SPOILER ALERT: The next article discusses plot details from Season 1, Episode 2 of “The Chair Company,” now streaming on HBO Max.
It’s difficult to upstage Tim Robinson. The comedian’s signature character is a person whose social unease leads him to act out in big, loud, obnoxious ways — like the recent dog guy from the sketch series “I Think You Should Leave,” or Marvel enthusiast Craig Waterman within the film “Friendship.” Ron Trosper, the protagonist of Robinson’s HBO conspiracy comedy “The Chair Company,” isn’t any exception to this rule. But in Ron’s quest to seek out out what’s happening with Tecca, the namesake manufacturer of a faulty chair that leads the mall developer to take an embarrassing tumble in front of his colleagues, he encounters many characters who greater than match his eccentricities. People like a certain shirt salesman who pitches Ron on his membership program.
Within the second episode of “The Chair Company,” Ron visits the menswear shop Tamblay’s in an try to discover his assailant from the series premiere, who warned Ron to stop looking into Tecca before running off and leaving an article of clothing behind as a clue. The Tamblay’s proprietor agrees to assist him out, confirming the shirt is certainly one of theirs. The owner even models the item’s wear and tear using a ball he happens to have available: “It’s like a big belly and someone’s belly is pushin’ up into the buttons,” the person explains. “He’s about at his limit. I occur to know a man who’s at his limit.” The emphases, cadence and delivery of this seemingly mundane dialogue mix to make the viewer sit up and ask themselves: Who is that?
The actor, it seems, didn’t need to do much to get into character. Jared Lindner is the real-life co-proprietor of Suit Man, a small business positioned within the Westchester County suburb of Mount Vernon, Recent York. Lindner’s father founded the shop nearly 20 years ago, and the 2 still run Suit Man as a family operation. (You may learn more in regards to the store in this video on the small city’s official YouTube channel.) Robinson himself took notice of Lindner when he swung by the shop to scout the situation. Lindner didn’t recognize the “Saturday Night Live” alum, but struck up a rapport with the crew: “They began to chuckle, because I’m a reasonably easygoing, somewhat young guy,” Lindner tells Variety. The subsequent thing he knew, the production was calling to supply him the part.
Lindner is patching into our interview directly from Suit Man, where the racks of shirts, ties and socks appear exactly as they do in “The Chair Company.” (During our conversation, Lindner walks across the store, iPhone in hand; at one point, a pair of hands appeared from offscreen to regulate his collar for the Zoom camera.) Lindner’s distinctive voice, a Christopher Walken-esque mix of Recent York accent, long vowels and soft tone, can be similar to the one which appears within the show. The one real difference is that the actual Lindner is wearing a baseball cap — and as a substitute of helping Robinson’s protagonist with a mystery, he’s singing the praises of the actual Robinson to a reporter.
“It’s unbelievable how good they’re,” Lindner says of Robinson, his creative partner Zach Kanin and their collaborators. “They took someone who had no idea what to do and made me feel comfortable enough to not be nervous,” despite the handfuls of crew members crowding into the Suit Man space. Lindner had never a lot as read a script before making his acting debut on HBO, but credits Robinson and his team with making him feel comfortable.
“I feel of it like sports,” Lindner says. “When a great team has a superb manager and head coach, they don’t have to yell. They don’t have to let you know what to do. They’re respected enough that everybody has the common goal to only get it done and make them completely satisfied.”
Director Andrew DeYoung first worked with Robinson on “Friendship” before coming aboard “The Chair Company” as an executive producer. Though the thought of casting Lindner got here from Robinson, DeYoung didn’t require much persuasion. (HBO asked that Lindner not less than read for the network before giving the green light, but he quickly got here aboard.) “I used to be chatting with Jared and was like, ‘This guy is so unique and interesting,’” DeYoung recalls. “There’s something about him and his way of being that’s rare and charming within the sweetest way possible. Nobody’s making fun of anybody in any respect, and I hope that’s clear.”
Though a complete acting novice like Lindner is an extreme example of its casting strategy, “The Chair Company” generally avoided big names and recognizable faces when populating its strange, extreme world. Besides Robinson, Lake Bell and Sophia Lillis — who play Ron’s wife and daughter, respectively — are probably the best-known series regulars. Everyone else is way less more likely to include pre-existing associations for the audience, which is precisely the purpose.
“There’s an excitement if you don’t have the bags of anyone that you realize,” DeYoung explains. “There are such a lot of sensible people on the market which can be attempting to be performers — or, in Jared’s case, not — who show up and electrify the screen because they convey something special and unique.” That’s what appeals to him, Robinson and Kanin about figures like Lindner, who could make such an impression in such a brief span of time. “What’s beautiful about Tim and Zach [is], even when a personality has one line, they feel incredibly wealthy,” DeYoung says. “That, to me, is so exciting. When you’ve gotten those specificities, a personality shows up and also you’re like, ‘I would really like to follow them.’ It seems like we’re living in a world that goes beyond the screen.” As “The Chair Company” works to construct a whole immersive universe where Ron’s paranoid logic makes a certain form of sense, it’s helpful to forged figures like Lindner who carry an ingrained sense of authenticity.
Suit Man may not have a membership program like Tamblay’s, or an accompanying group chat with five separate guys named Ron in it. But Lindner stresses that he at all times strives for recurring business. “I at all times say when a gentleman is available in to see me, I don’t need to sell them one sweater after which never see them again,” he says. “I’d quite sell them a sweater for his or her wedding, after which their son’s christening, and their other daughter’s baptism, or whatever it’s. We’ve made lifelong friends. They’re not even customers.” Regardless that Lindner says he’s open to acting again after having such a great experience with “The Chair Company,” he’s not abandoning his day job.
After we spoke, Lindner hadn’t yet gotten the prospect to look at his own performance, though he has gone back and watched Robinson’s Comedy Central series “Detroiters” to get a way of what he might expect from the ultimate product. The prospect of introducing himself to a mass audience is the primary time in our conversation where even a touch of actorly self-consciousness comes up. “I hope I don’t make a idiot out of myself in front of my wife,” Lindner says. “Everybody told me that I did okay, but I assume I’ll need to see for myself on Sunday.”