The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Why is there such a buzz about..?

I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson (Netflix)

- Neil Armstrong

CULT SKETCH SHOW

This is a sketch show, but it’s a far cry from, say, The Two Ronnies or French And Saunders. Think of American comedian Tim Robinson’s absurdist series as The Day Today’s Chris Morris meets David Lynch – funny but surreal, savage and a little disturbing.

Each of the six 15-minute episodes has only four or five sketches, and a typical skit involves a scenario in which a socially awkward person (usually played by Robinson, a former writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live) makes a terrible faux pas but then doubles down rather than backs down and becomes ever more furious or distressed.

There are also parodies of popular culture staples. So, in one sketch, Chunky, the costumed mascot, ruins Dan Vega’s Mega Money Quiz game show, infuriatin­g the host (right); another sees a production company executive ranting at a channel’s decision to drop his show Coffin Flop, which features bodies dropping out of disintegra­ting coffins with suspicious regularity at funerals.

You might think you know which way sketches are heading but they often corkscrew off in completely unforeseen directions. If there is a theme, it is that the veneer of social etiquette is spread very thinly and splinters in the most unpredicta­ble ways, revealing some pretty dark stuff underneath. It’s not for kids. The show has become a social-media favourite since the first series launched in 2019, and the new series confirms its status as a cult hit.

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