One of the Decade’s Greatest Sitcoms Is Finally Free To Stream 8 Years Later

Tim Robinson is among the most singular voices in comedy right now, but he’s not someone who repeats the same schtick over and over again. Over the years, Robinson has made surrealist short-form sketches with I Think You Should Leave, delivered a darkly hilarious portrayal of middle-aged malaise with Friendship, and crafted a surprisingly gripping psychological thriller in The Chair Company.

Although Robinson had already earned a cult fanbase when Detroiters began airing on Comedy Central in 2017, he hadn’t yet developed a strong enough following for the series to earn the ratings it needed to be a success. Detroiters, which is now available to stream for free on Pluto TV, is a window into an earlier period in Robinson’s career where he was able to sneak his highly idiosyncratic, unpredictable style of comedy into an otherwise conventional format, but it’s also among the more personal projects that he’s done.

‘Detroiters’ Is Tim Robinson at His Most Absurd

Detroiters was created by Robinson and his lifelong friend Sam Richardson, both Detroit natives who co-star in the show in the roles of Tim Cramblin and Sam Duvet, respectively. The show follows the employees of a family-owned advertising company that produces cheap commercials for local businesses, which spark strange interactions with a cast of quirky characters in the Detroit area. Although Detroiters is definitely focused on doing whatever it takes to be funny, it’s also a surprisingly heartfelt series that was made by Robinson and Richardson as a love letter to the city that they grew up in; Detroit is so often depicted in a negative light that it’s refreshing to see it serving as the backdrop for a lovable sitcom. Since Detroiters never got the attention that it deserved on its debut, it has become an underrated gem worth seeking out for anyone who wants to laugh.

An underlying theme in much of Robinson’s work is the exasperating, unspoken frustrations of a seemingly “average” life, and Detroiters examines the intersection between employment opportunities and familial connections. Tim getting to work at the same business his family has owned for years, alongside his best friend no less, would seemingly be a dream come true, but blending personal and work scenarios into one struggle makes for a comedy of errors.

There’s a strong enough narrative conceit behind both the individual episodes and the progression of Cramblin Advertising over time, but Detroiters also folds in Robinson’s aptitude for sketch-based comedy through the way that it incorporates the advertisements that Tim and Sam make. Their commercials are low-budget and often terrible, and seeing them projected with such straight-faced sincerity adds a touch of surrealism to a series otherwise planted in reality. Questions are constantly raised as to how Tim and Sam would ever be able to run a business with employees, and the fact that so many of the oddities go unacknowledged makes it even more hilarious. Although Robinson obviously has a knack for hamming it up for physical comedy, Detroiters also has enough background jokes that it’s more rewarding on a second watch.

‘Detroiters’ Is a Gleefully Silly Comfort Watch

• Image via Comedy Central

• Image via Broadway Video

• Image via Broadway Video

• Image via Broadway Video

• Image via Broadway Video

• Image via Comedy Central

• Image via Broadway Video

• Image via Broadway Video

• Image via Broadway Video

• Image via Broadway Video

Detroiters is a deliberately old-fashioned sitcom that homages a style of localized marketing that doesn’t really exist anymore, and part of the show’s charm is that it is never punching down. Even though Tim and Sam are often the butt of jokes, the series isn’t particularly mean-spirited; although I Think You Should Leave and The Chair Company thrive on sincerely uncomfortable cringe comedy, Detroiters coasts on positive vibes, even when the characters face embarrassment. It helps that the show was cultivated from a circle of undersung comedic talents who had pre-existing relationships with Robinson and Richardson, even if several of their former Saturday Night Live collaborators made cameos; it’s always a positive sign for a comedy show if the funniest people in the industry are all lining up for guest parts.

Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.

Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.

Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.

Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.

Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.

Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

Robinson has obviously become even more well-known in the years since Detroiters was cancelled, and Richardson has turned into a comedy superstar with an Emmy on his resume. Although they’ve found ways to collaborate since, Robinson and Richardson’s chemistry is at its strongest and most consistent in Detroiters, especially since the friendship they show onscreen seems to be at least partially inspired by reality. Detroiters is a classic example of a comedy that can be picked up from any point and be enjoyed, but the running jokes and homegrown feel make it perfectly suited for the streaming era. Enough time has passed that it’s not very likely that Detroiters would ever receive a revival, but being available for free means it finally might get the respect it has always deserved.