The phrase comes from The IT Crowd, the British sitcom that premiered on Channel 4 in 2006. Roy Trenneman, who works in IT support with Moss and Jen, answers almost every call with the same reboot question, turning it into his running catchphrase across the series. Clips and quotes spread online as a shorthand for basic tech support, shared in forums, reaction posts and help desk jokes. It remains popular because restarting still fixes many everyday glitches, so the joke keeps matching real experience.