Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Netflix
Tim Robinson never met a social setting or norm that he didn’t want to detonate with awkward outbursts of rage and despair, and that impulse is alive and well in the third season of I Think You Should Leave, the comedian’s phenomenal Netflix series that premieres May 30. Once again trading in Robinson’s particular brand of taboo-smashing ridiculousness laced with crushing misery and frustration (and designed for instant meme-ification), it confirms that no one does unhinged better, or funnier.
There may be nothing in I Think You Should Leave’s return engagement that’s as uproarious as last season’s “Coffin Flop,” which built from a familiar TV-commercial premise into something so off-the-wall and maniacal that, a year later, it still brings me to tears. Nonetheless, the opening skit of Episode 3 comes pretty close.
In it, Robinson plays Richard Brecky, aka Jellybean, a theatrical performer whose show involves acting out 73 different stories with nothing but “gesture and emotion.” Miming his way through various narratives, he’s a silent clown who promises that he never talks—and if he does, he’ll pay the audience. To prove his sincerity, he has a digital screen at the side of the stage that dings and adds money to the running counter every time he utters a word.