Tim Robinson Stays True to Himself in HBO’s Hilarious Conspiracy Thriller The Chair Company: Review

There are some creators we celebrate for being able to adapt to a wide variety of genres: Steven Spielberg, Ryan Murphy, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Comedian Tim Robinson, though, seems like he takes the opposite approach — rather than figure out a way to conform his original voice to different genres, he adapts genres to fit the stories he wants to tell. It’s as if Robinson himself is the genre, to which everything else is secondary, leading us to 2025’s Tim Robinson vehicle/bro comedy Friendship, and now Tim Robinson vehicle/conspiracy thriller The Chair Company, prennmiering October 12th on HBO.

When The Chair Company begins, Ron Trosper (Robinson) is gearing up to lead a major new project at work, while his eldest daughter Natalie (Sophia Lillis) plans her wedding and his wife Barb (Lake Bell) moves forward with her own business. Life is pretty good, until an incident happens to Ron at work. HBO has embargoed reviews from specifying what, exactly, happens to Ron, but while the scale of it might seem relatively small at first, it sends him spiraling down a conspiracy rabbit hole that may go far deeper than anyone realizes.

Or it could all be in Ron’s head. Both possibilities seem likely at times over the first seven of eight episodes, which Robinson and co-creator Zach Kanin use to riff on classic conspiracy tropes while continuing to mine the depths of Robinson’s singular on-camera strangeness. We get to watch Ron investigate using all the modern tricks available to a digitally savvy cyberstalker, and get surprisingly far with his persistent sleuthing. Even while, like any true conspiracy story, his relationships and professional life pay the price.

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There are plenty of touches that should feel familiar for longstanding Robinson fans, from the general stuff, like Robinson’s signature scream-yelling, to more distinct elements like a fixation on patterned shirts. Yet at the same time, there’s a real story being told about a man trying to solve a mystery that might be more real than he realizes — or far more mundane.

What The Chair Company seems most interested in exploring is the way tiny moments can so easily explode into big ones, the way a single indignity can crawl under a man’s skin and not let go. Andrew DeYoung (Friendship) and Aaron Schimberg (A Different Man) split up directing the episodes, and both men do a nice job of using the rhythms of comedy to also build up suspense when the moment calls for it.

Every character in The Chair Company has their own story going on, dropping tantalizing glimpses into their inner worlds at seemingly random moments: A co-worker passed over for the promotion Ron got finds new peace in blowing bubbles in the office. Ron’s assistant wants him to come to her church. Even Ron has a dark past, though it’s not connected to an affair or drug abuse — it’s far more specialized and strange than that.

The Chair Company (HBO)

Like so many Robinson-starring projects, there’s such a beautiful precision to some of this dialogue, like Ron explaining a physical confrontation with someone by saying “my hand pushed him,” or musing in a somewhat smug way that “I’m right about a lot of things that people have zero clue are going on.” It’s the sort of thing made possible by a lead actor with such a clear comedic voice, and Robinson does his best job yet of modulating his performance to fit both the most high-strung moments of the story as well as its more grounded moments.

The supporting cast is full of both new and familiar folks, a wonderful collection of diverse real faces mixed in with a couple of legit fame-os. Lou Diamond Phillips, as Ron’s boss, gives the kind of performance that inspires thoughts like “revelation” even though there’s nothing really showy to what he’s doing: He’s just such a pleasant, mild presence that it leaves the viewer very curious about what he might be up to.

Also, Lake Bell deserves a lot of acclaim for matching Robinson’s energy in a way past female co-stars of his haven’t always been able to do. Whereas Kate Mara felt a little lost in Friendship, Bell seems much more on Robinson’s wavelength, and Barb feels like a genuinely believable partner for Ron’s very peculiar energy as a result. When served a meal at a nice restaurant in the show’s opening scene, Barb and Ron share a look of mutual delight over their food that sells their decades of marriage in such a clean way.

When one considers the full scope of Tim Robinson’s career, the way he’s moved from Saturday Night Live to his own Netflix comedy series to now the storied world of HBO, it stands out as a true testament to the power of having an original voice and figuring out the best platforms for it. He’s proven how funny he can be, especially in partnership with Kanin — now, The Chair Company proves that his style of comedy can sustain a full season of a TV show, creating something special and weird that could only have come from him. No matter what he chooses to do next, it’ll be fascinating to watch.

The Chair Company premieres Sunday, October 12th on HBO and HBO Max. Check out the latest trailer below.