Comedian Tim Robinson

He first became known as a writer and performer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2014, before gaining wider recognition as the co-creator, co-writer and star of the comedy series Detroiters (2017–2018) and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019–present).

Robinson was born in Detroit on May 23, 1981, the son of a mother who worked for Chrysler and a father who worked in construction. He was raised in the nearby towns of Clarkston and Waterford. His parents later divorced, and he has said that he "kind of grew up with two dads" because his stepfather was Jewish and celebrated Hanukkah with him. He graduated from Clarkston High School in 2000. He saw a live Second City comedy performance in Chicago as a teenager, and soon began taking weekend improv classes at its Detroit branch. While pursuing a comedy career, he supported himself by working in a toy store and teaching improv classes.

Robinson toured with Second City Detroit's touring company, then joined Second City Chicago. He has also performed at the iO Theater and Just for Laughs. He filmed a 2011 television pilot for Comedy Central called My Mans, but the show was not picked up by the network. In 2012, he was cast as a series regular in the unaired CBS sitcom Friend Me. In September 2012, he made his debut as a featured performer on Saturday Night Live. 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. 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).

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. 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. It premiered in April 2019 and received critical acclaim, as did its second season, which premiered in July 2021. 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.

In that same year, Robinson lent his voice to the first-person shooter video game, High On Life, playing the role of Creature, the grenade launcher. He also reprises his role in the DLC, High On Knife.

As a teenager, Robinson began dating his schoolmate, Heather, who now works as an electrical engineer for Chrysler. They were married in September 2006. They live in Los Angeles with their son and daughter.

Robinson became an avid skateboarder during high school and continues to skateboard in his spare time. He is a vegetarian and suffers from claustrophobia. He has said that he believes in the existence of aliens but not ghosts. His favorite film is Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951). He supports his hometown Detroit Lions and Detroit Pistons. He is a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, which is occasionally featured on his shows alongside cameo roles by wrestlers such as Brody King, Kevin Nash, Ryan Nemeth, Erick Rowan, and Aron Stevens.

Film

Television