Have You Tried Turning it Off and On Again?: I Restart the Richard Ayoade for 12th Doctor Campaign

"I came here to drink milk and kick ass. And I've just finished my milk."

Sign the Most Important Petition You'll Ever Sign (That Has to do with Doctor Who)!

So, my original reason for halting my Richard Ayoade for 12th Doctor campaign was that Wil Wheton claimed to have known who the Doctor was for several week before Matt Smith announced his retirement.  Then Steven Moffat came out and said that the search had just begun.  Who is more likely to be lying?  Moffat or Wheaton?  Honestly, it's a coin flip on that one.  So I thought I might as well give it one more shot, just in case there's still a chance of the best choice for the Doctor being cast for the role.

My first exposure to Richard Ayoade was when Jackie, a member of my PhD cohort, introduced me to The I.T. Crowd one night after a really rough day of classes.  What I got to watch was one of the funniest, nerdiest shows in British television history.  And the entire thing was carried by one brilliantly comic actor who played such a brilliant nerd that he put Steve Urkel to shame.

I later came to love Ayoade in pretty much everything else he did.  He kind of works with a very specific crowd of actors and comedians, most of them in some way associated with the brilliant comedy duo, The Mighty Boosh.  Ayoade was actually a pretty main character in the Boosh's radio show, but when they got their own TV show, he was pretty busy with The I.T. Crowd.  Still, the two shows had a little crossover, with half of the Boosh (Noel Fielding) having a recurring role on The I.T. Crowd, Matt Berry appearing prominently in both shows, and Ayoade having a small but hilarious recurring role as the shaman Saboo.

Ayoade has done tons of other things, such as his short but hilarious cameo in The Bunny and The Bull, directing an Arctic Monkey's concert video, and three different films that he wrote himself.

I could sing Ayoade's praises for hours, but I thought I'd try to talk you into signing my petition by showing you some of the best of Ayoade.

First, The I.T. Crowd:

And now, The Mighty Boosh, as a true Doctor must know about the crunch:

And finally, the trailer for his own movie that he wrote and directed, Submarine (which, admittedly, I've yet to see):

What more evidence do you need?  Sign the petition today.  If a Facebook group can get Betty White to host SNL, I can make Richard Ayoade the motherflippin' Doctor.

And he would probably keep all of the swooning Doctor Who fangirls, too!