HBO is no stranger to critically acclaimed series, but its latest comedy isn’t just winning over critics, it’s winning over audiences, too. The new series, The Chair Company debuted on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday with the series getting a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, with 35 critic’s reviews praising the series from creators Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin. Audiences were equally as pleased with the series, with the new show currently sitting at an 85% Popcornmeter audience score with more than 50 audience ratings thus far. The Chair Company is also dominating in ratings thus far as well, with its series premiere becoming HBO’s most-watched comedy series debut in more than five years.
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The success of The Chair Company thus far seems to be well-deserved. Critics have hailed the series for its awkward and even over the top humor with IndieWire even calling the series “superb,” noting that the series “digs a hilarious, hypnotic rabbit hole” and audiences appear to agree. Some of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes compared the series to being a loose spinoff of sorts to Robinson’s movie Friendship, while others found the series to be a bit odd, but also intriguing — and the general consensus is that audiences are eager to see where things go.
The Chair Company is Tim Robinson’s Latest Foray Into Cringe, Sometimes Absurd Comedy
In The Chair Company, a man named William Ronald Trosper (Robinson) finds himself investigating an absurd and far-reaching conspiracy after an embarrassing incident at work — that incident just so happening to be his chair breaking during an important business presentation. It takes Trosper down a strange rabbit hole as he tries to get to the bottom of what happened. The brilliance of the premise is that, even though what happened seems like nothing more than just a defective chair, Trosper’s obsession with finding answers ends up leading viewers into a wild, complex ride that makes the viewer start to wonder if, perhaps, he’s not actually crazy and there really is something going on that’s bigger than just faulty furniture. It’s weirdly, and at times uncomfortably, relatable.
For fans of Robinson’s work, this is just par for the course. While The Chair Company is a full series with a sustained storyline across its episodes, Robinson’s most recent hit series, Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave, featured much of the same awkward humor and outlandish scenarios, just in a sketch format. That series ran for three seasons on the streaming platform and was also a hit with critics, with the first and third seasons getting a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes while the second holds a perfect score not unlike The Chair Company.
The Chair Company also marks Robinson’s most recent collaboration with his fellow former Saturday Night Live writer Kanin, whom he worked with on I Think You Should Leave as well as their first series, Detroiters. That series, which followed two best friends and neighbors working at a family advertising agency in Detroit, ran for two seasons on Comedy Central.
The Chair Company airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
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