The ultimate I Think You Should Leave sketch tier ranking
I think you should leave returns for a third season on Netflix, and frankly, it’s fantastic. Writer-comedian Tim Robinson’s situational sketch comedy series has firmly established itself as one of the best series on television for its quirky characters, deadpan weirdness, and easily quoteable gags and catchphrases that have made their way into the internet zeitgeist via countless gifs, memes, and memes. nestled. , and remixing.
If you’re new to the show and want to burn through the first two seasons before its third premiere on Tuesday, you’re in luck: Each episode clocks in at barely 20 minutes and can be easily dusted off in a weekend. “But Toussaint and Zosha,” you ask rhetorically, “where are the best sketches of I think you should leave that I should look first?” Good question, hypothetical Polygon reader.
To answer, we put on our thinking caps, crunched the numbers, plotted a complicated and scientifically final arrangement of each sketch from the series, and organized them into levels.
We chose levels for a specific reason: the truth is that there is no such thing as one bad time with ITYSL. Robinson’s comedic styles are always sharp, and his distinct energy that can fully explode or be completely mastered in a single moment runs the show well enough that every skit, goofy or mundane, gets a laugh.
The list here is more interested in the deeper question of what a I think you should leave sketch great or really transcendent. Do you disagree with our ranking? Well, shit, dude, just write your own!
Here are the best I think you should leave sketches, ranked from ‘best’ to ‘most not-best’.
S level
sketch: Autofocus group (S1, E3, sketch 2); hot dog car hit-and-run (S1, E5, Sketch 1); the bones are their money (S1, E5, sketch 4); chunky eats up your points (S1, E6, sketch 2); Coffin Flop (S1, E1, sketch 2); Karl Havoc (S2, E1, sketch 3); driver’s tables with Patti Harrison (S2, E6, Sketch 2)
These sketches are the best; the crème de la crème, the jokes so absurdly delivered by characters so memorable with personalities so utterly nonsense they have lodged themselves in the minds of everyone who has seen them. The perfect I think you should leave Sketch has a distinctly relatable arc: starts off weird from the jump, inexplicably escalates to progressively higher levels of insanity, and uses Tim Robinson’s signature brand of eccentric weirdness to its fullest. Throw in some memorable catchphrases, a few hints of horror, and a solid cameo appearance, and you’ve got yourself an instant classic (and probably a good meme).
A level
sketch: Sloppy Steaks (S1, E2, sketch 5); hot dog lunch meeting (S1, E3, sketch 1); funeral organizer with Fred Willard (S1, E3, sketch 4); The Ghost of Christmas Way Future (S1, E4, sketch 2); calico-cut pants (S2, E4, sketch 3); I don’t know how to drive (S2, E5, sketch 1)
These sketches are coming just now close to reaching the heights of I think you should leaveThe very best: instantly ridiculous and easy to remember, but not completely overcooked. In any other context, these sketches would be the weirdest (and funniest). SNL pitch that would never make it to the air.
B level
sketch: Whoopee Cushion office prank (S1, E2, sketch 4); honeymoon baby revenge (S1, E2, sketch 6); “adult” ghost tour (S2, E1, sketch 5); The Capital Room with Patti Harrison (S2, E2, sketch 1); hot dog vacuum (S2, E3, sketch 3); Little Buff Boys (S2, E1, sketch 4); give me that burger (S1, E3, sketch 1); Brian’s hat (S2, E3, sketch 5); Rodney impersonator office prank (S2, E6, sketch 1); table surfing office prank (S2, E6, sketch 4)
These sketches are specific and weird, far from the crème de la crème, but still so unique, strange, vulgar, and funny that they target a line more specifically than the whole. These are the ones that will make you say, “Huh, that was weird,” and chuckle lightly to yourself before you’re washed away by sheer hilarity from the best of the series.
C level
sketch: Mitch Bryant/Turbo Time infomercial (S1, E1, sketch 2); brunch Instagram posts (S1, E1, sketch 4); Herbie Hancock likes to lie (S1, E4, sketch 1), nachos date (S1, E4, sketch 3), honk when you’re horny (S1, E4, sketch 4), choke for Caleb Went (S1, E5, sketch 2); Santa brought it early (S1, E5, sketch 3), baby shower bags (S1, E6, sketch 4); Dan Flashes office meeting (S2, E2, sketch 2); I Love My Wife/Jamie Taco (S2, E4, Sketch 1), Claire’s Ear Piercings (S2, E6, Sketch 5)
These skits get a lot of laughs, though they often go on just a little too long to get to the real genius of the joke. What often saves this one is the cameo appearances, as in the case of the “honk if you’re horny” sketch with comedian Conner O’Malley from How with John Wilson And Joe Pera is talking to you fame.
D level
sketch: Job interview/door (S1, E1, sketch 1); Baby of the Year (S1, E1, sketch 3); receipt happy birthday wreath (S1, E1, sketch 5); nice motorcycles (S1, E2, sketch 1); River Mountain High (S1, E2, sketch 2); Wilson’s hair removal (S1, E2, sketch 3); TC Tuggers ad (S1, E2, sketch 5); shit talking magician (S1, E3, sketch 1); pretentious charades with Tim Heidecker (S1, E3, sketch 5); babysitter lie (S1, E5, Sketch 5); small penis horse farm (S1, E6, sketch 1); Bozo did the dubbing (S1, E6, sketch 6); Garfield House by Jim Davis (S1, E6, sketch 7); triples is best with Bob Odenkirk (S2, E2, sketch 3); Dan Flashes shopping ad (S2, E2, sketch 4); Detective Crashmore (S2, E3, sketch 2); Crashmore Press Interview (S2, E3, Sketch 4); I’m Not the Blues Brothers (S2, E4, Sketch 2); I’m not going to pay for it (S2, E5, sketch 2); Johnny Carson Can Punch (S2, E5, Sketch 3); Space Alien restaurant with Tim Heidecker (S2, E5, sketch 5); Tammy Craps (S2, E6, Sketch 3)
These are the fill-in sketches of I think you should leave. Always up for a laugh, sometimes running longer than they should, and starting to look indistinguishable from what another sketch comedy shows not ITYSL would do. That said, the worst of this series easily ranks among the best of any other sketch series.