Playoff Paradise in the D
Catching up with Detroiters Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson, America’s funniest Lions fansPlayoff Paradise in the D
Catching up with Detroiters Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson, America’s funniest Lions fans
Long before they had their own television show, Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson had each other. After they met at Second City Detroit in the early 2000s, the two hometown boys started bro’ing out over their favorite teams. Robinson, Richardson’s improv teacher in those days, used to sneak his underage friend into local bars to catch games. “Watching sports is an easy way to hang out and bond,” Richardson says. “A lot of that was watching Pistons games, watching Lions games, going to Tigers games.”
Their comedy troupe’s theater was in the same building as the Red Wings–themed Hockeytown Cafe, which happened to be across the street from Comerica Park and Ford Field. “You had to walk past a giant Zamboni to get into the theater,” Robinson says. “I had so many pictures with the Stanley Cup.”
In some ways, it was a good time to be a Detroit sports fan. The Pistons’ 2004 championship core was still intact. The Tigers made the World Series in 2006. And two years later, the Wings won their 11th title. But not all was well. The Lions were in shambles. During the aughts, they didn’t make the playoffs once. And in 2008, the bottom dropped out and they hit pavement, going 0-16. “I wish it was just a dream,” running back Kevin Smith said back then. “I wish I could wake up and it’d be over.”
To Robinson and Richardson, who spoke to The Ringer in November, the worst season in NFL history was also a waking nightmare. But even after moving to Chicago to join the Second City mainstage in 2010, they refused to give up on the Lions. That September, they looked on in horror when referees waved off future Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson’s apparent game-winning touchdown against the Bears because he didn’t, as ref Gene Steratore infamously claimed, “maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire process of the catch.”
“When that happened to Calvin,” Robinson says, “it was us against the damn world.” As much as it hurt, the Calvin Johnson rule was just one of many indignities the two buddies suffered as Lions fans. They were used to the pain. The last decade had its bright spots—mainly thanks to Megatron and quarterback Matthew Stafford—but sure enough, by 2020 when the team fired coach Matt Patricia, Detroit had crashed down to earth again.
But over the past few years, something surprising happened: the Lions got good. Like, really good. In that time, Robinson and Richardson got famous. Like, pretty famous. And now the stars of Detroiters and I Think You Should Leave are bona fide celebrity fans. They may not be quite as well-known as Eminem, but they’re definitely funnier than he is. And being America’s funniest Lions diehards is a badge of honor.
With the top-seeded, 15-2 Lions taking on the Commanders in the divisional round on Saturday, the buds are still pinching themselves. “We did go through all those hard years, but we stayed watching every Sunday,” Robinson says. “To be able to get to go to the games now when this is happening? It’s a dream come true. And not to be a cornball myself, it feels surreal and cool.”
The Detroit natives have been Lions fans since they were small. “In school pictures, I have a Lions jacket and Lions sweatshirts on,” Richardson says. “I’ve loved this team for my whole life.”
Robinson grew up near the Silverdome. His older brother used to go to Lions games every week. “Even those years where they were not great, it was always fun,” he says. “When you grow up with your team playing every single Thanksgiving you’re just like, ‘Oh, this is normal.’ And then when I moved away I was like, ‘Oh this is actually so special.’”
Robinson’s first Lions jersey? “Got to be a Sanders jersey, probably from Dunham’s or some shit,” he says. No surprise there. When that name came up, the two ’90s kids started to speak in hushed tones. I asked them whether they had a favorite Barry Sanders moment, and they struggled to give me a succinct answer. “It’s so hard to do that because he’s just such an icon,” Robinson says. “There’s so many memories that I don’t know that I could pick one.”
“That’s tough,” Richardson adds. “But I can see the highlights directly in my head.”
Not to be a cornball myself, it feels surreal and cool.Tim Robinson
When they grew up, Robinson and Richardson paid tribute to their city in the best way they knew how: by making a show about it. Egged on by their friend Jason Sudeikis, who came on board as an executive producer, the duo created Detroiters, in which they play two local ad men who, like the Lions, are fiercely loyal to Detroit … and also very much a team of underdogs. Richardson says that he and Robinson wanted to fill the series with stuff that was “quintessentially Detroit.” That included ultra-specific sports references. There’s a Detroiters plotline referencing a Fox Sports promotional campaign from 2008 that aimed to celebrate the time of year when the Red Wings, Tigers, and Pistons are all in action at once. There was even an “April in the D” song contest that led to hundreds of fan submissions. In the show, Michigan’s own Tim Meadows plays a guitar-shredding personal injury lawyer who enters the competition.
“You don’t know it if you’re not from Metro Detroit, but the idea in itself is funny enough without having any context of where it came from, and you would get that,” Robinson says. “You can still go online and find ‘April in the D’ videos.”
Another episode sends up the ’80s-era Ford dealership commercials featuring Lions running back Mel Farr. Their version of “Mel Farr Superstar” is “Quick Rick Mahorn in Dearborn.”
“I have a Mel Farr jersey now, which I love,” Robinson says. “That’s one of my favorite jerseys.”
“That thing,” Richardson chimes in, “is dope.”
Mike Disner is the Lions’ chief operating officer. When he discovered Detroiters, he couldn’t believe what he was watching. “It was a little special because the episodes are centered around spoofs of ads from my childhood,” says Disner, who grew up in West Bloomfield, Michigan. “These Detroit-centric ads that I just assumed were [also] around the country. Then when they’re presented in a certain way in this show, you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re living in a different world.’”
Disner wasn’t used to seeing the Motor City portrayed with that much … levity. The sitcom Martin was set there. And Beverly Hills Cop at least starts there before Axel Foley heads west. But those examples are few and far between. “You always see it as your gritty place,” Disner says. “The Gran Torinos, the Out of Sights, the 8 Miles of the world. So to see it represent everything that makes Detroit unique and put a comedic tilt on it? I’d say it’s pretty special for us to watch here and it resonates with people here.”
I had in my [Star Trek] contract that if the Lions go to the Super Bowl, they have to let me go.Sam Richardson
By early this decade, Robinson and Richardson had long since moved on from Detroiters. But they never moved on from Detroit. When the Lions hired Dan Campbell as their new coach in January 2021, they were immediately inspired. “This place has been kicked, it’s been battered, it’s been bruised,” the burly former NFL tight end said at his introductory press conference. “I can give you coach speak all day long, none of that matters—you’ve had enough of that shit.”
Detroit went 3-13-1 in Campbell’s first year, but he quickly began to turn things around. In 2022, the team went 9-8, months after he became an internet sensation for his scene-stealing speeches on HBO’s Hard Knocks. “Which is where the world fell in love with the Lions,” Richardson says. Last season, the Lions won their first division title in 30 years and their first playoff game since 1991. And by this fall, the boisterous Campbell was appearing in an Applebee’s commercial. “Nailed it,” Richardson says about the coach’s remarkably good comic timing. “I’m like, ‘Wow.’”
But what Robinson and Richardson admire most about him is his earnestness.
“I don’t think he’s mockable,” Richardson says.
“He’s too authentic, too real, to be mocked,” Robinson says.
Over the past few years, Robinson and Richardson have been able to see the Campbell era up close. The Lions have invited them to Ford Field for games—not that they needed much convincing to come. “I would pay a thousand dollars to go to any game,” Richardson says.
Before Detroit played Atlanta in September 2023, the team filmed a social media video with the duo reacting to a tweet saying that Falcons running back Bijan Robinson was going to “run up and down the field on Sunday.” That made Tim Robinson Hulk out and become the inventor of the Carber Hot Dog Vacuum again.
Last spring, the team reached out to Robinson and Richardson about making a video for the 2024 schedule release. “Honestly, we thought it was a long shot,” says Brian Facchini, Lions chief communications and brand officer. At the time, they were busy with the I Think You Should Leave live tour. But of course they said yes.
Before filming, the two diehards toured the Lions’ headquarters. “We were all discombobulated, too, because we didn’t know we were going to shoot that at the practice facility,” Robinson says. “So the nerds in us, we were just like, ‘Holy shit! I can’t believe we’re here. Let’s sit real quick and look all around.’”
The idea for the clip was pretty simple: stick Robinson and Richardson in front of a homemade machine called the LionTron 2000—they have no idea what it does—and let them riff. Oh, and then eventually they’ll reveal the 2024 schedule. “The first commercial to have swears in it!” Robinson says early on. From there, it escalates in a way that if you’ve seen ITYSL, feels familiar. “The crazy thing is when we sort of had the concept, we went to them and it was pretty bare bones and it was like, ‘Guys, here’s the thing, what do you think?’” Facchini says. “It was really all them. You don’t want to script creative people.”
“Brian and I still laugh about the extended cut. I think it was probably one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen,” Disner says. “It’s great having them as fans, and having them here rooting, because you can tell it’s genuine. You can tell they love the team and they love the city. It’s part of who they are.”
Even these days, when both are busy with new TV and movie projects, Detroit is never far from their thoughts. When Richardson was filming in Greece in the fall, he still managed to keep track of his teams. “The time difference was fucked up for him,” Robinson says. “But all of our friends were on these [group] chats. No matter what—if it was a Pistons game at 4 o’clock California time—Sam was on it on the chat. It was kind of crazy.”
For the two old pals, this Lions season has been sweeter than an ice-cold Vernors. It feels like a reward, for years of sticking with a franchise that’s rarely had much hope. Whether or not there’s a Hollywood ending next month in New Orleans, Robinson and Richardson are clearly enjoying the ride. They don’t seem capable of taking their team’s success—or their own—for granted.
Last year, Richardson went to Toronto to shoot a Star Trek movie. Around that time, the Lions were making a playoff run. “I had in my contract that if the Lions go to the Super Bowl, they have to let me go,” he says. “And one of the producers from Detroit was like, ‘Yeah, sure, whatever.’” (“They were on some, ‘same old Lions,’ shit,” Robinson says.) Then, the Lions made it to the NFC championship game against the 49ers. “They had to start planning on changing the schedule around,” Richardson adds.
Alas, San Francisco beat Detroit 34-31. But looking back on it, Tim Robinson likes to imagine a world in which the Lions made the Super Bowl and whoever approved that provision in his buddy’s contract ended up in hot water. “What if that person got into so much trouble?” he says with a grin, before imitating an angry movie executive. “Why the fuck would you agree to this?!”
