S01E07 - Proof of Concept
No: 7 | Season: 1 Episode: 7 | Air Date: 18-May-14 | Ratings: 1.68
Summary
When Pied Piper arrives at TechCrunch Battlefield they are still working on their platform. To complicate matters, Richard has trouble concentrating due to the awkward presence of an ex-girlfriend. Meanwhile, Dinesh meets an attractive girl programmer. Aside from her good looks, he also falls in love with her apparent proficiency in Java programming. However, when Gilfoyle tells Dinesh that he was the one who actually wrote the girl's Java code Dinesh is dismayed. When Erlich realizes one of the judges of the Battlefield is a man whose wife he had an affair with years earlier, he attempts to remedy the situation. However, Erlich ends up having sex with the judge's new wife, which results in the judge attacking Erlich at the beginning of Pied Piper's presentation.
Director and Writers
Director: Mike Judge
Written by: Clay Tarver
Quotes
Soundcheck Guy: Check, one-two two, tsetse fly, tsetse fly.
Erlich: Do you have those spotlights that come up from the ground, like in Pride Fighting?
Music
"Stretch Your Face" by Tobacco (Opening title music)
"Smokin & Drinkin" by Danny Brown (End-credits music.)
Notes and Trivia
According to actor Zach Woods (Jared) the writers planned to have Jared stranded on Peter's automated island for several days and he would be forced to kill a seagull for food. In this episode, the seagull would become a recurring joke as Jared would be haunted by the seagull's face.
Recreating TechCrunch Disrupt involved using both actual footage of the real event and the same printers who do the real event's banners, signage and credentials. It also meant that the producers had to clear every single fictional tech company name they concocted just in case it had been taken by a real company. One such name that didn't clear was "Co-Techs," picked due to its phonetic similarity to the feminine hygiene product Kotex.
The scene with Richard vomiting out the window of the Aviato van was actually shot in San Francisco, and it's the real Thomas Middleditch fake-vomiting out the window of a moving van on a real freeway.
The "Human Heater" startup was based on a real invention by a colleague of Alec Berg's father, a biophysics professor.
According to Mike Judge, in the scene where Erlich was tackled on the stage, stunt doubles were standing by but never used. It was the actual actors fighting.
Goofs
None
Locations
Establishing shots of both the exterior and interior of the TechCrunch Disrupt conference were filmed at the Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th Street, San Francisco.
The establishing shot of the outside of the hotel where the guys were staying was taken at the Omni San Francisco, 500 California St, San Francisco, CA.
Cast
Starring | Thomas Middleditch | Richard Hendricks |
Starring | T.J. Miller | Erlich Bachman |
Starring | Josh Brener | Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti |
Starring | Martin Starr | Bertram Gilfoyle |
Starring | Kumail Nanjiani | Dinesh Chugtai |
Starring | Christopher Evan Welch | Peter Gregory (credit only) |
Starring | Amanda Crew | Monica Hall |
Starring | Zach Woods | Donald 'Jared' Dunn |
Co-Starring | Jill E. Alexander | Patrice (as Jill Alexander) |
Co-Starring | Bobak Bakhtiari | Immedibug CEO |
Co-Starring | Shainu Bala | Yoga Master CEO |
Co-Starring | Ursula Burton | Female Judge |
Co-Starring | Bobo Chang | Flingual CEO |
Co-Starring | Isaac Cheung | BitFlenser CEO |
Co-Starring | Efrain Gomez | Systobase CEO |
Co-Starring | Brandon Higa | HAPPIN! CEO |
Co-Starring | Jason Kincaid | Himself |
Co-Starring | Jimmy O. Yang | Jian Yang (as Jimmy Ouyang) |
Co-Starring | Jeremy Rabb | HumanHeater CEO |
Co-Starring | Rogelio T. Ramos | Another Executive (as Rogelio Ramos) |
Co-Starring | Ben Zelevansky | Stage Manager |
Guest Starring | Jake Broder | Dan Melcher |
Guest Starring | Lynn Chen | Grace Melcher |
Guest Starring | Andrew Daly | Doctor |
Guest Starring | Mary Holland | Sherry |
Guest Starring | Aly Mawji | Aly Dutta |
Guest Starring | AJ Michalka | Charlotte |
Guest Starring | Scott Prendergast | Scott |
Guest Starring | Brian Tichnell | Jason |
With | Matt Ross | Gavin Belson |