Tim Robinson (comedian)

Robinson was born in a suburb of Detroit.[1] His mother worked for Chrysler and his father worked in construction. His parents divorced, after which he said he "kind of grew up with two dads", one of whom was Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah with him.[2] He was raised in the nearby towns of Clarkston and Waterford,[3] graduating from Clarkston High School in 2000.[4][5] He saw a live Second City comedy performance in Chicago as a teenager,[3] and soon began taking weekend improv classes at its Detroit branch.[3] While pursuing a comedy career, he supported himself with jobs such as working in a toy store and teaching improv classes.[6]

Robinson toured with Second City Detroit's touring company, then joined Second City Chicago.[3] 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]

As a teenager, Robinson began dating his schoolmate Heather, who later became an electrical engineer for Chrysler.[6][26] They were married in September 2006,[6] and live in Los Angeles with their son and daughter.[6][27]

Having become an avid skateboarder during high school, Robinson continues to skateboard in his spare time.[2] Robinson is also a lifelong fan of professional wrestling; he has featured wrestling in several sketches on I Think You Should Leave and cast multiple wrestlers in cameo roles in his television shows. This includes Kevin Nash in Detroiters,[28] as well as Brody King,[29] Erick Rowan,[30] Ryan Nemeth[31] and Aron Stevens[32] in I Think You Should Leave.

• Tim Robinson on Instagram
• Tim Robinson at IMDb