Tim Robinson

Writing and performing on Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2016 is where most comedians would happily settle. Robinson used it as a runway. He co-created Detroiters and played Tim Cramblin, a local ad man whose confidence enormously exceeds his agency, and the show is the warmest thing he has made, which is worth knowing before you meet the rest of him.

The specific talent is the escalation of an indefensible position. A Robinson character commits a small social error, is handed a clear and easy exit, and instead raises the stakes until everyone present has to choose between humouring him and leaving the building. I Think You Should Leave runs entirely on that engine, and it explains why the sketches travel as clips: the laugh is not the premise, it is the exact second the man decides he will not be moved. Craig Waterman in Friendship is that same person stretched to feature length and given a wife, a neighbour and a life to wreck.

The surrounding credits are a decent index of how comedy uses him now. He voices Ugly Sonic in Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, a joke that only works because he commits harder than the material deserves. There is a prosecuting attorney in An American Pickle, an uncredited voice in Scream VI, Doug in Human Resources, Swooper in Digman!, Uncle Pete in Teenage Euthanasia, Chef Roy in Michael Bolton's Big Sexy Valentine's Day Special, a Documentary Now! part and Ben Franklin in Brother Nature. The Chair Company, where he plays a man called Ron, is the current model: same discomfort, much longer fuse.