I Think You Should Leave couldn’t have a more perfect title, conjuring as it does that climax of an uncomfortable situation—the moment when things might cool off, or they could just as easily get much, much worse. The six-episode Netflix series embraces that title most wholeheartedly in sketches starring series creator Tim Robinson, whose characters almost always refuse to defuse tense situations. There’s a lot of shouting when the hilariously nervous and simmering Robinson shows up, but it’s not the easy kind, where volume stands in for jokes. Leave has plenty of both yelling and jokes, concocting comedy both broad and nuanced, often in the same breath.
Robinson should be a familiar face—though not necessarily a name—to sketch fans; he spent a couple of underutilized years at Saturday Night Live, and he co-created and co-starred in the underseen, underloved Detroiters alongside Veep’s Sam Richardson, who also shows up here. Robinson’s vision for I Think You Should Leave—co-created with Zach Kanin, another SNL and Detroiters alum—is equal parts traditional sketch and gleeful absurdism, like the edgier moments of SNL squeezed into an Adult Swim-sized box. At around 15 minutes each, I Think You Should Leave’s episodes are even Adult Swim-sized; you could binge the whole season in the time it takes to watch a movie, though it’d probably be better parceled out over a few days so that the heightened weirdness doesn’t start feeling too normal.
Not that a sketch about a feces-infected gift receipt—or is it?—could ever quite feel “normal.” That’s just one of many in which Robinson brilliantly takes a character to the edge and then throws him right over, aided in many cases by unknown actors who sell the absurdity with their straight faces and unexpected reactions. The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun is the victim in that particular scenario, one of several recognizable faces who show up to play in this immensely gratifying little sandbox.
Tim Heidecker—whose Awesome Show is an unmissable, undeniable influence here—plays an irritating party guest. Will Forte—an Awesome Show universe player himself—is a nightmare seatmate on a long flight. Cecily Strong, in one of the show’s best sketches, is a disappointed wife who drives Robinson toward one of many embarrassingly overblown reactions. Perhaps best of all is Vanessa Bayer, whose contribution—a sketch about a woman clueless to the subtleties of social media self-deprecation—may be the best intro to I Think You Should Leave. It’s just to the left of an SNL sketch, exactly the kind that would be shared on Sunday and Monday by comedy fans who’ve largely given up on the show itself. Bayer, playing delightfully naive and profane, is a perfect fit with the show’s—and Robinson’s—sensibility. The only problem here is that it’s all over too quickly.
123 Comments
I’ve already watched it twice.
Less obsession with “mud pies” would be appreciated
why
Please have respect for the dead
I really wanted to like this, but I find Robinson’s delivery off-putting. I kept thinking that the premise and writing of certain sketches was hilarious, while wishing that a different performer was carrying them out.
you’re insane
For some reason I’ve always had an aversion to Robinson as well, it’s why I never even attempted to watch Detroiters. But I am so glad I gave this a go. Haven’t laughed this hard at a television show in I don’t know how long.
I agree about Robinson. As a performer he distracts from the comedy rather than adds to it too often with his “look at me, I’m funny” style, that you see most often in college kids doing improv. But at the same time there are genuine laugh out loud moments and quite a few chuckles. That combined with the small time investment needed for each episode still makes the show a winner for me.
That is why improv performers aren’t that great compared to comedians, they act out the scene but doesn’t understand why the joke is funny and devolves in the same sketch premise.
I’ve only watched the first one so far. Can’t wait to watch more, but it’s true that the better sketches were the ones he wasn’t in. I loved Detroiters, too, but he was definitely the weaker half, performance-wise.
dumbass, his delivery is the whole point
The strongest ones are definitely the ones without him, but I still enjoy him in most of the sketches.
Haven’t watched this yet but really looking forward to it. Tim’s episode of The Characters was great.
Laaaady Luuuuuuuuuuuuuck!
SNAKE EYES??
Well no one showed up. Guess i better start the show!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
*raspy voice* well well well
I was crying I was laughing so hard at parts of this. That Garfield bit alone…
“I DON’T WANT TO FUCK GARFIELD! I’M NOT ARBUCKLE!”
I was hooked immediately, but sketch that really got me was the one about the car crashing into the store. I woke up my GF it had me laughing so hard.
…and for some reason, he just.cannot.stop trying to steal clothes.
The substitute organist sketch was what got me. It’s the simplest, most obvious joke and unlike most of the other sketches they don’t really develop it or throw in any kind of twist, it’s just inappropriately silly music at a funeral. But my god, I had tears going down my face by the end.
I lost it when the pageant audience started shouting obscenities at a baby.
He didn’t need the oral!
The series won my heart in that moment. “I hope you fucking die!”
That was also when I was completely won over.
Best sketch I have seen in a long time. Over the top anger directed at babies will never not be funny.
I was the best sketch I had seen in a while…until I saw the sketch about the horse stable.
Get him OUT OF HERE!
I’ve been shouting “FUCK YOU HARLEY JARVIS” at friends all week. It’s freaking evergreen.
Yep. Easily my favorite
That was my favorite of the whole series. And Tim Robinson wasn’t even in it!(I was a big Detroiters fan, and I really enjoyed Robinson’s episode of The Comedians, so this show was an easy sell for me.)
I liked the whole show, but the lawyer ad sketch was the peak for me. Hardest I can remember laughing.
My wife made it about one minute in, and she had to turn it off.We started watching a different show, but I just couldn’t stop giggling at the line “you’re not part of the Turbo Team!”
Yeah, my wife watched the first episode and said, “This isn’t for me.”I was laughing so hard I woke up our four-year-old, who asked if I was crying.That “you’re not part of the Turbo Team” bit is hilarious. Don’t they say something like, “move at regular speed”? The breathless delivery really sells the sketch.“Has that ever happened to you?”
“My wife watched the first episode and said, ‘This isn’t for me.’”
That sucks. I would play it for your divorce attorney so he understands the gravity of the situation and fights doubly hard for kid/dog custody.
If finding the same things funny was a condition of my marriage, I’d have been divorced long ago. I’m pretty sure me thinking something is funny drastically reduces the chances that she will.
My wife hates Awesome Show, but she stuck through our binge watch of Leave. Sometimes (most of the time?) Awesome is just daring you to laugh at it, and Leave is a little friendlier…?
HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU??????The fart toilet killed me.
Chunky! You have to think about what you’re going to do! You had all summer to do this! Jesus christ! (I cried w/ laughter at that one, too.)
For me it was the very opening sketch when he pulls a door that’s only supposed to push. The acting and shot choices dragged that sketch out into a level of absurdity that just absolutely killed me.
The TC Topps bit and the brunch sketch are probably my favorites. “No coffin, please! Just wet, wet, mud. Bae.”“They’re just mad because I won Best Hog at the Hog Shit Snarfing contest.” I think I’ve watched that sketch about a dozen times by now.“Has this ever happened to you?” is also up there, it’s damn hard to choose with this show.
I watched the first several episodes before I realized only about an hour had passed. So, yeah … keep ‘em coming when you can, Tim!
i really hope they give him a juicy second season order. 6, 15’ish minute episodes just aren’t enough. in fact, this is exactly the kind of show that should drop weekly as opposed to the more topical stuff like patriot act.
Hardest I have laughed in what feels like years. So that means Netflix is cancelling it right?
They’ll wait for a third season where a cliffhanger is somehow involved and cancel it.
Netflix is going to somehow lose the rights to anyone in SNL’s orbit in the last forty years, just wait.
RIP The Detroiters.
One of those rare shows that makes you realize you haven’t watched something genuinely funny in months, if not years. My lord is this thing funny. I think I was sold almost instantly, but the race of motorcycle space people is what really sealed the deal.
When he saw the car… I was too high to handle that. I almost died.
The escalation in that sketch, and in pretty much all of them, is masterful.
Show had me when he was pulling the push-only door. I was wondering how far the sketch was going to go…and sure enough…the door hinges popped off. I was dying.
That definitely was the ideal opener for the series.
The honk if you’re horny sketch almost made me pass out from laughing. I was on the floor for pretty much all of this show. The old guy in the car focus group was fucking hilarious
Stinky!
Oh my god, he admits it!
Car focus group was my favorite.
The Will Forte sketch had me in tears. And it was relatable to anyone who has ever been in that situation and harbored dark thoughts about a cranky infant.Except the rat bite.
Oh, it’s not that bad.
Seriously, someone bring back Detroiters.
Is it at least streaming anywhere?
Comedy Central still has it on its website I believe but you have to sign in with your provider. That doesn’t really help you though if you’re a cord cutter
Just steal your friend’s cable login and watch it on the CC app or website, that’s what I do!
i found this show aggressive and oppressive.
Agreed. But I would go farther than that. It was aggressive, oppressive, transgressive, immunosuppressive, retrogressive, excessive, expressive, caresive, possessive, and impressive.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, many of the sketches really take some unexpected turns for the better.
“you sang about how their bones are their money like four times!”
snarfing down hog dicks
This show is a godawful piece of shit. I made it to the first sketch of the 2nd episode (I think)
You should give it another try, and laugh at the jokes, you’ll enjoy it more.
nah, this is Peak TV. If I don’t like something, I move on.
No, what I’m saying is that the issue is that the show is funny, you should laugh at jokes. That’s what you were missing the first time, you should give her another go and & laugh this time round.
and what I am saying is that there are many other shows to choose from that I want to watch, so if something doesn’t appeal to me, I move on. So much content, so little time.
You weren’t supposed to take the show’s name seriously. You should stay, and watch it, and laugh like others are. CONFORM
I agree that he made a big mistake by not laughing at the jokes. I found the jokes I laughed at to be MUCH funnier than the ones I didn’t. I think I’m going to watch it again and laugh at more of them next time.
See, you’re smart. If you save some of the jokes for the next time you watch it, the show will be just as fresh!
Nah, I think he’s right. Definitely laughing at jokes makes them more appealing. Did you even /try/ laughing at them?They squeezed a lot of jokes into a small space, so maybe you could try squeezing all the laughs you would normally do throughout the show into one big laugh! That might help kickstart you into laughing a lot. And laughing sure is fun! Anyway, I’ll see ya later, buddy!
Vanessa Bayer’s Bar Mitzvah kid fucking KILLED me on SNL.
Dammit I love Vanessa Bayer.
I needed a sort of emotional cleanser after Endgame and this did a fantastic job.I knew I’d love it after “Has this happened to you?”
Fart toilet.
The baby of the year sketch broke me good. Something about screaming obscenities at babies is deeply hilarious to me.
Horse ranch sketch. That is all.
I can’t imagine having to be the digital effects person working on the sketch
You guys are just making up sketches. 10 people have cited 10 different things, there can’t be that many!Anyway, that golf ball sketch, amirite? Oh, and the clown tetris. And the one with the people!
No clown Tetris, the clownputer doesn’t have any games.
Best sketch comedy show since Tim and Eric (only good sketch comedy show since Tim and Eric?)
Nice to see america fulling embracing the influence of Jam by Chris Morris
Could not breathe during the “refusing to choke in front of an idol” sketch. There’s a point where you can tell Tim is milking it longer than was scripted and is breaking the guy next to him and I had to pause it
De2roit for life
As a person who spends a majority of his time on Netflix adding things to my watch list, this was the first show in a while that i stopped and watched. I think its the fact that sketches are like 2-3 minutes long and they end at just the perfect time. I watched the whole season in an hour and a half or so and thats really the only downside to this show, there should be a lot more of it. It’s the only show in a loooooooooooooong time to cater to my love of ridiculous, over the top comedy.
This show fucking rules. So good.
This series made me laugh a lot, and I’m very grateful for it introducing Patti Harrison to me – something about her line readings really got to me.My one very small note would be that the last beat of almost every sketch is kind of weak, or undercuts what comes before in some way.
Hey, it’s Asian Annie from that Instagram video sketch.
This looks good. There was a lot I enjoyed about Detroiters, but when it was bad it would just keep going and going and getting worse. And it didn’t tell any interesting stories.2-3 minute sketches seem like a much better space.
Oh, shut the fuck up.
I didn’t care for it. Most sketches stopped being funny and started being annoying about halfway through. And apparently the writers think the phrase “mud pie” is the most hilarious possible euphamism for “shit” ever coined since they used it several times in the first episode alone. It’s the old SNL problem of not understanding that once you’ve told the joke, you’re done. repeating it over and over doesn’t work (unless *that* is the joke, a la Monty Python)
The intensity of his performance in the Fully Loaded Nachos bit, my goodness.
“Whaaaaaaat’s happening…?”
Honestly, it’s so insane I can’t quite believe it.
This show is hilarious throughout its entire runtime, with the best sketches well paced throughout the episodes. While my general highlights are Honk if you’re horny, Garfield, Hot Dog, Motorcycle, Scrooge fights skeletons, and the Andy Samberg game show one, nothing touches “Has this ever happened to you?” for me. I was laughing so hard I was crying on my 5th time watching it. Just brilliant.
Hit and miss, but more on the “hit” side. The bits that work really work well.
This show is proof that SNL is actively stifling good writing.
No, it really isn’t proof of that at all.
The parts I watched reminded me of SNL, mostly in that they felt too unfocused and padded out.
Saw Robinson on the main stage at Second City a few years ago, the cast also included Richardson, along with Brad Morris and Mike O’Brien. It’s been really cool watching so many of them wind up in SNL and other shows.Robinson stood out as a fearless weirdo (in the best way) even back then. There was a sketch about Robinson trying to convince his friend (Richardson) that he could dunk a basketball which would have been right at home on I Think You Should Leave.
The whoopie cushion. I missed 2/3 of the dialogue I was laughing too hard. I love how many of the skits take a sudden left turn near the end (the receipt one is a good example).
Will Forte, Tim Heidecker, Fred Willard – I kept waiting for Bob Odenkirk or David Cross to show up but I guess they’re too busy to have fun anymore.
Tim Robinson was on SNL??
Yes. For one season as a featured player, after which he moved to being a writer.
I started this last night and got through two or three episodes, and it’s extremely uneven. The funny bits are some of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while, but skits where it’s just Tim Robinson going off on something (the lawyer bit, the whoopie cushion) fall flatter than the Earth we live on.
Well, I guess someone’s not part of the Turbo Team.
He should def. move at regular speed
That lawyer bit was easily the funniest sketch of the show!
I’ve only watched the first three, but this plus Veep is doing a very good job of filling the Detroiters shaped hole in my heart. Richardson is great (his brand of humor sort of reminds me of Andy Daly, which makes them being on Veep together exciting), but I was really missing Robinson’s screaming breakdowns.
Thought I’d give this a try after hearing Robinson on Comedy Bang Bang a couple of weeks ago. Before I knew what was happening, I’d watched the whole series. Laughed and laughed. 100% onboard for as many of these as they can make.
The choking sketch might have been my favorite. If you watch the guy playing his friend it seems like he’s starting to break character at the end and laugh, it’s great.
Funniest thing I’ve seen in ages, made me immediately download Detroiters. ‘slice of toilet paper’ has already entered our household lexicon.
This show has some real Mr. Show energy and is one of the few comedies I’ve legitimately laughed out loud watching in a long time.
Tim heidecker playing charades was gold. It was almost too realistic but it delivered for me.
The fart toilet killed me. Like I laughed for about 10 minutes.
The bones are their money, the bones are their money.