Robinson toured with Second City Detroit's touring company, then joined Second City Chicago. He filmed a 2011 television pilot for
Comedy Central called
My Mans, but the show was not picked up by the network. In 2012, he was cast as a series regular in the unaired
CBS sitcom
Friend Me. In September 2012, he made his debut as a featured performer on
Saturday Night Live. His celebrity impressions on the show included
Ben Bailey and
Bill Cowher, and he also portrayed the recurring character Carl, an elderly retail worker who would always get insulted by Niff (
Bobby Moynihan) and Dana (
Cecily Strong). Robinson has appeared twice on late-night
NBC talk show
Late Night with Seth Meyers as Dale, who acts as host
Seth Meyers' "emergency sidekick." His first appearance was during the "Next Week's News" sketch on February 28, 2014, and his second appearance was during the "Celebrity Drunk Texts" sketch on April 8, 2014. In 2016, he wrote and appeared in his own episode of the sketch comedy show
Netflix Presents: The Characters. He is also the co-creator and co-star of
Detroiters, along with fellow Detroit native and best friend
Sam Richardson. The show premiered on Comedy Central in February 2017. In April 2017, he guest starred on
Fox's
Making History as
Al Capone. In 2018,
Netflix commissioned
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, a sketch comedy series created by and starring Robinson and produced by the members of
The Lonely Island. It premiered in April 2019 and received critical acclaim, as did its second season, which premiered in July 2021. The series was renewed for a third season in May 2022, which premiered on May 30, 2023. In 2022 and 2023, Robinson won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for his work on
I Think You Should Leave. Robinson voiced Creature, the player character's grenade launcher, in the
first-person shooter video game
High on Life (2022). In early 2025, Robinson starred in
Friendship, a dark comedy directed by
Andrew DeYoung in his feature debut. The film premiered at the 2024
Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by
A24 for U.S. distribution. It had a limited theatrical release on May 9, 2025, followed by a wider release on May 23. On October 12, 2025,
HBO premiered
The Chair Company. Robinson and Zach Kanin are credited as creators and producers, with Robinson starring in the comedy thriller. == Personal life ==