Comedian Craig Robinson, best known for films such as "Hot Tub Time Machine" and his role as Darrell on The Office, got his start in Chicago comedy clubs like Heckler's Heaven at The Q Club. After three minutes, a bell would ring. Three judges had rubber chickens and if you got all three chickens, you were booted off the stage. "The first time I went up I got two chickens and I quit before I got my third," he reminisced. These events inspired him to include music in his act. The next time he went on stage, Robinson brought his keyboard — "And no chickens."
Robinson departs from his comedic roots for the movie Morris From America, about a father and son who move to Germany after his wife passes away. The father-son dynamic was unlike any Robinson had seen on TV, in movies, or in real life. "Morris would curse at his father, and his father's like, 'Okay let's take a minute, let's chill,'" Robinson told host Ophira Eisenberg. "[I was friends with] my mother maybe more, but my father made it clear, he was like, 'I'm not his friend, I'm his father!'"
To make things more sultry, we asked Robinson to lend his musical comedy talents to a parody game. Robinson joined Jonathan Coulton in a rewrite of Styx's "Lady" about famous people or things that start with the word 'lady.'
HIGHLIGHTS
On Teaching K-8 Music
The kids still write me on social media...'Mr. Robinson, we're so inspired by you, we're still, you know, praying for your stuff.' And I'll just write 'em back, 'Hey, I'm not your teacher anymore. Please stop contacting me.'
Heard on Cameron Esposito & Craig Robinson: Every Action Movie Has An Equal Opposite Reaction Movie
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.