Quote: LoonyPandora, Jul 2010Don't forget the fact that liking something because it's a subject matter close to your heart could be because of all the in-jokes, that are funny only because you "get" them.
The IT crowd is genuinely funny, but it's funnier to me as someone who's worked in that situation because of the in-jokes. Same with The Office, not quite as funny unless you've been in an environment like that and can relate the characters and events to real-life things.
I'm not sure that's strictly true, though I guess it could be in the case of IT jokes in the IT crowd, I just don't imagine that there are too many jokes in that programme which are so specific to the IT field that I don't register them as jokes. I think with stuff like the office and the IT crowd you can't really say its
not quite as funny for people who aren't in that situation, as jokes are still jokes.
That said, you could actually be right, I remember chuckling to a joke in the Simpsons about how lawbooks were 'filled with useful legal tidbits like that'. I'm aware it wasn't actually a funny joke, and I reckon somebody without any understanding of law could explain what the humour behind the line was, but they woudn't find it funny the same way I did because... why should they give a sh*t?