In many ways, NBC's hit sitcom The Office paved the way for mockumentaries, including the network's latest, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.
The show follows a disgraced NFL player (played by Tracy Morgan) who wants to get back into the limelight through a documentary. So, he enlists an award-winning documentary filmmaker, played by Daniel Radcliffe, to tell his story.
One of his former rivals is Jerry Basmati, played by The Office alum Craig Robinson. They were rivals on the field, and years later, they're still bickering.
Anyone can point out the obvious connective tissue between Reggie Dinkins and The Office, that being the mockumentary format, something that Robinson acknowledged in an interview with ClutchPoints.
However, the biggest difference is that the person behind the camera isn't a character. The Office didn't feature any of the cameramen until the last season in a somewhat controversial decision, something even Robinson couldn't help but laugh at.
“I think it's different because you've got the actual documentary [director] in the [show] as a character,” Robinson said before catching himself by saying, “They did that later in The Office, but, you know.”
In turn, this created a new dynamic for Robinson. He and his co-stars are able to play off of the person behind the camera in Reggie Dinkins, making for even more improvisation, something Robinson recalled also being a big part of The Office.
What's it like working with Daniel Radcliffe?
Radcliffe plays Arthur Tobin, the esteemed documentary filmmaker in Reggie Dinkins. Arthur, a potential covert narcissist, ends up on-camera a lot more than your typical director.
Reggie Dinkins marked the first time Radcliffe and Robinson crossed paths. Even still, Robinson was not surprised at how funny he was when sharing the screen with him.
“I just expected greatness from him,” said Robinson. “So I don't know how surprised I was, but he was super awesome [to work with].”
As Robinson noted, there's a good bit of improvisation in Reggie Dinkins. Sometimes, that results in great bits being left on the cutting room floor (just watch the Superfan episodes of The Office, which feature plenty of deleted jokes).
Luckily, despite how much improvisation there was, Robinson didn't feel that they left anything crucial on the cutting room floor, at least regarding his character.
“I didn't improvise maybe that much,” he conceded. “There were some things that I did that did get in there — Heidi [Gardner], and I would do something, but it was so much fun. They encouraged [us] to just live in the character, which [means] you're gonna improvise.”
He shares plenty of scenes with Heidi Gardner, who plays his passive-aggressive wife, Tisha. Their rapport seems natural, which may be a testament to Gardner's time on SNL.
They didn't have time to work together beforehand — Robinson saying they'd “just met and then started filming” — leaving them no choice but to nail it when cameras began rolling.
Working with SNL stars on The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins
Reggie Dinkins' cast is chock-full of SNL alums, including Morgan, Gardner, and Bobby Moynihan. That kind of comedy is reliant on good timing, knowing when to deliver improvised lines and not stepping on others' toes.
Robinson learned it's “important to be open to playing” from the SNL alums. He elaborated, “That could be within the lines” or “in improv.”
“You've gotta be listening,” Robinson said. “And I noticed that everybody is doing that. Everybody's playing, everybody's listening, everybody's professional.”
Ultimately, it's all about listening. Robinson, a musician, is always doing this. He credited being a musician — as well as acting classes — for helping him learning when to give and “wait for that opening” for an improvised line.
Music has always been important to Robinson. You may remember his character in The Office played piano, even forming a band (Kevin and the Zits) with Ed Helms and Brian Baumgartner's characters.
However, his time playing piano dates back long before The Office. He was surrounded by music since he was “in the womb,” explaining, “My mother played [piano] and sang. She was first-chair cello, and she's the minister of music at church. So, it was a foregone conclusion [that] we were all musicians coming out of that house.”
Does Craig Robinson have a Reggie Dinkins in his life?
Like sports, acting can be competitive. In The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, the title character and Jerry's feud stemmed from their playing days.
Robinson isn't sure he has had a rival for that long — if he does, it's likely a one-sided affair. However, he can relate to the feeling of seeing fellow actors get opportunities he wished he had during the early days of his career, saying, “[The] first 10-12 years of my career, every actor that got everything over me.” So, if nothing else, those are his rivals.
“Most of the parts I see out there [that I didn't get] are because I didn't know about them,” said Robinson. “Not [that I'm] saying that I would've got[ten all of them,] but [there was] movie after movie coming out and I'm like, Dang. I didn't hear about that one.”
Robinson wouldn't name any specific movies he lost out on, but at least he's had roles in the likes of The Office, Mr. Robot, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He has also appeared in movies such as Hot Tub Time Machine, Get On Up, and Dolemite is My Name, also collaborating with Seth Rogen on the likes of Pineapple Express and This Is the End.
Craig Robinson reacts to Bobby Moynihan's hilarious high school sports story
During an interview with ClutchPoints, one of Robinson's co-stars, another SNL alum, Bobby Moynihan, recalled using McDonald's chicken nuggets to his advantage while playing hockey.
“I would keep McDonald's chicken nuggets in my glove so that when I went for a face-off, I would just take a quick bite of the chicken nugget, and they would be like, What is he doing?” Moynihan recalled. “I would win the face-off.”
While an unconventional player, his coach “loved” him. Robinson similarly loved the story, as he laughed upon hearing it and conceded that he couldn't “top that” story with his own.
Despite being friends with the ultimate prankster, Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski) in The Office, Robinson isn't “big on pranks.” So, unfortunately, he didn't have a comparable athletics story.
In Reggie Dinkins, Robinson and Morgan face off a lot. They even have their youth football players compete for bragging rights. They don't get too physical, though, but Robinson thinks he'd have a “formidable” foe if Morgan were his opposition on the field.
“Tracy looks strong. He's [got] that center of gravity strength. [chuckles] I'm sure he would be a formidable opponent,” Robinson conceded, before acknowledging his skills. “I'm no weakling or nothing, so we'd just have to go at it and see.”
Here's hoping that we see it someday.
New episodes of The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins air every Monday on NBC through Apr. 13.
