Just two episodes in, Mike Judge’s tech-savvy sitcom Silicon Valley is already one of the funniest shows on TV, with a pitch-perfect cast delivering wit, bro humor and satire in a single, easy-to-operate unit. A lot of this comedic magic happens inside the “incubator,” where T.J. Miller’s Erlich Bachmann houses fellow coders and programmers for a percentage of their development profits, and HBO is giving us an all-access look inside the so-called “hacker hostel,” with the show’s stars joking their way through the electronics-stuffed home. I would easily live in this place, assuming I wouldn’t need to know how to actually do anything necessary to live there.
I didn’t even realize how big this place was, but Miller seems to go to an endless amount of rooms on this tour. He starts off in the bathroom, which features a pink tub, pink lavatory and (non-functional) pink toilet, which makes it prime real estate for five men. He then visits some of the characters’ prop-filled bedrooms. Thomas Middleditch takes us beneath Richard’s top bunk bed…er, elevated normal bed, while Kumail Nanjiani reveals that his room was originally decked out with an Indian theme, though only an incense burner remains from that bit of set dressing typecasting.
Perhaps the best part is when they head into the kitchen to see what each character’s diet consists of, which is mostly just cereals, ramen noodles and other foods one can make in less than ten minutes. I rather like the way everything is labeled, which seems like something only one of the characters would be anal enough to go through – probably the now gone Big Head – perhaps to the tune of Martin Starr’s bongo drumming. So perhaps it would be more pleasurable to live in Selina Meyer’s VP mansion on Silicon Valley’s Sunday night follow-up Veep, this place isn’t half bad. (And if you’re interested in the set design behind the tech corporation Hooli, check out this interesting Silicon Valley Business Journal article.)
So what will happen in the incubator for Episode 3? “Articles of Incorporation” will pit Richard and his surly colleagues against a company that has already trademarked the name Pied Piper, the same as Richard’s app. Nobody but Richard seems keen on holding onto it though. Below is HBO’s promo, followed by an episode clip that goes deeper into the Pied Piper name hatred. Plus, find out what Jared’s real name is.
