Every Sketch From ‘I Think You Should Leave’ Season 3, Ranked

A few notes before we begin:

Here we go.

There are a bunch of recurring themes in this show, some of which we’ll get to shortly, but I really enjoy that between this sketch and the Karl Havoc one from season two, one of the bigger ones is “guy has a costume that’s too bulky and/or heavy.” I hope next season opens with Santa Claus in a Crashmore sequel where he’s become 50 percent robot for some reason. The best part here is that this is one of the more ridiculous ideas I can think of and it’s still like a four on the ITYSL insanity scale. The scale goes to 100.

Some notes:

Moving on.

ON ONE HAND: I didn’t love this sketch as much as I thought I would when the action got started.

ON THE OTHER HAND: I really do enjoy the name “Don Bondarley.”

Let’s talk about this more at Corset later.

[one week ago] You know, I bet I would never laugh at a video of an old man getting his face smashed into a parking meter…

[today] I stand corrected.

The whole “banana breath” thing is funny in the context of the sketch and I do enjoy the idea of someone becoming so pleased with a C- joke they made that they try to make t-shirts to commemorate it, but the highlight for me is the phrasing of “How big are you” Not “What size are you” No. “How big are you” That’s gonna stick with me for a long time. In a good way. I hope

Here’s another one where the pointless recurring ITYSL bit makes the sketch for me. Because I wasn’t loving this one at first. Which was weird. On paper, I should have loved this one. It’s got so much I like: Will Forte, unfortunate haircuts, screaming, etc. But I wasn’t fully into it until the lady started looking through his camera roll and there were just dozens of pictures of cigars.

I don’t know what exactly about cigars makes me laugh, but it does almost every time. Tim Robinson gets this.

What I like here is the left turn this one takes. Because, like, you think it’s gonna be about Tim Robinson taking it too far, with the fake water splashing and all the talk about orgies, but nope. In marches a hero from out of frame, with a real bottle of water and a problem with getting too hyper.

This is one of those screencaps that you’ll see a lot on social media in the coming months, I suspect.

Some notes:

It’s fine.

Lots going on here but I think my favorite thing is that Tim Robinson is wearing a suit that’s like five sizes too big and no one ever mentions it even one time.

I liked parts of this sketch already, starting with the phrase “I didn’t know how to work the body” and extending to Tim Robinson’s consistently amazing ability to contort his body in new and hilarious ways. All of it good and fun. But then Apple went and announced its crazy expensive new VR headset just a few days later and made the whole thing even funnier somehow.

I like to imagine someone at Apple watching this sketch last week and knowing their big announcement was coming and just sighing very deeply about the memes that were headed their way.

Some notes:

Lots to think about.

The reveal that he got the dog haircut because of a magazine mixup involving Bryan Cranston was so stupid that I could not help but laugh at loud at my computer like a lil sicko.

See, I wasn’t feeling this sketch at first. It was one of those where it felt like the idea for it was better than the execution. But then it cut to the montage at the end with the limo and the Super Bowl ring and the watch exploding and blasting springs everywhere and things clicked into place for me. I would be angry, too. I would want people to know. It all seems kinda reasonable, in context.

I said “kinda.”

This is an ITYSL special, from the normal situation (ordering lunch at work) to the awkward escalation (coworker realizes the person isn’t following him on Instagram and adds himself without asking) to the deranged twist as it develops (terrible sketch comedy, death threats, etc.). Which is great. It’s one of the things this show does so well.

But that’s not why I have this sketch in the top half of these rankings. I have this sketch in the top half of these rankings because Connor O’Malley’s little pouty overreaction faces and arm crossing at the beginning is just about the peak of physical comedy to me. Watch it again. Go. Do it.

There is a chance — A CHANCE —that I am overrating this sketch because it has Tim Meadows in it and I am predisposed to liking anything with Tim Meadows in it because Tim Meadows is the best.

I do not care.

I feel great about it.

I’m sorry. I really am. But if you do not see the comedic value in a sketch that starts with Patti Harrison abusing a cardboard cutout and ends with a reveal that involves her declaring herself “a rat mom,” then there’s just nothing I can do for you. Go watch another show. Lord knows there are plenty.

This one is divisive among my friend group (a good group of guys otherwise). Some people loved it. Some people hated it. Some people thought it was good but went on too long. I can see both sides of this.

But here’s why it cracks the top ten for me: It gave me that screencap up there of my beloved Biff Wiff. I’m going to use it so much. I don’t know if this is a good reason to rank this sketch above ones that made me laugh more, but I am doing it anyway.

Two things worth noting here:

It’s a good thing I work from home. I don’t want to have to explain an egg bush to anyone.

Some notes:

Good sketch.

Here’s another one where the twist got me. I thought this was going to be a sketch where Tim Robinson made Jason Schwartzman’s character’s life hell by stalking him throughout the party and borderline torturing him every time he mentions his kids. I was sure that was what we were looking at.

But nope!

The actual twist is that Schwartzman’s character ends up having a blast — cigars again, for the record — while Robinson ends up in a prison of his own creation. It’s a good bit. Shoutout to Godzilla the Gorilla.

This is a fun sketch to try to explain to someone who doesn’t watch the show. “So there’s this guy who’s like a mime and he does shows where he has to pay the audience every time he breaks and starts talking but a bunch of frat dudes hear about it and it becomes a whole thing where they show up drunk and holding red Solo cups and they shout ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING’ at him over and over until he melts down on stage about it.” Everyone looks at you like you’re crazy. It’s a good time.

Two things here…

THING ONE: The idea of a guy on a dating show just becoming obsessed with the zipline at the pool to the degree that he starts trying to sabotage the other contestants in the hopes he can stay and keep using it… I mean, that’s just good stuff.

THING TWO: I made a GIF of the zipline.

I love how serious he is about it. Look at his face. The man is not kidding around at all.

This one is, by far, the one I’ve seen referenced most often on social media in the days since the third season dropped. There’s a very good reason for that: it’s really just a lot of fun.

I mean…

— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) May 31, 2023

Absolutely the stupidest thing possible and I love it very much.

THE GOOD: This is one of those sketches where it’s so good that you get surprised no one else thought of it first. Like, of course someone would take the “pay it forward” drive-thru thing too far at some point, to a ridiculous degree. It’s so dumb that it’s kind of brilliant like that.

THE BAD: I was out last weekend and paid with cash for something and told the guy at the register to keep the coins in the little dish for someone else and he goes “Paying it forward like that always seems to work out” and it took all I had not to look him square in the eyes and shout “55 BURGERS, 55 FRIES, 55 TACOS, 55 PIES, 55 COKES, 100 TATER TOTS, 100 PIZZAS, 100 TENDERS, 100 MEATBALLS, 100 COFFEES, 55 WINGS, 55 SHAKES, 55 PANCAKES, 55 PASTAS, 55 PEPPERS, AND 155 TATERS” like a lunatic.

I really don’t know why the number 55 makes this so funny. But it does. Let’s not overthink it.

Some notes:

Happy for everyone here. Especially me.

The thing I like here is the layers. It starts as a sketch about a guy with heart problems and then you find out some of his heart problems stem from him dancing like an animal at exclusive night clubs and then the doctor gets jealous about this guy getting into the nightclubs and starts using the monitor to track him and then you find out the guy only got into the clubs because he built the party deck for one of them and then you find out the party deck collapsed and then the sketch just ends with this collection of words in this order…

Which is all great. But I’m ranking this at number one mostly because of the way Tim Robinson says “yeah, I dip in there sometimes.”

Good show. Ready for season four whenever he is.