LOS ANGEELS, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Tim Robinson's unique brand of absurdity went viral with the release of his Netflix sketch show, I Think You Should Leave. His new project, The Chair Company, premiering Sunday at 10 p.m. EDT on HBO, successfully applies Robinson's style to a weekly series.
Robinson plays Ron Trosper, an architect for a company that designs malls. After a successful presentation, Ron has an embarrassing accident HBO has asked critics not to spoil, though it is far more mundane than the secrecy suggests.
This incident plagues Ron as Robinson tends to excessively focus on the mundane, leading Ron to believe the chair manufacturer Tecca is behind a conspiracy.
Robinson's movie Friendship showed how the tone of I Think You Should Leave can work in a narrative story. In The Chair Company, created by Robinson and Zach Kanin, it works in an extended eight-episode narrative.
To begin with, the situation is an utterly absurd mystery. Ron is obsessively seeking an explanation for a minor embarrassment. Even if a chair manufacturer was involved in a conspiracy, there'd be little heroism in exposing them.
