IT Crowd Season 2, Episode 3: Great anti-piracy PSA sendup

The latest IT Crowd -- season two, episode three -- aired last night, and featured a milk-nose-snortingly funny parody of the pre-show anti-piracy ads you get in movie theatres. I'm downloading the torrent right now (they don't air The IT Crowd in China, where I am this week, and Channel 4's streaming service won't run on Linux, or to IP addresses out of the UK), and can't wait to see it.

The IT Crowd is my favorite new TV show -- barring The Daily Show -- of the decade, brilliant geek humor that rewards multiple viewings (as I discovered when I bought the Season One DVD and checked out the leet subtitles). Torrent link, Link to anti-piracy PSA parody on YouTube (Thanks, Justin, Ryan, and Iris!)

(Disclosure: I was an unpaid consultant on season one of The IT Crowd)

See also:
IT Crowd Season 2, Episode 2 -- keyboard-destroying nerd sitcom
The IT Crowd -- season two, episode one

[#1 posted by Anonymous , September 8, 2007 5:54 PM]

Any links to a Youtube-esque video of it? I could care less for a 200mb video that I watch once. Plus, don't want to hog the home's bandwidth.

[#2 posted by Anonymous , September 8, 2007 6:02 PM]

Fantastic as always. Good to see that Roy now has a "Father Dick Byrne"-style arch nemesis.

[#3 posted by Naikrovek , September 8, 2007 6:07 PM]

"milk-nose-snortingly funny"? It was clever, yes.

Though, the British do have a fairly difference sense of humor than I do. I found it clever, that's all.

[#4 posted by Anonymous , September 8, 2007 7:02 PM]

"milk-nose-snortingly funny"???
I suppose... if you like laugh tracks. I found it painful to watch.

[#5 posted by barry , September 8, 2007 7:10 PM]

some good piracy spoofs from University of Sydney Law Revue at Freedom to Differ too.

[#6 posted by Matt , September 8, 2007 7:59 PM]

Is the devil poster in their office by Coop? I also dig the Drinky Crow model.

[#7 posted by Tian , September 8, 2007 9:03 PM]

It was hilarious.

Cory,

If you are in China, try these two places to access outside of the Great Firewall of China:

http://anonymouse.org/

http://www.econsultant.com/proxylist/index.html

[#8 posted by Scaramouche , September 8, 2007 10:10 PM]

For those who prefer streaming video, you can view most of the episodes here: http://www.tv-links.co.uk/listings/1/1379

[#9 posted by Hockeyrink , September 8, 2007 11:14 PM]

Is it my imagination, or at 17:21 in the show, there's a copy of MAKE Magazine on the corner of the desk behind Roy?

Cool!

[#10 posted by MrIntolerant , September 9, 2007 1:17 AM]

Mashable had a link to a mashed up version of the anti-piracy video parodied here mixed with content from a Strawberry Shortcake video it was seen on.
Scary Strawberry Shortcake Warning

Thanks for the IT Crowd updates, it was a long year and a half waiting for it to return.

[#11 posted by Anonymous , September 9, 2007 1:48 AM]

They have lots of geek in-jokes in the office. For example, when you see Maurice sitting at his desk, behind him you can see the Flying Spaghetti Monster parody of the Jesus fish.

[#12 posted by Anonymous , September 9, 2007 1:49 AM]

They also have a Commodore PET in the office.

[#13 posted by Anonymous , September 9, 2007 1:51 AM]

And they have an O'Reilly poster on the wall.

[#14 posted by Anonymous , September 9, 2007 2:35 AM]

"To be clear -- Danny O'Brien (EFF staffer, occasional Guardian contributor, and native to Britain's shores) arranged for the stickers. I just talked with Graham about geek culture some."

[#15 posted by FPF422 , September 9, 2007 2:37 AM]

Enjoy this episode, it's really great.

Do you know, there is a twist at the end... ;)

[#16 posted by slawkenbergius , September 9, 2007 2:53 AM]

Though, the British do have a fairly difference sense of humor than I do. I found it clever, that's all

Yep, likely to be funnier if you're a Brit. It quite closely parodies a real advert, and the policeman's helmet detail is (perhaps) a twisted reference to the Jeeves & Wooster stories by P.G. Wodehouse.

[#17 posted by Brian , September 9, 2007 1:34 PM]

Love this show! Thanks for the torrent link.

[#18 posted by kaosdevice , September 9, 2007 2:34 PM]

As a person that finds those anti-piracy ads on DVDs unbelievably annoying I was in tears laughing at the parody, espescially the stealing it back bit at the end. I also liked the german cannibal's rendition of the IT Crowd theme song on cello at the end during the credits. I love this show.

[#19 posted by Anonymous , September 9, 2007 3:11 PM]

Anti Piracy spot from Paraguay (the copys was selled like real).

Nobody is whatching it, maybe becouse its all in guarani, native lenguage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWNWpFJMRu4

its funny

[#20 posted by mayagrafix , September 9, 2007 4:57 PM]

Absolutely love this show. Havent had this much fun since AbFab. As a neophyte 3rd world denizen, a sitcom as brilliant as IT crowd certainly lights up my fire. Please keep the BitTorrent streams comming. If you think China is far away, then you should try LA. The cello performance was absolutely brilliant :)

[#21 posted by Webbie , September 9, 2007 7:36 PM]

"Do you know, there is a twist at the end... ;)"

Moss is a ghost ! He's his own brother !

It was all a dream...?

[#22 posted by bop , September 10, 2007 1:56 AM]

Nice to see my homesewing logo posted on the wall at 1.37.

[#23 posted by hmatkin , September 10, 2007 5:33 AM]

Here are more direct links to the law revue piracy parodies, which Barry referred to above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdSFe0UgB3E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is2KYGDp1Rs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr-vvKOB0lk

[#24 posted by Luc , September 10, 2007 7:34 AM]

Does anyone know what the vinyl bird figure on Roy's desk is? I vaguely remember seeing it on Boing Boing. I think it's from a cartoon but I'm not sure...

[#25 posted by Anonymous , September 14, 2007 8:59 AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha-CU1yTisw

Full episode, enjoy :D

[#26 posted by Webbie , September 14, 2007 10:03 AM]

NBC news - Blue screen of death for the U.S version.