Tim Robinson (comedian)

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Tim Robinson
Born (1981-05-23) May 23, 1981 (age 42)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • writer
  • producer
Years active2011–present
Spouse
Heather Robinson
​
(m. 2006)​
Children2

Tim Robinson (born May 23, 1981) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He first became known as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2014, before gaining wider recognition as the co-creator, co-writer and star of the comedy series Detroiters (2017–2018) and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019–present).

Early life[edit]

Robinson was born in Detroit on May 23, 1981, the son of a mother who worked for Chrysler and a father who worked in construction.[1] He was raised in the nearby towns of Clarkston and Waterford.[2] His parents later divorced, and he has said that he "kind of grew up with two dads" because his stepfather was Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah with him.[3] He graduated from Clarkston High School in 2000.[4][5] He saw a live Second City comedy performance in Chicago as a teenager,[2] and soon began taking weekend improv classes at its Detroit branch.[2] While pursuing a comedy career, he supported himself by working in a toy store and teaching improv classes.[6]

Career[edit]

Robinson toured with Second City Detroit's touring company, then joined Second City Chicago.[2] He has also performed at the iO Theater and Just for Laughs.[7][8] He filmed a 2011 television pilot for Comedy Central called My Mans, but the show was not picked up by the network.[9][10] In 2012, he was cast as a series regular in the unaired CBS sitcom Friend Me.[11] In September 2012, he made his debut as a featured performer on Saturday Night Live.[12][13][14] A year later, it was announced that he would work on the writing staff rather than continue being a performer, making him the second SNL cast member (after Brian Doyle-Murray) to go from performer to staff writer and the first SNL performer to become a writer after originally being cast solely as a performer.[15] His celebrity impressions on the show included Ben Bailey and Bill Cowher, and he also portrayed the recurring character Carl, an elderly retail worker who would always get insulted by Niff (Bobby Moynihan) and Dana (Cecily Strong).[7]

Robinson has appeared twice on late-night NBC talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers as Dale, who acts as host Seth Meyers' "emergency sidekick." His first appearance was during the "Next Week's News" sketch on February 28, 2014, and his second appearance was during the "Celebrity Drunk Texts" sketch on April 8, 2014. In 2016, he wrote and appeared in his own episode of the sketch comedy show Netflix Presents: The Characters.[16] He is also the co-creator and co-star of Detroiters, along with fellow Detroit native and frequent collaborator Sam Richardson. The show premiered on Comedy Central in February 2017. In April 2017, he guest starred on Fox's Making History as Al Capone.

In 2018, Netflix green-lit I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, a sketch comedy series created by and starring Robinson and produced by the members of The Lonely Island.[17][18] It premiered in April 2019 and received critical acclaim,[19][20][21][22] as did its second season, which premiered in July 2021.[23][24] The series was renewed for a third season in May 2022, which premiered on May 30, 2023.

In 2022, Robinson won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for his work on I Think You Should Leave.[25]

In that same year, Robinson lent his voice to the first-person shooter video game, High On Life, playing the role of Creature, the grenade launcher.[26] He also reprises his role in the DLC, High On Knife.

Personal life[edit]

As a teenager, Robinson began dating his schoolmate, Heather, who now works as an electrical engineer for Chrysler.[6][27] They were married in September 2006.[6] They live in Los Angeles with their son and daughter.[6][28]

Robinson became an avid skateboarder during high school and continues to skateboard in his spare time.[3] He is a vegetarian[29] and suffers from claustrophobia.[29] He has said that he believes in the existence of aliens but not ghosts.[29] His favorite film is Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951).[29] He supports his hometown Detroit Lions and Detroit Pistons.[29] He is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, which is occasionally featured on his shows alongside cameo roles by wrestlers such as Brody King,[30] Kevin Nash,[31] Ryan Nemeth,[32] Erick Rowan,[33] and Aron Stevens.[34]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2016 Brother Nature Ben Franklin
2020 An American Pickle Prosecuting Attorney
2022 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers Ugly Sonic (voice)
Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm Fraptaculan Tim (voice)
2023 Scream VI Quinn's Hookup Uncredited
TBA Friendship Craig Waterman

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2012 Friend Me Sully Unaired pilot
2012–2016 Saturday Night Live Various characters Main role; 68 episodes
Writer
2013–2014 The Awesomes Various characters 2 episodes
2014 Comedy Bang! Bang! Al Sorbinstein Episode: "Craig Robinson Wears a Bordeaux Button Down & Dark Jeans"
Late Night with Seth Meyers Dale / Timmy the Late Night Superfan 3 episodes
Uncredited
2015–2019 Documentary Now! Young Barnabas Scott / Rick Kenmore 2 episodes
2016 Netflix Presents: The Characters Various characters Episode: "Tim Robinson"
2017 Man Seeking Woman Paranormal Investigator Episode: "Popcorn"
Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special Chef Roy Variety special
Making History Al Capone 2 episodes
2017–2018 Detroiters Tim Cramblin 20 episodes
Co-creator, co-writer, executive producer
2019 Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell Lip Licker Episode: "Five-Card Duds"
2019–2020 Our Cartoon President Brett Kavanaugh (voice) 8 episodes
2019–present I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson Various characters 18 episodes
Co-creator, co-writer, executive producer
2020 Star Trek: Lower Decks Ensign Fletcher (voice) Episode: "Terminal Provocations"
2020–2022 Big City Greens Gregly (voice) 5 episodes
2021 Solar Opposites Peter (voice) Episode: "The Apple Pencil Pro"
2021-2023 Teenage Euthanasia Uncle Pete (voice) Main role
Ten Year Old Tom Plumber (voice) 4 episodes
2022 Human Resources Doug Fredrick (voice) 3 episodes
Middlemost Post Gum (voice) Episode: "Inside Angus"
2023 Digman! Swooper (voice) Main role
The Simpsons Mercer (voice) Episode: "Homer's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass"
Krapopolis Cyclops (voice) Episode: "Prometheus"
2024 Invincible Filip Schaff (voice) Season 2[35]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Tim Robinson Biography". AAS.
  2. ^ a b c d VanArendonk, Kathryn (July 6, 2021). "Tim Robinson Is Sorry for Yelling". Vulture. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Comedy And Skateboarding With Tim Robinson". CCS. April 23, 2020.
  4. ^ "Michigan native joins 'Saturday Night Live' cast in Saturday season-opener". Detroit Free Press. September 10, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  5. ^ Laine, Chris (September 13, 2012). "Clarkston grad Tim Robinson newest addition to 38th season of 'Saturday Night Live'". The Source. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d VanArendonk, Kathryn (July 6, 2021). "Tim Robinson Is Sorry for Yelling". Vulture. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Tim Robinson". Saturday Night Live. NBC. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  8. ^ McCarthy, Sean L. (September 7, 2012). "From Second City to SNL: Aidy Bryant, Tim Robinson set to join cast of Saturday Night Live". The Comic's Comic.
  9. ^ Thomas, Mike (September 10, 2012). "'SNL' hires three new actors, all trained in Chicago". Chicago Sun-Times.
  10. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (September 7, 2012). "NBC Near Deals for Two New 'Saturday Night Live' Cast Members". The Hollywood Reporter.
  11. ^ "Tim Robinson". IMDb. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  12. ^ Levin, Gary (September 10, 2012). "'Saturday Night Live' adds three new cast members". USA Today.
  13. ^ Yahr, Emily (September 10, 2012). "'Saturday Night Live' adds three new cast members". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 11, 2012.
  14. ^ Wezerek, Gus (December 14, 2019). "The 'S.N.L.' Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019. Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.
  15. ^ "30 Under 30: Comedians to Watch". Tim Robinson. spashlife. Archived from the original on June 20, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  16. ^ Rose, Lacey (February 1, 2016). "Netflix Orders Innovative Sketch Series 'The Characters' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  17. ^ "Netflix Brings Back 'Detroiters' Co-Star Tim Robinson In A Zany Comedy Series". DeadlineDetroit.
  18. ^ Nero, Dom. "The New Golden Era of Sketch Comedy Embraces Diverse Voices and Weirdness". Esquire.
  19. ^ Hoepfner, Fran (April 25, 2019). "Tim Robinson's Netflix Sketch Show Is Comedy Perfection". Vulture.
  20. ^ Han, Karen (April 24, 2019). "The best way to spend 15 minutes on Netflix: Tim Robinson's new sketch show". Polygon.
  21. ^ Travers, Ben (April 23, 2019). "'I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson' Review: Netflix's Demented Sketch Show Is Pretty Great". IndieWire.
  22. ^ Fox, Jesse David. "I Think You Should Leave's 'Focus Group' Sketch: An Oral History". Vulture. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  23. ^ "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson: Season 2". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  24. ^ Rubin, Peter (April 23, 2021). "I Think You Should Leave Was Right About Everything". Wired.
  25. ^ "Awards Nominees and Winners". Emmys. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  26. ^ Hinton, Chris (December 22, 2022). "High On Life: 10 Voice Actors You Might Recognize". TheGamer. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  27. ^ "Does Tim Robinson have kids? Family of I Think You Should Leave creator explored". July 7, 2021.
  28. ^ "History - Alumni". The Second City. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  29. ^ a b c d e Wolf, Cam. "12 Definitely True Facts About Tim Robinson". GQ. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  30. ^ Minsker, Evan. "Interview: Brody King on Becoming I Think You Should Leave's Enforcer". Fanbyte. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  31. ^ Hinds, Julie. "Pro wrestling star Kevin Nash guests on 'Detroiters' as Big Hank". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  32. ^ Nash, Anthony (May 25, 2023). "I Think You Should Leave Trailer Features Erick Redbeard, Aron Stevens, More". Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  33. ^ Black, Matt (June 17, 2023). "Erick Redbeard Reflects Upon His Time Working On 'I Think You Should Leave'". WrestleZone. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  34. ^ Casey, Henry (May 24, 2023). "I Think You Should Leave season 3 trailer just convinced me to not cancel Netflix". tom's guide. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
  35. ^ "Invincible Season 2: Release Date, Trailer, Cast & More". Retrieved September 11, 2023.

External links[edit]

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