THE TRAILER
REVIEW
A guy was angry at his employer for scheduling their lunch break at the same time as his lunch break. Another man slips a hot dog up his jacket sleeves during the meeting so he can nibble on it. To relieve the tension on an outing with friends, a man decides to break it by doing the Blues brothers dance in front of everyone. Most of Robinson and his fellow sketch comedians portray wounded performers who create elaborate stories to get by
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These characters respond with a choking, affronted, and disbelieving fury when their falsehoods are revealed. Screaming and yelling are common occurrences. The new six-episode season will have you worried about Robinson’s voice chords by the halfway point.
Robinson plays all three of the entitled characters described at the beginning of this review. Still, Paul Walter Hauser plays a delicate, sweet-natured man who refuses to join his buddies’ sexist reindeer games. Guest actors John Early, Sam Richardson, Patti Harrison, Bob Odenkirk, and Tim Heidecker appear in the series.
Robinson’s ability to portray the various characters in the series is credited with a consistent tone and sensibility. Robinson’s sandbox of outraged straight men is a playground for gay comedians like Harrison and Early.
A devastating picture of modern American maleness lurks behind their fake confidence, making I Think You Should Leave feel more pertinent and less dumb than its many, many jokes. Every one of these things is mocked in I Think You Should Leave.
Although it’s a tiny element of a larger cultural reckoning that’s been overdue for decades, it’s certainly not inconsequential.