The IT Crowd (UK)/Yesterday's Jam

Yesterday's Jam
Season 1, Episode 1
Airdate	January 29, 2006
Written by	Graham Linehan
Directed by	Graham Linehan
— N/A	1x02 → Calamity Jen
The IT Crowd (UK) — Season One

Yesterday's Jam is the first episode of the first season of The IT Crowd. Jen joins the IT staff of Reynholm Industries, despite knowing nothing about computers.

Starring: Chris O'Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss), Katherine Parkinson (Jen)

Guest Starring: Chris Morris (Denholm), John Willie Hopkins (Postman), Nancy Lodder (Office girl), Laura Pyper (Laura), Pete Deagle (Office worker)

Plot Overview

Jen is interviewed by Denholm, who decides to put her in the IT department because her résumé says she has a lot of experience with computers. She is completely taken off-guard.

In the basement, Moss returns from a job while Roy answers a call and manages to piss the woman off.

Denholm leads Jen to the elevator, and on the way there she sees how glamorous the company really is. Unfortunately, she has to go down to the basement, which is far less pleasant. When she walks into the IT office they are surprised to see her—and Roy's surprise turns to indignance once she mentions that she is the new head of the IT department and walks into her office.

Both Roy and Moss try to talk to Jen, but they don't fare so well. Roy concocts a "plan" to go in there and technobabble at her, hopefully catching her in a lie. Unfortunately for them, Jen can hear everything they're saying and isn't fooled. But unfortunately for Jen, she's busy typing on a computer that Moss notices isn't even plugged in.

They head upstairs to tell on Jen to Denholm, but when it becomes clear that they could be fired for not acting like a "team", Roy quickly reneges and drags Moss and Jen back downstairs.

Jen offers to try and learn about computers, but when Moss explains something to her, she has no idea what he's talking about. Just then, the woman who Roy spoke to earlier comes in and starts beating him severely. Jen manages to stop her by talking about fashion. Jen realizes that she could be useful to them, because of her excellent people skills.

Together, they set up a party and invite the people from upstairs, serving wine. They get along smashingly, until Roy leaves the room, telling Moss to tell the story about when they were drunk in Amsterdam. Roy means the story about when Moss lost his glasses, but Moss tells the story about when they hired prostitutes and were too scared to sleep with the women.

The room quickly empties out.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The IT department throws a party and invites people from the company to attend. A good-sized crowd shows up, but quickly leave when Moss mistakenly tells them an embarrassing story.

Characters

• First appearance of Roy, Moss, Jen, and Denholm.

• Jen is hired by Reynholm Industries and made manager of the IT department.

• Moss' first name is Maurice.

• Roy wants to get Jen fired, but stops when he realizes it might get him and Moss fired as well.

• Moss and Roy once went to Amsterdam and hired two prostitutes named Brandy and Crystal while they were there. Instead of having sex, they ended up going to a fair with the women instead.

• Moss lost his glasses in Amsterdam and walked into a canal.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• RTFM: Roy is wearing a t-shirt that has "RFTM" emblazoned on the front, accompanied by an image of Mao Zedong holding up a red book.
• Fair Use Has a Posse: The sticker on the door to the IT department.
• Ally McBeal: Jen compares the unisex bathrooms at Reynholm Industries to the ones on this show.
• Eightball: Roy is reading a magazine at his desk.
• Tolstoy: Roy pretends he is talking about Leo Tolstoy when he and Moss walk back into the room after Jen came in.
• Flying Spaghetti Monster: A drawing on the wall behind Moss' desk.
• Harry Potter: Moss orders two copies of one of the Harry Potter books from Amazon UK.
• ZX81: Moss and Roy have one of these computers sitting in their office.
• The A-Team: Denholm has a picture of them sitting on his desk, and the theme plays while the IT department works on the flyer for their party.
• Chairman Wow: When Jen stops the woman from beating Roy, this is how Moss expresses his admiration.

Memorable Moments

• Roy finally realizing Jen's computer wasn't plugged in.

Quotes

• Denholm: "I'm gonna put you in IT, because you said on your CV that you have a lot of experience with computers."
  Jen: "...I did say that on my CV, yes. Ha, I have lots of experience with all computer thing, you know, e-mails, sending e-mails, uh... receiving e-mails, deleting e-mails, uh... I could go on."
  Denholm: "Do."
  Jen: "The web. Using mouse, mouses, using mice. Clicking, double clicking. Uh, the computer screen of course. The keyboard. The bit that goes on the floor down there."
  Denholm: "The harddrive."
  Jen: "Correct."

• Jen: "The people I'll be working with... what are they like?"
  Denholm: "STANDARD NERDS!"

• Roy: (on phone) "Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? Okay, well, the button on the side, is it glowing? Yeah, you need to turn it on. The button turns it on. Yeah, you- yeah, you do know how a button works, don't you? No, not on clothes. No no, there you go, I just heard it come on. No no no, that's the music you hear when it comes on. No, that's the music you hear- I'm sorry, are you from the past?"