The Big Picture

For this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Tim Robinson about his new comedy
Friendship
ahead of its world premiere.
Robinson co-stars opposite Paul Rudd in the new buddy comedy where Robinson’s obsession with his new friend causes some tension.
During this interview, Robinson discusses joining the project, working with Rudd and Kate Mara, his pilot for a new series, and offers an exciting update for
I Think You Should Leave
.

At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Friendship is celebrating its world premiere. A comedy with a stacked cast, the feature stars I Think You Should Leave’s Tim Robinson opposite Paul Rudd as a suburban dad who has no desire to experience new things in life. The film, written and directed by Emmy nominee and Robinson’s good friend Andrew DeYoung (Would It Kill You to Laugh?), offered the writer and actor an opportunity to “get out of [his] comfort zone” and share scenes with Rudd, who he’s been a fan of since Clueless.

In Friendship, Craig Waterman (Robinson) is fine. He sees no reason to change his routine or seek out new friends. At least until his weatherman neighbor’s (Rudd) delivery is mistakenly dropped off at his house, forcing their paths to cross. Craig is immediately captivated by the charismatic Austin Carmichael, and after one blissful evening out on the town with his new buddy, Craig is hooked. Instead of a burgeoning bromance, Austin is soon alarmed by Craig’s obsessive behavior. In addition to Robinson and Rudd, the comedy also features Kate Mara, Josh Segarra, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Jon Glaser.

Though Robinson was unable to attend the festival, Collider’s Steve Weintraub had an opportunity to talk with him about joining this independent feature. During their conversation, which you can read below, the comedian explains why, despite his reservations about a script he didn’t pen himself, he really wanted to work with DeYoung. They discuss working with Rudd, sneaky Marvel jokes, a pilot he recently wrapped with writing partner Zach Kanin (Saturday Night Live), and Robinson shares an exciting update for I Think You Should Leave fans.

‘Friendship’ Pushed Tim Robinson Out of His Comfort Zone
“I was just excited to challenge myself.”
Image courtesy of Andy Rydzewski

COLLIDER: I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time, and I just want to say thanks for making me laugh.

TIM ROBINSON: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that.

I’m gonna start with the most important question before we get to your movie. How are the Detroit Lions gonna do this year?

ROBINSON: We’re gonna win the Super Bowl. That’s gonna happen.

You have a legit chance. You really do.

ROBINSON: I know. Being a fan for my whole life, it’s tough. It’s hard because I’ve always been like, “They’re gonna be good.” I’ve always been optimistic. I’m a die-hard fan, but it’s kind of weird when everybody’s like, “You guys are good.” It’s an uncomfortable feeling because I’m just not used to it, but it’s great. I’m just learning how to adjust to it.

I grew up next near where the Patriots play, and I will just say that I watched when they were terrible, and it’s really amazing to have gone through that whole thing. I really hope for you that you get to experience it.

ROBINSON: I appreciate that. I hope so, too. I’m very excited. I’m really excited. I love the team and love the coaches.

I love when a team that hasn’t won can win — except for the Jets. Screw the Jets. They can keep losing. Just throwing that out there.

ROBINSON: [Laughs] Sure.

Let’s get into why I get to talk to you. I laughed a lot watching this movie. At what point did you realize people really like watching you get upset and freaking out?

ROBINSON: There’s no realization that people like it or anything. I like when folks get upset and freak out, so I’m not doing it for anybody else other than myself.

Speaking for everyone at Collider, we love watching you do what you do.

ROBINSON: Thank you guys so much.

What was it about this project that said, “I wanna be in this? I want to spend my time making it?”

ROBINSON: It’s a great question because it’s out of my comfort zone to do something that somebody else wrote. It’s a little bit more stressful for me. I want to do a good job, and I don’t know the material as well as they do and everything. It was uncomfortable, but Andy [DeYoung]’s a good friend. I think he’s brilliant. I think that he’s so talented, and I really wanted to work with him. I love the script, and I was just excited to challenge myself to try to do something that was out of my comfort zone.

The people who are reading our conversation will not have seen the movie. How have you been describing the film to friends and family?

ROBINSON: The way I like to say it is I feel like my character I play doesn’t have any friends, and he meets somebody that he thinks is really cool and could be his actual friend. It’s all kind of one night that he has with him. There are a couple of nights, but there’s one night that, after things fall apart, my character’s trying to recreate that night, basically. There’s obviously bigger stuff than that and more to it, but how much he goes back to what he learned from Paul [Rudd]’s character in that one night, it just feels like he’s trying to recapture the way he felt. That’s how I’ve been describing it: a guy trying to recapture the best night of his life.

Tim Robinson Has Been a Paul Rudd Fan Since ‘Clueless’
“Oh shit, that’s Paul Rudd!”
Image courtesy of Andy Rydzewski

You and Paul [Rudd] are fantastic together. What is it like doing scenes with him? Obviously, you’re a fan, just like all of us. What surprised you about working with him?

ROBINSON: I’ve known him for a while because he hosted SNL when I worked there. I would hang around SNL quite a bit when I was there, so I was familiar with him, and everybody knows he’s so funny. But performing with him, it’s one of those things where I’ve seen him since I was a kid watching Clueless and stuff, and so there’s this time where I’m like, “Oh shit, that’s Paul Rudd!” That still happens when you’re acting with him.

I once did an interview with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy for The Revenant . I remember sitting across from them, and I was like, “Wait a minute, that’s Leo, and I can ask him whatever I want.” It’s a little weird.

ROBINSON: It’s so hard. I remember when I worked at Second City in Chicago, and Dan Castellaneta was there at some event, and my mind was like, “That’s fucking Homer Simpson.” I think that was most I couldn’t wrap my brain around reality in there.

[Laughs] Completely. With a movie like this, how much are you guys sticking to the script, and how much is Andrew giving you the freedom to come up with new stuff?

ROBINSON: It’s not a ton of improvisation. There are little things here and there, but for the most part, we stick to the script. We would get there in the morning, and we’d go through the pages we were shooting that day, and we would change stuff just to make it feel comfortable and natural for everything. We were finding the tone with it. It was like, “Oh, this may not be fitting with what the tone we’re doing,” so he takes them up. But as far as improvisation, there’s really not a ton. There are small things here and there, but for the most part, it’s just what Andy wrote.

Something that really surprised me was learning that you guys shot this not so long ago. If I’m not mistaken, it was earlier this year. What is it like not only shooting a movie earlier this year but it’s in the Toronto Film Festival? It’s pretty crazy.

ROBINSON: It’s cool. It feels great. I wish I could be there.

I give you guys all the credit. I don’t want to do any spoilers of the movie, but there were Marvel jokes in there I found very, very funny. Were those jokes in the script before Paul?

ROBINSON: They were always there.

Image courtesy of Andy Rydzewski

That’s great. I think one of the reasons why so many will relate to the movie is because so many of us are sort of stuck in our ways. When your character meets Paul’s character, he really changes, and I think that metamorphosis is a real thing that happens when you meet certain other people. Can you talk about how a lot of us are stuck in our ways, and it takes an outside force to change who you are?

ROBINSON: With the character in this movie, I think he’s been waiting for this for a long time. Obviously, how far he takes it after he realizes that he can be a different person, and then when it gets taken away from him, that’s what really starts to unravel.

So you see the shooting schedule in front of you; what day do you circle in terms of, “I can’t wait to film this,” and what day do you circle in terms of, “How are we gonna film this?”

ROBINSON: I don’t think I had anything where I was like, “How are we gonna film this?” I trusted Andy. I think the tunnel stuff when we’re in the tunnels. I don’t wanna give away any spoilers, but when we were in those tunnels we were shooting that in the dead of winter in New York City. That was when I was like, “Alright, this is hard.” Once I showed up on set and saw we were in these actual tunnels, I was like, “This is gonna be uncomfortable and hard for, like, three days.” It was so comfortable.

Again, stuff like that is why I don’t want to be an actor. I don’t need to jump on real cement. It’s just not for me, you know?

ROBINSON: It was freezing cold.

People think it’s all fake, but with stuff like that, you guys don’t have a crazy budget. You’re not building sets like that, you’re going to real stuff. How much fun did you have with Kate [Mara]?

ROBINSON: I had so much fun with her. She’s such a good actor that I was in awe of just how real and grounded she is. For someone who can be pretty wild and go big, it made me be like, “Oh, I need to chill out.” [Laughs]

Tim Robinson Is Teaming Up With His ‘Saturday Night Live’ Partner for a New Series
“The Chair Company” is a conspiracy comedy with Zach Kanin.
Image via Netflix

I think you shot a pilot recently called “The Chair Company.” For people who aren’t familiar, what is it about? Do you think it’s gonna go?

ROBINSON: I don’t know. We just finished it. I would just describe it as very simple. [Laughs] The logline is: an embarrassing incident happens to a guy at work, and he uncovers a conspiracy theory that he follows, based on that embarrassing incident.

With something like that, when you and Zach [Kanin] are coming up with the idea, how much are you thinking about, “This could be like a one-season, two-season, or a three-season show?” How much are you thinking, “This is just a fun idea and let’s see what happens?”

ROBINSON: With this one in particular, when we started working on it, we realized how far it could go and how big it could become. You don’t think of the idea and say, “Okay, this could be one season, this could be two seasons, or this could be three seasons.” It’s just as you work on it, then it builds into whatever it’s gonna be.

With what you said and what I’ve heard, and the log line, it sounds like this is something where you almost want to have a show bible so you know where this mystery is all going as you explore it.

ROBINSON: We do. We know all that stuff. But it took us working on it for a long time. We’ve been working on it for a while.

You have done a lot of stuff. If someone has actually never seen anything that you’ve done, what is the first thing you’d like them to watch and why?

ROBINSON: I’d say I don’t care and watch whatever you want or don’t. [Laughs]

I have to bring up Ugly Sonic because Ugly Sonic was my favorite character in Chip N’ Dale [ Rescue Rangers ]. I love that movie. What was it like being a part of that and that iconic character?

ROBINSON: It was really cool. My friend Akiva [Schaffer] directed that movie. He was telling me about the character a bunch, and I was like, “Oh, that sounds funny,” so I was honored when he asked me to play it and stuff. It was really cool. It was awesome.

‘I Think You Should Leave’ Is Coming Back! (?)
Image via Netflix

Obviously, I’m a huge fan of I Think You Should Leave . I guess it could be over, or is it not over? What can you tell fans of the show?

ROBINSON: It’s not over. I don’t think it’s over.

Are you guys actively writing?

ROBINSON: I can’t really say anything now, but… yeah.

So basically, if you’re a fan of the show, you should be in a good mood.

ROBINSON: That’s good. Yeah, that’s fair.

What are you actually thinking about doing the rest of this year? Do you already have projects lined up? What are you working on?

ROBINSON: We just finished “The Chair Company,” so right now I’m just chilling and hanging out.

I read that when you were working at SNL, you went into that special computer that has all the old dress rehearsals and all the old sketches and tons of stuff that fans basically never get to see. Was there a sketch or something that you saw that you still wish was out there?

ROBINSON: It’s interesting because some things that did air are really hard to find. Even if it’s aired, they’re tough to find. I guess you could figure out what the episode is, and all the episodes are on Peacock. This thing aired, I believe, but there’s a sketch called “The Hulk Hogan Talk Show” that I believe [Adam] McKay wrote — the dead air and the beginning, it’s one of the best, the funniest beginnings I ever seen. But there is one that never got out, a [Will] Forte sketch called “Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers.” I think was the name of it. When you start there and you have the database and you can watch anything you want, there’s always somebody who’s like, “Oh, go here. Watch this. Go here. Watch this.” That was one Seth Meyers showed me when I first started there. It’s an SNL database classic.

Friendship is world premiering at TIFF tonight. No word on when it will be released.

Special thanks to MARBL Restaurant for hosting Collider, as well as our additional sponsors Range Rover, the official luxury vehicle partner of the Cinema Center and Collider Media Studio, poppi, Tequila Don Julio, Canada’s premium spring water brand, Legend Water, and People’s Group financial services.