IT Crowd, The (UK TV Series) (DVD)

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I've never heard of "The IT Crowd," and I had two chances to do so. In 2006 the sitcom debuted on Channel 4 in England, created and directed by Graham Linehan ("Father Ted," "Black Books"). A year later, with a tweaked cast and new writers, the show began airing on NBC. But I can tell you this, after watching Season Two of the original series: without even seeing the American version, I'm convinced that the British one is superior. How can I say such an unfair and outrageous thing? Two words: Chris O'Dowd.

The Irish actor is missing from the American version, and he's such a comic presence that it would be like doing "Curb Your Enthusiasm" without Larry David. Sure, this is an ensemble comedy, with O'Dowd playing one third of an IT department housed in the basement of Reynholm Industries. But while Richard Ayoade is entertaining as the ultra-nerdy, bespectacled Moss, and Katherine Parkinson is charming as Jen, the know-nothing who's been assigned to be the supervisor of the basement-dwellers, it's O'Dowd who turns every scene into a scream. His facial expressions, his body language, his comic timing and delivery, and his character's penchant for going into a higher voice register when nervous really drives the show. There are other minor characters, like a Goth (Noel Fielding) who may or may not actually do any work, and various suits from the surface world, but O'Dowd is the one who consistently makes you laugh.

The first episode is typical of the other five (yes, there are just six per "season"). In it, as with shows like "Seinfeld" or "Curb Your Enthusiasm," a single incident leads to unexpected and unexpectedly complicated situations. When a snappy dresser from the sixth floor drops into the basement to ask Jen if she'd like to go to the theater with him, Roy (O'Dowd) and Moss don't get that he's asking her on a date and hint that they'd like to go along. They thought he was gay, and that turns out to be a running gag. And so the three of them meet Philip at the theater. What's playing? A musical titled "Gay." And Philip knows all the theater people. Yet he's also checking out the caboose on a woman who passes. Jen doesn't know what to think, but the guys are cracking wise the whole time. Inside the show it gets pretty raucous, but the plot really takes a turn and O'Dowd gets his moments to shine when Roy and Moss have to use the men's room. Inside is an attendant, and they both hate men's room attendants. Both fake urinating (because they can't do it with a grumpy attendant watching) and that simple "truth" leads to a "Seinfeldian" or "Curb Your Enthusiasm" chain of events. Because they couldn't use the men's room and they have to pee, Roy decides he's going to use the handicapped bathroom. But when it's time to flush, he pulls a chain and nothing happens. Pulls it again and again, but nothing happens. Then he follows the chain to the ceiling and sees "Emergency." In a matter of minutes the theater staff are breaking down the door, and Roy fakes being handicapped. He lies down on the floor and claims he fell off the toilet. "I'm disabled" he keeps saying. "Where?" the manager wants to know. "My legs." Well, where's your wheelchair, they want to know. "A man stole it." The chain of events in a situation comedy are only as funny as the actor whose reactions we're watching, and O'Dowd is hilarious. Before long, he's in a wheelchair and joining a group of men in wheelchairs who came from Manchester to see the show, all to protect himself. And he's giving a description of the wheelchair thief to a policeman.

Moss, meanwhile, doesn't fare any better. Caught using the staff restroom, he's ordered to stop slacking and get to work. So by the time that Jen and her "date" go backstage to meet the cast afterwards, imagine her surprise to see Roy in a wheelchair getting a special hug from cast member Laura Knightley, and her drink served to her by Moss. It's this type of innocent mishap that turns into a chain reaction of comedy that we see in every episode, whether it's a funeral that's disrupted, a non-smoking rule that's skirted, a dinner party that goes south, or a fear of underwear that leads to a bawdy new invention.