Craig Robinson and the Nasty Delicious

Craig Robinson is an American actor/comedian best known for his role as Darryl Philbin on The Office, and for movies such as Hot Tub Time Machine, The Pine-Apple Express and Knocked up. 

Robinson actually began his career in stand-up comedy at The Second City in Chicago, and now he’s heading to Australia in December with a new comedy show.

Robinson has previously been to Melbourne just to film five minutes of a world comedy TV show, and he’s excited to be heading back Down Under.

“I love it”– he says of Melbourne, the only Australian city he has yet to visit –”It was a cross between San Francisco and Beverley Hills – cool, chic and sexy”,

The aspect of the tour which Robinson is most looking forward to is connecting with the audiences (as stand-up allows you to do) and seeing some kangaroos. He was surprised to find out that he can actually pat and feed them at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary: “You mean you can get in all amongst them?” he quipped.

As for the show, Robinson assures me it will involve “some jokes, some music, some audience participation. It’s a dance party sing-along. We’re out to have fun.”

He describes the band for his tour – the Nasty Delicious – as a special group. With a real mix of genres on show (old school, top 40, and improvised material), it’s an exciting venture for Robinson

“We don’t get to perform together very often. My brother is in the band with me and he introduced me to some of the others; the guitar player and the drum player.”

When asked will fans of The Office get to hear the “Dunder Mifflin- the people person’s paper people” ditty from the show, Robinson sounds interested by the idea: “Do you think people would like to hear that?”. As a fan of The Office, I assure him that I would, as would many other fans, I’m sure.

Even three years after its finale, it still follows him around, “It’s a beloved show. You feel like you were one of the chosen ones being a part of it.” He enjoys that people come up to him and treat him like a friend, and it will sometimes take until they say something like ‘Well it was nice to meet you’ before he realises he doesn’t actually know them. He must have some interesting encounters. When remembering his funniest and best fan moment, Robinson starts to chuckle, “See, when you say best, my mind goes someplace naughty.”

He pauses, “But funniest? Let’s put a pin in that and comeback to it – maybe.”

We turn to politics instead.

“What’s your reaction to Trump’s win?”

There’s a pause, and then “Congratulations. Let’s all work together.”

We move on. What’s next on his agenda? He tells me he’s just finished filming Caraoke – a tv show that apart from singing is, in his own words, “me driving around, picking people up, just having fun.”

That will be coming out soon. With the ever busy schedule Robinson has quite a few movies coming out next year as well.

We circle back to his funniest fan moment after he’s had time to think of one; “Sometimes on twitter, someone might tweet ‘Craig Robinson’s not that funny’, and then their friend might come back with ‘don’t ever say that!’ and then I’ll jump in and say something like ‘Well played!’”.

He laughs – it’s clear he enjoys giving them a bit of a shock.

After a detour, we come full circle, back to his show, which is currently touring in the US. And although it is quite structured there will be plenty of room for improv. Robinson explains, “We go with the crowd, the moment.”

When describing his style of comedy, Robinson casually explains, “It’s me sitting at the keyboard acting silly.”

Craig Robinson and the Nasty Delicious will be bringing their special brand of silliness to Australia 11-19 December 2016, and will tour Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

For more information, visit Craig Robinson’s website.