Pull up a seat and enjoy the oddest, funniest man alive

Tim Robinson has channelled his uniquely bizarre sensibility into a new conspiracy series, ‘The Chair Company’. As far as Louis Chilton’s concerned, no one is doing comedy like it

- Louis Chilton

Who is the funniest person alive? That might well be an unanswerable question (“How long is a piece of string?”), but there are few people with as convincing a claim to the title as Tim Robinson. The comedian best known for his gonzo Netflix sketch series I Think You Should Leave has, over the past decade, become one of the most reliably ingenious names in comedy. That series was an anarchic medley of deranged faux pas - it's hard to even describe. (Among the sketches: a toxic “Baby of the Year” pageant; Santa Claus doing a sour press junket to promote an action movie; a party at which hired celebrity impersonators are contractually “allowed” to assault guests.) At the centre of the show: Robinson himself, a raving, gurning, drooling, and all-round singularly bizarre force of nature.

It is on the unflappable strength of Robinson's brand, no doubt, that HBO commissioned a series titled The Chair Company - a laughably unsexy title, with a premise to match. Debuting just over a week ago (on Sky and NOW in the UK), the series follows Ron Trosper (Robinson), an employee at a company organising the development of a new shopping mall. Ron's cosy suburban life begins to unravel, however, when he starts investigating an inscrutable and far-reaching conspiracy involving Tecca, a chair manufacturer. It's utter, unpredictable nonsense, and often tremendously funny. Like most of Robinson's oeuvre - and especially I Think You Should Leave - it seems the kind of thing that will only grow richer on repeat viewings.

Other than Robinson, and unusually for an HBO series, there are few recognisable faces to be seen here. Lake Bell (Boston Legal) plays Ron's wife, and Sophia Lillis (