I Think You Should Leave: The Hardest Sketch To Pull Off In Season 2
When "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson" premiered in 2019, it set a high bar for itself, asking such daring questions as: Who crashed their hot dog car into a Brooks Brothers? What do you do when your date is eating all the fully loaded nachos? And who is the Baby of the Year?
The show's star continued to rise in Season 2, and Robinson even nabbed an Emmy for his joyfully demented performances. The 2nd season also produced some of the show's trickiest sketches to date. In an interview with Vanity Fair, co-creators Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin confirmed the fake trailer for a "Detective Crashmore" film "was probably our most extensive shoot," owing to the slick look and action movie explosives.
The pair also cited "Coffin Flop" as being especially difficult to pull off. The fake show — brought to you by Corncob TV — features limp bodies ("one out of every five of them are nude") tumbling out of busted caskets. This presented some logistical obstacles for directors Jeffrey Max and Zachary Johnson, who had to collaborate with lead prop maker Joe Holliday, plus stunt coordinators Nito Larioza and Lou Simon. Other Season 2 sketches proved to be similarly challenging.
The Karl Havoc sketch was especially challenging for Tim Robinson
With sketches that often defy logic and devolve into shouting matches, "I Think You Should Leave" is a series that seems to fly by the seat of its pants. In reality, it's very deliberately scripted (with the exception of Bob Odenkirk, who was given license to improvise). For Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, Season 2's "Karl Havoc" sketch was especially challenging since it was filmed in a real mall. "It was nerve-racking," Robinson said of the sketch, in which he dons an unwieldy costume for a fake prank show.
He continued, "Some people were actors, but they couldn't hear...they were just going about the day. Because I'm in the suit, I was talking to Gary [Richardson], but they couldn't hear Gary. So I think it was probably just confusing for them. Because it wasn't a prank."
Robinson, a self-described claustrophobe, also had a tough time getting into the cumbersome suit. "I was panicking violently, because that's true to me that I would freak out in that," he said. "So the anticipation of that one was really scary." Knowing Robinson's real-life discomfort certainly adds some gravitas to the sketch's famed line: "I don't even want to be around anymore."