| The Chair Company | |
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| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | |
| Starring |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | HBO |
The Chair Company is an upcoming American comedy television series set to premiere on HBO. [1] [2] [3] The eight-episode series is slated to debut on October 12, 2025, and run weekly through November 30, 2025. [4] [5] [6] Created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, it will star Robinson as a man who investigates a far-reaching conspiracy after an embarrassing workplace incident. The cast will also include Lake Bell, Sophia Lillis, Will Price, Joseph Tudisco, and Lou Diamond Phillips.
The series marks another in a series of collaborations between Robinson and Kanin, who previously met as writers on Saturday Night Live before co-creating the comedy series Detroiters and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson . Among the executive producers for The Chair Company are Adam McKay and Andrew DeYoung, the latter of whom directed the first episode and also previously directed Robinson in the dark comedy film Friendship (2024).
The Chair Company tells the story of William Ronald Trosper (Robinson), who begins investigating a vast and elaborate conspiracy after an embarrassing workplace incident. [7] [8] [9]
| No. | Title [15] | Directed by | Written by [16] | Original release date [17] | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Life Goes By Too F**king Fast, It Really Does." | Andrew DeYoung [17] | Tim Robinson & Zach Kanin | October 12, 2025 | TBD |
| 2 | "New blood. There's 5 Rons now." | TBA | Tim Robinson & Zach Kanin | October 19, 2025 | TBD |
| 3 | TBA | TBA | Gary Richardson | October 26, 2025 | TBD |
| 4 | TBA | TBA | Sarah Schneider | November 2, 2025 | TBD |
| 5 | TBA | TBA | John Solomon | November 9, 2025 | TBD |
| 6 | TBA | TBA | Marika Sawyer | November 16, 2025 | TBD |
| 7 | TBA | TBA | John Solomon | November 23, 2025 | TBD |
| 8 | TBA | TBA | Tim Robinson & Zach Kanin | November 30, 2025 | TBD |
"With an imprint only Tim and Zach can have on a character, William Ronald Trosper follows in the strong tradition of HBO comedy leads. I couldn’t be happier to announce the pickup of this wildly enjoyable show."
The series was created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, who also serve as writers and executive producers. Robinson and Kanin are long-time collaborators, having met as writers on the sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live before co-creating together the comedy shows Detroiters (2017–2018) and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019–2023). [18] [19] [20] Robinson claimed the creative process behind The Chair Company was unstructured, saying they were not trying to design it to follow a particular format or consciously mirror their past work: "None of this is thought out. It’s not planned. It’s not on purpose." [5]
Adam McKay and Todd Schulman are also executive producers through their company Hyperobject Industries, with Andrew DeYoung and Igor Srubshchik also executive producing. [19] [21] [22] DeYoung, directed the Robinson-starring dark comedy film Friendship (2024), also directed the first episode of The Chair Company. [23] [24] [25] McKay and HBO previously collaborated as well, with the former having produced and directed on the TV series Succession (2018–2023) and Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022–2023). [7] [23]
Deadline Hollywood first announced on April 2, 2024 that HBO green-lit a pilot for The Chair Company. [18] [22] [21] The publication described it as part of a trend by HBO to develop more creator-actor comedy series following the conclusion of two of its signature shows, Barry and Curb Your Enthusiasm . [21] [26] [27] Noting that HBO had also recently approved comedies starring Steve Carell and Rachel Sennott, Deadline's Nellie Andreeva wrote "this marks the largest contingent of new comedy series at the premium network in years". [21]
Robinson will play the lead role of Ron Trosper. After the show's official trailer was released, some commentators compared the character to Craig Waterman, whom Robinson had played in the film Friendship. Robinson acknowledged the similarity, but said Ron could be less off-putting to those averse to cringe comedy: "I actually don’t think Ron is as tough of a hang as Craig Waterman is. I think Ron is a prideful man, and like a lot of characters that Zach and I have worked on, doesn’t like to be embarrassed ... This time, maybe he found something he can actually do." [5] On July 22, 2024, Variety reported that The Chair Company had added main cast members Lake Bell, Sophia Lillis, Will Price, and Joseph Tudisco, along with recurring guest star Lou Diamond Phillips. [28]
Beyond the main cast, many supporting roles were filled by relatively unknown actors, a choice Kanin said was intended to add an element of realism to the series. [5]
The writing process for The Chair Company was described as highly fluid, with Robinson and Kanin frequently rewriting scenes and encouraging multiple variations during filming, influenced by their past work together on Saturday Night Live. As a result, actors often performed the same scene in many different ways without knowing how it would ultimately be cut, creating what was characterized as both a challenging and rewarding experience. Lou Diamond Phillips said while the approach differed from what he was accustomed to, he found it "incredibly gratifying", adding: "You just have to be so fluid. You just have to roll with it. And that's a wonderful tight rope to walk." [29]
HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery formally announced the series order in a press release on September 12, 2024. [11] [12] [30] Footage from The Chair Company was featured in a two-minute teaser HBO released on November 10, 2024 highlighting its upcoming programming for 2025. [31] [32] [33] [34] On September 8, it was announced the show would debut on October 12, 2025, with eight episodes released weekly until the season finale on November 30. New still photos from the series were also released. [4] [5] [6] The official two-minute trailer was released on September 18, 2025. [35] [36] The A.V. Club writer Mary Kate Carr called it "quintessential Tim Robinson — that is to say, funny but also kind of unsettling, straddling the line between silly and serious". [37] Hershal Pandya of Vulture said called it "a display of perfect Robinson facial expressions and line deliveries." [5]
Robinson and Kanin said they deliberately tried to release as little as possible about the series. Kanin said: "When I watch a show or a movie, I don’t want to know anything about it. I would want to just be surprised by everything." [5]
Ben Travers of IndieWire included The Chair Company on his January 2025 list of "18 HBO Original Series to Get Excited About in 2025." Travers wrote "there's no bigger 2025 premiere than this" for fans of Tim Robinson's work, and jokingly described it as "the event of the century" despite the few details available so far about the show's storyline. [1]