Hidden conspiracies meet absurdist comedy in HBO‘s newest series, The Chair Company, which is already doing quite well for the network. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series scored 1.4 million viewers with its first episode, which is the biggest comedy premiere for HBO since Avenue 5 in 2020. That’s an especially big win for the show’s star and co-creator, Tim Robinson. He hasn’t always won over audiences with his absurd style of comedy, such as when he was demoted to writer after his first year acting on Saturday Night Live.
Hopefully, HBO will be able to maintain those high viewership ratings for the next seven episodes. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a high 100% critics’ approval rating. Season 1, Episode 1 of the show, titled “Life Goes by Too F**king Fast, It Really Does,” proved to audiences that it deserves that rating. The episode was packed with memorable, funny moments from Robinson and his co-stars, as well as setup for twists later this season. If The Chair Company gets strong word-of-mouth reactions from audiences, it could end up as one of the biggest comedy series this year.
‘The Chair Company’ Gets Surprisingly Dramatic
In The Chair Company, Tim Robinson plays Ron, an older man who’s hitting the prime of his life. His daughter’s getting married, his son is getting college offers, and Ron is leading the construction of a new mall in Canton, Ohio. At work, he presents his vision for the mall to a crowd of excited co-workers. Ron seems to have it all, until he goes back to his chair. The chair collapses, leaving him embarrassed in front of his co-workers. It’s a simple fall, but Ron overthinks the situation. His co-workers laugh it off, but he acts as if he were in severe danger. He finds the company that makes the chairs, Tecca, and he tries to reach out to customer service, but he can’t actually find a representative who works for Tecca.
Ron grows obsessed. He looks for Tecca’s offices and finds a nearly empty warehouse, which houses a single, giant red sphere. Ron doesn’t have time to investigate further, particularly because his curiosity gets in the way of his work. He falls behind on an assignment, and his boss tells him he needs to stay focused. What his boss doesn’t know is that Ron’s already deep into his Tecca investigation. One night, a man approaches Ron, hits him, and tells him to stop snooping on Tecca.
What started as a simple overreaction has turned into an investigation that might uncover a conspiracy. Whatever Ron’s found, it’s big and must have some dark, nefarious connection. Even though The Chair Company is mainly a comedy, the first episode demonstrates the show’s potential to achieve the same amount of dramatic tension as other HBO shows while retaining Tim Robinson’s goofy charm.
For Better or Worse, ‘The Chair Company’ Is Classic Tim Robinson
Audiences might recognize The Chair Company‘s lead from his work on I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson or from this year’s comedy Friendship. Robinson has a distinct kind of absurdist comedy that doesn’t work for everyone. Some of the sketches in I Think You Should Leave ran with too absurd an idea, and Friendship used an uncomfortable style of comedy. It’s understandable why audiences might be afraid of The Chair Company at first, but the show is already demonstrating some of Robinson’s best.
The Chair Company‘s biggest perk is that it takes all of Robinson’s past work and draws from his strengths. The focus on such an inconsequential topic, like a company that makes chairs, is reminiscent of many of Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave sketches, which overemphasize the importance of mundane parts of life. Ron’s desperation is also similar to that of Robinson’s character in the movie Friendship. The series even ventures into some emotional territory, like when Ron cries to the Jim Croce song, “I Got a Name,” and reflects on how fast life moves. It’s similar to the ending of the “Baby Cries” sketch from I Think You Should Leave, where Robinson’s character reflects on how much his life has changed.
The way Tim Robinson plays his character makes Ron seem like one of Robinson’s typical losers at first, but there’s a lot more nuance. Sure, Ron failed to start a safari adventure attraction in Ohio and gets into pointless arguments — a pretty typical trait for a Tim Robinson character — but it’s not as bad for him as it seems. He seems to have a pretty happy life, with a wife, two grown-up children, and co-workers who support him. It’s the fact that he dwells on his failures that will ultimately be his downfall.
Like most of Robinson’s other projects, The Chair Company features a hilarious ensemble both on and off screen. Tim Robinson is joined by actors like Lake Bell, Sophia Lillis, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Jim Downey. It’s also typical for Robinson to surround himself with lesser-known comedians, and Zuleyma Guevara, Glo Tavarez, and Marvin Bell are just a few of the terrific actors who deserve praise for playing Ron’s hilarious co-workers. Behind the scenes, Robinson gets to work with his frequent collaborators, such as his I Think You Should Leave co-writer Zach Kanin and his Friendship director Andrew DeYoung.
There’s Still Time To Join in the Fun
Luckily, it’s not too late to join in on the sensation that is The Chair Company. The series just started, with the first episode premiering on October 12. That first episode is available to stream on HBO Max. The season has a total of eight episodes, which each premiere on Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO. The episodes are posted on HBO Max shortly after. The season is expected to end on November 30, which is more than a month away.
Aside from just revealing more of Tecca’s conspiracy, the next few episodes of The Chair Company promise to be intriguing with the titles alone. The second episode has the intriguing title of “New blood. There’s 5 Rons now.” The third episode is titled “@BrownDerbyHistoricVids Little bit of Hollywood? Okayyy.” These absurd titles perfectly match the show’s premise and comedic style. The first episode’s title showed up in a pretty unexpected way during the episode, so it will be exciting to watch these titles unfold into the plot. The Chair Company is streaming on HBO Max.
- Release Date
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October 12, 2025
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Andrew DeYoung