Craig Robinson has been entertaining us all for years by playing hilarious characters in TV shows like The Office and movies like Hot Tub Time Machine. Now, the 43-year-old actor and comedian will finally take center stage in the new NBC summer comedy Mr. Robinson, premiering Wednesday night. But how will this new series compare to all of Robinson's best roles in TV and movies over the years? All I know is that his character of the same name will have a lot to live up to, considering how many amazing and truly funny parts he's played over the past decade.
So what took so long for Robinson to get his own show? According to the New York Post, Mr. Robinson has been in development at NBC for two years and only six episodes were shot. NBC will air those episodes back-to-back for the rest of the summer and Robinson is just glad to have had his own show. "As a comedian you kind of dream about that," he told the newspaper. "My family’s on the show, my brother did the theme song. I couldn’t ask for more." In Mr. Robinson, Craig Robinson (the character) is a music teacher by day and funk musician by night, trying to balance his two lives — and then hilarity ensues. A lot of the premise actually comes from the real life of Robinson (the actor). Before he became famous, he worked as a music teacher in Chicago. Currently, he too has a funk/comedy band called The Nasty Delicious.
Before tuning into Mr. Robinson, let's review some of the comedian's awesome roles leading up to his star sitcom turn.
Darryl Philbin In The Office
Robinson's best known role is probably as the stoic and dry Darryl on the long-running NBC comedy. As the foreman of the Dundler Mifflin warehouse, Darryl had a fun disdain for Michael Scott and dated Kelly Kapoor.
Nick In Hot Tub Time Machine
Robinson also played a musician in this 2010 comedy feature (and its sequel, which was released earlier this year). As Nick, Robinson goes back in time to the 1980s with a cast that includes John Cusack, Rob Corddry, and Clark Duke.
Himself In This Is The End
In this 2013 meta-reality disaster comedy, Robinson teams up with Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, and Jonah Hill to survive an apocalypse.
Reg Mackworthy On Eastbound & Down
On this HBO series, Robinson plays the nemesis of Kenny Powers. Reg ended Powers' career with a grand slam during a baseball game.
LeVar "Freight Train" Brown in The Cleveland Show
Robinson provided the voice for Cleveland's dad in this Family Guy spinoff from 2009 until the comedy's cancellation in 2013.
Doug Judy in Brooklyn Nine-Nine
As the infamous Pontiac Bandit, Robinson plays a perp and con-artist who has stolen more than 200 Pontiacs in the world of this Fox series. I think that after Mr. Robinson premieres, Craig Robinson will join the long list of hilarious roles played by, well, Craig Robinson.
Images: Vivian Zink/NBC; Giphy (4)
