If Craig Robinson Is Quitting Comedy, Mr. Robot Proves He Can Handle Drama
The acclaimed actor announced he is leaving comedy, but he has genre-hopped before in the USA Network series Mr. Robot.
Craig Robinson has been making us laugh for twenty years, in sidesplitting appearances as warehouse foreman Darryl Philbin on The Office, Doug Judy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and in films like Hot Tub Time Machine and Sausage Party. But, after cracking us up for so long, the Emmy-nominee is hinting that he may be moving on from comedy for something else.
In a surprising announcement on Instagram, he revealed that he’s stepping away from comedy to pursue his “true calling” of launching a business endeavor.
While it's very likely his big sweeping statement is all a big joke, it wouldn’t be the first time the versatile 53-year-old has switched gears. The comic got serious when he jumped genres and took on a compelling dramatic role in the USA Network original series, Mr. Robot. The dystopian hacker drama starred Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cyber-security engineer who was recruited into a corporate takedown scheme by a mysterious anarchist called “Mr. Robot” (Christian Slater). The series aired on USA Network from 2015 to 2019 and gained a cult following, who to this day, still debate its themes of surveillance, mental health, and corporate greed — not to mention its mind-twisting ending.
Spoiler Alert: The remainder of this article will discuss the plot of Mr. Robot.
Robinson played one of the main antagonists of Season 2, Ray Heyworth, a prison warden who ran a shady underground ring on the dark web. He presumably first befriended Elliot on a neighborhood basketball court and persuaded him to help with his website, but in true Mr. Robot style, Season 2 delivered an intriguing twist involving alternate realties: the scenes flashing across our screens were just in Elliot’s imagination. He was in prison the whole time, and the basketball court was located in the jailhouse yard.
Robinson, the source of many hilarious one-liners from The Office, showed off his incredible range in Mr. Robot. His character Ray was involved in various forms of illegal trafficking on the dark web and warned Elliot not to look too closely at his business dealings. When Elliot discovered the true nature of the web site, Ray unleashed his thugs (in reality, prison guards), and Elliot woke up in a hospital bed, and eventually alerted the FBI. In the end, Ray was arrested and was thrown in the slammer.
In a video interview released ahead of his stint on the show, Robinson noted that the biggest difference between acting in comedies and drama is simply that there are more laughs on the set of a comedy. However, his approach and his preparation for the role remained the same.
Since his seven-episode run on Mr. Robot, Robinson returned to the comedic fold and has been going non-stop, starring in sitcoms like Peacock’s Killing It and taking on the voice role of Dick Turlington in the animated sitcom American Dad! from Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), among many other projects.
As for his next venture, Robinson is keeping details close to the vest, but in his announcement on social media, he told his fans to “Stay tuned. I’m working on something huge.” Is he truly quitting comedy altogether? Probably not, but if he did, Mr. Robot proves he'd still have a bright acting future ahead.
