My 25 Favorite ‘I Think You Should Leave’ Sketches, Ranked

Has this ever happened to you—your job is “just tables” but you’re certain that when you drive to work your steering wheel is going to fly off so you hire the driving crooner to chauffeur you but he takes you to a Mexican restaurant where you look great in your shirt with complicated patterns but your date eats all the fully loaded nachos and the next day you wonder if you’ll get in trouble for playing a really confusing computer game involving nude eggs—has that ever happened to you?

If any of that made sense—and especially if you heard that rant in the voice of fake TV lawyer “Mitch Bryant”—then you’re familiar with the hilarious and offbeat Netflix sketch comedy series “I Think You Should Leave.”

I’m a huge fan of this brilliant show, which debuted in 2019 and ran for three seasons before creator Tim Robinson stepped away to work on other projects, like his current mainstream movie, “Friendship,” which co-stars Paul Rudd.

“I Think You Should Leave” (I.T.Y.S.L. for the rest of this post) was co-created by Robinson and Zach Kanin, who struck gold with their offbeat, cringey, sometimes subtle, sometimes over-the-top, and almost always uproarious takes on everyday situations that go awry and devolve into anything but routine.

I became hooked on I.T.Y.S.L. after one episode and have watched and rewatched all three seasons several times. It’s an easy show to binge, with each episode containing several short sketches. And it was only a matter of time before “A Fan’s Notes” paid tribute to a show that glorifies everything and everyone going completely off the rails.

However, I fully acknowledge that the show’s humor isn’t for everyone.

Sandy used to give me the strangest looks when I would cock my head, put a dumb and confused look on my face, and say to her, “You sure about that? You sure about that, that’s why?”

However, a few weeks ago, after I said something stupid, she busted out her own “You sure about that?” I couldn’t have been happier.

There are more than 80 I.T.Y.S.L. sketches. Most of them are funny, some much more than others, and only a few are “meh.”

For this blog, I picked my 25 favorites and ranked them in descending order. As I noted when I ranked my favorite Seinfeld episodes earlier this year, the list is subject to change depending on which episode I’m watching or what hilarious meme pops up in my Instagram feed.

For sketches 13-25, I included links to the full episodes on Netflix. For sketches 1-12, you can watch them right here on the page below the summary. You’re welcome.

So, go ahead and say “gimme dat,” because I’m gladly offering up my favorite sketches from I.T.Y.S.L., the best goofball, meme-inducing, gut-busting, totally random comedy show in recent memory.

Things take a turn in this spoof on a spinal surgery center commercial in which patients give testimonials about how the center improved their lives. (This one gets a special nod because it includes a brief cameo from my high school friend David Kallaway, pictured below).

Favorite line: “I can lift my son over my head again—and there ain’t shit he can do about it! Come here, you little fuck!”

Link to episode

Three former business college classmates have dinner with their favorite professor, but the pleasant evening quickly turns awkward when the professor commits one faux pas after another, starting with housing someone else’s meal.

Favorite line: “Dylan, I’m going to eat the whole thing.”

Link to episode

Disaster ensues when a dispute over a birthday gift devolves into accusations of improper bathroom etiquette and a strange test to see if the host is telling the truth or if he used “too small a slice.”

Favorite line: “I hate to do this, but I'm afraid our gracious host didn't wipe properly.”

Link to episode

Shit gets real when the “Driving Crooner”—aka, a rideshare driver who places cigar and fedora stickers on his driver’s side window so it looks like he’s a 1950s-style dude who’s also smoking—is threatened by college kids but persists because doing something great is his destiny.

Favorite line: “I gotta figure out a way to make money off this thing, it’s simply too good.”

Link to episode

A party guest admits he’s a “former piece of shit,” which he believes is why the host’s baby cries when he picks it up, but he also acknowledges that people can change—even if, like him, they once wore a “white bathing suit,” sported “slicked back hair” and ate “sloppy steaks.”

Favorite line: “I know I used to be a piece of shit. I don’t give a rat’s ass.”

Link to episode

A funny situation turns comically sad on an episode of an MTV-style prank show where the host dresses up in a ridiculously bad prosthetic suit to prank shoppers in a mall, but once the cameras roll he can’t go through with the planned antics.

Favorite line: “I don’t even want to be around anymore.”

Link to episode

Mayhem ensues when an employee is told lunch has been delayed for an ad hoc meeting, so he tries to eat his hot dog surreptitiously by hiding it in his sleeve and winds up nearly choking to death.

Favorite line: “You can’t skip lunch, you just can’t, guys.”

Link to episode

A media interview goes off the rails when Santa Claus—who not only delivers presents every Christmas but is also an action movie star—discusses his latest film, a violent and nudity-laden cop thriller called “Detective Crashmore” (the trailer is also worth watching).

Favorite line: “I’ve seen every cock on the planet.”

Link to episode

A game night among friends is ruined when one of the guests flaunts his jazz snobbery, farts in front of everyone, and burns his mouth on room-temperature gazpacho.

Favorite line: “OK, this one’s easy: He’s got the freak lips, he can hit the high notes all night long. He was king of the Tuk-Tuk sound?”

Link to episode

A business meeting gets chippy when a man who’s so obsessed with shirts from a brand called Dan Flashes because their patterns are incredibly complicated—it’s his “exact style!”—lashes out at a coworker and admits he’s spending his per diem on shirts at the Dan Flashes store down at Shops at the Creek.

Favorite line: “You walk by a store and you see 50 guys who look just like me fighting over very complicated shirts, you go in—yes you do, you go in!”

Link to episode

Another infomercial that takes a strange turn when the doctor monitoring a patient’s heart rate weasels his way into the city’s hottest nightclub, but their night ends early due to a tragic accident at another club we realize is the patient’s fault.

Favorite line: “Kim Kardashian’s head fell off.”

Link to episode

An after-hours “adult” haunted house tour gets a little too risqué—and off-subject—because a guest takes the rule of “saying whatever the hell you want” a little too far.

Favorite line: “You can’t change the rules just because you don’t like how I’m doing it.”

Link to episode

A blind date becomes uncomfortable when the woman begins eating all the fully loaded nachos—you know, “the ones with the meat and cheese and everything”—so the man asks the waiter to lie and tell the woman there’s a “rule” that she can’t hog all the nachos, but he gets busted.

Favorite line: “What the hell are you talking about?”

Link to episode

A drive-thru scam falls apart when a man starts a pay-it-forward chain, but only so he can benefit by said chain by circling back around and scoring an ungodly amount of food for free from the person whose meal he bought a few seconds earlier. His scheme, of course, gloriously backfires.

Favorite line: “55 burgers, 55 fries, 55 pies, 55 Cokes, 100 tater tots, 100 pizzas, 100 tenders, 100 meatballs, 100 coffees, 55 wings, 55 shakes, 55 pancakes, 55 pastas, 55 peppers, and 155 taters.”

A man’s embarrassing moment at work—see the above writeup for the sketch “You Can’t Skip Lunch”—gives him the idea for a powerful vacuum designed to save the lives of people choking on hot dogs.

Favorite line: “The Carber Reputation Vacuum—don’t let one bad day ruin your future. Carber Co. Technology—the ‘people’s company.’”

A lawyer’s television ad solicits clients who have specific problems with their home but also like to read art books.

Favorite line: “Until you’re part of the Turbo Team, walk—slowly!”

Video footage from a reality show reveals how one contestant had no intention of trying to win a dating show called “Summer Loving” but was instead just there for the zip line, which he treats as his own.

Favorite line: “He pulls on the rope. He wrenches on the rope. He thinks it’s his.”

A recording session turns hilarious when the band’s bass player decides to ad lib the lyrics, but he winds up singing nonsensical lines about skeletons.

Favorite line: “Are you kidding me? The guy asked for something spooky.”

Several bad experiences for one man—including an encounter with a monster that’s actually a pig wearing a Nixon mask, his wife being flipped by another man at a wedding eight times, and general loathing of his job—lead him to invent a high-tech doggy door.

Favorite line: “When you think you’re gonna get eaten and your first thought is, ‘Great, I don’t have to go to work tomorrow’—you’re relieved you don’t have to go to work ’cause you thought you were gonna get eaten? What the fuck is this world?! What have they done to us?!”

Students in a driver’s education class get confused when the instructor plays PSA videos about distracted driving that have them wondering what the hell the videos’ main character does for a living.

Favorite line: “I can’t know how to hear about any more tables!”

A hot dog-shaped car rams into a clothing store, and once the smoke clears, the guy wearing the hot-dog costume denies it was him and delivers a heartfelt sermon on society’s decline.

Favorite line: “You know what's driving me nuts? It could literally be any one of us, ooooh!”

A member of a focus group helping Ford design its next car has terrible ideas, but he winds up winning over other participants and gets them all to turn on the “teacher’s pet” Paul.

Favorite line: “A great steering wheel that doesn't whiff out of the window while I driving—that is a good idea.”

A trial involving embezzlement turns into a story about how one of the defendants’ colleagues wears a lame-ass hat with safari flaps, keeps dice in his pockets, and embarrasses himself when the hat becomes a distraction at work.

Favorite line: “He looks so fucking stupid. I can't breathe.”

An employee can’t be bothered to listen while his boss and a colleague criticize his work because he’s focused on a computer game that makes no sense but has captivated him nonetheless.

Favorite line: “We should be able to look at a little porn at work.”

As for my top pick, over the last several weeks, this sketch moved up quickly for several reasons, namely, Robinson’s reactions to being reprimanded at work.

When his boss is criticizing him and his colleague is whining, Robinson’s character “Marcus” continues playing a computer game and placates the disgruntled colleague by sarcastically calling her a “rock star.”

I think we’ve all had those feelings about work and our coworkers. As someone who has worked in offices my entire adult life, that one resonated and helped “Eggman Game” rocket to the top.

OK, I.T.Y.S.L. fans, let me know your thoughts by commenting below. I fully acknowledge that dozens more sketches could be on this list, and the order is somewhat arbitrary. These just rose to the top of mine.

And if you’re looking to know more about exactly why I ranked them in this order—please know it’s illegal for you to ask me that.