EP 505: Tim Robbins on Defeating Tyranny with Satire

Oscar-winning actor/writer/director/producer Tim Robbins shares how he originally developed his latest project Bobo Supreme as a movie with the director Adam McKay, but he was inspired to adapt his screenplay for an auditory medium when the pandemic shut down film production. He reveals how he managed to record with 35 different actors in 35 different locations simultaneously during quarantine, and how it has given him a renewed appreciation for the radio dramas of Orson Welles and his Mercury Radio Theater. We talk about taking down tyrants through satire, comedy as a welcome break from our toxic addiction to doom scrolling, and how Tim’s career in Hollywood has given him some insight into the fragile, narcissistic id of Donald Trump. Tim offers some hopeful speculation on how the movie business may transform in the wake of Covid-19 and what it will take to reopen live theaters such as his own repertory group The Actors Gang. Plus, how Joe Biden won Tim over, the enduring relevance of his film Bob Roberts, and why you probably won’t see a sequel to that seminal political mockumentary any time soon.

Episode 1 of Bobo Supreme debuts October 8 on Patreon. Visit www.bobosupreme.com or

www.patreon.com/timrobbinspresents to listen. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimRobbins1.