When Silicon Valley was first announced, people seemed worried. We were all pretty sure we didn’t need a new, R-rated version of The Big Bang Theory, and no one seemed to be clamoring for another Entourage. It’s been a welcome surprise then, that two seasons in, the series has easily cemented itself as one of the best comedies on television, the loyalties of which lie as much in its strict adherence to computer science as they do in an underhanded dick joke.

Much of the genius is in Silicon Valley’s perfect casting, with Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr and Zach Woods rounding out the Pied Piper team, which goes hand-in-hand with Silicon Valley’s impressively precise pacing and meticulously sharp writing. It’s difficult to find a more consistently satisfying sitcom on TV today. Thankfully, the third season will arrive this weekend on HBO, and with it, a new swath of Pied Piper misadventures for us to enjoy. In the meantime though, we’re looking back at some of our favorite moments from the last two seasons, from elaborate handjob equations to the three comma club.

Peter Gregory and Burger King – Season 1, Episode 3: “Articles of Incorporation”

Before tragedy struck in late 2013, Christopher Evan Welch carved an exceptionally weird niche with his portrayal of the often frustratingly enigmatic Peter Gregory, a tech enthusiast and the lead investor in Pied Piper. When Welch passed away due to lung cancer in the middle of the first season, series creator Mike Judge and the production team were forced to write him out of the show. But, that doesn’t mean that Peter Gregory and his endless quirks ever went underused. Though the odd intellectual had seemed a bit off from the beginning, it wasn’t until the third episode of the series, when Gregory’s obsession with a specific fast food chain threatened to derail much of Monica’s (Amanda Crew) well-laid plans, that we got to see the true extent of Gregory’s eccentricity. Played as both a crash course in market analytics and a long (probably paid for?) plug by Burger King, Gregory’s out of the blue intellectualism helped to mint Silicon Valley’s uniquely high/low comic sensibility.  

Best Quote: “And now, would anyone like some BK?” - Peter Gregory

Richard’s Puke-Inducing Panic Attacks – Season 1, Episode 4: “Fiduciary Duties”

Despite being a relatively unknown comedic force before Silicon Valley, any doubts about Thomas Middleditch’s acting chops were easily assuaged by the fourth episode of the series as Richard, the would-be CEO, begins to hilariously buckle under the pressure of Pied Piper investment meetings. Triggered into a casual nervous breakdown after spying some food stuck in his teeth, Richard finds himself hunkered down in an office bathroom in his underwear, hysterically washing his own pants in the sink. Ultimately, Ehrlich is able to save face with the investor, but the still dysfunctional Richard can’t find much time to thank him before promptly unloading his guts right in Erlich’s face. Welcome to Silicon Valley.

Best Quote: “I got a spot on my pants, kind of like I pissed myself like a big baby.” - Richard

The Driverless Car – Season 1, Episode 6: “Third Party Insourcing”

Though not part of the original Pied Piper team, Zach Woods’ Jared is an endless well of zany opportunity, perfectly embodying the kind of mewling, twitchy cringe comedy that manages to land somewhere in between lovable and totally unbearable. So when the painfully shy Jared is forced to toe to toe with the strong will of a driverless car after it reroutes him to a remote island populated only by the automobile automatons, the results are unsurprisingly blissful, resulting in a subplot that’s a truly uproarious and genuinely creepy look at the world of modern technology.

Best Quote: “What’s happening? I’m sorry, what? Mr. Car?” - Jared

The Church Candy Kid – Season 1, Episode 6: “Third Party Insourcing”

Over the past twenty episodes of Silicon Valley, T.J. Miller has been given plenty of scenery to gnaw on, but his bubbling energy never quite found as much direction as in the sixth episode, when Erlich tracks down a drug peddling kid guilty of ripping off an adderall-seeking Richard. Without even pausing to put on pants, the robe-clad Erlich thunders down the street towards the 80-pound dealer, chucking his bike into the well-manicured bushes and threatening casual violence with the terrifying eloquence that only Erlich could muster.

Best Quote: “You just brought piss to a shit fight, you little c***!” - Erlich

The Jerk Algorithm – Season 1, Episode 8: “Optimal Tip to Tip Efficiency”

Certainly Silicon Valley’s alternate title could be “Murphy’s Law in the Tech Field,” and the show’s narrative device of constant, unending problems could seem tired if it wasn’t so much fun to watch. Take episode eight, in which a perpetually stymied Pied Piper is roused by the mathematical implications of Ehrlich’s promise: “we’re going to win even if I have to go into the auditorium personally jerk off every guy in the audience.” Given ten minutes on stage, they wonder, there would be no way for Erlich to manage that many handjobs before their presentation was forced to shutter. It’s a strangely complex joke that runs much, much longer than you might expect, sliding from funny to absurd and then back to funny again. If that weren’t enough, the entire bit is tied to a major plot point of the season, giving the entire ridiculous sequence a impressive sheen of gravitas.

Best Quote: “Yeah, so what we're trying to do, hypothetically, is minimize time, which is 800 dudes, multiplied by mean-jerk time, divided by four dicks at a time. Of course, Erlich would have to pre-sort guys by height, so that their dicks lined up.” - Dinesh

Negotiating with “Hostility and Rudeness” – Season 2, Episode 2: “Sand Hill Shuffle”

When Pied Piper is forced to find a new investor after the loss of Peter Gregory, Silicon Valley once again successfully turns the lemons of tragic loss into some impressively profane lemonade. Employing the classic dating tack of “negging,” Erlich embarks on a who’s who tour of potential investors as he hurls shockingly specific insults at them, watching Pied Piper’s estimated value shoot through the roof. Sure, the tactic doesn’t end up paying off, but thanks to Erlich’s dry wit and over-the-top tactics that include both verbal insults and shocking nudity, the joke becomes far more about the journey than the destination.

Best Quote: “And your logo looks like a sideways vagina. I find that to be racist, don’t you?” - Erlich

Dinesh and Gilfoyle’s SWOT Analysis – Season 2, Episode 6: “Homicide”

Who said Dinesh and Gilfoyle couldn’t get along? When Dinesh is drawn to a new girl and rebuffed by her floppy-haired stunt-driver boyfriend, the two can’t help but join forces in grand distaste of his general antics. But when the two notice a (literally!) fatal flaw in Blaine’s stunt-jump calculations, they commit to an appropriately analytic SWOT breakdown to determine the question of the hour: should they “Let Blaine Die?” The board, which we get a good look at during the episode holds some stunning gems (weaknesses include “Gina can’t have sex due to ‘bummer vibe’ of funeral” and “Blaine’s funeral televised; preempts Star Trek: TNG marathon”), is a perfect proof of the characters’ strangely charming moral corruption. And when Blaine wanders into the room all muscles and good graces, we’re forced to wait in anguish before he finally discovers what’s written on the board behind him. Yiiiikes.

Best Quote: “Strengths: ‘Blaine’s last moment is realizing face is gone’? Weaknesses: ‘Blaine dies super fast?’” - Blaine

The Three Comma Club – Season 2, Episode 7: “Adult Content”

With Peter Gregory unfortunately out of the picture, it was only a matter of time before another mystifyingly kooky financier attempted to fill his empty shoes. Enter Russ Hanneman (Chris Diamantopoulos), a member of the tech world glitterati and proud member of the “three comma club” whose number one talent seems to be smiling with both of his lips. But when Russ calls Richard to his house shortly after the two find a financial quid pro quo, he reveals with thinly veiled despair that certain financial dealings have left him with a (comparatively tiny) $200 million loss, stripping him of his billionaire status. In any other show, this spoiled fit could seem trite, but watching Russ’ outrage at having to drive a car with doors that open the normal way (“not like this, not like this”) is still one of the brightest spots of last season.

Best Quote: “These are not the doors of a billionaire, Richard! Fuck you. Fuck you in the ass.” - Russ Hanneman

Schrodinger’s Condor Egg – Season 2, Episode 9: “Binding Arbitration”

Doing exactly what Silicon Valley does best, (that is, joining high-thinking concepts with an often low-brow sensibility), the penultimate episode of the second season sees Dinesh and Gilfoyle discouraging Jared’s nervous tendencies in only the way that they can: with a complex thought experiment. Subbing the cat of the famous Schrodinger's cat experiment for the condor egg on the Pied Piper-hosted live stream, the two insist Jared not intervene in its delicate theoretical life, with surprisingly terrible consequences. Unable to allow the fate of the egg to remain undetermined, Jared interferes, ultimately “causing” a man sent to disrupt the livestream to fall to his potential death. Whoops.

Best Quote: “You’re one dark motherfucker, Jared.” - Dinesh

The Servers are On Fire – Season 2, Episode 10 “Two Days of the Condor”

As the often-at-odds tech team is forced to band together to keep their condor stream up despite the massive number of viewers flocking to their servers, Silicon Valley finds itself slipping into a sweet spot between absurdity and genuine suspense that ultimately helps to elevate the series beyond simple sitcom status. What unfolds, besides a burgeoning house fire, is a pitch-perfect denouement that brings Pied Piper’s tendency to combine skill with bold-faced luck to the fore in a fiery and very funny final episode. Sure, including the linchpin of the entire Season 2 finale as a “moment” could be considered cheating, but it’s hard to argue with a perfectly balanced comic climax that ties every loose end into a neat and vindicating bow.

Best Quote: “Madame, do not call a man a fool on the transom of his own home. A home that happens to be the world headquarters of a company keeping streaming video of a man who is about to drink his own urine online for tens of thousands of Filipinos. Does that sound like foolishness to you?” - Erlich, obviously

Silicon Valley Season 3 premieres Sunday, April 24th on HBO.