RECAP: The Chair Company Episode 3 – “@BrownDerbyHistoricVids Little bit of Hollywood? Okayyy.”

The Chair Company has been a delight in its debut episodes. Created by Zach Kanin & Tim Robinson, the HBO Original Series continues its stride with The Chair Company Episode 3, entitled “@BrownDerbyHistoricVids Little bit of Hollywood? Okayyy.” Directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship) and written by Gary Richardson, the episode is perhaps a little less impressive than previous episodes due to the loss of shock value. Nevertheless, there are plenty of massive developments and great gags to behold, so let’s dive in. 

The Chair Company Episode 3 kicks off right where the last episode ended. In the midst of a family game night, William “Ron” Trosper (Tim Robinson) inches closer to the closet, where he finds a short, nearly bald man hiding. The man shoves him across the hallway. Desperate, Ron follows the man outside, where Mike Santini (Joseph Tudisco) is waiting.

Mike, revealing that the man, named LJ, is there to keep tabs on Ron for him, admonishes LJ for not keeping a low profile. LJ, who was supposed to text Mike’s burner that there was “no way out”, accidentally texted that to Ron. Well, that clears up the previous episode’s cliffhanger!

Mike pulls Ron and LJ into the garage. Mike tells Ron that earlier in the night, when Ron had refused to take the gun from him, he ended up still keeping tabs on “Jim X,” the man who had hired him. He finds out that Jim X was actually hired by another man who was paid $50k to hire him. During this revelation, LJ knocks over boxes, claiming, “I gotta stop drinking!” One has to give credit to Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin for their absolutely bizarre stable of supporting characters who often steal the show. 

Any semblance of normalcy continues to slip out of Ron’s fingers while he is led on his wild chase.

The next morning, Ron has apparently been awake all night, much to the concern of his wife (Lake Bell). Ron suggests they get a high-tech security system, which she initially opposes until he lays out scenarios in which someone could break into the house and threaten the family.

The Chair Company Episode 3 amplifies what’s working so well about the series: seeing Tim Robinson play against type as a relatively normal guy who then becomes more unhinged as he goes down the rabbit hole. I’m eager with anticipation as to just how out there he’ll get. 

At work, Ron is having a meeting with a potential developer for the mall. During the meeting, a small ladybug crawls into his phone. Is this a minor eccentricity or a hint towards some bigger machinations at work? Either way, Brenda (Zuleyma Guevara) comes in, saying Ron’s news segment about the new mall is about to air.

The segment goes over well with the staff, though internet commenters aren’t super happy about Ron’s declaration that, at this time, the mall will have nothing to do with the apparent Canton, Ohio, football culture. Remember that.

The Chair Company Episode 3 further punctuates why Tim Robinson is the heart of the show’s success.

Back to sleuth mode, Ron returns to his desk and searches for the address of the abandoned “Tecca” chair company office he visited in the pilot. He finds out that records for the building must be requested in person. As he prepares to get those records, in one of the most sweetly strange moments of The Chair Company Episode 3, he’s stopped in the hall by his co-worker Douglas (Jim Downey).

Douglas tells him that he’s throwing a party and that Ron’s not invited because the staff need to be allowed to make mistakes. In fact, his party is called the “mistakes” party. Guests who are ready to make a mistake will have green wristbands. Guests who need some convincing have yellow wristbands. A deeply confused Ron tells Douglas that that’s not a good idea, and leaves the deliciously cringe scene. 

As Ron goes to request the records from the Tecca office, he hilariously puts down Douglas’ name as the person requesting the records. The clerk goes to get the record, only for Doug’s news spot to play at the same time. As the clerk’s supervisor is sternly talking to her, it looks like Ron’s about to be caught.

This sequence plays out as tense as any piece of the best prestige television, only heightened when the clerk comes back and tells Ron she’s in huge trouble. Why? Because she needs to go home and take a shower, as she smells bad. As another unexpected punchline is landed, Ron receives the records and finds that an inquiry was made by “Red Ball Market Global”. The running motif of red balls continues.

Little details add up, giving plenty for viewers to call back to when jokes arise.

Ron attempts to contact RBMG using the phone number on the website, but it rings to an answering machine with a catchy jingle. After three hours of waiting on the phone, he’s now at a bar with Mike. As the catching Red Ball Market Global jingle plays, Mike tells Ron about his troubles, specifically that his ex-wife used to feed him sexual enhancement pills in an attempt to kill him. Ron concedes that he feels inferior to his beloved father. As the two bond, in a dynamic I’m quickly warming up to, the security camera at Ron’s house trips. Ron sees his son (Will Price) drinking beers and heads home quickly. 

The next day, Ron has a talk with his son about his drinking. In a moment right out of I Think You Should Leave, the son concedes that drinking “no more than four beers” makes him enjoy the art of telling jokes for the sake of telling jokes and not getting laughs. Specifically, the beers make him appreciate Abbott & Costello, as they’re so different but work well together. The Chair Company Episode 3 and the preceding episodes are chock-full of these small, strange details that linger in the mind. 

The Chair Company Episode 3 kicks up a notch when Mike shows up to take Ron to the home of the last man who took out the deed. They arrive at the man’s house under the cover of night, and he’s incredibly unhappy to be greeted by them. Yelling, he claims he’s done with Tecca and doesn’t want anything to do with them. Mike and Ron wait in their car as the man speeds away, listening to Christmas music. The man’s voice sounds eerily like the disembodied scream Ron heard during his previous visit to Tecca.

The mystery only deepens, playing not just with Ron’s mind but also the viewer’s.

In a scene right out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, Ron and Mike enter the hoarder-esque house, lined with garbage, unwashed dishes, and linens. On a pile of clothes, an old, out-of-breath woman, clutching a handful of popcorn, starts saying “Popcorn… popcorn!”.

To appease her, Mike throws her a bag of chips, to which Ron says the funniest line of The Chair Company Episode 3: “No, she doesn’t want chips! She wants popcorn!” The two flee the house, grabbing as many papers as they can, knocking over a keyboard that plays, oddly enough, more Christmas music. 

When Ron returns home, his wife is upset with him. Seeing the boxes LJ knocked over, she thinks Ron is backsliding into old bad habits. He then deflects by telling her about their son’s drinking. The next day at work, many say Douglas made things weird at the Mistakes Party. The consistent layering of jokes here is truly a wonder to behold. 

Ron is then pulled into a meeting where the company’s boss, Jeff Levjam (Lou Diamond Phillips), shows everyone a video of a football player crying at the mall, with nothing to do with football. In the middle of this meeting, Ron spots the man from the house. As the man yells at Ron to return his papers, Ron tells him to calm down and asks what the man did at Tecca.

A surprise cameo of Lou Diamond Phillips sparks joy and intrigue.

The man said he worked there for four days, being told to swap parts out on chairs… in the nude. When Ron shows his pictures of the RBMG board, he recognizes the CFO. Ron assures the man he will return his papers, then returns to the meeting. 

At the meeting, Ron gives an impassioned defense of why football is not part of the mall’s vision. He’s quickly shut down, as while he was away, it was decided that football would be part of the mall’s plan going forward. Ron then gets a ping from his security app, where he sees nothing but a lone chair from Tecca. A man in a hockey mask, reminiscent of Jason Voorhees, waves at the camera. And with that, The Chair Company Episode 3 ends. 

The Chair Company Episode 3 is another ridiculously packed installment of HBO’s best new comedy series in quite a while. The conspiracy is starting to take on an absurdly convoluted shape, with red balls, Christmas music, and many layers of people hired to intimidate Ron.

While The Chair Company Episode 3 is slightly less impressive than the previous two, due to settling into a more steady rhythm, it’s still far ahead of anything else in comedy television. I’m fully locked into the ride, and audiences should be, too.

The Chair Company Episodes 1-3 are now streaming on HBO Max. New episodes air every Sunday.

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