This article was originally published at Shondaland.com
The hilarious actor-comedian talks with Shondaland about making season two of “Killing It,” his musical aspirations, and his comedic inspirations.
This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike authorization.
Fans of The Office and comedy in general know that native-Chicagoan Craig Robinson is a lethal weapon when it comes to comedic timing. As Darryl Philbin, the dry foreman of the Dunder Mifflin warehouse on The Office, his punchlines and antics had us rolling on the floor while also anchoring the performances of the über talented ensemble cast of the award-winning show. Since The Office left us in 2013, Robinson has made us laugh all over Hollywood; as Doug “the Pontiac Bandit” Judy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, doing voiceovers on series like The Cleveland Show, and voicing film roles in Shrek Forever After, and The Bad Guys. He earned a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male as the dad in the poignant, underrated 2016 comedy, Morris from America.
But, did you know that Robinson holds a Master of Education degree from Saint Xavier University? Did you know he was an actual elementary school music teacher in Chicago and in Indiana? That he starred in a network comedy about it? And that he has a band called Nasty Delicious, which he described as “funk mixed with stank” on NPR?
We’ll get to all that in Robinson’s own words, but first things first: Starring as Craig, an aspiring businessman on Killing It, Robinson’s impeccable sense of timing and wacky antics amp up those of his fellow actors, which include Glee alum Dot-Marie Jones and SNL alums Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett this season. In anticipation of season two set to premiere on Peacock on August 17, Robinson sat down with Shondaland to discuss how Killing It came to pass, his Second City days in Chicago, what his band Nasty Delicious is up to, and his biggest comedic inspirations.
VIVIAN MANNING-SCHAFFEL: So nice to meet you, Craig! Congrats on season two of Killing It!
CRAIG ROBINSON: Thank you so much, Vivian. It’s not an easy task and it’s nice to be recognized. In some cases, they’re honoring us so it’s an interesting and wild fun ride.
VMS: Killing It is something of a collaboration between you and Brooklyn Nine-Nine producers Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici (who are the co-showrunners, writers, and executive producers). How did the concept of this show come about?
CR: Brooklyn Nine-Nine was winding down and I had a meeting with Dan. Dan, Luke, my manager Marc Shulman and I would meet at a pizza joint in Hollywood and talk about doing something. Dan and Luke came back with three ideas, two of which I don’t remember, one of them involved music, and the other one was about being somebody in Florida hunting snakes for money. We hadn’t seen anything like that before. So I was there when they brought it from conception.. or inception?
VMS: I think both kind of work!
CR: Inception is my favorite movie, by the way! So I’ve been in it from the ground floor and I couldn’t be more proud or more surprised. It’s like a dream I didn’t know I was having come true.
VMS: Were you in on the whole pitching of the concept of it? Were they bouncing ideas off of you?
CR: They would run stuff by me but they came up with this puppy. Luc’s father mentioned an article to him — I think that’s how it got started — then they had to pitch it, and here we are.
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VMS: With comedy, the show touches on issues of class, consumerism, and capitalism and plays with the whole concept of the American dream — this should resonate with a lot of people. What about the scripts resonated with you when you first read them? It’s a very thoughtful show.
CR: Very thoughtful. Smart. I like that it touches on things and not makes it light but makes it relatable and fun, but still challenges you. It has a darkness to it. It’s got humor, edge, all of it, so that’s what resonates with me. We look forward to the table reads — it’s one of the funniest times on the show, whether on Zoom or in a room together because you’re in the middle of shooting and you get to see what’s coming next. It keeps whetting your appetite for more and more. It’s hard to do so few (episodes) but we get it in there!
VMS: Yeah, you pack a lot in! You’ve got a great cast including Rell Battle and Claudia O’Doherty, and a season full of great guest stars, including Dot-Marie Jones, Beck Bennett, and Kyle Mooney. During shooting, who made you laugh the most?
CR: The guest stars were amazing. I can’t say enough about them. Tim Bagley probably made me laugh the hardest and the most but the Boone family — this brother-sister duo with Dot-Marie Jones as their mom, it was crazy! The rich couple, Mike Mitchell, Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney — everybody just did their thing so well. Just a pool of laughter all the time and people just being free, you know what I mean? Being in character and still being grounded in good acting connections.
VMS: You’re from Chicago and took classes at Second City after college. When did you first know you wanted to make people laugh?
CR: I was little. My father was having me read Three Little Pigs to him and it was the first time I improvised. I said, “He blew the house down, and suddenly the pig put on his gym shoes and ran away,” and my father was like, “What’d you say?” It was my first improv, he’d be like, “come here and tell people what you just said.” I was making up stuff on the page. At a very early age, there was something magical about that attention of entertaining, so I was always silly in school and stuff. I think when I got to college is when I got serious about comedy and trying to figure out how people stand on stage and hypnotize somebody.
Craig Robinson at the 78 Venice International Film Festival 2021 in Venice, Italy.
Mondadori Portfolio//Getty Images
VMS: Who were the three comedians that you looked up to as a kid?
CR: There’s way more than three but I’ll tell you Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, and Paul Mooney. When I was getting into comedy, Paul Mooney was so fearless, and like, you could feel something when he did comedy. It gave us motivation — it was like listening to the Rocky song. I would see like Andy Kaufman or Steve Martin, Martin Mull had a special that lives with me to this day. Steven Wright. Eddie Murphy — forget about it! I’ve stolen so much from Eddie Murphy. You can’t tell but I look at facial expressions that I do; I didn’t realize it until I saw Raw and was like, ‘Oh my God I do that.’ Luckily it’s my face so I don’t think you can tell.
VMS: I still have Raw memorized. Did you make any friends from Second City that you’ve kept to this day?
CR: I’m close with a few people and we’ve kept in touch but not like I’ve heard from them this year. Once in a while, you see them on Facebook or whatever. Those were some special times and we had a special class.
VMS: You’ve always played music and were even a music teacher at one point, and had a TV show about being a music teacher called Mr. Robinson. Did you ever feel like you had to choose between music and comedy?
CR: I blend the two in my act. When I started in college I thought I was going to be a musician or a singer. Comedy kind of chose me so that’s what happened and I kind of brought music over. It’s still here.
VMS: It never leaves your bones. Your first recurring role was on Lucky with John Corbett. How did that change your life?
CR: It showed me I could get through an audition and succeed. I mean, I did one or two other things before, but it showed me I could get on a show and learn how to be on the set consistently. It was great to work with a huge star and then have a co-star who was super cool and kind of guided me through; Billy Gardell, who was starring with John Corbett. The writers were these outlaws of Hollywood, they were two guys from Philly, the Cullen brothers. There were here to kick butt and eat bubblegum and they were fresh out of bubble gum.
VMS: Your role as Darryl on The Office is iconic! Which was your favorite episode? If you had to name one?
CR: If I had to name one, there was this one with Dwight and Michael; Dwight lied and said he went to the dentist and Michael knew he was lying. They had this Western showdown. Michael asked, ‘So what’s your dentist’s name?’ Dwight had to think in the moment and he was like, ‘Crentice?’ So it was just a moment that stuck with me.
VMS: You have a band, Nasty Delicious. Once music is within you, it’s always there. How do you work that into your schedule?
CR: We have some dates coming up; one in September! One in November; November 4 we’re going to Chicago, so that’s going to be crazy. We’ve got some things coming up. We’re going to film something, too, I think a little thing for late night, so we have some fun coming up. That’s my family right there.
VMS: If you could go back to yourself when you were a music teacher, or when you were at Second City, and tell yourself something based on your experience, what advice would you give yourself?
CR: Put that pizza down. (Laughs) Drink some more water. Get on the treadmill. Watch out for your knees, it’s going to hurt if you’re playing basketball. Relax. I used to dunk. There would definitely be that conversation. I would say to basically keep doing what I’m doing. I like where I’m at. I’d definitely sidestep a few experiences, but yeah.
VMS: If you could dream up any kind of role, what would it be?
CR: I definitely would do some more drama. I wouldn’t mind doing something like a Black version of The Bourne Identity. A comedic version. It’d be badass.