WILL THIS BREAK THE INTERNET?! Americans React To "The IT Crowd - S3E4 - The Speech"

[@tkinginyellow]

NEVER thought this was controversial, NEVER

[@nigelturner3251]

Great comedy. Don’t worry about the robots. Graham Linehan shouting we’re all going to die at the end was brilliant.

[@michaeljohn1978]

Never has a sitcom episode caused so many people to pretend to be offended in order to not get cancelled themselves and take the moral highground. When in fact it's pure comedy gold

[@thatpunkcatte]

Nobody was offended by this. Not a single one. The entire episode actually was making fun of bigoted transphobes given April was actually a very nice person, and Douglas had actually a shot of being with someone decent but he couldn't break past his own shallow values to be with her. We're laughing at Douglas, not at April.

[@captbunnykiller1.0]

Absolutely nothing offensive about this.

[@dracos24]

I dunno if you can really call someone a transphobe, homophobe, heterophobe, or racist simply for having sexual preferences that don't include some people. Otherwise noone is safe.

[@michaeljohn1978]

@@dracos24 Fuck all to do with my comment

[@johnhall42]

What people?

[@Escapee5931]

I thought the controversy of this episode was in allowing The Internet to leave Big Ben.

[@caramba10]

The sad thing is April was probably the best partner Douglas could ever wish for, they had so much in common - just that one little issue.

[@Capt.Kira_FoeHammer]

What issue? Douglas being a Transphobic POS?

[@dazediss6629]

Because she’s Iranian

[@chrishalsall188]

To be fair we didn’t know how little the “issue” was.

[@girlsdrinkfeck]

@@chrishalsall188 the big issue is prob in a jar

[@michaeljohn1978]

If she kept her secret they could've lived happily ever after. Then she could've possibly announced on her death bed that she used to be a man. At which point Douglas would drop dead of a heart attack, but it would've been a life well lived

[@Salfordian]

Controversial episode for a handful of people, I thought this episode was in the top 2, can't decide between this and the theatre

[@LordArthurWellesley]

This had that twist and the fight, and ofc the internet joke, which is awesome, but the theater one is how you build up a perfect joke during a sitcom episode. For me, theater will always be no.1, this is the second.

[@bobscratchett5346]

The theatre episode is so well written. It just gets funnier and funnier. Brilliant

[@TheMsLourdes]

Thing is, that it is well written and it doesn't treat April like the butt of the joke. The joke is that he misheard, and he knows he's an asshole and he is gonna regret, not sleeping with her, but he will regret letting her go because of his issue, and it is Douglass' issue. Very well done.

[@_BangDroid_]

I know a few people who are trans and none of them have an issue with this ep, other than this episode being pulled. Honestly I think these issues are instigated by transphobes to make trans people look bad.

[@stewartcohen-jones2949]

The guy who shouts “ We’re all going to die” was none other than Graham Linehan.

[@andrewwest8334]

Legendary episode and probably my favourite of all. There are still a couple coming up though that contain ridiculously funny situations and performances. Speaking of which, Lucy Montgomery, who plays April, is a fantastic comedic actor and voice actor and deserves high praise for having the balls (or not…👀) to take on this role…

[@minime2282]

I agree she certainly did her part to make this one of the best episodes.

[@carlhartwell7978]

Yeah, overwhelming props to Lucy! She was awesome in this performance, as always. *Casting* _'We need a great physically and verbally comedic actress... one TINY caveat, she needs to look like she 'plausibly' could have been born a man...'_ *Lucy* _'I'm up for that!'_ 🤣👍

[@miff227]

@@carlhartwell7978 then they failed. It wasn't plausible. The better way to get what they needed was to get a trans actor. But then no-one would believe Douglas falling for him...

[@brianfantanamcsexpanther9290]

Controversial? Man I’m old, genuinely my favourite episode of the series, this and S04 E02 are absolute gold!

[@thebig9720]

Do you have your tnetennba?

[@FlashyVic]

Will they get the Countdown episode?

[@jackearl2398]

controversial ??? never met one in 54 years working with 1000's of people , a few videos on ticky tic tok and people think the world needs to change ...

[@FlashyVic]

@@Zippy66 Ah, of course.

[@chrissymc886]

​@@jackearl2398we used to just call them men in dresses in my day, I see no difference now.

[@vincentking2552]

The Churchill he mentions at the who's your inspirational person isn't the politicians Churchill. We use to have an insurance company called Churchill that had a nodding toy bulldog as their mascot and his catchphrase was "oh yes!"

[@ajivins1]

Voiced by Bob Mortimer

[@Kev5ter]

Wasn't It originally Vic Reeves?@@ajivins1

[@TomH2681]

I had no idea this was supposed to be controversial. I just remember THE INTERNET.

[@stevenr6397]

the noise made about this episode has NOTHING to do with the episode and everything to do with the fact that the writer does not agree with the modern transgender movement, they came after him and this episode was caught in the fallout dispite the fact that its comedy GOLD!

[@CTheRobot]

I didn’t see the thumbnail before this played, and as soon as I heard them say “controversial episode” I laughed immediately knowing which one it is. Great episode 😂

[@drbongorama]

I think controversy follows Graham's shows because of comments Graham makes, more than content. Also, just an aside on violence, I try to solve things with words first. Such a good episode, Graham actually does the "where all gonna die now"...

[@lud1593]

Im sure you know already but the guy that shouts 'were all gonna die!!! ' . He's the writer of the show Graham Linehan. Also wrote father ted

[@gar6446]

Be honest, its a crackung fight scene. Getting shitfaced, watching the darts in bed eating oizza, but the Segal marathon would have been a deal breaker for me.

[@thefreedommovement]

Boss guy, Matt berry, is one of my biggest celebrity crushes. I lived in London for years, and once saw him across the street from my work. I couldn’t run out of work, so instead I grabbed my phone and started taking photos of him like an absolute creep, while completely ignoring my customers trying to order lunch. Even from across the street his mannerisms were SO on point. He did some power stance, pointed at a guy and said “there you are!” in a commanding voice. I nearly pissed myself laughing.

[@cocoidiea8643]

I always loved the douglas/april fight because it was a fight between equals.

[@goodshipkaraboudjan]

Fun tale on scurvy - a couple Australian Army officers were living off base together and both being gym junkies ate just chicken and pizza. Anyway their boss notices that though these seemingly fit young men exercised in the gym twice a day they were looking more and more sickly and lethargic. It got so bad the doc had to examine them. Completely baffled he shot an email to a colleague in the Navy who jokingly said it was like they had scurvy. Sure enough.... The Navy had to break out the old medical books from the 1800s to properly diagnose them and advise the Army on how to treat them.

[@Wagoo]

I don't think there is anything controversial about this episode to be honest, it's more the fact Graham Linehan basically had a breakdown when some people accused him of this episode being transphobic and he's been ranting furiously at the trans community ever since. He went completely nuts over the matter (and lost his marriage in the process). He was banned from Twitter before Musk bought that platform. It's sad as he was such an excellent writer before all that

[@petercoleman7882]

A breakdown? total bullshit.

[@nobbycheeseman2915]

I think people forgot that the joke wasn't that people having sex changes are bad people or anything. The joke is that Douglas is offended by it because he is the stuck in his ways, old fashioned male. It's the fact that HE can't handle progression and the modern world. Remember the episode where he thought men wearing lipstick was new fashion.

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

He isn't "offended" by anything. He's repulsed because he's straight and most straight men find the idea of having sex with a man repugnant. Overriding peoples' sexuality and basic biology isn't "progress".

[@ashbridgeindustries380]

@@cockoffgewgle4993 Yeah, but the fight occured after they had already slept together. So his sexuality wasn't overwritten, because he WAS sexually attracted to her.

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

No he wasn't. He was sexually attracted to the woman he thought HE was. Not the man he actually was. @@ashbridgeindustries380

[@markvenables7370]

And it was Graham Linehan who yelled, “we’re all gonna die!”

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

If you like The IT Crowd, you should also see Black Books. Same writer, with Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey, and Tamsin Greig. IMO one of the funniest comedies ever.

[@thatpunkcatte]

"Half ten?! Half ten?! I've never been up at half ten! What happens?"

[@jino4280]

My favourite episode. I didn't quibble at the fight between Douglas and April. It's just a bit of comedy at the end of the day. Not to be taken seriously. The rest of it was just pure comedy gold. The caricature Douglas did of April makes me laugh every time I see it. (I'm female btw).

[@kitzzybitz6058]

I just love the fact that I have these beauties on box set, 'Inbetweeners,' 'IT crowd,' 'Plebs,' 'Game on,' 'Red dwarf,' 'Black adder' and 'The misfits,' all gems that we could loose.

[@Bodanki]

You must watch Garth Merenghi's Dark place after this. It also has Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade in it. You will absolutely love it

[@Ghostface634]

I love the Terminator 2 reference where Douglas and April where fighting by smashing each other through walls...then April had been thrown through the glass 🤣

[@stras676]

From memory - and emphasising from memory and paraphrasing and half remembering a Linehan interview - the episode wasn't that controversial at the time. It was of its time. It was the way Linehan reacted that made it infamous. He looked back at it and started off with 'it was an old-fashioned joke and meant no offence by it' kinda stance. And I believe him. It was just humor that's become a bit dated. It would have probably have ended there with everyone thinking it was just a bit dated. But then Linehan started to think about his beliefs and decides he was wrong to apologise and he got deeply into the trans debate as a big campaigner. Which now makes people look back and think the episode was deliberately nasty - or just be overcritical because of Linehan's current controversial actions

[@alexanderharris5022]

Yeah… He kinda jumped off the rails with that one. Lost his wife over it.

[@j9lorna]

​@@alexanderharris5022yeah, he'll say that trans people drove her away but I think it was him flushing everything away on this issue.

[@scipioafricanus5871]

@@alexanderharris5022 Did Linehan found out she wasn't from Iran?

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

It's not "controversial" today to sane people.

[@RobertTaylor-gz2fu]

It's not dated. It's the trans lobby that's the problem.

[@easterdeer]

I'm just out as trans and haven't started any treatment yet but I've never had a problem with this episode. I can't speak for anyone else but this is just my opinion. Douglas' story is tragic in this - he finds his soul mate but can't get past just one aspect of her. I'm utterly in love with Matt Berry so that's a bias 😅 I think it's really damaging to suggest that someone's sexual preference is transphobic - no one gets to choose their preference and many are just not attracted to trans women and that's fine! We don't get to choose who's attracted to us or who we're attracted to, that's just human nature and it shouldn't be locked away! Also agree, she threw the first punch knowing she could go toe to toe with Douglas - that's on her 😂 love how sensitive you were about this and how much you enjoyed this episode - it's at least top 10 for me. Can't wait for the D&D one and Countdown - they're perfect. Thanks guys, love this channel ❤

[@milklesstea6091]

Can't choose your preference just like you can't choose your gender

[@EssEll9791]

I agree. April can still leave with dignity intact and head held high. She is a woman. Douglas is the one who loses and it's really kind of sad.

[@geese5061]

Wait till you get a year or two in and come back to this comment. I think you’ll cringe looking back at it.

[@easterdeer]

Good to know. I'll see how life treats me. Thanks for the heads-up and I'll keep it in mind

[@easterdeer]

@@geese5061 Also, let me know if you think this post would make other trans people feel uncomfortable because I'm happy to delete it! I just want trans and non-trans people to understand each other better and help to de-escalate the 'culture war' stuff - I don't want to do anything to damage that! 😅 I'm just very new to this - spent my whole life pushing these issues away and only accepted myself this year - known I wanted to be female since I was 8 and I'm 32 now so this is gonna be an adjustment

[@philiprowney]

Richmond [ Noel Fielding ] got scurvy because he was a Goth and lived in the server room, c'mon dudes ;-)

[@christopherlamb7250]

How are not more people watching you guys i think you are great and do really good feed back so thank you i have loved all you do from the uk

[@michaelrjshannon]

I think this is my favourite episode - enjoyed your reaction

[@milgeekmedia]

I love the way the guys laughed when 'Hull' was mentioned! .....Even in the States Hull's reputation is well known!!! LOL ;)

[@katiegwynn4495]

My favorite episode, absolutely! Watching the two of them punch each other lights out just cracked me up

[@germantoenglish898]

The head honcho actor is Matt Berry. You guys need to check him out in Toast of London and What We Do In The Shadows...he's very funny! The really funny thing is that he has made a career out of playing the same character in all his shows...himself. 🤣

[@Coxy-b34]

He's very talented, almost everything he's in is worth watching. However, it's a pity he has apparently disowned this episode because it's supposedly anti-trans🤷‍♂ It's a comedy for gods sake and it begs the question, why didn't he quit the show at the time if he found the script so abhorrent?

[@glyngasson8450]

Matt Berry who plays "head honcho" is an amazing musician who has released a lot of albums where he plays every instrument

[@peterhaigh5764]

I was shocked when I heard they had banned this episode absolutely nothing wrong it, just comedy!

[@garykidson4489]

Banned it on where?

[@jim7831]

@@garykidson4489 Channel 4 and Netflix I believe, among a few others

[@somerandomguy2073]

Blame Linehan. He's the one that blew the controversy out of all proportion by going nuts on Twitter. If he hadn't done that, it wouldn't be banned anywhere. I can think of several dodgier examples of trans representation from around this time. Nobody ever mentions them, and they haven't been banned. He's the reason it's a big of a deal as it is.

[@matthewwalker5430]

@@somerandomguy2073 Activism, yay!

[@garymcatear822]

It was the wokies that got it banned.

[@stephenbrough8132]

I don't suppose you'll ever do it but I would love to see your reactions to Matt Berry playing a similar role as "TOAST OF LONDON" or some of his other roles. It's a bit off the wall and wasn't quite as mainstream as THE IT CROWD but I honestly couldn;t get enough of it. The last incarnation when he went to America, was a bit of a let down but I loved the original series based in London. Some REALLY odd characters.

[@butnooneshome]

Good call, also, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is another great watch. And the Mighty Boosh.

[@gustoaudio8711]

Yes yes yes

[@steveevans6135]

Toast is a hugely underrated show

[@davidmacey5422]

And of course "Year of the Rabbit" (2019)

[@stephenbrough8132]

@@gustoaudio8711 FIRE THE NEUCLEAR WEAPONS!

[@kellyhawkes3191]

At the end of the day if we can't laugh, we are all in trouble.

[@K33f11]

YES!!! Thanks for doing this one 👍

[@tiobi6633]

Fun fact - the guy who starts to scream "We're aaall gona die!" is actually Graham Linahan who created the show :D

[@bjamz3784]

Perfect, just sat down with a chippy tea and looking for something to watch 👀

[@htt232101]

When this came out we went up to my friends Dad's who loves IT Crowd and he almost passed out laughing at this one. I dont think there were any happy tears left to laugh after wed all finished.

[@tillyt4054]

I can't wait for you guys to review the episode " Calander Geeks " 😂

[@Vetis213]

People get mad now but it shows him at the end unhappy because he couldn't accept the other person. For mortimer and Berry there is a thing called Train Guy, even a soundboard online.

[@georgerv]

I think people's bigger issue with it is the fact that even after transitioning to female the character is still portrayed with typical male characteristics potentially implying the only female thing about her is her appearance. Her yelling I'm a woman is played for laughs That coupled with Linehan's real life views is not great. I actually like the portrayal of Renholm ending up sad because of his own hangups, that bit is done quite well. It's a proper mixed bag

[@KevPage-Witkicker]

Do you really think that "transitioning to female" is anything other than being a man with surgical alterations to resemble a woman? @@georgerv

[@miff227]

@@georgerv all you and anyone should really care about is that there was no way to use an actual trans to play the part as no-one on Earth would believe the setup. No-one would believe that even Douglas would be fooled. And actually, you claiming that no trans could have typical male characteristics is way more transphobic than Graham portraying ONE trans person who does have those characteristics, especially as the story line needs "her" to be that one trans person in order for Douglas to enjoy "her" company so much. And not wanting to be with a trans is not a "hang up", it is a healthy natural state of being. Remember, in order for us to get to the point with Douglas where he falls in love and can't be with them, we have to believe he could fall for the person, and for that to happen they could not have a trans person play the part. Remember that. Then remember it again. And then again. And then again.

[@destyrian]

@@georgerv What are typical male characteristics though? I'm confused. One minute we're not supposed to assume someone's gender because of superficial characteristics, the next we're getting outraged by "typical male characteristics". This is why people get outraged because no one can keep up with the cognitive dissonance. I feel it was incredibly tastefully done - April is not portrayed in a bad light at all - it's Douglas we are supposed to be laughing at. Best episode of the IT Crowd hands down.

[@miff227]

@@fuchfred4646 convincing without makeup? convincing nude? thought not.

[@ulricaandrae4381]

Don’t worry. We all laugh, we have to be able to find humor in most situations. Especially with these characters!

[@ianpowell2562]

This is one of the best ones.

[@KevPage-Witkicker]

Graham Linehan is the "we're all gonna die!" guy at the end by the way

[@Emilyb21-dm3bf]

Comedy is subjective. I find this hilarious its not degrading

[@Paul_1971]

Graham Linehan was the one screaming "We're all going to die"

[@thecornedbeefcouncil9792]

Thanks for doing this episode, turned pretty controversial over here in the U.K. and earned Graham Linehan plenty of criticism. Also Matt Berry really is a superb comedy actor.

[@AutomaticDuck300]

I thought he got criticism for his comments on Twitter

[@thecornedbeefcouncil9792]

@@AutomaticDuck300 he did.

[@somerandomguy2073]

​@@AutomaticDuck300His Twitter rants are the entire reason this episode is controversial. Fred Barron hasn't been criticised for the Trans episode of My Family, and that hasn't been banned or even spoken about, because he didn't start ranting about Trans people being child molestors on Twitter. Funny how that happens.

[@percyrd1]

GL stands for women’s rights - that used to be a thing you know.

[@joevictor53]

@@percyrd1 Harassing random strangers on Twitter and making fake lesbian accounts on dating apps is not standing up for women. He's just a deranged bigotted twat that made it his life mission to harass trans people to the point that he fucked up his career and drove away his family

[@drwhocares1357]

I agree that everyone needs to have thick skin but that goes further than not being so easily offended. You also have to have thick skin to speak your mind these days and to not worry about offending people when you truly believe what you say. Remember, being scared to say what you believe because you might offend someone is the same as being too scared to think. Anyone with a history book knows where that leads. Keep thinking everyone

[@joevictor53]

And if you're a racist or a homophobe or a transphobe. Keep thinking "I need to die soon and rid the world of my bigotted hateful self"

[@andrewmccullough9334]

Matt Berry is a damn genius in this episode. The bed scene reaction and the fight scene at the end, top drawer quality

[@cityonfoot6023]

I remember an episode of the show QI about Germany where the rule was "Don't Mention the War". They couldn't help it.

[@TheWarpseed]

Matt Berry appears with Vic and Bob Mortimer in a mad show called 'House of Fools'. You should definately check that out if possible.

[@Tattedup85]

My all time fave episode of this 😂😂😂😂😂

[@jimhoyt5]

Here we have Graham Linehan's season 3 cameo, as the man who screams "We are all going to die!" after the 'internet' is destroyed.

[@toonbarmy4201]

The world changes so fast with regards to what people accept or believe. As a fiftysomething man all i can now be sure of is there's always someone to take offence. There always has been. There always will be as long as this species exists. Being able to communicate directly and instantly to anyone and everyone is always going to lead to a conflict of beliefs.

[@hackerx7329]

Hey, this episode had true equality. He treated her EXACTLY the same as he did any other woman by not paying attention to what they were saying and only thinking about what he wanted and how things effected him.

[@ryiin]

They will be no more Steven Segal marathons.

[@uncontrolledhistorian7063]

This is one of my eldest son's favourite shows. He's between your two ages...OMG. I'm old enough to be your mother...he keeps telling me to watch the series. My first watch via you both:o)

[@RG-Zeldaplayer]

I don't think the episode alone is all that transphobic. It has some issues... the fact that April is so into typically masculine things like "getting Shitfaced and watching the darts" is a bit of a red flag - Linehan is telegraphing early that April isn't really a woman - and the fight is obviously meant to be her reverting to masculine behaviour - resorting to a fist fight rather than trying to plead with him. but part of humour is doing the opposite of what is expected - so a trans-woman that retains a lot of masculine habits is comedic. The issue is that Linehan has gone on to be a bit of an anti-trans campaigner online - which makes the episode a bit more transphobic as a result - It implies that this is how Linehan sees all trans-women - as not really women at all... as men pretending to be women rather than people who have genuine disphoria about the disparity between their gender and their biological sex. This episode was removed by one of the streaming sites due to its potentially transphobic content... which earned a lot of ire from Linehan himself.

[@timholder6825]

The guy who shouts, "We're all going to die" is Graham Linehan, the writer of this series and Father Ted.

[@ajorngjdonaydbr]

And has also made remarks in the past few years regarding trans people. Not that I give a shit

[@thomaseast7699]

My personal favourite.

[@KevPage-Witkicker]

I could see the difference in the UK to the USA when you watched the episode where Douglas finds the gun... and fires it into his mouth to see if it's loaded. That to English audiences just seemed silly, but to the USA, who are used to being told about gun safety etc, that would seem horrifying.... which was displayed on your faces:)

[@ronniedeen3651]

The fight never bugged me because it's so over the top and cartoonish.

[@Paul_1971]

One of my fave episodes!

[@giovanniscavetta9080]

You guys are the best American reaction viewers I've ever since. You're in your own league.

[@_Shadoh_]

Disagree.

[@wezzarogers423]

Thank you guys 😊

[@jim7831]

I find it ironic that this episode is considered so controversial as it apparently mocks a minority (which it doesnt) yet the gay episode is universally considered one of the best episodes 😂 I suspect its one of those cases where people are offended on others behalf ..😒

[@Somerandomnobodyonyoutube]

Yeah Idk about you but I was laughing at Douglas more then April

[@jim7831]

@ziggythecub381 it's a parody for goodness sake. If we can't poke fun at bigotry and sexism with comedy, we can't overcome it.

[@joevictor53]

I feel like the big reason why this is controversial is because the creator is a fucking nutter that has made it his life's mission to harass trans people to the point that he's thrown away his career and lost his family

[@Somerandomnobodyonyoutube]

@@jim7831 oh yeah I'm with you on that, I'm a guy who likes to laugh and I laugh at most things

[@SpenceJS87]

@@jim7831 I agree, but I suppose in hindsight, knowing Graham's actual views, that isn't the case.

[@stephencrawshaw8391]

I think you're looking for comedy has no boundaries

[@philiprowney]

The guy that shouts "We're all gonna die!" is Graham Linnehan [ sp? ] and HE is the writer, along with Father Ted and Green Wing, you have to see Green Wing, so funny and weird.

[@somerandomguy2073]

Linehan didn't write Green Wing. But yeah, it is bloody good.

[@patrickholt2270]

I loved season 1 of Green Wing, but the 2nd season wasn't funny to me. It sort of felt like it was going through the motions of looking like comedy, just without laughs.

[@drake128]

Black books too. He also has a cameo in father Ted on the plane and Alan Partridge at the travel lodge.

[@slayet2ville1]

The controversy on this episode is disgusting! Calling it “transphobic” just because a man doesnt want to date a man who transitioned into a TRANS woman. graham linehan is a genius and i respect him for standing up for the truth

[@DoctorNoon2717]

woah woah woah, hey now, I was agreeing with you at the start but don't be glazing Graham like that. Maybe past Graham but parenthesize that at least.

[@michaeltunnicliffe4935]

@@DoctorNoon2717 Hell no. Graham Linehan has done nothing wrong. Its a witch hunt. He is entitled to his opinions and most people would probably agree with him. Most of the people who disagree with him have probably never heard what he has actually said. And what he said was not even problematic, only being offensive to weak minded people and those who always want to be offended on other peoples behalf. In the end, I find that most people who get cancelled for some small statement or slightly controversial statement, only double down on their beliefs and become a bigger problem for the people who accused them in the first place (look at Lawrence Fox who created an entire political party over his backlash.) Graham should not be vilified for any of his beliefs and the more people do so, the less likely you are to change anyone's minds. People like Graham or JK Rowling only end up becoming more popular or more respected as a result of pathetic cancellations. So don't give me this past Graham nonsense. He is the same Graham, its just activists want to misrepresent him as an evil madman for having a thought different to their own.

[@SpenceJS87]

Graham got funding withheld from a charity providing support for trans youth. I guess bullying and indirectly causing the death of children is respectful? People absolutely can have their romantic and sexual preferences, I don't think that is bigoted at all. But let's not pretend Graham isn't transphobic.

[@somerandomguy2073]

Blame Linehan. It was a tiny, minute, unambiguously small discussion about representation on social media before he blew it out of all proportion. If he hadn’t gone full-blown mental online and made it his single focus of attention for the last 5 years, then the tiny discussion would've died out and nobody would give a shit about it in 2023. He's the one that made it a major issue, not the tiny group of teenagers chatting on Twitter. If he'd just ignored it, then this episode wouldn't be controversial (I can literally name 5 examples of dodgier trans representation from around this time on the spot, yet nobody EVER talks about them, because the writers of those stories didn't do a Linehan).

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

Douglas is the victim in this episode, he's the one who has his consent violated and ends up banging someone of the opposite sex he's attracted to-- that's how wokies would have viewed it 10 years ago, when they were obsessed with "consent". Well, they wouldn't, of course, because they always hated men, but in principal, they would have. It's all so hilariously arbitrary.

[@spikeycat81]

The fight was hilarious

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

APRIL STILL HAS A PUNCH!!!!😅😅😃😃😂😂

[@philorok]

That's Graham Linehan at end screaming we're all gonna die

[@dianamarlin-mcgregor9322]

You should definitely go down the Matt berry rabbit hole: the year of the rabbit, what we do in the shadows our toast he is hilarious no matter what character he plays

[@carlhartwell7978]

31:51 The guy who screams _'We're all gonna die'_ is Graham Linehan.

[@SarahM840]

Such a funny episode. Nothing to make it controversial or transphobic at all, hilarious that Jen genuinely thought she was showing "the internet"

[@robertfraser9873]

I think like the guys said at the start you have to look at it when it was broadcast. We were not as aware of other people as we are know. I now see that having a woman demonstrate typically male characteristics because she was born with a male body is I now realise ignorant. ❤❤

[@timelordjenkins7451]

I think those outside of Britain take things too literal. British comedy is about laughing at the bigotry of the situation by showing how stupid the bigoted thoughts/actions are in that situation. Ironically he also displayed a stereotypical sexist trope of not listerning to women which got him into the situation as well.

[@garykidson4489]

Outside of the UK or just America?

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

British comedy and culture is about not giving a fuck about weird and woke identity politics ideology. Normal, sane people don't view the world in these bizarre terms. ie gender, race, sexuality ideology. It's ironic that the people who claim to be anti-"bigotry" are the ones obsessed with these things and build their whole world view around them. Meanwhile, the bigots just view people as people and judge things on their own merits. She wasn't a woman, so 🤣

[@85priesty]

"We're All Gonna Die!" bloke was actually Graham Linehan

[@jimdaw65]

23:38 It's not the internet thing specifically. The general point the writers are making is that management knows nothing about the business they're managing: you can tell them anything and they'll nod wisely as if they knew it already.

[@Psym00]

I don't think the bad thing about this episode is the violence, it's casting a cis woman as a trans woman. Linehan has been a massive transphobe over the years but the plot of this episode isn't really part of it, it just loosely connects to his transphobia. He even had Douglas get the miserable ending he deserved

[@blueridge7838]

Alan Partridge has a similar experience with Minnie Driver's character in Knowing Me Knowing You,.

[@ryiin]

This is one of my favourite episodes.

[@onestringrecordings]

Matt Berry & Bob Mortimer are in a sit com called House of Fools, which is AMAZING

[@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV]

It's not really controversial, it just got removed from the series by the BBC. It doesn't need controversy for the BBC to react, they are the most pandering of panderers...... :D The only people who say it's controversial will be activists and their little fans, nobody worth listening too.

[@michaeljohn1978]

Except wasn't the IT Crowd a Channel 4 show? I guess gone are the days when Channel 4 didn't mind being controversial. It used to be their thing

[@joevictor53]

You know someone's a fucking nutter when they blame the BBC for something Channel 4 did

[@davidspendlove5900]

My fave episode.Not transphobic , just comedy.

[@arnet3005]

I love this episode. Particularly the internet in the box story. Graham Lineham (the writer) is in this episode. He was the guy near the end that shouted "We're all going to die!" around 31m52s in your video. He is often appearing in episodes of his shows, including Father Ted.

[@kacey5815]

My favorite part of these videos is that one gets the jokes 😂😂😂

[@destyrian]

Well done guys. I think the people who had an issue with this episode probably haven't seen it - I certainly couldn't see what all the fuss is about then or now. To me it's quite obvious that the joke is on Douglas, not April. April did everything right and unfortunately for Douglas, he's just an idiot. The show makes it very clear that they were a great couple, aside from the obvious. So because of this one episode, Graham Linehan, the writer of this, Father Ted and Black Books would years later be attacked by the woke mob and cancel culture. He doubled down and refused to concede, defending the episode and publicly shaming the networks for pulling it, only to then be fired from Channel 4 due to the backlash from the outrage campaign against him. Because of all that, the IT Crowd is the last show like this that he will ever make unless a streaming platform hires him to write a show. Iirc, he lost his marriage and home because of the hate campaign against him. He has been all but blacklisted by the TV channels in the UK. Want to know the truly ironic thing though? He's always stood up for trans rights - he is very liberal.

[@ashbridgeindustries380]

That's not quite what happened. When this episode came out, it received some very mild constructive criticism. Linehan apologised for any offense caused, and that should have been the end of it. What then happened is a bunch of 'gender critical' women managed to convince Linehan that not only was his apology unnecessary, but that the people who he was apologising to were objectively evil and out to get him. Cue Linehan becoming obsessed with demonising trans people at every opportunity. His wife didn't leave because of the hate campaign against him, she left because he was literally devoting his entire life to slagging off trans women on social media. The sad part is that it's not even really his fault. He was an innocent bystander to the whole transgender debate, who was sucked in because somebody else took offense to criticism of his work.

[@IanHodgetts]

Matt Berry also plays guitar!

[@mozmusic8076]

Brooo you guys NEED to watch Garth Marenghi's Darkplace after this it's fucking gold I'm telling ya

[@manwithanaccent4315]

I had a mojor crush on Lucy Montgomery who played April. She's gorgeous!

[@ryiin]

She is..

[@raistlinrodriguez5696]

Anyone who has a problem with this episode needs to get over it and get a life, it's a comedy show and it's meant to be entertaining. I laughed my a** off when I first saw it. Great writers.

[@Somerandomnobodyonyoutube]

It's not like it was even mean towards trans people, the joke is on Douglas

[@YTDumpsterBaby]

If you like Matt Berry you should check out his Short Wildlife documentary about wolves. Its hilariously stupid

[@davidsavage6910]

Just to mention "April" or Lucy her real name is one of the voice cast on the recently cancelled matt Groenig series Disenchantment.

[@allanmanaged5285]

Transphobic ? If they can not laugh at themselves that's their problem, not ours. This episode is genuinely funny and laughing during it is not an attack on anyone.

[@_Shadoh_]

Exactly, it's all about Douglas not listening and having issues.

[@elephantmarch]

You'd prooobably have to preface it a lot more nowadays. I'm SURE there's a way you could present a guy not wanting to date a transgender person w/o it being transphobic... or maybe not haha.

[@Qazqi]

The episode honestly follows pretty well with the rest of the show. Everything is way over the top, and we're laughing at Douglas. What sours it is the creator's IRL stuff moving it from "we're all laughing because nobody actually thinks like this" to "oh god, the creator actually thinks like this". The episode suggests to me that he was not, in fact, serious about it when he wrote the episode, which is good for separating the art from the artist, but even with that benefit, he turned pretty awful.

[@b1zarr01]

I'm generally quite the "bleeding heart", "don't you dare be making jokes at the expense of marginalized groups" type and I found the Douglas/April fight hilarious as intended. I could see the controversy if Douglas was all "something something you were born a man so you're a man" and swung first but that's not what happened ergo nothing to be outraged about.