I Think You Should Leave season 3

[madhair60]

I went to look at your webcomic to see what sort of punchlines you use but it's blocked on my work laptop for being sexually explicit so I'm going to imagine it's people shouting with their penises and vaginas out.

please do not have a go at my webcomic as it will hurt my feelings - thanks

[Blue Jam]

Didn't find this at all funny at first but on a rewatch I "got" it. Will give S3 a go too!

Succession finale and the new series of ITYSL within 2 days of each other. Santa should've wrapped it when he gave it earrrrly.

Not to mention the Barry finale. It's starting to feel like the time pre-pandemic when there was just too much good telly to watch before I finally had a chance to catch up on it all.

[Ron Superior]

Hey @madhair60 I think maybe having the right first episode might be the key. I would maybe suggest season 1 episode 5, and season 2 episode 2 or 3 as a good entry point for you.

They have a good mix of guests, aren't too shouty (although hopefully you'll grow to love the shoutiness cos there is a lot of it, but Tim and Conner are the best in the biz at it), and Tim trying to pretend he's not choking is one of my favourite comedic performances ever. Plus there's the courtroom sketch which is pretty popular here and is incredible.

I'd say if you don't get on with them then call it quits, you tried. But if you can get on with Aunty Donna after how much you hated them then there's got to be hope for ol' Timmy.

[MrMealDeal]

MORE PARTY HARDERSON!

Speaking of which, she's doing a WIP show at the Soho Theatre in July then on to Edinburgh

https://sohotheatre.com/events/patti-harrison-my-huge-tits-huge-because-they-are-infected-not-fake-work-in-progress/

https://sohotheatre.com/events/patti-harrison-edinburgh/

[BritishHobo]

Many of these sketches being SNL rejects baffles me the same way as it does how many of Kyle Mooney's sketches were cut for time. Sometimes they really don't seem to understand the value of the people they hire.

[Dr Rock]

Speaking of which, she's doing a WIP show at the Soho Theatre in July then on to Edinburgh

https://sohotheatre.com/events/patti-harrison-my-huge-tits-huge-because-they-are-infected-not-fake-work-in-progress/

https://sohotheatre.com/events/patti-harrison-edinburgh/

I'm going, fucking yes.

[McDead]

Hey @madhair60 I think maybe having the right first episode might be the key. I would maybe suggest season 1 episode 5, and season 2 episode 2 or 3 as a good entry point for you.

They have a good mix of guests, aren't too shouty (although hopefully you'll grow to love the shoutiness cos there is a lot of it, but Tim and Conner are the best in the biz at it), and Tim trying to pretend he's not choking is one of my favourite comedic performances ever. Plus there's the courtroom sketch which is pretty popular here and is incredible.

I'd say if you don't get on with them then call it quits, you tried. But if you can get on with Aunty Donna after how much you hated them then there's got to be hope for ol' Timmy.

I think I would start with Tim's episode of The Characters on netflix, a sort of de facto pilot for ITYSL. It's a bit slower and more varied than the main show (still with a lot of shouting though! Really if you don't like shouting, this may not be for you)

Meanwhile I'm gonna be drinking a big pour of wine... And popcorn

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Anyone that doesn't like this sketch is just a bad person - maybe even worse than Bart Harley Jarvis.

[Petey Pate]

Many of these sketches being SNL rejects baffles me the same way as it does how many of Kyle Mooney's sketches were cut for time. Sometimes they really don't seem to understand the value of the people they hire.

This is one of the few SNL sketches of his that made it to air.

It almost works as an analogy to Tim Robinson's time on the show.

[The Mollusk]

Watched a couple of these a while back, couldn't stand it. Tried again this evening because fuck it I just want to feel like a part of something, but no, it's still really bad. Like honestly didn't crack a smile once.

The shouting isn't even the worst thing about it, in fact I find it more boring than jarring. A lot of it seems to be "let's see how abstract/uncomfortable/hysterical I can stretch this basic premise" and it's exactly as laboured and try-hard as one could expect that to be. You've got Fred Willard with a big moustache being a goofball on a comedy organ and I'm still not laughing? Mate.

[jobotic]

This is what I keep wanging on about. Can't deny it's exactly what The Mollusk describes but I love it

[David Pielingtonburygrot]

Can't wait for this, ITYSL feels like a genuine evolution of the sketch show format in the same way that Big Train or Mr Show did back in the day.

[David Pielingtonburygrot]

Watched a couple of these a while back, couldn't stand it. Tried again this evening because fuck it I just want to feel like a part of something, but no, it's still really bad. Like honestly didn't crack a smile once.

The shouting isn't even the worst thing about it, in fact I find it more boring than jarring. A lot of it seems to be "let's see how abstract/uncomfortable/hysterical I can stretch this basic premise" and it's exactly as laboured and try-hard as one could expect that to be. You've got Fred Willard with a big moustache being a goofball on a comedy organ and I'm still not laughing? Mate.

Have you watched the Courtroom sketch? Or the Plane/Crying Baby one? It seems inconceivable that anyone could not find those funny. I'll dig out the season and episode number if it produces a new convert, I'm an absolute fucking evangelist for this show.

[Blue Jam]

@The Mollusk , I suspect you'd enjoy this one:

^{any excuse}

[madhair60]

Watched a couple of these a while back, couldn't stand it. Tried again this evening because fuck it I just want to feel like a part of something, but no, it's still really bad. Like honestly didn't crack a smile once.

The shouting isn't even the worst thing about it, in fact I find it more boring than jarring. A lot of it seems to be "let's see how abstract/uncomfortable/hysterical I can stretch this basic premise" and it's exactly as laboured and try-hard as one could expect that to be. You've got Fred Willard with a big moustache being a goofball on a comedy organ and I'm still not laughing? Mate

i just watched season 1 episode 5 and i did laugh at a few lines but every sketch was the same basic formula as you describe

[madhair60]

to be fair it's right there in the title

[Mobius]

I agree with madhair but last time I did was with auntie donna which he ended up doing a complete 180 on, so you're on your own this time pal.

[Mister Six]

Hang on, there are people who don't find this funny?

[The Mollusk]

Nah, getting practically nothing from any of these, sorry. Just a few smiles at occasional lines in a "throw enough shit at the wall" way.

The way they Do the joke! And then do the joke again! Here I am, EXPLAININ THE FUCKIN JOKE TO YOU! just feels incredibly cynical. Makes sense a lot of this stuff was rejected from SNL, because where SNL has to hold your hand and walk you to the punchline and doesn't know how to end a scene without a big conclusion, ITYSL mocks that format by hammering a joke into your head and ending sketches with as much nihilism as possible. This would be good if the content were more nuanced or even varied in tone but I suppose that wouldn't really suit the format so I can only conclude that this isn't for me.

I did enjoy the Odenkirk one though, for obvious reasons but also because it had the nuance and unexpected change of direction that makes sketch comedy actually varied and interesting.

[Icehaven]

I was talking to a friend last night who says the last sketch comedy he liked was The Fast Show, so I recommended him this and Limmy's Show as something a bit more recent. We'll see how he gets on but I think he'll either love it or never speak to me again.

[Dr Rock]

I recommended this to a friend, she said it was 'too much' for her but her 15 year old son loved it. Hope this helps.

[Blue Jam]

I did enjoy the Odenkirk one though, for obvious reasons but also because it had the nuance and unexpected change of direction that makes sketch comedy actually varied and interesting.

AFAIK that's the only sketch where an actor was allowed to improvise, so if it's a bit Mr. Show that figures. I also only liked that one at first but I've warmed to the show as a whole now.

Makes sense a lot of this stuff was rejected from SNL, because where SNL has to hold your hand and walk you to the punchline and doesn't know how to end a scene without a big conclusion, ITYSL mocks that format

Spot-on, but now you put it like that I like it even more :)

[The Mollusk]

Haha yeah see in theory I should like it for that reason as well, but as I said the content is almost relentlessly one dimensional in this approach, even the short episode format can't redeem that for me. He is clearly a good performer though and I think he's got the talent in him to simmer down and make some more balanced stuff in whatever future project he comes up with. It worked for Tim Heidecker.

[Old Nehamkin]

I like it, it's funny I think. Only sketch I remember strongly not liking was that one from season 2 about divvying up a bill in a restaurant with people's credit cards where for some reason they got a guy who's not Tim Robinson to play the sort of stock Tim Robinson character. It was like he won a competition to be in a I think you should leave sketch or something. Bad!

[The Bumlord]

I watched a bit of the first season and I'm one of the baffled ones. All seemed a bit American and shouty and HUH

[Petey Pate]

It's been revealed that Tim Robinson has a side gig working as the Pentagon's first chief software officer.



I can only imagine that he goes to work meetings wearing a Russian fur cap and gets indignant if anyone mentions it. Or he goes about the office wearing a Julian Assange mask saying 'hey guys if anything gets leaked today, it was probably me that did it!'.

[Blue Jam]

Not my original observation but he really does look like George C Scott in Dr Strangelove:

[MrMealDeal]

Judging by comments on forums (not just CAB) this is an incredibly polarizing show. I think it's probably pointless for those who think it's genius (I'm in that category) to persuade others of its merits because Tim Robinson IS shouty and the whole thing IS kind of one note. At some point you just have to accept that tastes differ.

What I love about the show is the implied worlds they create (a clothes store for middle-aged men in which the shirts are valued by the complexity of the patterns, a grown men's birthday sleepover, a baby that's crying because he knows the person holding him used to be a piece of shit, etc.) I also don't think the show is nihilistic: the characters are basically just trying to conform to social conventions but are constantly on the verge of failure.

My favourite sketch is probably the 'piece of shit' sketch, which I find oddly moving:

[MrMealDeal]

Only sketch I remember strongly not liking was that one from season 2 about divvying up a bill in a restaurant with people's credit cards where for some reason they got a guy who's not Tim Robinson to play the sort of stock Tim Robinson character. It was like he won a competition to be in a I think you should leave sketch or something. Bad!

Oh yeah, that's probably the worst sketch in the entire show and a complete waste of John Early, who is a fantastic comic actor.

[selectivememory]

Yes, I remember being baffled that they got a different actor in to play the Tim Robinson role in that sketch.