This Sunday will be the final Sunday Funday with those pig d*cks on Succession and Barry, as both series are ending after four HBO Hall of Fame-worthy seasons. This could be the maddest (and saddest) I’ve ever been, but I’m choosing to glass-half-full it. Once Sunday turns into a post-Succession and Barry world on Monday, we’re only one day away from the return of another great show, Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave, which is now in its third season. Because triples is best.
I don’t care if you don’t care, but it’s not good behavior.
No show since Arrested Development, or maybe as far back as The Simpsons, has become a part of my vocabulary as thoroughly as I Think You Should Leave (in case you couldn’t tell by the multiple references in the opening paragraph). Based on the number of themed accounts out there, I’m not the only who can no longer say “TABLES” without co-creator and star Tim Robinson’s indignant inflection, and I’m still waiting for the day when I see a steering whiff out the window. Hopefully not my steering wheel, though. That would be bad.
As someone who covers culture for a living, there’s a temptation to write an insufferable essay about I Think You Should Leave‘s impact on meme culture and its depiction of masculinity, or whatever. But that would be dishonest. And bad. Very bad. For one thing, I wouldn’t be able to hit 50 words, let alone 500, without getting distracted by watching “Baby of the Year” for the 23rd time. Also, Robinson and co-creator Zach Kanin aren’t pitching sketches with the hope that one day they’ll be used in a viral tweet by a U.S. representative (although that was cool). I Think You Should Leave is a funny show starring and written by funny people, and that’s all it needs to be.
I’d like to take this moment to rank my five favorite sketches:
5. “Baby Shower”
4. “Blues Brothers” (one of my favorite things about I Think You Should Leave is how people refer to the unnamed sketches; this one could be called “Jack It Up” or “One-Man Dance Party,” but “Blues Brothers” is the funniest option)
3. “Game Night”
2. “Focus Group”
1. “Driver’s Ed”
Thank you. I’m mad at myself for leaving off “Jamie Taco,” but in my defense, Jamie Taco is a chode and I hate him like a bald boy.
So how you can prepare for season three? Watching the trailer would be a good place to start, except there isn’t a trailer. Netflix never released one (the closest thing was this tweet). That’s fine. It’s unlikely a I Think You Should Leave trailer would convince any new viewers to see what the fuss is about, and the people who already love it circled the premiere date on their calendar months ago. There are other things you can do, however: go on a ghost tour, put on your flashiest shirt, and buy some steaks and slop ‘em up, boys.
I Think You Should Leave? Give me that.
I Think You Should Leave season three debuts on Netflix on May 30th.
