The Chair Company premiere synopsis: Not so serious

I think Tim Robinson’s characters exist on a wide spectrum. Yes, they’re all prone to loud, sudden outbursts of cartoonish rage or pain, and almost all of them are anxious, insecure weirdos obsessed with proving that they’re in on the joke. But there’s a big difference between the “messy good” Tim Crumplin’ and the nice one Detroit residents And the parade of freaks that Robinson plays in his sketch show, I think you should leave. and Craig Waterman, chief marketing officer for the 2024 film Friendshiptaking Robinson into new territory with a darker, more haunting look at the same neurotic type.

if Friendship It was Robinson’s first real character study, HBO’s new mystery comedy Al-Kursi Company It is the next logical step. Like Craig Waterman, Ron Trosper is a hard worker and family man, doing his best to project confidence and competence in the office and at home. But unlike Craig, he’s not that bad at first. For the most part, people seem to respect Ron. He admires his wife Barb (Lake Bell), his daughter Natalie (Sophia Lillis), and his son Seth (Will Price). He’s a project leader at Fisher Robay, overseeing an ambitious new shopping center development in Canton, Ohio, and appears to have the office’s support. After a surprisingly successful speech at the inaugural Canton Marketplace meeting, the other shoe dropped. When Ron sits down, the chair falls from under him and breaks, leaving him dazed and sprawled on the floor. This public humiliation is Al-Kursi CompanyInciting incident

Friendship It’s the obvious point of comparison for the show, especially with Andrew DeYoung directing this first offering and Keegan DeWitt contributing once again with a wonderful, slightly strange score. But it’s also the third series co-written by Robinson and Zack Kanin, who collaborated on both Detroit residents and I think you should leave. There’s a common sense of comedy that runs through all of these projects, an understanding of what people come to The Tim Robinson Show to see. Take, for example, that argument between Ron and the young servant in the opening scene. A celebratory family dinner turns into an awkward row when Ron snaps at the server and insists that she hasn’t been to a mall since she was 14. Taking it as a personal insult, this is a common motivation for Ron – he’s also not a fan of his cheerful elderly colleague Douglas (Jim Downey) who blows bubbles everywhere because “life’s not really that serious.”

Like most of Robinson’s characters, Ron genuinely cares about fitting in, and fears attention as much as he attracts it. The day after the chair incident, he defuses tension in the office by making fun of himself, only to feel uncomfortable while his coworkers enjoy the hilarity of the moment. So he travels down the Tecca rabbit hole, desperate to take action against the titular chair company.

This is where Life Goes By Too F**king Fast, It Really Does settles into surreal plot thriller mode, a feeling I expect will remain. Tecca’s website phone number only relays it to National Business Solutions, which refuses to relay it to the manufacturer. Messaging with the customer service agent gets nothing done, and the mysterious support email address bounces back. “What the hell!?” Ron says, comically startled.

Most of this first show revolves around Ron starting his investigation into Tecca, but it’s already interesting to note what the show is and what it’s not interested in showing. We really don’t see much of the Trosper family, all things considered; At this point, his wife and children are all (intentionally) prototypes, gently supportive projections of the traditional fantasy of a loving, stable nuclear family. We know that Seth is looking forward to college, and that Ron is constantly adding pictures and songs to Natalie’s rehearsal dinner slideshow, but that’s about it. The episode prioritizes weird narrative twists over traditional character building, and I don’t mind that choice for now.

Take, for example, the unnamed janitor character, who appears twice: first he vehemently denies that his “inner wheelbarrow” has gone outside, and then he appears outside with the wheelbarrow after all. There’s also Amanda, Ron’s co-worker, who is fully aware that he didn’t do it intentionally She looked down at her skirt as she collapsed on the floor, but she still felt the need to report it to HR. Everything at work suddenly seems to fall apart, especially with annoying Douglas blowing bubbles everywhere and distracting Doris when Ron tries to get footage to document her hip problem and the danger of sitting in an unsafe chair. (One person told him on the phone that Tecca Legal would contact him directly if there was evidence that someone might have been harmed.)

The premiere eventually gets pretty creepy, starting with Ron’s visit to the gated building at Tica’s old address in Newark, Ohio. He finds some strange nude photos in the printer and what looks like…a giant, inflated red ball? Then, when an ancient demon egg sends him on a panicked trip to the bathroom, he hears footsteps and a long scream. Seems like something out of Boo is afraid. He was forced to flee before he could scan properly.

Back at work, Ron meets with an executive named Brenda and the head of legal for Canton Development. Apparently teenagers were drinking at the location last night and one of them nearly died. There was also a teacher, and he was shirtless.

It’s a strange and unexplained scenario, but the problem is enough to make Ron commit to his job again and put Tika aside… for a few minutes. When he leaves for the night, a man quickly follows him across the parking lot, tells him to stop looking at the company of chairs, and briefly hits him with a baton before walking away. But the scene doesn’t stop there. When Ron takes his stance, he stands and runs after his attacker, and the pursuer becomes the pursued. It is noteworthy that Ron does not pick up the dropped stick to protect himself, nor does he continue the chase after the man escapes his reach by leaving his unbuttoned shirt behind. Just stop.

At this point, it’s impossible to know what all this will add up to in the long run. (This reminds me of Nathan Fielder’s underrated series the curse much in this way, and in other ways.) But so far, Al-Kursi Company It’s as funny and weird and watchable as I could have hoped for, unlike anything else Tim Robinson has done, but it’s also a well-known Tim Robinson project. I don’t know what this nonsense is, and I’m so scared.

• “Why the hell are they trying to take that damn thing? They love taking that thing.”

• “I guess I wasn’t supposed to eat that last cheesecake this morning.”

• A three-way tie for the episode’s funniest physical comedy moment: Ron’s panicked convulsion in the cramped space under his desk; Preparing his noisy dinner. Douglas pats Doris’ hair with printer paper to clear the bubbles.

• Good backline: While Ron is on the phone looking at Doris, you can hear her saying, “Oh, damn! You gave me that paper so bad.”

• “I think HR should know that you saw my skirt. On my birthday.”

• Ron leaves a serious comment on Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name” YouTube video about how you thought you were going to do something with your life, but no. It’s curious how these deeper fears will play a role in his obsession with Tecca.