I Think You Should Leave

No one’s quite sure what to make of comedian Tim Robinson, and he knows it. With a slightly awkward posture and oddly expressive features, he doesn’t exactly “blend” into a room.

But when he began his career as a featured player on Saturday Night Live, that’s exactly what he was expected to do: blend in. SNL is a show where most of the staff melds into the background in favor of main cast members—those with celebrity impressions, zany characters, and catchphrases. 

Robinson preferred writing oddball concepts, like TV anchors interviewing bugs. He eventually left the show, soon after being downgraded from a cast member to a writer. 

While trying to “fit in” at SNL, Robinson learned that mainstream wasn’t his type of comedy. So he co-created his own sketch comedy show, one unlike any we’ve ever seen. The best way to describe it is…delightfully weird.

From being dressed as a hot dog in front of a crashed wienermobile shouting, “we’re all trying to find the guy who did this” to, well, this, Robinson’s latest show I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson has been nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. And even if you haven’t seen the show, you’ve probably seen its memes.

At its heart, ITYSL celebrates Robinson’s ability to stick out. Almost every sketch centers on a character (usually Robinson) committing some sort of faux pas or accidentally breaking some unwritten social rule and then leaning into it for comedic effect. 

It’s crass and unhinged, replacing punchlines with made up terms and phrases that stick with you (such as “sloppy steaks” or “the bones are their money”). Many of the most memorable characters are portrayed by veteran, older actors not often seen in sketch comedy.

Robinson isn’t an SNL comic. He’s his own comic. With his irreverent, oddball, weird and, yes, hilarious approach, he’s become a comedy icon and cultural mainstay with an obsessed fan base.