The language of Ted Lasso is popular culture. The cheesiest of music, the rommiest of Rom-Coms, the deepest of football fan-based love. This makes sense given that the Richmond Football Club is the show’s real star – its pull so precious that it can bring out the best and the worst in people. Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddington) knows fandom is the only way she can really get revenge on her cheating ex-husband Rupert (Anthony Head), so she hires the show’s American star, Ted Lasso (Jason Sudekis) to come to London to coach his beloved Richmond team. Lasso knows nothing about (English) Football – something Rebecca assumes will mean certain death for the club.
Instead of killing Richmond and leaving Rupert impotent (as it were), Ted Lasso brings a fire that makes Richmond flourish. The fire is just more passion. Sure, Lasso still has no idea of the actual nuts and bolts of the game he’s responsible for, but he’s got passion to help with that too. Lasso’s right-hand man Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) comes with him from the States and is the tactical brains behind Lasso’s lip; while Lasso’s ability to spot someone (literally) on the ground and platform their deep knowledge and love also pays dividends. Arise, former drinks and kit man, Nathan ‘Nate the Great’ Shelley (Nick Mohammed).
Of course, also important here are the players and their own fans. The Richmond team include superstars like the veteran great Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), the arrogant current star Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster) and rising players Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) and Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernández). Then there’s Keely Jones (Juno Temple), the independent woman who is at one time Tartt, and then Kent’s girlfriend, Lasso and Welton confidants, and the club’s PR manager. Jones claims she’s not that interested in football, but like Lasso, it’s clear she finds fandom infectious. The epicentre of public Richmond fandom, the local pub The Crown and Anchor, features uber fan publican Mae (Annette Badland); the holy trinity of supporters Baz (Adam Colborne), Paul (Kevin Garry) and Jeremy (Bronson Webb) and regular punter and professional sports fan, journalist Trent Crimm (James Lance). The regular appearances of these characters alone provide the show with the most magical comedic garnish.
Through the language of popular culture Lasso invites those around him to play a new game. Fandom is the playing field – and references fly fast as a way to form connections beyond the task at hand. It’s the kind of thing that might otherwise be written off as just frivolous – a song lyric here, a catch phrase there – but it shows a shared history and understanding where connections can be made on and beyond the screen. No Weddings and a Funeral, one of the biggest episodes of the show this this year (and of television for the decade I think), features Rick Astley’s 80s iconic “Never Gonna Give You Up” as an amazing recurring multi-dimensional metaphor. So bold in its popularity and mainstream appeal that the song has become an ongoing joke – to be ‘Rick-rolled’ is to be digitally pranked in the most gentle of ways. But in this episode the song connects generations, eras and fandoms. When it appears as part of Rebecca’s eulogy for her father it at first seems to be a sign of insanity, but supported by Ted and then the team, it is again just another way that fandom connects when we apparently have nothing else in common. It starts as vulnerable and perhaps a bit embarrassing, and ends as joyously out of place. You don’t have to love the song to join in the thrill of solidarity.
The hype is real. Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso really IS that good. A contemporary comedy of manners where the British versus American cultures are battled out, with fandom where and how wins are made. The ensemble is divine, and the results are hilarious. Everything, and nothing, is sacred, which is what makes it work so well. A continued joke that works throughout is how different characters connect to unlikely fan references. Team psychiatrist Dr Sharon (Sarah Niles) and Ted clicking over Prince’s dirtiest moments? Yes please. The whole team bonding over the hidden layers of Justin Timberlake’s back catalogue? Comedy gold.
The language of fandom is also why Ted Lasso has had such appeal during lockdown. We have wanted something to keep us connected. That thing might be Football. That thing might be Rick Astley. The references are here, there and everyfuckin where (you’ll get that last Lasso original if you are a fan yourself!). As long as it works, who cares?
Bring on Season 3.
Dr Liz Giuffre is a senior lecturer and researcher in Media, Music and Cultural Studies at University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Her work focuses on music and television in particular, including audience studies, fandom, cultural history and cultural industries in transition.
