted. "Calamity Jen" probably has the most obvious examples.

* BritishBrevity - Like most UK comedy shows, only has six 30-minute episodes per season.

** Moss.

* CallBack - Douglas asks Moss to call 999 in Series 3, to which he responds that that isn't the number anymore, and starts to sing the [[RidiculouslyLongPhoneNumber jingle from Series 1, Episode 2]].
* CampGay - ''"A gay musical... called ''Gay''. That's quite gay."'' Not to be confused with HorribleCampingTrip.

* CatchphraseInterruptus -

* CheckPlease - Jen's "[[CatchPhrase Taxi!]]" serves almost the exact same ScrewThisImOuttaHere purpose.
* ChewBubblegum - Moss, naturally, gets to say a variant.

* ChurchOfHappyology - The Spaceologists, whose opposition to massage parallels Scientology's hate of psychiatry. The show's [[VForVendetta Guy Fawkes mask]] is very prominently shown throughout the episode, [[ImageBoards of course]].
* ClusterFBomb - Jen shouted a string of swear words at a Japanese company exec after he stepped on her foot with a pair of Doc Martens. After letting out her anger the man turned to his interpreter who [[CrowningMomentOfFunny repeated the sentence ... in Japanese]].

* [=~Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch~=] - Pretty much the case any time a TV critic dismisses the show out of hand because of its production style. [[BritishNewspapers Daily Mirror]] critic Jim Shelley was once asked why he always made snarky, non-specific comments about the show in his column, and replied "I'll start watching the show once Graham Linehan realises it isn't 1995 any more." Even the notoriously CausticCritic CharlieBrooker has called other critics out on this attitude, despite not actually being a fan of the show himself (which he considers to be decent, but not exceptional).

* ContinuityNod - Somewhere between this and BrickJoke is the new emergency services number. Brought up and used for jokes in the first season, then not referred to again for two whole seasons.

* ''{{Countdown}}'' - [[spoiler: Moss wins the competition and joins a club of winners, where he takes part in ''Street Countdown''.]]
* CourtroomAntics - Including a fake heart attack, a jury of TheComicallySerious, and a sex tape based on ''StarTrek''.

** Linehan also appears as a member of the Mariachi band in the episode "Fifty-Fifty".
** And the "Blind Irish Sorcerer" from "Men Without Women."

* ADayInTheLimelight - The season 4 finale "Reynholm vs Reynholm" focuses on Douglas and while Jen is also heavily featured Roy and Moss have only very brief appearances.

* DiggingYourselfDeeper - Roy tells the psychiatrist she looks like his mother, and it's all downhill from there. Waaaaay downhill.
* DigitalPiracyIsEvil - An anti-piracy ad compares digital piracy to stealing a handbag, a car, a baby, killing a policeman, then stealing his helmet to defecate in, then sending it to his grieving widow, and re-stealing it from her. The ad ends with a scene depicting an FBI agent shooting a ''young girl'' pirating a film from the internet. In the head. Fatally.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything - Roy and Moss' 'married' life, and Jen and the smokers being banished to increasingly desolate places in "Moss and the German".

* DroppedABridgetOnHim - DoubleSubverted when, in a B-plot, Douglas embarks on a successful relationship with a post-op {{transsexual}} -- but it comes crashing down when he [[PoorCommunicationKills realises]] that she was saying "I used to be a man," not "I'm from Iran."

* EmbarrassingMiddleName - Richmond ''Felicity'' Avenal.
* EpicFail - Moss points a fire extinguisher at a fire. The extinguisher ''catches alight.''

* EvenNerdsHaveStandards - Even Moss and Roy look down on Richmond the goth.
* FakeOutMakeOut - See also, CrowningMomentOfFunny
* FashionHurts - Jen demonstrates this with a pair of too-small shoes.

* FiveFingerFillet - Done by Moss.
* FlashbackStares - Richmond does these when telling his story. Parodied after awhile as everyone else stares in the same direction: "What? [[WhatAreYouLookingAt What IS it??]]" Doubles, triples, and quadruples as LeaningOnTheFourthWall.

* FridgeLogic - Lampshaded in "Are We Not Men"- [[BrickJoke as the credits are rolling]] at the end, it cuts back to the scene inside a trailer just after [[spoiler: the bank robbery]], where Roy asks, "Who closed the doors?"

*** Roy telling the widow that he is sorry and to move on.

* FunTShirt - Roy has a [[UnlimitedWardrobe wardrobe]] full of them.
* GagSub - The official [=DVDs=] of the show have an option for 'l33t' subtitles, which vary from LeetLingo to [=ROT13=] to Base-64 encoding depending on the episode.

* GeniusDitz - Moss demonstrates extraordinary intelligence, memory and mathematical ability... it's a shame he's a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} too.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - In 4x1 ("Jen the Fredo"), the visiting out-of-town businessmen say "Eiffel Tower" a few times while high-fiving. "Eiffel Tower" can mean a high five in a different context.
* GilliganCut - In "Are We Not Men?" Roy promises Moss he won't go in too deep pretending to be a football fan. Cut to them attending a match.

* GirlfriendInCanada - In "Jen The Fredo", Moss talks about a girlfriend he had "on holiday", causing Roy to snap "They're always on holiday, aren't they Moss?".
* GoLookAtTheDistraction - The entire plot where Roy is stuck under an employee's desk. Moss fails at this completely because what he says isn't much better than actually using the phrase "Go Look At The Distraction."
* AGodAmI - Not quite, but in 2.2, upon hearing the latest incredible profit figures his company has produced, Denholm gives a speech proclaiming himself the greatest man in the world.
* GretzkyHasTheBall - "Did you see that ludicrous display last night?"
* HackerCave - the office basement where the IT department is located.
** Subverted, most of the equipment is simply being stored there and is not in use or working in any way.
* HairTriggerTemper - Denholm is normally very friendly with his staff, even the shunned IT department. Just make sure you aren't '''STRESSED''' and can work as a '''TEAM'''.

* HaveIMentionedIAmSexuallyActiveToday - Moss does this when he has to pretend to be married, several times going out of his way to mention all the frequent and amazing sex that goes on in his marriage.
* [[HaveYouTriedRebooting Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again?]] - or, [[ExpospeakGag if you prefer]], Have You Tried Forcing An Unexpected Reboot?

* HoYay - More often than you'd think. Roy and Moss even kiss, ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV6IBGsMsWQ twice.]]''

* HollywoodNerd - Averted; Roy and Moss are more like the reality than usual.

* HomemadeInventions - Moss has a knack for these, from his own Stress Machine to the perfect bra to the Moth Bath Ladder.
* IAmNotShazam - To quote Douglas: "Well, I'm the boss, head honcho, ''el numero uno'', Mr. Big, {{the Godfather}}, {{Lord of the Rings}}, {{the Bourne Identity}}, er... {{Taxi Driver}}, {{Jaws}}... [[{{Metaphorgotten}} Forgot the question a while ago.]]"
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming - or Series Naming at least: Versions 1.0, 2.0, 3.0...
* ILikeMyXLikeILikeMyY - "I like my women like I like my toast. Hot..." "And consumable with butter, you don't have to remind me."
* [=~I'm A Humanitarian~=] - An ad reading "I want to cook with you" is not what it seems.
* IncomingHam - the very first time we see Douglas is his throwing open the doors of a church [[TheFunInFuneral in the middle of a funeral]], MilkingTheGiantCow and {{Skyward Scream}}ing "[[BigWordShout FATHERRRRRR!]]"
* IncrediblyLamePun - "Or perhaps that should be brie-liant."
* ItsASmallNetAfterAll - It's just a small black box.
* ItsNotYouItsMe - "No actually, it is you"
* JugglingLoadedGuns - Douglas opens a random drawer and finds a unloaded revolver. Whilst attempting to conceal it, he accidentally shoots himself in the leg after putting bullets in it, and spends the rest of the episode trying to hide his injury from his staff. Amusingly, that happens after he checks if it's loaded by ''putting the gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger five times.'' He is supposed to be TooDumbToLive, but ''damn''.
* KavorkaMan - Douglas, who has a pretty good record with women, with Jen and some court cases being the exceptions.
* {{Kwyjibo}} - [[spoiler:Moss plays the word "TNETENNBA" during a game of Countdown and wins.]]
* LargeHam - Both Reynholms. '''''[[IncomingHam "FATHERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"]]'''''
* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn - Twice in "The Haunting of Bill Crouse" Moss seems to have a dramatic epiphany accompanied by a '''DUN-DUN-DUUUN!''', only for the music to turn out to be his mobile phone's ringtone.

* LovePotion - Subverted, in that the "potion" is actually just Rohypnol, and lampshaded in ThePreviously on a later episode, where the narrators point out that Rohypnol doesn't cause arousal - just tiredness. Pre-lampshaded (and possibly making the later example a HypocrisyNod) when Moss asked Jen if she was drinking it because she was having trouble sleeping.

* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold - Richmond, despite wearing over-the-top makeup, obsessing over CradleOfFilth and being banished to the server room [[EvenNerdsHaveStandards by Moss and Roy]], is actually quite sweet and friendly. However, more than a few minutes of his company still tends to have a [[DrivenToSuicide depressing]] effect on people.
* NerdNanny - Jen.
* NiceGuysFinishLast - Which Roy attempts to prove.
* NoPeriodsPeriod - Played for comedy; a first series episode focuses on Jen experiencing an angry period, with Roy and Moss demonstrating sympathy symptoms and eventually culminating in [[AbsurdityAscendant worldwide computer technician riots]].
* NoodleIncident - In the second episode of the first series Moss and Roy reference an incident in which a unattended soldering iron caused a golf...I mean fire.

* ObfuscatingDisability - Roy in 2.1 does this to avoid getting in trouble for using the handicapped toilet.
* OtakuSurrogate - Jen may be building up to be a subtle or soon-to-be uncloseted example, judging by the decorations in her office (the most obvious being the poster on the wall to the right of Jen starting in late Series 3, but a FreezeFrameBonus shows a few significant examples on her shelf).

* OverlyLongGag - [[RidiculouslyLongPhoneNumber 0118 999 881 999 119 725... 3]].

* PerkyGoth - Richmond.
* PrecisionFStrike - Douglas to the inter-faith tour.
* PublicExposure - In the third season finale, the company decide to do a sexy calendar to raise money for a charity for the "boss-eyed". Roy's original attempt to use the ladies from Floor 7 is stopped by Jen, the attempt to do grannies fails and the "geek" calendar produces unattractive male geeks, instead of the TinaFey sort.

* PutOnABus - Richmond, after filming clashed with the tour of ''TheMightyBoosh''. Would be BrotherChuck were it not for one throwaway reference. He got scurvy, apparently.
** [[TheBusCameBack He returned for the series 4 finale.]]

* RecklessGunUsage - see JugglingLoadedGuns entry.
* RefugeInAudacity - Douglas' fight with his transgender girlfriend, which takes the UnfortunateImplications inherent in a man beating up a transwoman and turns it into a knuckle down action movie brawl in which both smash up a laboratory in an effort to completely knock the shit out of each other.
* ResetButton - If it wasn't for Richmond's later appearances, "The Red Door" would be a textbook example. Jen finds Richmond in a room off the IT office, to where he had been banished from the office mainstream a few years before. She encourages him to rejoin the office; Reynholm reinstates him, then capriciously changes his mind and sends him back to IT. Moss has taken Jen's suggestion to clean the basement's window and let the daylight in, which makes Richmond retreat back behind the red door.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines - Moss' appearance as a guest on a {{BBC}} current affairs program, inspired by [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4774429.stm Guy Goma]].
* [[RPGEpisode RPG Episode]] - Very surprisingly given the the setting but the one time an [[RolePlayingGame RPG]] is a major plot element it is an old fashioned 'pencil and dice' TabletopGame (implied to be ''DungeonsAndDragons'' itself) rather than a computer game.

* RuleNumberOne - The ''FightClub'' ShoutOut that is [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Street Countdown]] starts as...
-->'''Prime''': The first rule of ''Street Countdown'' is...that you really must try to tell as many people as possible about it! It’s a rather fun game and the more people we tell about it, the better.
* RuleOfFunny - When it comes to Jen's towering ignorance about computers.
* RuleOfThree - played straight, as Linehan's other series all feature three main characters. Averted, as it's the first of his ChannelFour sitcoms to make it to a fourth series. But it's his third sitcom for the channel! My head hurts.
* RunningGag - It is never made explicitly clear exactly what Reynholm Industries ''does''.
* SadistShow - Arguably. A lot of the series's [[CrowningMomentOfFunny best moments]] come from this aspect of it.

* ShapedLikeItself - A fair few of these from Moss.

* ShipTease - Roy and Jen on occasion, particularly in the first series.
* ShoutOut - to every piece of British 80s computer gaming nostalgia ever. The range runs from an ''Underwurlde'' poster on the wall to huge piles of Spectrum [=ZX81s=] to the menus from the DVD release being ripped off from ''HeadOverHeels''.

*** The DVD menus of series 1.0 have animations of the cast in ZXSpectrum graphics, and 2.0 which has menus including ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'', ''{{Lemmings}}'', ''MortalKombat'' and even a parody of the intro of ''ZeroWing'', complete with {{Engrish}}!

* SnowballLie: Moss telling an unwanted suitor of Jen's she was dead to keep him away from her.

* StockSoundEffect: There's a surreally justified version in one episode, where Moss has a concussion and has lost his memory. When he knocks his head again and regains it, there's a close-up on his eyes opening, accompanied by the most hilarious possible choice of music: the standard Windows log-on music...

* StylisticSuck: Douglas's ''StarTrek''-inspired sex tape; the acting is bad, "female Spock" puts on her ears just as she comes into frame, and the boom mike is briefly visible in a shot.

** Played straight with the recorded phone response of "have you tried turning it off and on again?", even in cases where the problem is slightly more complicated.

* TooDumbToFool - Why Roy and Moss's plan to humiliate Jen backfires - none of the senior staff know anything about computers either.

** Jen pronounces "computer" with the emphasis on the first syllable (rather than as more commonly on the second syllable). This serves to highlight her lack of expertise and interest in the area.
** In series two, when discussing Jen's boyfriend Peter File's unfortunate name, Moss mentions the US pronunciation "Pehdophile" in comparison to the UK's "Peedopfile".

** Destined for...this troper doesn't recall exactly but even by American standards it was hilariously far away.

Frequent guests include ChrisMorris as the [[LargeHam aggressively eccentric]] (to the point of complete madness) company chairman Denholm Reynholm, NoelFielding as reclusive {{Goth}} sysadmin Richmond Avenal, and Matt Berry as Douglas Reynholm, Denholm's [[AnythingThatMoves extremely promiscuous]] son who takes over the business in series two.

Despite sometimes getting a raw deal from TV critics due to the series being produced in the classic Britcom mode (as opposed to the more naturalistic style popularised by ''TheOffice'' and ''{{Extras}}''), it has a loyal following and often does pretty well in the audience ratings. An American remake was commissioned but hasn't seen the light of day yet. The German remake ran for exactly two episodes due to bad actors, badly translated puns and therefore bad viewer numbers.

* AllWomenLoveShoes: Shoes that are actually three sizes too small for them, in fact.

* CourtroomAntics - Including a fake heart attack, a jury of TheUnfunny, and a sex tape based on ''StarTrek''.

** A flashback in Richmond's introductory episode shows Richmond attending Reynholm's father's funeral in full makeup (Reminiscent of AliceCooper) and giving Reynholm's elderly mother a CradleOfFilth album to cheer her up

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - In 4x1 ("Jen the Fredo"), the visiting out-of-town businessmen say "Eiffel Tower" a few times while high-fiving. "Eiffel Tower" can mean a high five in [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean a different context]].