With its constant deluge of new shows, Netflix has some massively successful hits and just as many shows which fly under the radar; one that's in the latter camp but absolutely deserves to be in the former is I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson.
I Think You Should Leave for short, or ITYSLwTR for even shorter, is a comedy sketch show by created Canadian comedian and SNL alum Tim Robinson and executive produced by The Lonely Island. There are three seasons of six episodes each, with episodes only running for around 15-18 minutes, so it's a short and easy watch — and is easily Netflix's most hilarious Original.
But somehow, the show hasn't hit the big time like it should have. Yes, lots of clips and characters from it have been viral online, but it's seemingly not been enough — the third season of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson landed on Netflix on Tuesday, May 30, and it didn't touch the service's Top 10 for the week, despite almost all new shows managing to hit this bar.
Not enough people are watching I Think You Should Leave, and if you're looking for a hilarious burst of comedy, you need to boot up Netflix right now.
Why I Think You Should Leave is so great
It's hard to explain just how fantastic and funny I Think You Should Leave is without spoiling its key selling point — its weirdness— but we're going to try.
The show features spins on plenty of TV staples like infomercials, dating shows and movie trailers, but it revels equally by exploring in awkward everyday situations like missing lunches at work, misunderstanding social interactions and trying to remain cool around celebrities. Robinson's distinctive style of humor focuses on characters who take things too far, often to hilarious extremes, taking sketches in wild and unexpected directions.
Some of the best sketches often take comedy situations but then build on them even further. Take, for example, the Baby of the Year sketch from the first episode; this is already a silly premise, taking child pageants to their extreme, but it doesn't stop there. The sketch warps the idea by adding in different reality tropes, of behind-the-scenes drama and hated contestants, and there are plenty of other silly jokes thrown in for good measure, like the doctor being called Dr Skull or guest star Sam Richardson's fed up reaction to boos at an In Memoriam section.
As a watcher, you're constantly surprised by the new ways Robinson finds to explore and build on a topic, and the unexpected directions it goes in
Other sketches start pretty differently, taking everyday situations, but then taking them to and beyond the logical extremes, usually adding in hilarious but moving sentimentality to it too. An example of this is the season 2 episode 2 sketch Doubles, featuring Bob Odenkirk, about a stranger who helps a man lie to his kid.
This begins, as many of the other sketches do, with a normal and everyday situation: strangers helping each other. But as in these clips, there's a character involved who doesn't quite understand the situation, in this case a man who becomes too wrapped up in the fictional lie he's told the child. As he starts seguing from an ice cream lie into a heartfelt story, it becomes clear that there's more going on under the surface, and the filmmaking adds a silly level of sentimentality underneath.
These are funny for the juxtaposition between this sentimental ending and the standard situation that started the sketch, without the scene ever mocking its own weirdness.
Cleverly Robinson doesn't always make himself the center of every single episode — he's often the goofy crazy character, but sometimes he's the straight man, and he's not in every sketch too. This lets other actors stand out too, with regular appearances from Patti Harrison, Sam Richardson and Conner O'Malley, and guests stars that include Andy Samberg, Jason Schwartzman and Steven Yeun.
More importantly, I Think You Should Leave is very different from anything else streaming, and is a refreshing break from the stream of dark dramas or reality shows.
Robinson's sketches revel in the unspoken social contracts we make in modern society, exploring topics that you'd never even consider yet deal with everyday — and with hilarious one-liners thrown in for good measure.
Why aren't people watching the show?
Season 3 of I Think You Should Leave's lack of Netflix Top 10 ranking could have been affected by its release a day after the weekly count begins, and the fact that the Top 10 is based on minutes viewed which favors long-form drama over 15-minute episodes that ITYSLwTR offers, but the number of times I rewatched it over the first few days should have more than made up for that!
It's quite a divisive show too, and lots of people don't "get" the comedy. Some of the funniest sketches, that have made it viral, are the ones with the broadest humor; when you see the entirety of each episode, you might bounce off the episodes that fans love the most.
So you should really give I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson a good go, but if you really don't get it, perhaps just check out a few of the best sketches to get an idea:
Best I Think You Should Leave sketches for beginners
Don't know where to start with I Think You Should Leave, or not sure if the humor is for you? Here are the 10 best sketches you should check out. We've particularly picked ones you may already recognize from their prevalence online.
You could admittedly watch all three seasons in less than three and a half hours, and there are many in its runtime that we couldn't include, so definitely check it out if you can.
Included is the season, episode and time stamp, so you can jump straight to the sketch.
- Hot Dog Car (season 1, episode 5, 0:00)
- Baby of the Year (season 1, episodes 1, 3:32)
- Doubles (season 2, episode 2, 5:42)
- Dan Flashes (season 2, episode 2, 2:09)
- Summer Loving (season 3, episode 1, 6:18)
- Focus Group (season 1 episode 3, 3:59)
- Pay Forward Chain (season 3, episode 3, 9:30)
- Coffin Flop (season 2, episode 1, 2:42)
- Safari Flap (season 2 episode 3, 10:40)
- Shirt Brother (season 3, episode 4, 9:35)
