Episode 2 was a bit tougher than the season opener because of that damned pixelated Kermit the Frog tee, but I did find it eventually, so all is good. Pretty funny episode too, I loved that when I was in the pub on Sunday watching the Arsenal game (between furious bouts of shopping in Manchester) we came scarily close to having the same football conversation as they did in the show, even though none of the people I was with watch The IT Crowd.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand, the pixelated/censored Kermit the Frog ‘Witness Protection Program’ t-shirt is made by Chunk, who do lots of retro/pop culture tees, but it isn’t available on their website. I’ve only been able to find it for sale at Urban Outfitters for the rather ludicrous price of £28. I was about to go on a rant about UO and their prices now, but I’ve just noticed that Chunk sell other Witness Protection tees (with characters like Batman & Superman on them) on their own site for £24.95, so I can’t get too annoyed with ‘hipster mecca’ this time around.
Next up was a tee that I recognised immediately, as it is a bit of a classic in the world of indie tees. The t-shirt with the Japanese schoolgirl getting shot on it is an homage to Battle Royale, the fantastic, and fantastically violent Japanese film, and is made by Airside. The tee is also worn by Roy in Channel 4’s press material for the show. This one will set you back £24.95, which is pretty much par for the course in Britain, sorry Americans. Buy it here.
The third and final tee that Roy wore on the show was one I already knew about as well, which probably suggests that I do spend a bit too much looking at t-shirts, as I knew that those firefighters were the work of Derek over at Enclothe. It’s nice to see a friend of the blog getting some great exposure on a TV show watched by millions of people here in the UK. The tee is called 451, which is a reference to Fahrenheit 451 (I think), and I’m not sure if it was intentional, but the idea of a guy who works in IT wearing a t-shirt about the temperature that paper/books burn at is very cool. It costs $19 and can be bought here.
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I recognized the second and third shirts immediately, as well…
Joe, do you ever wonder if we know too much about tees?
Sometimes… but then I wonder, perhaps we don’t know ENOUGH?
True, what kind of a chump can’t identify a pixelated Kermit the Frog t-shirt in less than a minute?
Hey Andy!
I was waiting for this post
451 is indeed a reference to Fahrenheit 451
We were really excited to be on the show, we sent some other shirts too including Cthulu, Abe, and 1984 so there’s a chance we might be on again.
Brilliant.
Started watching the show when I was working IT in Las Vegas. Can’t watch without trying to figure out Roy’s T-shirts. I was going nuts on the Kermit shirt. Thank you! Thank you!
Ahhhh I love this show and just found it a few months ago. I’ve been looking and looking for that pixelated Kermit shirt but no luck finding it anywhere! I would love one. Roy is hilarious, the whole show is hilarious. I hope they keep going with it.
I am trying to find the 8 bit/pixel bert and ernie t shirt.
any leads?
I just discovered The IT Crowd last week and downed all three seasons in three afternoons. Very good show.
I found the place that made these shirts and they told me they don’t make them anymore and don’t plan to make them again, bummer!
Sorry can’t find the link to them now but I emailed them and that’s what they told me. I’m guessing it’s a licensing issue.