The Netflix Comedy Series That Is One Of The Most Hilarious Shows On Streaming
We’ll cut to the chase: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is now streaming on Netflix, and we think you should watch it—because the series is a guaranteed gutbuster. Take a trip into the twisted, brilliant (brilliant twisted?) mind of Tim Robinson, as the actor, comedian, and writer usher you through three seasons of surreal, sometimes cringe-inducing comedy, as brilliantly written as it is overwhelmingly funny.
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is on Netflix, and the surreal comedy sketch series is one of the best things on the service.
Created by both Robinson and writer/producer Zach Kanin (former cartoon editor for the New Yorker and veteran of Harvard Univeristy’s legendary National Lampoon), the hit Netflix series owes its beginning to Saturday Night Live. It was there that Robinson and Kanin first met (Robinson as an actor, briefly, then a full-time writer; Kanin as a writer, too) and forged I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson’s unique sensibility.
What sensibility, you ask?
Take the infamous “Focus Group” sketch, where guest star Ruben Rabasa overpowers a car company focus group, insisting on bizarre ideas for a hypothetical car—“A good steering wheel that doesn’t fly off while you’re driving,” for example, or the stipulation that the vehicle should be “stinky.”
Or take the similarly viral “Hot Dog Car Crash” sketch, where a hot dog-shaped vehicle crashes through the window of a Brooks Brothers. Who—the dazed, nearly run-over shoppers ask—is the culprit? Despite being dressed in a hot dog costume, Tim Robinson insists it is not himself. The I Think You Should Leave meme derived from the moment Robinson, clad in hot dog attire, says, “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this,” has become the stuff of internet legend.
The Netflix series owes some of its success, no doubt, to its excellent guest stars. Sam Richardson, who previously co-created the stupendous Comedy Central show Detroiters with Robinson, joins the latter in a handful of fabulous sketches (for proof, search on YouTube for “Little Buff Boys,” where Richardson hosts a pageant of underage male body-builders). The brilliant Patti Harrison also decidedly heightens some of I Think You Should Leave’s best sketches (the ingenious sketch satirizing Shark Tank is but one).
At the same time, Late Night With Seth Meyers writer and internet sensation Connor O’Malley routinely out-cringe-induces Robinson in some fan favorites (“Friends Weekend,” from Season Two, where O’Malley plays the earth’s most embittered husband, must be seen to be believed). Other guest stars include Will Forte, Fred Armisen, Cecily Strong, Julia Butters, and Bob Odenkirk.
Regarding critical reception, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is about as critically acclaimed as it gets.
While both Robinson and Kanin executive produce I Think You Should Leave, the show is also produced by Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone–otherwise known as The Lonely Island–whose highly influential absurdist comedy certainly paved the way for Robinson and co. Additionally, Alex Bach and Daniel Powell, through their hitmaker production company Irony Point (behind Inside Amy Schumer, That Damn Michael Che, among others) round out production duties.
Regarding critical reception, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is about as critically acclaimed as it gets. No surprises there. Its Rotten Tomatoes numbers don’t lie–the first season earned an impressive 96 percent on the reviews site, while the second season knocked it out of the park, snagging an impeccable 100 percent approval rating. The third season, not to disappoint, also bagged a 96 percent approval rating.
I Think You Should Leave is loved by critics, fans, and even content creators on social media, making it the most successful comedy series of the last few years.
IndieWire’s Ben Travers gushed that the series was “pretty great,” if not both “demented” and “outlandish. While Vulture’s Fran Hoepfner dubbed I Think You Should Leave “comedy perfection,” especially lauding the show’s writing. One critic in particular, Peter Rubin of Wired, transformed into a veritable superfan, confessing to having watched the show’s first season at least 100 times.
A critical darling indeed.
No stranger to both streaming and sketch comedy, Tim Robbinson got his start in the historic sketch group Second City Chicago. As mentioned above, he later joined the cast of SNL, acting in sketches for a year; fans might remember his impressions of Cash Cab’s Ben Bailey and Pittsburgh Steelers’s coach Bill Cowher. Robbinson interestingly went on to join SNL’s writing staff full-time rather than perform in sketches, an uncommon move. Still, it might have proved fruitful, as his writing chops honed at 30 Rock (the actual address, not the show) might explain the sheer potency and hilarity of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. Stream it while you can.
