Network: Comedy Central
Season Years: 2017 / 2018
Watch: Netflix
Nothing associated with Tim Robinson has ever been classified as feel-good. Cringey, yes. Creepy, for sure. Disconcerting. Disturbing. Even weird. But, no, nobody has every described any of his projects as upbeat and, frankly, pretty inspiring. And perhaps it’s because Detroiters is an earlier example of his work before his true, freaky personality showed itself. Or maybe it’s because his buddy, Sam Richardson, brought some of his softer side to this buddy sitcom. But, going back to this after seeing The Chair Company, I was surprised by the good vibes coming off this thing. Granted, it’s not as if there isn’t awkwardness and dumb Adam Sandler overreactions and bad behavior galore, but the endearing relationship between its two leads is the driving force in this light-hearted comedy that is both smart and subversive in what it has to say about modern family, trend exploitation and loyalty.
The setup is really basic. Tim Cramblin (Robinson) takes over his father’s small, family-owned Detroit advertising agency after his father, Big Hank, goes crazy. His lifelong buddy and current next door neighbor and brother-in-law, Sam Duvet (Richardson), is one of a handful of employees at the agency and is quickly brought in to be a name partner and co-creative lead when Tim takes over. Their agency focuses on making low-budget TV commercials for local businesses, but Tim and Sam have aspirations for taking their business national. Or global! Issue is, their creative ideas are super-strange and not at all… commercial. Honestly, it’s one of those perfect workplace sitcom setups where each week can focus on a new, dumb campaign they’re trying to put together for a low-rent client. While they try to court Chrysler and expand their endeavors into the Detroit apparel business. Wacky clients. Wacky agency workers. Wacky advertising industry foes. All while they balance their incredibly close friendship and deep family history. Because not only are they best friends, Tim is married to Sam’s sister. He’s the one white guy invited to the Duvet family barbecue. He’s the one white guy at their friend Donut’s stand-up shows. Shows that don’t work without Tim being there because Donut’s whole set is based on bagging on the white guy in the front row. But, despite Tim being a total dufus and definitely showing some of Robinson’s typical anger issues, inability to read a room and general over-inflated sense of self, he is welcomed everywhere he goes. And the two men’s relationship is actually kind of… sweet.
The show itself has a bunch of recognizable faces come through. Mostly SNL and other Late Night alums like Jason Sudeikis, Tim Meadows, Chris Redd and Cecily Strong to name a few. A smattering of other famous three-named folks like Keegan-Michael Key, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Marc Evan Jackson. And then a whole bunch of actual Detroiters across the spectrum of sports, comedy and music. Kevin Nash, a former WWE wrestler from Detroit plays Tim’s father. Rick Mahorn — famous Detroit Pistons bad boy — shows up to play himself. And even Detroit’s own Danny Brown shows up not to play a rapper, but to play an insane doctor. Which makes a whole lot of sense. The rest of the recurring and guest cast is fleshed out with a mixture of pro and non-pros, mostly culled from the Detroit scene. The whole series — one that I have to assume is close to both Robinson and Richardson’s hearts being from Detroit — is a bit of a love letter to a city that they portray with both a reality and an unreality that shows their sense of ownership and protection over the city’s image. There are jokes about new [white guy] companies moving into town because Detroit [in its roughness] is cool now. And these trendy companies want their brand to have that “authentic” flavor. Like moving-to-Bed-Stuy-in-the-90s cool and authentic, I guess. But, again, the real base of this thing is the two leads’ love of their city and for each other. Sure, they bicker sometimes and do stupid shit, but they clearly share a brain and always come back to each other. Plus the whole in-laws / neighbors thing doesn’t really allow them to escape each other even if they wanted to.
The comedy here is set up in their weekly interactions with their clients. At least that’s the engine most weeks. Their ideas are generally pretty stupid. And they seem to drink beer at hours you’d think they should be working. Their shared immaturity and ability to focus on everything but work when together is often the driver of their constant need to scramble and/or ad-lib their often terrible pitches to their clients. Granted, Tim is noticeably worse at things, but it’s technically his father’s agency, so he’s a needed element. I wouldn’t say they’re incompetent, but if any of these clients were normal, they would instantly regret their hire. But, when they’re not doing the weekly pitch, the show focuses on their friendship, family interactions and even a week where Sam deals with his lack of street cred, trying to cover up the fact he’s a giant blerd with a dorky white best friend. Because of a girl from the “hood” he’s trying to impress. It’s pretty damned funny. In fact, the show is funny in general. It’s light. It’s entertaining and, ultimately, very watchable. Hanging out with Tim and Sam is a good time. They actually like each other. And are generally good people — despite almost murdering a Chrysler exec (Sudeikis) and throwing his body into a hedge with a chip bag on his head. Sam’s dad is hard on him, after all, and all he wants is to make the man proud. We can all understand that. Tim’s dad is crazy, but was also admired and successful. And all he wants is the same for himself and to get out of his dad’s very large (both literally and figuratively) shadow. It’s all very relatable, despite some of the wackiness. I’m not saying that Detroiters is going to change lives or anything, but it’s surprising to me that something on Comedy Central with what seems like a relatively low budget and a very expandable sitcom premise didn’t get more than two years. I’ll never understand the TV industry, but at least we’ll have these two fun seasons to stream forever. Or until whatever rights lapse and it gets lost in the wash of the media glut.
