Craig Robinson may now be an all-star comedian, so well known he’s playing himself in the movies, but the first time he tried doing stand-up he didn’t even have a joke.
The only reason he went on stage actually was because he’d talked a big game to a woman, and had to show face.
“I opened my mouth at this New Year’s Day dinner, there was this real pretty girl I was trying to impress, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I do comedy,’” Robinson tells theGrio. “Somebody was like ‘Oh, we got an open mic Wednesday,’ and I was like, ‘I’mma do it.’ So, I’m driving down to the open mic, and I’m like, ‘Wow I don’t have any jokes.’ I started thinking about the stuff people used to tease me about in high school, and then I was like, but these don’t have punch lines. I don’t know what to do.”
Don’t assume the This Is the End star came through shining either. He was, for lack of a better word, a dud.
“I didn’t get booed or nothing, people just kind of stared at me like, ‘Why are you wasting our time?’” He remembers. “By all accounts, I should have never gotten on stage to do comedy again, but something about it, I felt at home up there.”
Thus, he went up again, and again…and again. That was over a decade ago, and Robinson has since brought his honest, often melodic humor from the comedy clubs to the television to the big screen.
Started from the bottom and he’s here
Known to many as the irritable, sometimes mischievous Darryl Philbin on the hit series The Office, the 41-year-old actor began his career as a music teacher in Chicago, teaching by day as he tested out his wit in the city’s highly competitive stand-up scene at night. In 1999, he moved to L.A., and proceeded to pun, prod, and jest till the people in power finally started laughing.
Now Robinson’s stealing scenes with Kerry Washington; dropping tracks with Snoop Dogg; and rolling with the funniest homies in the game, which is how This Is the End transpired.
“They wanted to get people they were familiar with together and who the audience was familiar with seeing,” Robinson explains about his new big screen comedy, in theaters June 12.
The film co-stars Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, and Danny McBride, all playing themselves in a far-fetched, albeit lifelike take on how six total dudes would handle the Earth’s perpetuating doom.
The movie sets off with the ultimate throw down at Franco’s bachelor pad in the Hollywood Hills. Kevin Hart, Michael Cera, and Rihanna are there. So are Mindy Kaling, Aziz Ansari and Emma Watson. So is, well, everyone.
It’s not far from reality either, says Robinson.
“We’ve definitely done our share of partying,” he admits. “I’ve been to their weddings, stuff like that.”
Unfortunately for the crew, the salacious shindig is disrupted by the apocalypse, and the tight group of friends is left to fiend for themselves as they strategize how to get into Heaven.
In real life, Robinson says he’s not terribly concerned about the afterlife – he hopes God will instruct him to “get on the piano” – though spiritual penance is in the back of his mind.
“I’m worried about my daily lifestyle,” he says. “I got a school of thought that’s like God made us in his own image right? So, the things that you do gotta be approved.”
Kevin Hart and the new generation of black comedians
Unlike the misdeeds of his avatar, Robinson confesses he has too strong a conscious to hurt another person without showing remorse. In fact, he can’t even joke about other people due to his “sensitive heart.” His humor is more sentimental, sarcastic and self-deprecating, as his new track from the film, “Take Yo Panties Off,” poignantly displays.
In the movie, Robinson sings the tune as a brief duet with Rihanna, whom he calls “disarming,” and “sweet.” He also speaks highly of Hart, crediting him as an “extremely hard worker” who has earned his place in the sun.
“He took time to create that persona and work on that act, and he’s reaping the benefits,” Robinson acknowledges. “He’s a smart, smart businessman. And he uses Twitter and all that stuff as [a] tool.”
Along with artists like Hart, Mike Epps, Deon Cole, W. Kamau Bell and Key and Peele, Robinson joins a growing slate of black comedians hitting the top ranks of the entertainment industry across multiple platforms.
“Those are heartfelt victories, all of those, and I think they are definitely paving the way for young cats to come up and do their thing,” he notes.
Why working the open mic still matters
Though the Internet has rapidly become a forum to uncover comedic talent, Robinson still stresses the significance of getting on stage to the process. Proof of a comic’s timing, skill and disposition can only be attested to with an audience of critical eyes, firmly planted, demanding to be amused.
Robinson insists it’s vital to the process.
“A lot of the comics today will start doing comedy one week, and then three weeks later they’ll be like, ‘Bitch here’s my CD,’” he jokes. “[The landscape] has changed, but you still have to get up and do open mics. With YouTube and all…you can probably get noticed a little easier, but I don’t want to take anything away from the game. I don’t know how easy it is for a young comic, I just know that the club owners and the bookers, they still need to see how you hold a crowd, and how you draw, and how you hold them for the time they book you for. And they need to see it consistently…If you want to be good, it’s more important [than the web].”
One door closes, a bunch more open
Call him old-fashioned, but Robinson rides in esteemed company, and has spent years climbing his steady ascent. Inspired by Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Martin Mull, Sam Kinison, Steven Wright and Dave Chappelle, he feels his biggest break was on The Office, a show that opened all doors for him, and which came to an end a few weeks ago.
“It was bittersweet,” Robinson says. “I’ll miss those guys, but at the same time we were escorted out of there as good as you can be. There were like four parties, including a big wrap party in Scranton. We all watched the finale together yesterday. And we had a whole season to think about it being the end. We said good-bye to it.”
He adds, “I may or may not start a Kickstarter to do another season.”
Not that Robinson needs work or anything. He’s got three films out this year including This Is the End and the May release Peeples, and he begins shooting Hot Tub Time Machine 2 this month.
There’s also his band – Nasty Delicious – that he plans on getting into the recording studio soon.
“Then it’s really on,” Robinson comments.
Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @courtgarcia