I worked with a guy who was French who sounded just like this guy. Once my co-workers saw this bit we all about died. Customers could never understand him. We had escalations all the time because customers could not understand him. His name was Fritz.
Laughing Mike the kitchens guy in I'm Alan Partridge was my fave . He played the creepy unpopular weirdo housemate in channel 4's zombie apocalypse 'dead set' they all called him Smeagol behind his back
Fun Fact: this is based on the writer’s experiences and the man playing the French man learnt an authentic regional accent and was mad when told to do a silly stupid one.
I think another reason is they would NEVER have got away with trying to do an Indian call centre. That would have been considered racist and probably wouldn't have made it to air.
@@mxbx307 I mean, that's honestly kind of a good thing. Like when they made this they probably could've gotten away with it, but instead of picking on an ethnic minority in Britain that gets a lot of shit for what people that look like them do in a totally different country, they went with this. A good choice, I think.
This series was so full of best scenes that is absolutely impossible to name one as best. I regularly felt sick of laughing so hard for so long. I rewatched it some time ago with enough time in the middle to forget about the plot, and definitely laughed my arse out again almost to death...
In case you didn't notice, when she says "i've got one of your laptops and it won't get pass the loading screen", this french guy replies "have you tried turning it off and on again?" Just brilliant.
@@ares2067 Once upon a time I helped a frustrated co-worker when she couldn't get her computer to turn on. It was plugged into a power strip but she hadn't turned the strip on. So, of course, no electricity was flowing to her computer.
This is how I imagined all telephone switch operators when I was little, though they were also chubby like that Jump to Conclusions guy in Office Space.
+Kai Schneider right, Im Czech, the foreigner, I called there many times but if there is some Indian guy, who doesnt speak the proper english, I have a hard time to understand
+Karl von Bahnhof Making fun of Indians (of either the subcontinental or North American variety) isn't PC in the Anglo-sphere. Making fun of the French, however, is A-Okay. And for good reasons... ;D
+Rob Karma In the UK juries are purely random, you get a letter saying you've been selected and unless you work in certain professions, then you have to turn up, it's mandatory. The people who actually sit in the court are picked at random, there's no picking and choosing by either side.
I didn't get any of that 🤣🤣🤣 I've seen this seen about 1000 times and it never gets old. It's the best at the end of the episode you have to here him again .
My java programming teacher had the theme song of IT crowd as her ring tone... When i heard it i was like WIN! :) That combined with pictures of XKCD and a picture of Moss in early lectures and i knew i was in for a fun year. Too bad most of my class wasn't nerdy enough to get most of the humor though.
Thanks to the Red Ring Of Death, years ago I had to send back 3 Xbox 360's. Microsoft's tech support was in France, and every time it was exactly like this.
This is why my friends just hand the phone to me when they hear a French accent on customer support. I just speak French to them (I am passable in French, my mom spoke in it all the time when us kids were growing up). Only problem: I hate the French, and will call them every name in the book when they start pissing me off. Eventually, if I get pissed enough, I switch to German and use words like "blitzkrieg". I am an asshole.
@@AudieHolland Hey, the Frogs don't get the insult as well if it is not in their language. Same reason I speak a bit of Russian (only insults in that one, I am not 100% sure there is a way to speak Russian and not insult the person you are talking to).
Funny but "Stop telling people I slept with you" brings me to tears even after all these years. And every time she yelled "Taxi!" in (was it?) season two? OMG. Oh, and when Roy lost his shirt and got turned out of the office?! And Moss and the German? And "Caw! Caw! Well, you know how a crow sounds." Okay, can we just agree that the whole damn series is the best scene ever? Damn these electric sex pants!
FYI re "laughtracks": The English(not US) show was filmed before a live studio audience, which at the time was considered by some as risky, with the format thought to have been surpassed by more fly-on-the-wall type presentations.[13] This was a deliberate choice by Linehan, who sought to challenge the current vogue for hailing the "death of the sitcom", stating "I trust my instincts, so I'm going to do it my way and hope people come to me".[13] The first series was recorded in front of a live audience at Teddington Studios but moved to Pinewood Studios for series 2 onwards, with some additional location footage. Cinematic-style footage were also recorded before live tapings.
GL would also get feedback from the audience on how the gags were landing. He would make changes to the script during filming. I know this because I was there.
I'm an IT guy, and I've actually been hired to do side-hustle work specifically to deal with guys like Frenchie there. When you're shopping for a product, try to evaluate the quality of the technical support options for that product before you buy it. Tech support hell like this shouldn't exist, but it does exist.
It really isn't underrated. Not even slightly. Please don't use words you don't understand. It was critically acclaimed and audiences loved it. It was broadcast all over the world. It won all kinds of awards.
@@thelastmotel while you are correcting a four year old comment, I agree that it was waiting to be corrected. Underrated is the last word anyone should use about this gem of a show.
This just made me think how very lucky we are in the UK to have Indians on the other side of the phone. The truth is i do like some get thrown by the accent occasionally but one thing i know very well is their level of English is better than mine.
This scene, Street Count Down "Innit" and "Oi! Hello?! I'm Not'a Window Cleaner!!" funniest for me, but every episode in the entire series' are all hilarious.
I worked in a French owned global corporation in one of the offices in Denmark. One day I had to talk to the headquarter support center and I had a conversation with a woman with almost as thick an accent as this guy. It was 10 minutes of "I'm sorry could you repeat that", "I beg your pardon" and finally just "what?" Everything she said sounded like that guy, right down to the simplest words. I simply snapped after 10 minutes and had to hand the phone to my colleague because I was physically shaking and loosing my mind.
I am guessing that the scene was inspired by Indian call centres, but they probably decided that if they had someone doing an Indian accent they would be accused of being racist. If I have to ring a call centre and get through to an Indian person, I simply say "I'm sorry but can I please speak to someone who has English as their first language as I can't understand what you are saying". Occasionally they will transfer me, but usually I have to call another time and hope I get through to someone in Britain that I can actually understand.
@@hedgehog1965uk It'd still be funny though. But the Indian accent isn't that easy to make such a funny scene out of. I am guessing they are mocking a Scandinavian accent here.
Do you wish for technical assistance? Oh, God, I hate these! Sorry? What? How dare you speak to me like that? Sorry. Can I have technical assistance, please? Putting you through.Cow. Allo? Hello? Allo. How can I be of assistance? What? How can I be of assistance? I've got one of your laptops. It won't get past the loading screen. Have you tried turning it off and on again? Yes. Look, is there someone else I can talk to? There is no-one else available. All right, all right. What model do you have? What model do I have? Yes. It's a Zubion, I think. Ah, the Zubion. Yes, I have to say, we have been having problems with the Zubion. can you press delete while starting up? I didn't get that. Can you press delete while starting up? No. That was worse somehow. Okay. Can Can? Yes. Can you press Can you press. Delete. Delete. Can I press delete? While. Wheel? While. Whhhheeeel? While. Er during! While! While. Yes, while! Yes. Starting. Allo?
When I had the misfortune of working IT people were amazed that they were speaking with an American, and not with "some foreigner" (IT shows the bad side of people)
Never mind the french I had enough difficulty understanding the bloke I spoke to when I called a British Gas call centre in Glasgow the other day. Such a thick Scottish accent. Kept on having to ask the poor man on the other end of the phone to repeat himself. I swear didn't get a word of what he said.
The best part is, he’s actually try to take her into the bios during boot. 😂 he’s trying his best guys
Sure... but to get to the BIOS you still have to "turn it off and then on again" 😂
@@robocombo To be fair, he told her to do it while starting up.
This series has moments of pure comedic genius. Irreplaceable.
AND I GUESS I HATE WOMEN TOO
IT490?
If only it wasn't obscured by the canned laughter.
I'm really curious why the US version tested so poorly. It has such a dedicated fan base it probably could of at least gone one season on streaming
Has moments ? All of it is pure comedy gold
I worked with a guy who was French who sounded just like this guy. Once my co-workers saw this bit we all about died. Customers could never understand him. We had escalations all the time because customers could not understand him. His name was Fritz.
hoiii 's name Whhoo?
Love how he says "hello?" perfectly clearly after she drops the phone.
Did you see that ludicrous display last night?
What was Wenger thinking? Sending Walcott on that early?
Lukeazade the thing about Arsenal is they always try to walk it in
He, I love me Gunners!
I've just put a pony on Liverpool
+Speedy What was Wenger thinking, sending Walcott on that early?
I love Kevin Eldon. He always seems to pop up in the weirdest roles in loads of UK comedies. And he kills it every time.
"The Actor Kevin Eldon" being, of course, his full given name.
He even managed to get a weird role in something as straightforward as Detectorists.
Laughing Mike the kitchens guy in I'm Alan Partridge was my fave .
He played the creepy unpopular weirdo housemate in channel 4's zombie apocalypse 'dead set' they all called him Smeagol behind his back
Dirty....
@@nellyluschinia7641 black books
Still better technical assistance than I've ever gotten.
Joke needs more info
Or 'got'... UK version!
-hhhuiiiiiiile huuuiiiiille
-ah.. while?
-yus, huuile
mrTacroy lol are we French that bad.. :)
hahahaha I'm going to have to show that to a few people :D
he said 'during' then Jen understand
What is quite funny too is that he's unwittingly perfectly imitating the Old English pronunciation of "while" (which was "hwīl" back then). 😂
Fun Fact: this is based on the writer’s experiences and the man playing the French man learnt an authentic regional accent and was mad when told to do a silly stupid one.
I think another reason is they would NEVER have got away with trying to do an Indian call centre. That would have been considered racist and probably wouldn't have made it to air.
He’s a good actor that The Actor Kevin Eldon bloke
@@mxbx307 If the show were made today, you'd be right, but in 2006? No problem.
@@mxbx307
I mean, that's honestly kind of a good thing. Like when they made this they probably could've gotten away with it, but instead of picking on an ethnic minority in Britain that gets a lot of shit for what people that look like them do in a totally different country, they went with this. A good choice, I think.
@@MrLordFireDragon Yeah good choice making fun of group B instead of group A. Fuck group B they don't deserve rights, am I right
Putting...you...through....COW 😆
This series was so full of best scenes that is absolutely impossible to name one as best. I regularly felt sick of laughing so hard for so long. I rewatched it some time ago with enough time in the middle to forget about the plot, and definitely laughed my arse out again almost to death...
THE IT CROWD IS A MASTERPIECE OF A COMEDY !!!
It's even worse when you realize this what us in IT have to deal with on a daily basis.
Did he... Did he ask her if she tried turning it off and on again?
+Evi1M4chine But then you don't want to end up in the middle of invalid memory! :-)
Or invalid RAM!
in that case just download more!
Haha! Memory IS RAM!
I know it is, but I just wasn't expecting it.
In case you didn't notice, when she says "i've got one of your laptops and it won't get pass the loading screen", this french guy replies "have you tried turning it off and on again?" Just brilliant.
Luminor its like the question...did you plug it in? LoL
Nathan Junker It's a laptop lol
@@ares2067 Once upon a time I helped a frustrated co-worker when she couldn't get her computer to turn on.
It was plugged into a power strip but she hadn't turned the strip on. So, of course, no electricity was flowing to her computer.
He's Welsh
@@wilky1189 How d'you know?
Love how everyone in technical assistance has a moustache and glasses.
It's contractual
This is how I imagined all telephone switch operators when I was little, though they were also chubby like that Jump to Conclusions guy in Office Space.
Love the way the tech support guy behind him can't stop laughing
This is exactly how I feel when I call IT support...
Haha you shotld watch the episode "have u tried turning it off and on?"
+Kai Schneider
right, Im Czech, the foreigner, I called there many times but if there is some Indian guy, who doesnt speak the proper english, I have a hard time to understand
+Karl von Bahnhof Making fun of Indians (of either the subcontinental or North American variety) isn't PC in the Anglo-sphere. Making fun of the French, however, is A-Okay. And for good reasons... ;D
Luckily you're not in court. You would wilt on cross examination.
+Rob Karma In the UK juries are purely random, you get a letter saying you've been selected and unless you work in certain professions, then you have to turn up, it's mandatory. The people who actually sit in the court are picked at random, there's no picking and choosing by either side.
I'm literally in tears...
litrally..
oh man, imagine how many takes it took for them to do it without laughing!
Kevin Eldon... randomly popping up in every comedy series since 1995. :)
Whenever I see him in anything, I always think of him in Black Books.
Dirty.
And comic genius in every appearance.
Steals every scene he’s in!
He’s brilliant- too many to mention but his auctioneer in S3 of the Detectorists is utter genius
Hot lemon drink
The way he clearly asks “Hello?” when she drops the phone 😂
'while? while!'
'yes, huuuuuule'
"Shuiiiiiil."
"While, while!"
"Yes, shuiil."
I didn't get any of that 🤣🤣🤣 I've seen this seen about 1000 times and it never gets old. It's the best at the end of the episode you have to here him again .
I'm French and it's the only scene I can understand without subtitles
My java programming teacher had the theme song of IT crowd as her ring tone... When i heard it i was like WIN! :)
That combined with pictures of XKCD and a picture of Moss in early lectures and i knew i was in for a fun year. Too bad most of my class wasn't nerdy enough to get most of the humor though.
Putting, you through. Cow. 😂
Thanks to the Red Ring Of Death, years ago I had to send back 3 Xbox 360's. Microsoft's tech support was in France, and every time it was exactly like this.
This is why my friends just hand the phone to me when they hear a French accent on customer support. I just speak French to them (I am passable in French, my mom spoke in it all the time when us kids were growing up). Only problem: I hate the French, and will call them every name in the book when they start pissing me off. Eventually, if I get pissed enough, I switch to German and use words like "blitzkrieg". I am an asshole.
@@Jeremiah90526 Yes you are.
@@Jeremiah90526 Yes you are!
For lowering your standards and trying to communicate in French
@@AudieHolland Hey, the Frogs don't get the insult as well if it is not in their language. Same reason I speak a bit of Russian (only insults in that one, I am not 100% sure there is a way to speak Russian and not insult the person you are talking to).
at last "hello" always gets me.....hilarious
Dylan Ⓥ ELLYOUR
I have the whole series on box set so i can watch them over and over! I love the episode where she 'breaks the internet'🤣😂😅😂
The way she throws down the receiver and puts her head in her hands, had me roaring.
Funny but "Stop telling people I slept with you" brings me to tears even after all these years. And every time she yelled "Taxi!" in (was it?) season two? OMG. Oh, and when Roy lost his shirt and got turned out of the office?! And Moss and the German? And "Caw! Caw! Well, you know how a crow sounds." Okay, can we just agree that the whole damn series is the best scene ever? Damn these electric sex pants!
The whole episode when they’re going to the musical and Roy ends up in the wheelchair has me crying of laughter every time 😂
Father!!!!
@@Lindasuperstar That episode is peak IT Crowd!
The cellphone in the funeral scene gets me every time! 😂
"Very funny, you crazy little bastard"
You know you're signing up for tech support of this kind when you buy a "Zubion"
FYI re "laughtracks": The English(not US) show was filmed before a live studio audience, which at the time was
considered by some as risky, with the format thought to have been
surpassed by more fly-on-the-wall type presentations.[13]
This was a deliberate choice by Linehan, who sought to challenge the
current vogue for hailing the "death of the sitcom", stating "I trust my
instincts, so I'm going to do it my way and hope people come to me".[13] The first series was recorded in front of a live audience at Teddington Studios but moved to Pinewood Studios for series 2 onwards, with some additional location footage. Cinematic-style footage were also recorded before live tapings.
Breen Whitman and also in an audience you laugh diffrently then at home
Why does it sounds like canned laughter than?
@@Monkofmagnesia - Volume control, I should think.
GL would also get feedback from the audience on how the gags were landing. He would make changes to the script during filming. I know this because I was there.
@@cr0nin Thanks for the input. I dont think people realize the "old craft" put into some of these shows.
For the record, the best scene is Moss climbing out of the witness dock.
I'm an IT guy, and I've actually been hired to do side-hustle work specifically to deal with guys like Frenchie there. When you're shopping for a product, try to evaluate the quality of the technical support options for that product before you buy it. Tech support hell like this shouldn't exist, but it does exist.
And here is me expecting her to always get a busy tone when dialing that number.
You know, her working in the IT, calling her own number.
Im literally laughing so loud in my dark room in the middle of the night
this is so brilliant. IT Crowd is one of the most underrated Comedy Series of TV History.
It really isn't underrated. Not even slightly. Please don't use words you don't understand. It was critically acclaimed and audiences loved it. It was broadcast all over the world. It won all kinds of awards.
@@thelastmotel while you are correcting a four year old comment, I agree that it was waiting to be corrected. Underrated is the last word anyone should use about this gem of a show.
French class all over again.
This has got to be one of the most funniest things I've ever watched.
Monsieur Assistance was played by The Actor Kevin Eldon.
This is classic stuff! They never should have stopped this show
no
Never stopping a show is what turns good shows into boring, and then terrible ones.
@@Wolf-ln1ml for example... The Simpsons.
This just made me think how very lucky we are in the UK to have Indians on the other side of the phone. The truth is i do like some get thrown by the accent occasionally but one thing i know very well is their level of English is better than mine.
Having lived in the UK and talked to Virgin Media for whatever issues I had with my internet at the time. This is insanely accurate
I've seen this many times before, and I still laugh every time! I've got tears in my eyes, I'm laughing so hard! :)
yup, yup, yup yup yup. and that is probably how indian speakers feel when they call me....
I'm not at all surprised to see who +1ed that one first XD
This is precisely what I was like when taking courses from French professors in Switzerland.
LOL!!!! This is E-X-A-C-T-L-Y how my call to WoW tech support went, back in 2004.
i only just noticed hes actually speaking words the whole time. never was able to hear it until now.
1:42 "Hello?" 😂😂😂😂😂
Love this show! Need to re-binge :)
Hurry, iirc, it's leaving netflix any day now.
@@bikeny
hah, got the linux isos ;D
Aww, and he was being so nice and patient with her too lol
Well I guess it's better than "We are currently experiencing exceptionally high call volumes... you are 34th in the queue...".
This scene, Street Count Down "Innit" and "Oi! Hello?! I'm Not'a Window Cleaner!!" funniest for me, but every episode in the entire series' are all hilarious.
I agree
Roy: I work in IT. (pause) No, not Macs, I mainly work with Windows.
*hang up*
Roy: Hello?
Work outing has to be the best by far.
The guy who is the French Tech Support is Kevin Eldon. He has been in the background of many great comedies and you should check his stuff out!
Still better than most Indian call centres.
R33Racer Have I satisfied all your customer services in a timely and organized manner?
I worked in a French owned global corporation in one of the offices in Denmark. One day I had to talk to the headquarter support center and I had a conversation with a woman with almost as thick an accent as this guy. It was 10 minutes of "I'm sorry could you repeat that", "I beg your pardon" and finally just "what?" Everything she said sounded like that guy, right down to the simplest words. I simply snapped after 10 minutes and had to hand the phone to my colleague because I was physically shaking and loosing my mind.
I am guessing that the scene was inspired by Indian call centres, but they probably decided that if they had someone doing an Indian accent they would be accused of being racist. If I have to ring a call centre and get through to an Indian person, I simply say "I'm sorry but can I please speak to someone who has English as their first language as I can't understand what you are saying". Occasionally they will transfer me, but usually I have to call another time and hope I get through to someone in Britain that I can actually understand.
Turd party?
What!? Oh 3rd party
@@hedgehog1965uk It'd still be funny though. But the Indian accent isn't that easy to make such a funny scene out of. I am guessing they are mocking a Scandinavian accent here.
As someone who survived a Computer Science degree, can confirm that half of us talk like robots.
This clip right here is what got me into IT Crowd.
I just realised this guy is one of the police officers in Hot Fuzz. Love him!
Ladies and gentlemen: Mr Kevin Eldon...
+comanchio1976 I'm still laughing at his Kreech in Elvenquest, and he's a brilliant Penfold in Danger Mouse.
Loved him ever since Simon Quinlank the Hobby King!
that putting you to "CALLLL" is just wow
Hwheeeele, Hwheeeeeeeele... DURING...
Laughed a good while with the video but seeing this in writing just made my stomach hurt from laughter. Thank you for this xD
First 30 seconds is gold
If IT crowd were filmed today, there would be a lot of Indians with thick accents but I don’t think you can get a scene as hilarious than this one!!
Love the physical comedy of dialing with one hand while holding the laptop with the other and the handset under her chin.
Another joke is that she dials with her thumb implying she is a smart phone user and not techie
Not even close to the funniest scene in the IT Crowd.
No but worth having on here to watch among the others!
Harry Drake What do you think the funniest one is?
Vatian The funniest scene is Jen seeing Roy in a wheelchair and Moss being a bartender. The whole set up to get to that seen is comic genius.
+Harry Drake The coffee toss scene was pure genius :-).
the entire show is the funniest scene
IIRC in this particular episode Moss and Roy are playing truant from work and wandering about town.
Kevin Eldon is such a legend
Re-watching this in July 2024 and all I can think of is this is how Microsoft and Crowdstrike are sorting out the outage.
OMFG I laughed so hard I started crying with that french guy
this is exactly what happened to me today. Except I had to leave the phone so I could laugh freely.
Do you wish for technical assistance?
Oh, God, I hate these!
Sorry?
What?
How dare you speak to me like that?
Sorry.
Can I have technical assistance, please?
Putting you through.Cow.
Allo?
Hello?
Allo. How can I be of assistance?
What?
How can I be of assistance?
I've got one of your laptops. It won't get past the loading screen.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Yes. Look, is there someone else I can talk to?
There is no-one else available.
All right, all right.
What model do you have? What model do I have? Yes.
It's a Zubion, I think.
Ah, the Zubion. Yes, I have to say, we have been having problems with the Zubion. can you press delete while starting up?
I didn't get that.
Can you press delete while starting up?
No. That was worse somehow.
Okay.
Can Can?
Yes.
Can you press
Can you press.
Delete.
Delete.
Can I press delete?
While.
Wheel?
While.
Whhhheeeel?
While. Er during!
While! While.
Yes, while! Yes.
Starting.
Allo?
hahahahaha
Yes, that is indeed what they say.
Watched the video did you?
спасибо большое! )
I swear, this will always be funny no matter how many times I watch it djsjdj
I would love to see the script they use when translating this episode into other languages around the world.
My all time favourite sitcom episode: s02e01, the work outing
in french he says "have you turned it off and on again?" XD
'Putting you through... Cow!' XD
I fucking hate CZcams commenters who whine about laughtracks under sitcom scenes.
I fucking hate CZcams commenters who whine about people who whine about laughter tracks.
+comanchio1976
I fucking hate youtube commenters who whine about people who whine about people who whine about laughter tracks.
I fucking hate everyone, except people who whine about people who whine about laugh tracks. they are ok in my book
+GoFeri I hate haters
+Игорь Березин I hate figs
The look of success on the French guys face after Jen figured out he was saying "While".
now this *was* a *classic* scene
When I had the misfortune of working IT people were amazed that they were speaking with an American, and not with "some foreigner" (IT shows the bad side of people)
it´s really the best scene ever!!! The IT crowd rules!!!
Kevin Eldon is an unsung genius.
We need a youtube hero to put sub titles on this
Guy in 2nd row laughing is great!
Is Kevin Eldon in every british comedy show ever?
All the best ones, yes :) Big Train was particularly hilarious!
"You do know that I'm an Evil Hypnotist?"
Jen is just freakin adorable
Press delete while pressing ctrl and alt
"Can you press delete while starting up?" He is asking her to access the bios.
ohhhh
hollycrapitsjean123 Jen, is that you?
Lol
She's brilliant in this
i love jenns voice :)
That's the classic "I can skip the English test because my English is so amazing!" argument every ESL teacher has to deal with xD
She is so beautiful.
She really isn't.
She is hilarious and your discussion is as relevant as fire alarm at sea parks.
Katherine Parkinson is gorgeous if red hair, madness and a fantastic sense of humour are high on the list of things you love in a woman!
I'm married to a redhead with psychological issues, and concur.
Oh shut up you sad git
Ahhh the Zubion yes we've been having problems with the Zubion!
I'D LIKE TO BUY A DAMNBURGER
noo...a haaammburglar.
This is exactly how I felt, when I still worked at IT support.
the cleaner from black books!!
A myriad of characters from Big Train!!
Filthy
Thank you very much for this sharing
You were almost correct. It should read like this - "Thank you very much for sharing this".
or 'during' or 'while' :)
Never mind the french I had enough difficulty understanding the bloke I spoke to when I called a British Gas call centre in Glasgow the other day. Such a thick Scottish accent. Kept on having to ask the poor man on the other end of the phone to repeat himself. I swear didn't get a word of what he said.
I had to pause this part cause I laughed way too hard!