I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE Season 3 Power Rankings (Patreon)

Quick update: I beat Tears of the Kingdom with 99%ish and am still working on the giant piece about it, but I also finally caught season 3 of I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE and decided to do another quick “power ranking” piece on the sketches.

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I know it isn’t kosher to “explain the joke,” but hey, that’s what I do. And perhaps it’s important because I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE has become one of the few sketch comedy shows that actually makes an impact on general culture. With that understanding, what the hell are TV people thinking scheduling all the finales and premieres of beloved TV shows during the same week? The ecosystem of dialogue space is INTEGRAL to modern viral-ity and it’s bewildering how much parts of Hollywood don’t understand that. Anyway! This season features a lot of quicker, faster sketches. And while it doesn’t quite hit the heights of the previous two, that’s kind of part of the uneven nature of sketch in general. As always, it’s about the highs.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Banana Breath - I think this sketch typifies a lot of things I love about the show. Not just the juxtaposition of a little absurdity with the most mundane office politics possible, it’s that “central casting” coup where they elevate a bit player. Meaning it’s the way they’ll find some magnificent weirdo or talented working actor on the fringe and give them a moment to shine that captures the special spirit of the show. Her continued delight in her own G-Rated joke is perfect. We’ve all been there, though. We all have.

Don Pon Darly, King of the Dirty Songs - This sort of turns into the same sphere as the Crooner Driver / Mime getting roasted by frat boys, which is that absolute love of Old Timey things and the awkward juxtaposition of how no one knows what to do with that stuff now (in fact, it’s met with incredible anger). But it’s really that last line of Don’s that destroyed me: “now I’ll turn around so you all can masturbate,” which in a weird way, actually speaks to part of Vaudville’s whole tradition as an alleviation to repression!

Gelutol - A great example of how you can find a conflict wedge in a simple interaction and just maximize it for all parties. The cruelty of turning up the heat because she’s wearing a jacket is what got me.

This Guy’s Brain! - So many of the sketches in I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE are about taking an absurd person’s viewpoint and the world slowly coming around on it / giving some peace of mind to that logic. This is perhaps just the most literal example, but, “Amanda, do not say Randall is interesting” is just a really funny HR instruction.

Floppy Dog Ear Hair - Sometimes a perfect visual does 90% of the work, but also the fact he’s going in for the “The Cranston” that had me cackling most of all.

THE TOP TEN

10. Haunted House Club - Heidecker is one of those people who can make me laugh even as he’s just sitting there, but his self-assured pushiness, along with saying goodbye to his wife in line, along with his egregious club behavior that just made for the perfect trifecta. The final bait and switch of deck collapse is what makes it though. And “Kim Kardashian’s head fell off” is the only verbiage that can make a joke like that work.

9. Proposal Park - I actually think this is my favorite of the Sam Richardson entries from any season??? There’s just something so endearing about his earnest intentions getting invaded by wrestlers along with the specificity of his call outs. Sam is just so outrageously good at getting frustrated. He’s also so great at going along with things he shouldn’t (His character on VEEP having to get talked through his first time masturbating is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life).

8. Sidewalk Parking - I genuinely don’t know how anyone would ever think of this sketch. Really, I don’t. The sidewalk parking, then needing to go under the car, but what if you had a really long ponytail? It would get caught! They of course know that no one would ever think of this. But the perfectness of the sketch is THINKING this other ponytail guy would be his ally, but instead he’s met with immediate hatred. Forte’s unhinged delight when the guy puts hand in dog poop is the perfect button to elevate it all. Also the two other “normal” performers play the reality of it so earnestly, which is why the whole thing works.

7. Now, Let’s Do A Fun One - Tim Meadows might be the most underrated ACTORS on the planet and I’ve loved everything he’s done from minute one (his Brooklyn 99 cannibal character might be one of his best, but he also has an incredible dramatic performance in an episode of Bojack). But the second he showed up I started smiling. And it’s a perfect one of those sketches that “build up the normalcy until the drop.” I was falling over when he started instantly puking. Moreover, it reflects the same anxiety I feel at the “fun one” insistence in any of those group photos, particularly when rushed. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with a purple feather!?” Indeed. Also “cloth is like hair! It’s like little tiny hairs!”

6. Rat Boss - Patti Harrison was last season’s MVP (I still quote her “and popcorn!” line delivery) and I wish we got more of her this season. But the way she alternates between defensive-ness of / and love for her rats just singles out the reason there’s no one quite like her.

5. Virtual Reality Breaking - Hey, it’s Ayo! Like the group photo thing, it really takes on one of those little normal feelings because it genuinely does reflect HOW WEIRD it is to go in and out of VR. But what I like is that it’s another one of those absurd over-reaction sketches from Tim, that just highlights how stupid good he is at physical comedy (and in case you never seen this, Tim’s physical comedy is SO good not because “he’s just that awkward guy IRL” - it’s performance, because he’s actually super coordinated and a really good skateboarder).

4. Talking About Your Kids - Another great example of learning to buy into the logic of a sketch as it goes on. At first it’s just about the conflict and annoyance of Tim taking Jason literally about talking about his kids too much - but then it’s about the escalating pressure of his antics, a la “hey everyone look the dogs blowing me!” But the way that actually cascades into genuine inspiration for Jason’s character? And kind of life changing advice? That’s so perfect. But not as perfect as the reason Tim doesn’t talk about his kids and it’s all because of “godzilla the gorilla, who would eat kid’s hats for his trick.” I don’t know why it’s the “for his trick” verbiage that most slays me, but it does.

Anyway, time for the top 3…

3. The Egg Game - This one is already the most quoted among my friends, perhaps because it’s just a perfect bit of nonsense, a la“40 eggs is one egg.” I have no idea how anyone would come up with something like this. None. 10/10. No notes.

2. Pay It forward  - “I’m doing a thing! I’m doing a thing!” Once again just one of those galaxy brain ideas, but the height of the joke is just how much every single person immediately gets what he’s doing and what they should do in response. But alas, I pray for the fast food workers of america and how much they are going to have to hear “55 burgers, 55 shakes, 100 hot dogs…” the same way I prayed for all the bartenders having to deal with “negroni sbagliato with a splash of prosecco” gate. Sometimes I worry we’re all memes, or at least we’re all just frat brothers harassing mimes into talking.

1. Shirt Brother - It’s the return of Biff Wiff! Another of last season’s standouts, he’s everything I love about the show and its ability to find someone on the fringes of the acting world and find what is so damn funny about their comic abilities. Biff’s sense of diction is so wonderful, especially when he swears (which is a rare talent). But thankfully, the sketch does it all justice. Once again, it’s about a little bit of joke logic being taken too seriously and having a guy pulling his “shirt brother” too deep into a mess.

But somehow, some way, it of course all transforms into a weird kind of punk anthem about an older person realizing late in life that there are all sorts of (destructive) things they can do once they start living life off the rails. “There’s no rules” as the song says. And like sloppy steaks from the years before, it goes musical and all finds some grand sense of purpose and emotion that is oddly moving. Which perhaps starts with the fact that “Listening” By Everything You Know (which was actually written by the band Turnstile) is an oddly catchy banger I’ve already put on repeat. This sketch represents this thing I find so wonderful about comedy that can build a silly joke into something oddly deep and meaningful. It’s the fine art of “marrying the joke” as they say and few things are more representative of that possibility than this.

In case you weren’t aware, the sketch’s actor Biff Wiff is actually undergoing cancer treatment and his friends and family set up a go fund me here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/biff-wiff

If you can, be a shirt brother.

<3HULK