BO's Riskiest New Comedy Is A Report-Breaking On the spot Traditional

Though The Chair Company is HBO’s greatest comedy present in years, that doesn’t imply that Tim Robinson’s new important success wasn’t an enormous danger. Tim Robinson has change into one of many Web’s favourite comedians in recent times, however the actor and author has been round for lots longer than readers would possibly assume.

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For some readers, Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave is perhaps the primary place that they noticed Robinson, whereas others could keep in mind his short-lived sitcom Detroiters. Now that HBO’s The Chair Company has proven a huge hit for Robinson, the star’s profile is ready to rise even additional, however his display screen profession actually started again in 2012.

Robinson was a featured performer on Saturday Night time Reside for the 2012-2013 season, however he transitioned to working as a author on the present as an alternative after one season. From 2013 till 2017, Robinson appeared in reveals like Documentary Now! and Making Historical past, earlier than 2017 noticed him and Sam Richardson create the sitcom Detroiters.

The Chair Firm Is HBO’s Greatest Comedy Present In 5 Years

Tim Robinson standing in a white room holding a phone to his ear in The Chair Company

Detroiters solely lasted two seasons, however Robinson lastly gained mainstream recognition with the arrival of his Netflix sketch present, I Assume You Ought to Go away, in 2019. The present’s success noticed him earn visitor appearances in every little thing from The Simpsons to Photo voltaic Opposites in the course of the years that adopted, however even this couldn’t put together Robinson for his 2025 success.

Robinson’s new HBO comedy series The Chair Company debuted with an ideal Rotten Tomatoes score of 100% and shortly turned HBO’s greatest new comedy since Avenue 5 again in 2020. With an viewers of 1.4 million between its premiere and its first three days on HBO Max, the present was a verifiable smash hit with audiences and critics alike.

The Chair Firm Was A Main Danger For Tim Robinson

Sophia Lillis, Lake Bell, Will Price, Tim Robinson in The Chair Company — Sophia Lillis, Lake Bell, Will Worth, and Tim Robinson in The Chair Firm on HBO.

Though Robinson’s comedy sequence commanded a debut viewers of 1.4 million, this doesn’t make The Chair Firm any much less of a danger for each HBO and its star. I Assume You Ought to Go away’s creator is greatest recognized for viral short-form sketch comedy, whereas The Chair Firm is an odd, serialized thriller comedy miniseries.

Since season 1 hasn’t wrapped up but, it’s onerous to inform whether or not The Chair Firm will inform a self-contained story or if the company satire will depart the door open for a follow-up. Whereas Severance’s profitable debut season spawned a follow-up, that sequence was darker and fewer broadly comedic than Robison’s cringe comedy.

That mentioned, The Chair Firm itself is just too darkish and surreal to be handled as a sitcom, and its serialised storyline means Robinson’s new present might want to present solutions to a few of its weird mysteries finally. This makes the present a dangerous proposition, because it makes Robinson the main man of a sequence with few clear precedents.

There are a lot of profitable sketch reveals which have lasted for years, and loads of sitcoms that managed the identical feat. Nonetheless, The Chair Firm’s mix of paranoid thriller, cringe comedy, and surreal silliness is solely distinctive, so it’s powerful to inform whether or not the present can maintain a second season even when its stellar scores virtually demand a renewal.

It’s powerful to see how Robinson’s comedy present will face the longer term after its first outing wraps up. That being mentioned, The Chair Firm stays an thrilling improvement for the star’s blossoming profession. Robinson’s critically acclaimed comedy movie Friendship underperformed on the field workplace earlier in 2025, so it’s thrilling to see this sequence excelling months later.

The Chair Firm Redeems Tim Robinson’s Forgotten Two-Season Sitcom

Sam (Sam Richardson) and Tim (Tim Robinson) staring maniacally at someone in Detroiters. — Sam (Sam Richardson) and Tim (Tim Robinson) staring maniacally at somebody in Detroiters.

The underperformance of Friendship was hardly surprising, because the film’s weird mix of bromance and darkish, cringe-inducing humor was hardly interesting to the mainstream. Its storyline combined parts of 2009’s I Love You, Man and 1996’s The Cable Man, although the latter was a monetary flop upon its authentic launch.

Nonetheless, an early disappointment that was far more shocking was the underperformance of Robinson’s sitcom Detroiters. Co-starring and co-created by Robinson’s fellow Detroit native Sam Richardson, Detroiters was a hilarious slice-of-life sequence that follows Richardson’s Sam and Robinson’s Tim as they work at a failing advert company.

Whereas Detroiters season 3 could happen because of the profession resurgences that each Richardson and Robinson have loved in recent times, the unique sequence was by no means in a position to acquire a big following regardless of its important acclaim. The sitcom earned a staggering 95% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and this was paired with an 88% viewers score.

For Detroiters, the issue was all the time scores, which began low and solely obtained decrease because the sequence progressed. The sequence by no means made it above 0.5 million viewers, premiering with 0.447 million and dropping beneath 0.25 million by halfway via season 2. Regardless of cameos from Keegan-Michael Key, Jason Sudeikis, and Conner O’Malley, the sequence merely by no means discovered its viewers.

Happily, The Chair Firm has already overcome this main hurdle. The present’s debut was an enormous success for Robinson and proved that his offbeat comedy could be a scores juggernaut, that means The Chair Firm now has a promising future forward of it.