Launched roughly a yr earlier than The Massive Bang Principle, The IT Crowd (starring Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry) has acquired widespread acclaim on nearly each social media platform. Nevertheless, for some motive, it by no means achieved the identical worldwide recognition as Sheldon Cooper and his buddies – regardless of having a number of the finest comedic moments of any 2000s sitcom.
Why did The Massive Bang Principle‘s canned laughter and lowbrow humour show extra profitable than its British counterpart? Was it a matter of accessibility? Or was it just because the characters in The Massive Bang Principle had been basically extra entertaining than those in The IT Crowd?
Sorry, However The Massive Bang Principle Isn’t Humorous
Geeky Humor
The present definition of what’s a “nerd” has vastly modified from what it was in 2008. The nerdy issues Sheldon and the gang did in The Massive Bang Principle are the identical issues which have grow to be mainstream in at this time’s cultural panorama. Having fun with comedian ebook franchises and video video games? That’s not geeky anymore.
Whereas The Massive Bang Principle was a comedy present that performed on the most typical (and even perhaps dated) nerd stereotypes, The IT Crowd was a present made for precise nerds to get pleasure from. Among the present’s humour requires a bit of research and information of technical phrases to completely comprehend – one thing that may’t be stated of The Massive Bang Principle‘s quasi-scientific gags.
At first look, it would seem to be The Massive Bang Principle and The IT Crowd goal the identical sort of viewers – however nothing might be farther from the reality. A cursory evaluation of the type of the jokes in The IT Crowd would reveal the reality that many followers of the present know to be true: The Massive Bang Principle is a present about nerds, whereas The IT Crowd is a sequence for nerds.
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Characters Matter
A typical grievance about The Massive Bang Principle is that the majority characters are written like sitcom caricatures of actual individuals. The difficulty with that is that their personalities appear to be interchangeable because the episode calls for it. Sure, we all know that Sheldon is meant to be an insufferable maniac and that Howard is a womanizer, however these superficial traits are used primarily as an inexpensive setup for some fast jokes.
The IT Crowd, however, depends on a extra stable basis of characters that may be the identical form of people one would possibly discover on a median IT staff. The social ineptitude and quirky shenanigans are performed for laughs, that’s true – but it surely by no means feels as mean-spirited as a number of the gags made on The Massive Bang Principle, the place their characters are the butt of the jokes.
It’s protected to say that The IT Crowd‘s humour may not have the identical common enchantment as The Massive Bang Principle – but it surely by no means meant to. It is a inventive present with intelligent jokes that not each viewers would possibly admire, not to mention snigger at – but it surely has however discovered a sizeable cult following that enjoys it for what it tried to do.
The Massive Bang Principle‘s spectacular 279-episode run will undoubtedly eclipse The IT Crowd‘s 43 episodes in TV historical past, however die-hard followers of the present might be content material in figuring out that, on a joke-per-minute foundation, The IT Crowd takes the crown for the most effective non-animated geek comedy ever made.
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