‘The Chair Company’ Premiere Recap: Not All That Serious

I'm thinking about Tim Robinsoncharacters as existing on a spectrum. Yes, they're all prone to loud, sudden outbursts of cartoonish rage or pain, and almost all of them are anxious, insecure weirdos hell-bent on proving they're in on the joke. But there's a big difference between the affable “chaotic good” Tim Cramblin of Detroiters and Robinson plays a procession of freaks on his sketch show, I think you should leave. And Craig Waterman, the marketing executive from 2024. Friendshiptook Robinson into new territory with a darker and more pathetic take on the same neurotic type.

If Friendship was Robinson's first true character study, his new HBO mystery comedy. Chairman's company this is the logical next step. Like Craig Waterman, Ron Trosper is a hard worker and family man who goes above and beyond to project confidence and competence in the office and at home. But unlike Craig, he's not too bad at it at first. For the most part, people seem to respect Ron. He is adored by his wife Barb (Lake Bell), daughter Natalie (Sophia Lillis) and son Seth (Will Price). He is a project manager at Fisher Robay, overseeing an ambitious new shopping center development in Canton, Ohio, and appears to have the office's support. However, after a surprisingly successful speech at the Canton Marketplace kick-off meeting, another situation fell apart. As Ron sits down, the chair falls out from under him and breaks, leaving him dazed and sprawled on the floor. This is public humiliation Chairman's companyExciting incident.

Friendship is an obvious point of comparison for the series, especially with Andrew DeYoung directing this premiere and Keegan DeWitt again contributing a cool, slightly creepy soundtrack. But it's also the third series co-created by Robinson and Zach Kanin, who worked on both series. Detroiters And I think you should leave. There's a common comic sensibility to all of these projects, an understanding of what people come to see on Tim Robinson's show. Take, for example, the argument between Ron and the young waiter in the first scene. A holiday family dinner turns into an awkward argument when Ron bristles at the waiter, insisting she hasn't been to the mall since she was 14. He takes it as a personal insult, and it's a common impulse for Ron – he's also not a fan of his cheerful older co-worker Douglas (Jim Downey), who blows bubbles everywhere because “life isn't really that serious.”

Like most of Robinson's characters, Ron truly cares about fitting in, fearing attention as much as he seeks it. The day after the chair incident, he relieves tension in the office by making fun of himself, but feels uncomfortable when his colleagues enjoy the fun of the moment. So he goes down the Tecca rabbit hole, desperately trying to take action against the titular chair company.

This is where Life Goes By Damn Fast, It Really Goes into surreal conspiracy thriller mode, and I expect that feeling to linger. The phone number listed on Tecca's website only leads to National Business Solutions, which refuses to pass it on to the manufacturer. Messaging with the support agent results in nothing and an unclear support email address is returned. “What the hell!?” says Ron, comically taken aback.

Much of this premiere is dedicated to the beginning of Ron's investigation into Tekka, but it's already interesting to note what the show represents and what it doesn't want to show. We don't really see much of the Trosper family, all things considered; at this point, his wife and children are all (intentionally) archetypes, politely supporting projections of the traditional fantasy of a loving, stable nuclear family. We know Seth is looking at colleges and Ron keeps adding photos and songs to Natalie's rehearsal dinner slideshow, but that's about it. This episode prioritizes weird narrative detours over traditional character building, and I don't mind that choice at this point.

Take, for example, the cheerful, nameless janitor character who appears twice: first vehemently denying that his “inner wheelbarrow” is coming out, and then eventually appearing outside with a wheelbarrow. There's also Ron's colleague Amanda, who is well aware that he didn't do it. intentionally looks down at her skirt as it collapses to the floor, but still feels the need to report it to HR. Everything at work seems to suddenly fall apart, especially with the annoying Douglas blowing bubbles all over the place and distracting Doris as Ron tries to get footage to document her hip problem and the risk of an unsafe chair. (Someone on the phone told him that Tecca Legal would contact him directly if there was evidence that anyone might be harmed.)

Towards the end, the premiere does get quite harrowing, starting with Ron's visit to a gated building at Tecca's old address in Newark, Ohio. He finds some strange naked bodies in the printer and what looks like… a giant inflated red balloon? And then, when an old deviled egg makes him run in panic to the toilet, he hears footsteps and a drawn-out scream. It feels like it's something from Bo is afraid. He is forced to run before he can dry himself properly.

Back at work, Ron meets with an executive named Brenda and the head of Canton's legal development department. Apparently, teenagers were drinking at the scene last night, and one of them almost died. Besides, there was a teacher there and he was shirtless.

It's a strange and inexplicable scenario, but the problem is enough to make Ron focus back on his work and put Tecca aside… for a few minutes. When he leaves for the night, the man quickly follows him through the parking lot and tells him to stop looking at the group of chairs, briefly beating him with a baton before leaving. However, the scene doesn't end there. When Ron comes to his senses, he gets up and runs after his attacker, and the pursued becomes the pursuer. Notably, Ron does not pick up his fallen club to defend himself, nor does he continue the chase after the guy gives him the slip, leaving his shirt unbuttoned. He just stops.

At this stage it is impossible to predict what all this will lead to in the long term. (This reminds me of Nathan Fielder's underrated series. Curse there are a lot of both, and others.) But for now, Chairman's company It's as funny, weird, and watchable as I hoped it would be – it's different from anything Tim Robinson has done, but it's also a recognizably Tim Robinson project. I don't know what this shit is and I'm scared as hell..

• “Why the hell are they trying to take that damn thing? They fucking love taking that thing.”

• “I guess I shouldn’t have eaten the last Cheez-It this morning.”

• Triple tie for the episode's funniest physical comedy moment: Ron's panicked convulsions in the cramped space under the table; his noisy preparation of dinner; and Douglas smoothes Doris' hair with printer paper to erase the bubbles.

• Nice background line: While Ron is on the phone and looking at Doris, you can hear her say, “Oh, damn! You gave me too much of that paper.”

• “I just think HR needs to know that you filed up my skirt on my birthday.”

• Ron leaves a serious comment on the YouTube video of Jim Croce's “I Got a Name” in which he says he thinks he'll do something with his life, but doesn't. It's interesting how these deeper fears will affect his Tekka mania.