Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship has all the makings of a sketch from I Think You Should Leave, Tim Robinson’s acclaimed comedy show on Netflix. It starts with a perfectly mundane situation, with all the social anxieties that go with it, and then, it escalates. Soon, you’ve got Tim Robinson eating a bar of soap, Kate Mara getting lost in a winding labyrinth of sewer tunnels, and Paul Rudd losing his toupee in a fit of sudden rage. It’s all so absurd, that it starts to brush up against the surreal. But DeYoung’s secret to turning what seems like a perfect premise for a five-minute sketch — Tim Robinson’s Craig is befriended by his charming new neighbor Austin (Rudd), but starts to spiral when Austin and his friends reject him — is to keep Friendship as grounded as possible.
“I think the comedy might hit harder and resonate if you really ground the emotion underneath,” DeYoung tells Inverse.
