It feels rare to get a good sketch comedy show these days. There aren't currently many on the air at all. There’s SNL. Black Lady Sketch Show. Michael Che’s That Damn Michael Che. And while topical sketch is invaluable to making sense of the often nonsensical world around us, occasionally there’s a sketch show purely based in brilliant absurdity that’s such an undeniable joyous escape, it strikes a cultural nerve. I Think You Should Leave seems to be that current sketch show, and there’s much to learn from creator Tim Robinson’s unique point of view as he takes the absurd to new heights.
1. Join the insane side. Robinson embraces yell-y, loud, awkward weirdos: The guy you’d want to ask to leave at the party. The guy insistent that lunch in the office should NEVER be pushed. The dude who shows up with a faux, low-rent Johnny Carson to entertain at a birthday party but instead devolves into slapping people. Then there’s the man who loves his Dan Flashes shirts and will do anything for them. Robinson’s characters always triple down on their POV no matter if others see that character as an outlier. Perhaps what’s most brilliant about it is that sometimes characters join in with the absurdist and add to the off-kilter POV. One can witness this gloriousness in a focus group for a car steering wheel, or at a birthday party where the guest of honor didn’t wipe well enough in the bathroom. Sometimes, the most fun is to not call out the problematic guy in the room, but instead join him.
2. Embrace the humiliation. Robinson recently told GQ he is fascinated by those that will do absolutely anything to save face. It’s these people he most embraces when creating his sketches. “There are tons of ways people will try to manipulate themselves or lie, or different tactics they'll use to save themselves from being embarrassed or to save themselves from being the joke,” says Robinson. “We find ourselves fascinated with people digging themselves holes to save face on something small that ended up making themselves look stupider.” It’s the idea, he says, “of tripping, and then your first instinct is to look back and be like, ‘What the fuck's wrong with this floor?” Robinson’s most blatant example of a guy ready to double-down on his humiliation is perhaps his courtroom character who wears a safari hat with flaps who becomes the topic of text conversations between two employees trying to commit an illegal stock scandal, but can’t stop being distracted by the ridiculous hat. Even when Robinson’s character's boss asks him to remove the hat, again, he triples down and states he’s never stood up for anything in his life, but he’ll stand up for the hat.
3. Scamming your way to the top. Sometimes an absurd sketch show embraces a theme, and sometimes not so much. But for season two, Robinson states he went with the idea of the scam. There’s the Tammy Craps Doll, the Shark Tank-like investors, the site that sells three dots on your pants to cover if you didn’t shake it off well in the bathroom (even though they don’t really sell the pants). Hell, in this season, even Santa Claus is kind of a scam (or maybe just pissed no one gets him as a serious actor). Either way, Robinson truly understands there’s a scam just around the corner, or already in your inbox, and oftentimes those who want to avoid embarrassment are ready to embrace them.
4. Find your weirdos. Robinson has been very upfront about his experience as a one season cast member and three season writer on SNL, often feeling his off-the-wall ideas never quite fit the mold. But while there, Robinson connected with Zach Kanin, who became Robinson’s co-producer on I Think You Should Leave. Robinson’s supporting cast members in the show are a veritable who’s-who in indie comedy: Patti Harrison, John Early, Robinson’s best friend and Detroiters co-star Sam Richardson, and more. But beyond the recognizable names and faces, there’s a cavalcade of gems that don’t always get the recognition they deserve until Robinson puts them in the spotlight, like Biff Wiff as Detective Crashmore, or Bob McDuff Wilson as Professor Uribe, or Nicholas Azarian as Jamie Taco. Robinson knows how to cast each role so every over-confident or under-confident anxiety-ridden side character brings something unique.
5. The fragility of ego. While there is a decidedly male touch to the show, and a definite examination of entitled masculinity, many of Robinson’s creations are also often thrust into an existential crisis of their own making. What is so delicious about the watch is observing people expose their own vulnerabilities with ire, glee or a hint of sadness. In what might be the masterpiece of this season, a prank comedian goes overboard and declares, “I just don’t want to be around anymore.” It’s unclear if the prank has gone too far, or if the character simply was never cut out to be a prank comedian in the first place. Either way, the descent into self-examination is funny, painful and pretty meta all at once.
Final Takeaway: Robinson’s willingness to track his own vulnerabilities, insecurities and observations through his absurdist point of view has given audiences a true treat in I Think You Should Leave. Writers can take away the twists and turns when characters either embrace or dismiss what feels like insanity, and oftentimes drop all pretenses into what even flips into an existential examination of the human condition — all while turning the magic trick of still making us laugh.