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Silicon Valley aired only eight episodes in its first season, but the comedy made a big impression on Emmy voters: HBO‘s tech-world-set show earned five nominations, including best comedy series and best writing and directing for a comedy.
The series, partially inspired by creator Mike Judge‘s own experiences as a Silicon Valley engineer in the late ’80s, centers on entrepreneur Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) and his three pals as they look to get a startup going.
The show, which also was up for best art direction and main title design at last week’s Creative Arts Emmy awards, has already been renewed for a second season.
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Ahead of Monday’s Emmys — where Silicon Valley will compete for best comedy with The Big Bang Theory, Louie, Modern Family, Orange Is the New Black and Veep — here’s a look at six funny moments from season one.
Richard’s dilemma
Judge is nominated for directing the series premiere, “Minimum Viable Product,” which featured several funny moments as Richard tries to decide between a $4 million offer from Gavin Belson or Peter Gregory’s offer of $200,000 and 5 percent of the company. Even his doctor weighs in (compounding Richard’s stress), explaining that he treated another guy in the same position who was stressed about taking the money versus an investment. “He took the money. Or no, he did not — I don’t — you know what? I don’t remember. But whatever it was, he regretted it so much that he ended up shooting himself and now he’s blind,” the doctor says helpfully. (Watch the moment in the season-one trailer below.)
Erlich’s porn problem
Pied Piper has a problem: Its logo looks too pornographic. So against the advice of Jared (Zach Woods), Erlich (T.J. Miller) commissions a graffiti artist — at a cost of $10,000 — to come up with something new that will be displayed on his garage door. The first design: Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) pictured as an Aztec warrior in a compromising position with the Statue of Liberty. “It comments on the Latino struggle for justice in America,” Chuy says of his work. After Erlich expresses his displeasure, Chuy then paints Erlich’s face onto Miss Liberty. His response? “I’m already smiling, do you really have to paint me giving the thumbs-up? It’s gratuitous.” (Watch Nanjiani talk about the image on Conan below.)
Erlich beats up “church candy” kid
Richard tries to secure Adderall from a group of kids who dupe him into buying what turns out to be something else. When he approaches them, one of the kids slaps him. When Erlich finds out what’s transpired, he not only slaps the kid himself but also throws his bicycle into the bushes. He then launches into the threat of all threats — “You get in your f—ing house and you get me five Adderall, or I’ll slit your f—ing throat … I’ll kill your mother, I’ll rape your father” — scaring the kid out of his mind. (Warning: NSFW.)
How to win over a male-dominated audience
In the season finale — “Optimal Tip-To-Tip Efficiency,” which earned writer Alec Berg an Emmy nom — the guys essentially try to figure out a way to, ahem, pleasure an entire room of men after a setback at the TechCrunch Disrupt competition for startups. “We’re going to win even if I have to go into the auditorium and personally jerk off every guy in the audience,” Erlich says, which sparks a lengthy problem-solving session about the most efficient way to go about it. Following the finale, Judge tweeted out a link to a 12-page paper (complete with charts) offering a scientific explanation of the joke. (Warning: NSFW.)
“You’re gay for my code”
Dinesh becomes involved with a woman he met at Disrupt, only to come to the realization that he’s more attracted to the Java code he thought she wrote. Turns out, it’s actually Gilfoyle’s (Martin Starr) code. “She doesn’t know Java. I wrote that code,” Gilfoyle tells Dinesh. “You said you were in love with her mind. You realize what’s going on, right? It’s not her you’re sexually attracted to. It’s my code. Just face it, Dinesh: You’re gay for my code. You’re code gay.”
Erlich gets licked
Also at the TechCrunch event, Erlich plans to take the lead in presenting Pied Piper. But things go horribly awry when he realizes that one of the judges, Dan Melcher (Jake Broder), may harbor a grudge against him — for sleeping with his (now ex-)wife. The only problem? He doesn’t actually know if Melcher is aware of their indiscretion. Says Erlich: “We may be totally fine, or we may be totally fucked.” When Erlich goes to his hotel room to suss out the situation, he instead meets Melcher’s new wife. One thing leads to another, and Erlich ends up sleeping with her as well. Multiple times. Both that night and the next morning. The next day’s presentation is cut short after Melcher physically attacks Erlich. (Check out the aftermath — and Erlich’s shiner — in the video below.)
What was your favorite Silicon Valley moment? Jared getting stranded on an island of driverless cars? Erlich’s mushroom trip? Sound off in the comments below.
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