Douglas is clearly a bad person. We're all laughing at him; no-one's looking up to him as a great guy.

you had no problem laughing at jerry nearly getting molested by gunpoint in the last ep of rick & morty.

Matt Berry is a comedy genius. Toast of London is excellent.

Douglas is a joke of a man. For me, you laugh at the ridiculous nature of this human being, and are not surprised at the revelations to his character. I do get what you are saying about the humour but it is a comedy, they aren't going for cheap laughs or normalising him, that is who his character is. Everyone who interacts with him very quickly gets that "what is up with this guy" face soon after. It may just be a take you can't get fully onboard with comfortably. That is fair enough, you're not obligated to be amused by everything in the show.

Why do so many reactors see this show as a documentary and not a comedy? You're supposed to laugh at Douglas not support him. His actions/personality is so over the top it is ridiculous and absurd. It is comedy/satire not an example of how to act in society.

Chris Morris, who plays Denholm, is a comedy genius. The Day Today, Brass Eye, Four Lions etc.

Katherine Parkinson is a talented actress. Her latest series Spreadsheet is very good.

This is really a department, where all the work the head of the department has to do, is supervise. Just by Jen being there you can see the difference.

There are some moments in series 3 and 4 that I can’t wait for you to see. I’m really glad you’re keeping going with the show.

Episode is one of the weaker ones in the show but I really wouldn't call it offensive.

Yes, the effects of Rohypnol are nothing like how Douglas reacts to it.

I love this episode.

Let’s get some popcorn.

Peep Show is even better than this.

How did people get bothered by this episode? I thought it was just as good as the others. People are so sensitive and hypocritical.

I'd love slices of grape on a pizza.

I think a point worth making is that alot of American sitcoms (and some of the more mainstream British ones too) are very moralistic. The 'have a good a laugh and all' but also try to make some bigger point about how to be good or better people. This show doesn't try to do any of that. There are no heroes or people worth emulating or looking up to. It's surrealist, silly nonsense and all the better for it. America has definitely drifted in the direction of 'no heroes, no message - just funny' with shows like 'Seinfeld' and 'It's always sunny in Philidelphia'. But I suppose one of the things about this show (and a few others on this side of the pond) is that it's almost caricaturish pantomime. It's funny, it makes you laugh. You don't need to read too much into it. If its funny, does it have to make a bigger point?

Douglas is hilarious. He's a buffoon. This is hardly aggrandizing his behavior its laughing at it. Its a shame you can't see past this you are going to missing out on some great comedy. There is comedy which is sexist etc, where standups get cheap laughs by literally degrading women, but most sexism is real life... dolly girls in game shows etc. This is neither. Jen always comes out on top, Douglas never "wins"

One of my favourite shows with one of my favourite episodes of comedy but I just don’t find Douglas funny 90% of the time.

she was already a nerd didn’t you realise that😉

My favorite part of this episode was to see how much they missed Jen. My least favorite part was Jen getting her feelings hurt.

brilliant as ever

I don't think it's implying that he necessarily had his way with them,definitely tried tho....👀🤔🤷‍♂️😂

Stick with it

You'd like BLACK BOOKS, Same type of humor, common writers😎

It's a great comedy and would and does still work channel 4 dont care! Comedy!! 20 minutes! Fathers Ted, Count Arthur Strong! Same writer! Fantastic!

generally i love douglas as a character and completely agree with all the comments saying you’re meant to be laughing at him not approving of him, but this episode just feels different. of course they do go over the top with some aspects (rohypnol, presentation) but so much of the episode just feels too real but still played for laughs? i really hate the scenes of him constantly calling jen into his office just to make advances and her feeling unable to refuse, and especially the bit where he’s talking about their connection and she’s picking her words so carefully. they aren’t really done in an over the top/comedic way, and yet they’re supposed to be funny? i kind of get it because i remember watching this show when i was much younger and finding it funny myself, but now as a 17yo girl i guess it just hits a bit too close to home

yes, its cringey humour and not for everyone.... but that ending was REALLY bad. Male victims of assault has never been funny to me

Lol, once again, I fully support your reaction to the episode, Neil, and agree that the Moss/Roy scenes are the highlight, and that the end is weak. I knew a lot of people would argue that the Douglas is just a character to be laughed at, but I think it's a reach to say it's even funny. I may just be an American snowflake [insert whatever other lazy insult "comedy aficionados" like to throw out there], but I prefer more clever writing and skewering of sleazy characters and predatory behavior in any genre, not the affable glee that the IT Crowd surrounds the character with (and never really skewers), or the absolute redundancy of the character's sleeze. I say that as a general fan of the show and a major fan of the cast. I just think valid criticism of the things that I like and/or love is fine. Thank you for your honest reactions, Neil. Looking forward to the next one!

i'm out, we can't laugh about things anymore

Watching your conscience struggle is almost entertaining in itself.

Yuck

Stop saying it’s offensive because it’s written in ‘previous eras’ this stuff is fine anywhere outside of America. You guys are so far up you mr own behinds you think you’re the only place that exists on the planet Edit- 2 mins in and he’s just said “American stock footage.” When it was the Sahara 😂 jeez can’t make this stuff up

Try something a little more iconic from the north... Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps...

And Graham Linehan thinks he was cancelled because woke culture is out of hand. Rape jokes & trans hatred are just a ruse, normal people know this is just harmless fun. It's only crazy snowflakes who care about this stuff.

I'm loving all the people clearly upset on here because someone has different sensibilities towards comedy. Some of you need to grow up and realize people find different things funny and different things to be lame. Alot of this show I watch and find quite a bit of shit that's pretty lame but there is plenty to enjoy too so get over it. Let the man speak his opinion without you being triggered. It's only a tv show...who cares?

When I first watched this I just laughed because it's silly. As you said cartoonish. Love Matt berry. Your reactions have made me think about it a bit. There are homophobic undertones. Hmmm.. I still find it very funny and not to be taken too seriously

I think it’s fair to compare date rape drugs to the love potions of fairy tales and Disney movies, and to raise awareness of the way women are often treated by disgusting men in positions of authority. I don’t think they were doing either of those things, I think they were sending it up because they think it’s hilarious and off the back of fire tits from last week, it just feels all the more distasteful to me. Turning it round so that men have to suffer sexual harassment doesn’t sit any better with me. I know we said we were going to pass on it due to it being dated, but it’s not that old. And we can’t really look back and say it was different times back then, when we still have current TV shows where consent seems to be completely taken away from contestants. Whether it’s grotesque love island or literal torture of celebrities -hold a spider in your mouth or you and your camp mates will go hungry. Anyway, my favourite thing from this show is ‘short-person racist’ which we have to look forward to at the end and I don’t know why I find that funny.

A brilliant episode, secondly only to the cancelled episode. Unfiltered comedy; how it should be. Snowflakes will hate it of course.

Graham Linehan (the writer/creator of The IT Crowd) has been booted off twatter for his anti-trans views. No wonder Ayoade and O'Dowd went on to better things.

And GL's issues become more and more obvious

Out of date long before it first aired.

You can start to see why the show's creator, Graham Linehan, is such a derided figure these days. Everything that is so hateful about his sick and twisted ideology is front and centre in shows like this. But we all laughed back then. And some still laugh right now.