Tim Robinson and the Era of Uncomfortable Comedy

“I Think You Should Leave” is a perfect comedy for our current cultural climate, where we constantly argue over societal norms. It feels like everyone is screaming at each other, either in good or bad faith. The show makes humor out of moments when social rules break down. It starts off quietly with realistic small-talk and jokes that people use to ease basic tension. The sketches experiment with the idea, what if someone took that joke literally? Robinson takes these small talk jokes to center stage and disregards social norms that we are supposed to understand. He takes it seriously to an almost obsessive level, which warps social reality. A good example of this is a sketch where a man holds a crying baby at a party. Everyone tries to calm the situation by saying it’s not a big deal, but he becomes obsessed with explaining why the baby doesn’t like him, because it somehow knows he “used to be a piece of [expletive].” The reasoning is absurd, yet he is so persistent and literal that he infects the entire party with it until everyone shares his beliefs, including the baby who eventually smiles at him.