There’s no surer sign that a subculture has entered the mainstream than when it ends up on a TV show, and over the last few years the startup scene has crossed the threshold. We’ve seen a deplorable Bravo reality show and a comedy from Amazon, but nothing’s reached beyond easy jokes or lowest common denominator appeal. Given the track record, it’s easy to be wary of Mike Judge and HBO’s new show Silicon Valley — but the creator of Office Space and Beavis and Butt-head gets it completely right, resulting in an extremely funny show that will appeal both to broad audiences and the tech world insiders it’s so adept at mocking.

Richard (an awkwardly charming Thomas Middleditch) lives with several friends in a hacker hostel run by dotcom millionaire Erlich (T.J. Miller, in a hilarious breakout performance). Richard’s dream is to build a truly terrible music site named Pied Piper, but a pair of feuding tech billionaires discover that the compression algorithm he’s using is a potential goldmine. A bidding war ensues, and Richard has to decide whether to go for the $10 million acquisition or build his own company with his housemates.