Tim Robinson Is The Funniest Man On Streaming — Are The Movies Ready For Him?

It's official: Tim Robinson is a leading man. After slowly but steadily building up a resume working in TV over the years, Robinson makes the leap to the big screen as the star of "Friendship," a twisted new comedy that co-stars Paul Rudd. "Friendship" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and in all honesty, it didn't seem to garner as much hype as some other festival fare. But the first trailer for the film arrived today courtesy of the folks at A24, and the results look nothing short of incredible. See for yourself. 

In "Friendship," Robinson plays Craig, a suburban guy who begins bonding with his neighbor, Austin, played by Rudd. Things ... don't go according to plan. Look, it's clear that this trailer is holding something back and not giving us the entire picture. But from the look of things, it's obvious the friendship between Craig and Austin goes horribly wrong for some reason. The footage here made me think of two different pieces of entertainment. One is "I Love You, Man," a film which, coincidentally enough, also featured Rudd. In that comedy, Rudd played a soon-to-be-married man who doesn't really have any close male friends in his life. Eventually, while on the search for a best man at his wedding, Rudd's character meets another guy played by Jason Segel, and the two end up in a bromance. In many ways, "Friendship" appears to be the dark, evil inverse of "I Love You, Man."

The other thing the trailer called to mind for me is "Homer Loves Flanders," the now-classic episode of "The Simpsons" that gave us what would become the famous "Homer backing up into the bush" meme. In the episode, Simpsons patriarch Homer finds himself befriending his nerdy religious neighbor, Ned Flanders, a man he usually despises. In a twist, while Homer keeps growing fonder and fonder of Flanders, Flanders quickly becomes sick of Homer and his boorish behavior. 

Yet, even though "Friendship" recalls these familiar bits of comedy, it's clear that there's more than meets the eye here. And the wild card in the whole situation is Tim Robinson. 

Like many people, I first became aware of Robinson via "I Think You Should Leave," a sketch comedy series that premiered on Netflix in 2019. Without knowing much about the show, I gave it a try and found myself in near-hysterics right from the first episode. While most people classify "I Think You Should Leave" as "cringe" comedy (and indeed, even the press materials for "Friendship" play up the idea that the film is bringing the cringe humor of "I Think You Should Leave" to the big screen), I don't know if that's entirely accurate. I say that simply because I traditionally do not care for cringe humor — it makes me so uncomfortable that I end up feeling bad rather than amused. And yet, that doesn't happen with "I Think You Should Leave." The humor within the series is strange — surreal, subversive, deranged. It's outlandish and bizzare, but in a way that has me laughing so hard tears start forming in my eyes (that's not hyperbole; when I first watched the "Karl Havoc" sketch from season 2, in which Robinson dons an unconvincing disguise, I was laughing so hard I really began to cry). 

Robinson didn't get his start on "I Think You Should Leave." He performed with the Second City improv and various other live comedy acts before moving into TV. After filming a Comedy Central pilot that was never picked up, Robinson eventually landed a featured performer gig on "Saturday Night Live" before moving from performing to the show's writing staff. In 2017, Robinson co-created the series "Detroiters," which he co-starred in along with fellow creator Sam Richardson. The series lasted two seasons. Finally, it was "I Think You Should Leave" that helped put Robinson's name in the collective consciousness. The series, with its endlessly quotable sketches, has garnered a huge, cult-ish following and completely invaded the zeitgeist, as evident by the fact that the sketch that has Robinson wearing a hot dog costume and stating "We're all trying to find the guy who did this!" has become a catch-all meme. 

But all of this is housed within the realm of TV and streaming. Robinson has had movie roles before — he voiced the Ugly Sonic in the hilarious "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" movie, for instance. But "Friendship" is his first time acting as the leading man of a movie. And I have to wonder: is a wider, non-TV audience ready for that? To be clear: I don't think anyone, not even the folks at A24, expect "Friendship" to be some sort of box office juggernaut. But I'm very curious to see how (and if) Robinson's brand of weirdo humor — which is on full display in the trailer, even though Robinson didn't write the film itself (director Andrew DeYoung did) — plays with moviegoers. It might not, but I know I'm all-in on this film, and can't wait to see it when it arrives in theaters sometime in May.