Would you say How I Met Your Mother is not a comedy because there are serious moments?

lol, wtf kind of strawman is that? Do you think Nurse Jackie is a comedy?

Almost every drama has funny moments. If you think that laughing at people (like how a bully pushing a kid and making him drop his books is funny) is what makes comedy then okay, but that's not how this show is presented. I'm genuinely confused about what it considers itself. It's taking itself too seriously to be parody, and the situations fall much closer to a dramedy than a comedy. Just because a show features funny people does not necessarily mean it's 100 percent intended as comedy.

Beavis and Butt-head and Office Space were very clearly comedies, but this really isn't so clear. We'll need a few more episodes to judge what it is. From the original trailer, I thought it was a comedy. When I watched a more in depth behind the scenes piece, I did not come away with the impression that it was necessarily intended as a comedy. It almost seems like a serious mockumentary type show featuring people who can play the necessary comedic caricatures without shame when necessary.

Just about every story about the show, including HBO press releases, describe the show as a sitcom or comedy.

I haven't seen B&B but Office Space and Idiocracy are obviously comedies, however they're also clearly more than that. I think there are two types of comedy movies, story and theme driven movies that are funny, and movies that set out to be 'just a comedy'. Anchorman would be an example of the latter, there's no 'point' to it except entertainment, whereas Office Space and Idiocracy are the former. I think this is going to play out in a similar vein. It's not the same as a typical TV comedy but if this show was a film I'd have no problem labeling it, like Office Space, a comedy. If Office Space was on TV, I think you could call it a dramedy as well but this isn't TV, this is HBO.

I trust that Judge has a plan for this show so I'm hopeful that the problems brought up about not needing a team, or this kind of team at least, for the startup will be addressed or prove to be a non-issue.

I think Office Space definitely plays more at parody level, which is clear comedy. I don't think it would come across as dramedy on TV, but I could obviously be wrong.

As Dynasty said, HBO thinks it's a comedy, and I have no problem with that. The trailer for the show was very comedic, but the stuff that delved a little deeper made me question that. That said, I do think it's a funny show, and that it will probably eventually settle into being much more comedic (why would they have the talent involved that they do if that's not the planned direction?). Judge is very good at a number of comedic types spanning the spectrum, so he has my trust for now.

Its quite clearly a comedy; more specifically, a satire. Just because its not filled with zingers and one liners doesn't means its not comedic in nature. Not sure how it could be construed any other way.

Ever since I found out American Hustle was categorized a comedy I could care less about stuff like that

Okay good, that's good, the missing comedy genre I couldn't remember. The satire is just a little too on the nose from what others have described who know about some of the tech types in the show (they said certain characters aren't even caricatures, but that there are really people like that). When satire is too close to reality, it blurs some comedic lines, but yes satire is definitely the closest comedy genre to this. I'm now convinced that is the kind of comedy this is. Thank you. It was a winwin having this conversation.

Obv a comedy no idea how this is actually a discussion.

Because it's pretty damn subtle in a lot of ways.

I don't think Office Space is more of a parody than this (since the company is a direct parody of google). I've, albeit briefly, been in the kind of soul crushing corporate environment Office Space represents and since it was released... the reality has actually gotten worse.

It's not unusual, nowadays at least, for comedy pilots to have more story and less laughs than the show will eventually settle down to. Community sticks out as a prime example (and I'm in the extreme minority who thinks the pilot is amongst the best episodes for its story focus). I'm all for more story focus and I'd love to see this show stay that way but I think you're probably right.

There was more broad comedy in Office Space, but I would definitely say this show and that movie have some environmental similarities. I also think that's a good point about the Pilot setting up story and themes and then going comedic down the road. I think satire is still the most appropriate comedy category for this, which is much more subtle than parody.

Loved this show. Every time the incubator guy said Aviato I cracked up.

It's not subtle at all imo

Did they mention what Aviato was?

Also loved the joke about programmers moving in packs of 5

This is so obviously a comedy, it's unfathomable to me that there could be any debate on that front.

Peter Thiel Just Paid 20 Kids $20M to Not Go to College

That site, ValleyWag, is a nice accompaniment to this show.

That's Kumail Nanjiani. He's Pakistani and hilarious.

My bad, I was too lazy to look up his nationality. I'm not a racist I swear.

20 kids 100k/each. A little diff than 20 million for 20 kids or even 20m per kid.

Wasn't suggesting it for a second.

i only laughed a few times, but it was very enjoyable. i liked the characters and the actors. it's a really, really great cast. the ridicule of the culture was good too.

i thought idiocracy lagged a little bit towards the end. but when he first gets to idiot time i laughed so fricking hard! that is one of the best scenes in film history.

His Beta Male special is probably my favorite new stand up act in the past five years.

Ill second Beta Male being hilarious. Kumail has created a nice career for himself since he got cast in Franklin and Bash, great to see him working a lot even if he gets a bit typecast.

(unrelated but check out Iliza Shlezinger's War Paint on Netflix, another great new stand up)

To give props to others on the cast if you have never watched The Gorburger Show starring TJ Miller as an alien who eats people and hosts a Japanese talk show you are missing out.

swing and a miss

Subtle 50ppp brag.