Spoiler Alert: The following article provides plot details for Season 1, Episode 2 of “The Chair Company,” currently streaming on HBO Max.
Elevating Tim Robinson’s status won’t be easy. The comedian’s signature character is a man whose social anxiety makes him loud and obnoxious. Like the hot dog guy in the sketch series “I Think You Should Leave” or Marvel enthusiast Craig Waterman in the movie “Friendship.” Ron Trosper, the protagonist of Robinson’s HBO conspiracy comedy The Chair Company, is no exception to this rule. But in the process of trying to figure out what’s going on with Tekka, the eponymous manufacturer of a defective chair that caused a shopping mall developer to take an embarrassing fall in front of his co-workers, Ron meets many characters who are more than able to match his eccentricities. There’s someone like a shirt salesman pitching Ron on a membership program.
In the second episode of The Chair Company, Ron visits the men’s clothing store Tamblaze in an attempt to identify his assailant from the series premiere, but the perpetrator warns Ron not to investigate Tekka before fleeing, leaving behind the clothing items as clues. Tambrey’s management confirmed that the shirt was theirs and agreed to help him. Owners may even model wear and tear on an item using a ball they happen to have on hand. “It’s like a big belly, and it’s like someone’s stomach is pushed into a button,” the man explains. “He’s at his breaking point. I happen to know a guy who’s at his breaking point.” The emphasis, intonation, and expression of this seemingly mundane dialogue combine to make the viewer sit up and ask themselves the question. “Who is that?”
It turns out the actor didn’t have to do much to get into the role. Jared Lindner is the real-life co-owner of Suitman, a small business located in the Westchester County suburb of Mount Vernon, New York. Lindner’s father founded the store about 20 years ago, and the two still run Suitman as a family business. (You can learn more about the store in this video on the small city’s official YouTube channel.) Robinson himself caught Lindner’s attention when he passed by the store to scout the location. Lindner didn’t realize he was a “Saturday Night Live” alum, but he says he got to know the staff. “They started laughing, because I’m a very easy-going, somewhat young guy,” Lindner told Variety. Next thing he knew, the production company was calling and offering him the role.
Lindner directly patches the interview from Suitman, where racks of shirts, ties, and socks are displayed exactly as in “The Chair Company.” (During the conversation, Lindner was walking around the store with an iPhone in hand. At one point, a hand appeared from off-screen to adjust the collar for the zoom camera.) Lindner’s unique voice, which also blends a Christopher Walken-esque New York accent, long vowels, and a soft tone, is the same as the voice in the film. The only difference is that the real Lindner is wearing a baseball cap. And instead of helping Robinson solve the mystery, he praises the real Robinson to reporters.
“They’re incredible,” Lindner says of Robinson, his creative partner Zach Kanin, and their collaborators. Even though dozens of crew members crowded into suitman space, “they took someone who had no idea what to do and made me feel so comfortable that I didn’t have to be nervous.” Lindner had never read a script before making his acting debut on HBO, but credits Robinson and his team for putting him at ease.
“I think of it like a sport,” Lindner says. “When you have a great team with a great manager or head coach, they don’t need to yell at you. They don’t need to tell you what to do. They’re well-respected so everyone has a common goal of just getting it done and making you happy.”
Director Andrew DeYoung first worked with Robinson on “Friendship” before joining “The Chair Company” as an executive producer. Although the idea to cast Lindner came from Robinson, DeYoung didn’t need much persuasion. (HBO asked Lindner to at least read the network’s content before giving the green light, which he readily complied with.) “I was talking to Jared and I thought, ‘This is a very unique and interesting person,'” DeYoung recalled. “There’s something about him and his way of life that is fascinating in the rarest and sweetest of ways. No one is making fun of anyone, and I hope that’s clear.”
A complete acting novice like Lindner is an extreme example of its casting strategy, but “The Chair Company” generally avoided big names and famous faces in its bizarre and extreme world. Besides Robinson, Lake Bell and Sophia Lillis, who play Ron’s wife and daughter, respectively, are perhaps the most famous series regulars. Others are much less likely to bring pre-existing associations to the audience, and that’s exactly what matters.
“I get excited when I don’t have someone I know with their luggage,” DeYoung explains. “There are a lot of great people out there who are trying to be performers, or in Jared’s case, they come out and blow up the screen because they bring something special and unique.” That’s why, for him, Robinson and Kanin, someone like Lindner who can make such an impression in such a short period of time is appealing. “The beautiful thing about Tim and Zach is that even with one line of dialogue, the characters feel incredibly rich,” DeYoung says. “That’s what’s so exciting to me. When you have that kind of specificity, characters emerge and you go, ‘I want to follow them.'” It feels like you live in a world beyond the screen. ” “The Chair Company” is committed to building an entire immersive world in which Ron’s paranoid logic makes some kind of sense, so casting someone like Lindner with an ingrained sense of authenticity helps.
Suitsman likely doesn’t have a membership program like Tambrey or an accompanying group chat with five separate guys named Ron. But Lindner insists he always strives to do regular business. “When gentlemen come to see me, I always say: I sell them one sweater and I never want to see them again,” he says. “I’d rather sell sweaters to their wedding, and their son’s christening, and their other daughter’s christening, or whatever it is. We’ve made lifelong friends. They’re not even customers.” Lindner says he’s open to acting again after such a positive experience on The Chair Company, but he’s not giving up his day job.
When we spoke, Lindner hadn’t yet had a chance to see his performance, but he did go back and watch Robinson’s Comedy Central series “Detroit” to get an idea of what to expect from the final product. The prospect of introducing myself in front of a large audience is the first time in our conversation that even a hint of self-awareness as an actor emerges. “I hope I don’t make fun of myself in front of my wife,” Lindner said. “Everyone told me I did well, but I think I’ll have to see for myself on Sunday.”
