This is an attempted ranking of the sketches in the second season of I Think You Should Leave. It will be helpful to go over a few things first, which I will address via bullet point:
- This ranking, like all rankings, is subjective, and yours might look substantially different than mine
- I’m doing the best I can
- Please do not yell at me
Okay. Here we go. I’ve separated everything into four tiers, if only because this is all quite silly and adding tiers to it made it feel even sillier. That’s all we’re doing here. That and being thankful that the good show is back. So, those two things. But that’s it.
TIER IV — THESE ARE STILL GOOD SKETCHES
24. Credit Card Roulette (Episode 5)
The thing I like about this one is that Hal seems like a legitimately nice and fun guy who likes to party. Credit Card Roulette is a terrible idea with a table that big unless everyone is flush with cash, but still. Hal seems cool. He didn’t deserve this.
23. The Little Buff Boys (Episodes 1 and 5)
There’s nothing wrong with this sketch. It’s got so much going for it: Sam Richardson, Sam Richardson in a wig, little buff dudes in goose suits, a follow-up bit multiple episodes later from a franchise owner who eats at all the best restaurants in town. I think I just bumped it down because it made me miss the “Baby of the Year” sketch from season one. I don’t know. I’m sorry!
22. Stable Of Stars (Episode 5)
This is why you need a nice coffee shop or restaurant in your area. In case your bargain-basement celebrity impersonators are hitting your guests. Remember this when house hunting.
21. Tim Can’t Drive (Episode 5)
“You don’t want to help, you just want to yell” killed me because, like, yeah, sometimes we all do just want to yell a bit.
20. Huge Dumps (Episode 6)
I need you to really think about the concept of this sketch, about a person hiring a lookalike of his coworker to wreck the company bathroom over 150 times. I need you to think about it for two reasons: One, it is maybe the purest window into Tim Robinson’s mind that we’ve seen yet; two, if you think about that, you won’t think about Jerry from Tom & Jerry sneaking around and smelling people’s underwear.
Profoundly disturbing. in a number of ways. Good show.
19. Corncob TV (Episode 1)
My favorite thing here, coming in a close second to the general idea of a show called “Coffin Flops,” is that Tim Robinson has the full-on “stubble plus razor burn” situation going on here, which somehow sells the performance in a way no expensive makeup or prosthetics ever could.
18. Space Restaurant (Episode 5)
I wasn’t in on this sketch until Gary revealed that his dad shouted “Never let the party die!” right before his execution. That could have been a whole standalone sketch, and they’re just out here tossing it off as a nonsense punchline. I have no choice but to respect it.
TIER III — THESE SKETCHES ARE ALSO GOOD
17. The Bob Odenkirk One (Episode 2)
I like that Bob Odenkirk is in this one. I don’t know if I would like it less if another actor said all those things about owning doubles and triples of classic cars. I bet I would still like it if they had cast, say, Delroy Lindo. That might have been fun, too. But I definitely liked it with Odenkirk. Yes, I did.
16. Sloppy Steaks (Episode 2)
Almost all of the sketches on this show have a twist. Not even a twist, really. More of a “someone grabs the wheel and yoinks the whole car off the highway” thing. It’s one of the things I like so much about the show, how it keeps finding new and fun ways to do that one thing over and over without it getting tiresome. A lesser show would whiff way more often. It’s almost a magic trick, really.
The point I am getting at here is, of course, slop up those steaks, boys. You’ve earned it.
15. Claire’s (Episode 6)
Look, if you don’t see the humor in a mall-based chain of children’s jewelry stores showing people an ear-piercing testimonial from a ponytailed 58-year-old man named Ron who gets diarrhea when he gets nervous, maybe this isn’t the show for you. That’s fine. You’re missing out, on both this and presumably many other simple pleasures in life, but it’s fine.
14. Insider Trading (Episode 3)
I love how far this one went. From the hat with safari flaps to the dice in the pocket to the full-on boardroom meltdown. I wonder if the hat was a Stanzo. I hear they’re nice.
13. The Dan Flashes Saga (Episode 2)
Three things:
- “Dan Flashes” is an incredible name for a store that sells shirts with complicated patterns, and it would be my favorite fake name on the show if we weren’t on our way to discussing Jamie Taco
- I hope this brings back calling people skunks as an insult
- Just a marvelous piece of business to follow this up later with a hotel television commercial
Dan Flashes.
12. Tammy Craps (Episode 6)
The layers here are what I enjoy. The weight requirement is a result of a poisonous spray to cover up the fart smell; the little girl stuffing rocks in her pockets as a ruse to acquire a doll that poops; the whole thing kind of revealing itself to be a cigar commercial. But maybe my favorite thing: the fact that the main girl in this sketch is Julia Butters, who played the child star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood. What a powerful career she is building. I am serious about this.
TIER II — I ALSO HATE BALD BOYS
11. Chode Jeans (Episode 6)
I laughed out loud, hard, when the “big wave” came and Tim flung the surfer off the table. And that was before it all got to the discussion about chode jeans. What a blessing this television program is.
10. The Hot Dog Saga (Episodes 1 and 3)
See, you think the highlight here is going to be some poor dope choking on a hot dog he hid inside his sleeve during a work meeting over lunch, and then, two episodes later, everything goes 8-10 steps further with a commercial for a hot dog vacuum that features the same poor dope shouting, “You sure about that? You sure about that’s not why?” straight into the camera in what is either the smartest take on cancel culture you’ll ever see or the dumbest thing you’ll ever see regardless of category. Could be both.
9. Ghost Tour (Episode 1)
It’s the real, genuine anguish on his face that sells this. The confusion and hurt, that he thinks he’s doing it right while failing miserably, almost crying as he asks about obscene things the ghosts may or may not be doing in the haunted house. That and his mom asking if he made any friends. It’s right on that line between hilarious and heartbreaking. Tricky line to dance on. Leave it to the experts.
8. Calico Cut Pants (Episode 4)
I could not believe how long and twisted this one was. It just kept going and going, past the point of being funny and circling back around to being funny again. I think, at the end, Tim Robinson’s character revealed himself to be the devil? All for a sketch that started with drips of pee on some slacks. Part of me wants to know if Tim Robinson is, like, okay, but a bigger part of me is already waiting for season three.
7. Capital Room (Episode 2)
Patti Harrison is the greatest. She is so funny in every sketch she’s in. Just the delivery on these lines. The wine ones. All of it. And it’s not even her highest-ranked sketch on this list. I feel bad for all my bald friends but this screencap is getting texted A LOT this week.
TIER I — I WILL BE QUOTING THESE FOR A WHILE, I AM SORRY
6. Jamie Taco (Episode 4)
The wild thing about this one is that it’s actually a sweet story about a man with a supportive wife who loves him as much as he loves her, which is so much that he becomes filled with regret immediately upon making a joke at her expense with the guys.
And that’s great. But I will never get over a guy named “Jamie Taco” stealing lines in a community theater production by shouting them out before anyone else. Jamie Taco. Come on. Incredible.
5. Whole Different Guy (Episode 4)
I don’t really have any great analysis here. It’s just a good sketch. I kept waiting for a second or third twist that made it darker but the twist was that the twist never came. And it wasn’t needed, it turns out. All it needed was dancing and barking dogs and Connor O’Malley shouting a lot. Please write that down if you are making a sketch show.
4. Professor Yurabay (Episode 3)
Three notes:
- The way he says “Give me that” is maybe the funniest single line-reading of the entire season
- All of this building to that horrible joke at the end was delightful
- This one is getting quoted in restaurants for many years to come
I’m just joking.
3. The Crashmore Saga (Episode 3)
I’ve watched these two sketches — the trailer and the press tour interview — a few times already. The first time through, it was the twist that it starred Santa that got me. Then it was the lines of dialogue Santa had, like “You’re so dumb” and “You suck,” as he filled goons with bullets like a festive John Wick. By the end, it was the thing where Santa explained the concept of his quote and getting “two mill” next time even if he does a bad job. Who knows what it will be next? A real treasure.
2. Driver’s Ed (Episode 6)
TABLES
TABLES
TABLES
1. Karl Havoc (Episode 1)
There’s a chance I’m overrating this one because it was early in the first episode and I was so amped up to be watching this show again after a long break, but there’s a much better chance that the idea of a guy in a ridiculous suit having a meltdown and asking “What’s that do for the greater good?” in the middle of filming a prank show is so strange and funny in a way no other show can wrap its arms around that it filled me to the brim with joy.
One or the other. Maybe both.
Season two of ‘I Think You Should Leave’ is now streaming on Netflix.
