After the last 18 months, we didn’t think we could be surprised anymore. Apocalyptic virus sweeping the planet? The Pentagon releasing UFO videos? Water being discovered on the moon? A giant lasagne being made in Wembley stadium? Nothing can shock us. Apart from maybe this wildly unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable sketch show. Thanks Tim Robinson, we needed that.
Calling it a sketch show may be slightly simplifying what this show is. Yes it’s got those Saturday Night Live style, short and sweet sketches, where we all chuckle along at the same guy playing a new character, taking the micky out of real-life situations we’re all familiar with…ok, that last bit might be where this show journeys away from conventional comedy. Unless of course, you’ve been on a haunted house tour where one of the guests keeps asking the ghosts about their sexual preferences, or you’ve caught your colleague trying to covertly scoff a foot-long hot dog in the middle of a meeting.
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Each sketch usually starts with a normal looking situation, then takes a sharp turn into the hilarious when one character commits a faux pas, and then instead of owning up, they double down and spiral into an increasingly ridiculous situation full of big emotions and outbursts. Plus, there’s no final punchline giving you that “laugh now” moment – most of them just go off on several tangents and then end. And it’s hilarious.
Whilst most of these weird and wacky characters are played by Robinson himself, the series also features some recognisable guest stars, like Bob Odenkirk, Tim Heidecker and John Early, who are all great additions to the series. And we can’t help but be impressed too, by how thoroughly funny it is. Despite the short episodes which often feature three or different sketches, each one is as hilarious as the last, with only a couple of sketches being dragged out slightly too long.
This show is brilliantly weird, and its style of humour makes it stand out as one of Netflix’s best, if oddest, comedy shows.
If sketch shows are your thing, check out Saturday Night Live’s YouTube channel
The critics absolutely love it, with season one sparking a whole host of articles and discussions on the nature of comedy, and how this show subverts it, with Stuart Heritage of The Guardian saying “I Think You Should Leave deserves to be held up as one of the finest things that Netflix has ever produced. It is single-handedly going to revive sketch comedy from the wet, wet mud.” And it looks like the second season is enjoying the same success, with The Telegraph’s Chris Bennion saying “the critics and the cognoscenti will love this new series as much as they did the last. But don’t let that dissuade you. Robinson is a comic one-off.” And in The Independent Louis Chilton adds, “This is comedy stripped down to its rawest elements – conflict, misfortune, indignity – and reassembled into… what, exactly? Not quite satire. Not quite whimsy. Something weirdly, maniacally new.”
First shown April 2019. You can watch the trailer by pressing play on the show image, or by clicking here.
