It's hard to imagine our Netflix screens without I Think You Should Leave, the hilarious sketch comedy created by masterminds Zach Kanin and Tim Robinson. These two go way back and discovered their compatibility while working as writers at Saturday Night Live. Now, they're reflecting on their time spent at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Sitting down with The New Yorker, the comedic icons recalled when they first realized they make a good team. "It was just that we started writing and it was really fun," Zach shared. "I do think there's something that you kind of go in and out of at SNL. You come in with how you write, and how you make jokes and write sketches. And then you start to try to figure out how to write for SNL, and what that means."
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While the two newbies at times felt the need to write for the show instead of writing what they actually wanted, that changed when working as a team. When Robinson and Kanin wrote as a duo, it just felt natural. "I think when Tim and I started writing together, at the beginning of my third year and Tim's second, there was kind of a moment where we were like, 'Oh, this feels like back when we started, and we were just writing,'" Zach explained.
And while the pair went on to create endless LOL-worthy moments on the hit show, Zach can trace it back to one turning point: "The first one that really felt like a win was the Bugs sketch with Mike O'Brien," he shared. "That one was like, 'Oh, this is definitely our voice and what we were trying to do.'"
"That was the point where we decided to try our hardest to get stuff on the show that made us feel good about ourselves," Tim added. And the rest, as they say, is history. Robinson and Kanin might have since moved on from Studio 8H, but they still turn to some of their former co-workers for help on I Think You Should Leave. And let's just say, they've got some quality people giving their opinions.
"We have the Lonely Island guys look at everything and give us feedback," Tim said. And suddenly, everything makes a ton of sense.
