Tim Robinson’s strange but hilarious brand of comedy is seeing an incredible new reach with his acclaimed film Friendship opening earlier this year. Our Editor-in-Chief, Chris Bumbray, was introduced to Robinson and had a blast with it after seeing the premiere at TIFF. But he admitted in his review, “To be sure, this kind of humour isn’t for everyone. There were times while I was watching Friendship in the jam-packed screening that I’m sure I annoyed the people sitting next to me by how many times I sunk in my seat, covering my face with my hands and repeating “no, no, no” louder than I should. That’s the effect this had on me.”
After Detroiters, I Think You Should Leave, and now, Friendship, Robinson migrates to the bold programming institution of HBO with the conspiracy comedy, The Chair Company. According to Deadline, The Chair Company‘s premiere became HBO’s most-watched comedy series debut in over five years. The show accomplished this feat after the last big comedy series, Avenue 5, the Armando Iannucci-created series that launched in 2020. Robinson’s new comedy with Friendship director Andrew DeYoung impressively pulled in an average of 1.4 million viewers across platforms in the U.S. in its first three days.
Robinson plays William Ronald Trosper in The Chair Company alongside series regulars Lake Bell as Barb Trosper, Sophia Lillis as Natalie Trosper, Will Price as Seth Trosper, and Joseph Tudisco as Mike Santini. Lou Diamond Phillips recurs as Jeff Levjman. Robinson co-created the comedy series with his I Think You Should Leave creative partner, Zach Kanin. It centers on a man whose obsession with a chair company leads him to dark places and suspicious people.
Our Alex Maidy was glowing about the show, as he said in his review, “The Chair Company works well as an ongoing series that forces you to contend with the uneasy feeling that builds across eight episodes. Tim Robinson is a master of cringe comedy, which Zach Kanin and Andrew DeYoung magnify with this unsettlingly odd series. Not a laugh-out-loud comedy like Curb Your Enthusiasm or even Barry, The Chair Company could be the weirdest series to air on HBO in a very long time.”
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