YMMV / The IT Crowd

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Some viewers who are not up on the Black Metal genre have been surprised to learn that Richmond's favorite band Cradle of Filth is in fact a real group and "Coffin Fodder" is a real song.
• Awesome Music:
  • The incredibly catchy theme song, an instrumental rework of Tubeway Army's "Are 'Friends' Electric?".
  • The surprisingly elegant cello version, as performed by the Affably Evil German cannibal.
• Bizarro Episode: "Reynholm vs Reynholm", which (besides the special) was also the final episode of the series. Douglas' wife returns, but her character is bizarre and she does very little besides start the court case. Jen is relegated to Douglas' legal lackey for no good reason, Roy and Moss are Demoted to Extra, Richmond makes a brief appearance as a totally different person and is gone just as fast, and there's only one short scene in the IT office. The episode also ends very abruptly. The whole thing feels like a Back Door Pilot for a Douglas spin off, given the main three characters are Out of Focus for most of the episode.
• Crosses the Line Twice
  • "You wouldn't shoot a policeman, and then steal his helmet! You wouldn't go to the toilet in his helmet, and then, send it to the policeman's grieving widow. And then steal it again!"
  • Douglas getting into an incredibly violent scuffle with a trans woman. Uncomfortable? Sure, but it's also the most thoroughly over-the-top fight sequence you'll see in a sitcom.
  • Reynholm's suicide begins as Refuge in Audacity but when he falls past the window later on in a flashback as Moss delivers the line "There's some scary stuff out there" could count.
  • "If she had told me her parents had drowned, I'd be the happiest man in the world!" Why is that funny and not horrible? Because it means Roy wouldn't be trying to wrack his head around how the hell someone could die in a fire at Sea Parks.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Because of the lack of inflection in his voice, incredible technical ability alongside nonexistent mundane ones and general lack of understanding of normal human interactions, it's been theorized that Moss might be on the autism spectrum.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Richmond is an incredibly popular character, despite not being in that many episodes. This can be attributed to a number of things, including his gothic and vampire-like appearance and personality, his large number of quotable lines, and the fact that he's played by Noel Fielding.
• Fandom Rivalry: With The Big Bang Theory. While there are people who like both shows, fans of IT who don't like Big Bang will say that the latter is this concept "done wrong," contrasting its depictions of geek culture.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The whole "Fire at a Sea Parks" joke becomes less funny after an explosion actually happened at a Taiwanese waterpark.
  • Creator Graham Linehan's openly transphobic beliefs makes Douglas' own in "The Speech" feel a lot less tongue-in-cheek and more outwardly hateful. Indeed, his refusal to accept that the episode could be seen as being in any way transphobic or apologise for it was what ultimately began his Career-Ending Misdemeanour when his endless anti-trans tweets essentially made him unemployable.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The joke involving the new, extremely long emergency phone number is that it's far too difficult to remember, especially for a number meant to be called quickly. However, thanks to the catchy jingle, quite a lot of viewers claim to have actually memorized it.
• Hollywood Homely: Jen's treated as somewhat less attractive than she actually is by most of the cast except Douglas. She's implied to look like a man and have unladylike big feet, among other things.
• Jerkass Woobie: While Douglas is clearly a sexist and an asshole, and was especially nasty to his post-op transgender girlfriend, it's hard not to feel sorry for him in the Stinger for "The Speech": watching television and eating pizza in his room alone, crying that "It's not the same!" before openly weeping.
  • Roy is a shameless pervert and is mean to almost everyone he meets, but he's not without his sympathetic moments. For example, in the episode "Are We Not Men?", in his desperation to make friends, he's tricked into helping a bunch of guys robbing a bank, helps them to hide, and once they're safe... he starts crying uncontrollably.
• Memetic Mutation: "FATHERRRRRRRRRR!!"
  • Have you tried turning it off and on again?
  • GOD DAMN THESE ELECTRIC SEX PANTS!
    • You there, computer man. Fix my pants.
  • Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
    • The thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in.
  • 0118 999 881 999 119 725 *Beat* 3.
  • I'm not crying! You're crying!
  • Roy and Jen had this happen in universe during the last episode where an incident involving them, a homeless woman and a midget went viral on the internet and received major news coverage.
  • I'll just put this over here with the rest of the fire.
  • But a fire? at a Sea Parks?
  • "I came here to drink milk and kick ass...and I've just finished my milk."
  • The anti-piracy ad spoof as a whole is one, but "you wouldn't download a car", which isn't actually part of the show, came about from it.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Outside of its cult following, the show is nowadays mostly remembered for the criticism of "The Speech" that put Graham Linehan on a downward spiral into vocal transphobia that cost him both his career and his family.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Countdown champion Prime is played by Benedict Wong, appearing a few years before his breakout roles in Marco Polo, The Martian, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • The female version of Sulu from Douglas' Star Trek-themed sex tape in "Reynholm vs Reynholm" was played by a pre-fame Gemma Chan. She also appeared as a Countdown groupie in "The Final Countdown" a few episodes prior.
• The Woobie - Jen trying to present Moss's invention on Dragon's Den.
  • Richmond, kind of. He's like a big, friendly dog (who dresses like a vampire and endlessly talks about Cradle of Filth and just about anything else that pops into his head) and gets pushed around by Roy and Moss — and anyone else who has to spend more than about five minutes in his company. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he gets scurvy.
  • Roy after his breakup in "Jen the Fredo".
    • And at the end of "Calendar Geeks", too.

---