He is an extraordinary comedian, with a sharp sense of humor, who is not afraid (he even feels a certain sadism) to make his audience uncomfortable, to our great delight, of course.

Discovered through Saturday Night Live, then a Netflix series, Tim Robinson finally unleashes his full artistry in The Chair Company, available on HBO Max. He's an employee full of ambition and frustration. He could have started his own company, had his own project. He envisioned himself as a captain of industry or the head of start-upBut it didn't work, it didn't take off. So, when he's offered the chance to lead the development of a new shopping center, he's over the moon. Finally, someone is taking him seriously, someone is trusting him! And the big day arrives when he has to give a public speech to announce the project's launch. The spotlights are on him, the speech is impeccable; he's in control, he's well-prepared. The frustrated little office worker inside him is ecstatic. Then, as he sits back down on his chair on the stage, the seat gives way and he collapses. The room freezes, there's total silence, all eyes are on him. It only lasts a few seconds, but it feels like an eternity. He gets up, says he's fine. Everyone laughs, the evening continues, and everyone moves on. Everyone… except the little office worker who broods inwardly, without showing it to anyone else. Hours and days pass, and the scene replays in his mind over and over. He is consumed by shame and seethes with annoyance. He neglects his work, thinking only of those few seconds when he collapsed in front of all his colleagues and coworkers. Convinced he was set up, he needs revenge. Only one culprit: the chair, and more specifically, the company that made it, responsible for the manufacturing defect that led to this disastrous moment. 

This is the unlikely starting point of The Chair CompanyComedy cringe » – a popular subgenre of American comedy, popularized in particular by Nathan Fielder (Nathan For You, The Curse) –, The Chair Company It often makes us laugh until we cry, when it doesn't force us to look away, so embarrassed are we by the protagonists' awkwardness. The series is also very intriguing, as it quickly veers into the thriller or mystery genre. The discovery of a defective chair is only the beginning of a chain of events set in motion by the employee, which will lead him to uncover a vast and opaque conspiracy. The Chair Company It is therefore also an investigative series, through the twists and turns of the Internet and the dubious and charmless suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. 

This strange television phenomenon, at once fascinating, fiercely funny, and fundamentally bizarre, reflects its co-creator and lead actor, Tim Robinson. The comedian is now one of the central figures of American absurdist comedy. After starting out with the legendary Chicago improv troupe, The Second City (which also launched the careers of Steve Carell, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler), Tim Robinson joined the team at Saturday Night Live in 2012. But it was with the series I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, released on Netflix and co-created with Zach Kanin – a writer for Saturday Night Live who has since collaborated with the comedian on all his projects – is where Tim Robinson's career took off. In it, he plays a variety of intense, often grotesque characters, pushing the boundaries of social interaction a little too far in the wrong direction. Ron, the main character of The Chair Company (still co-created with Zach Kanin) could almost have stepped out of a chapter of that famous Netflix series, especially in the later episodes, when paranoia is rampant and the signs of a conspiracy become increasingly bizarre and improbable. Except that, like him, this time we want to believe it too. Have we, in turn, become characters in a Tim Robinson series? 

The Chair Company
Created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin
Available on HBO Max