Craig Robinson Talks 'The Office,’ NBC Pilot And 'Hot Tub' Sequel

Actor Craig Robinson chats with VIBE about the end of The Office, his summer film roles and reports of a Hot Tub Time Machine sequel

VIBE: You’ve played Darryl on The Office for nine seasons. What was the mood like after Steve Carrell left?

Craig Robinson: When Steve left, it was... With Greg Daniels at the helm and Paul Lieberstein, you knew it was going to be all right. I felt like Steve leaving, it was like, Okay, the captain has left the ship. Emotionally, you did not want to see him go. You definitely feel the impact of such a talent leaving. I stole some moves from Steve. As far as comedy goes, the beauty of it is that we're so different that you'll never be able to tell what I stole. But for him to go, we also knew that there would be more opportunity for everybody else. Now, we're laughing like when Steve was on set. That was some powerful laughter when he was around. Immediately, it wasn't like that, but it's come back around to where I'll be sad to see this whole thing end.

VIBE: What are you working on right now?

I'm doing promotion for these upcoming flicks. In succession, we have Escape From Planet Earth and then We the Peeples in May and then Rapturepaloozaand then of course This is the End is in June. But when we're done with The Office, we go into production on my new sitcom, untitled as of yet.

Do you know where that's going to air?

NBC picked up the pilot. We don't have anything else in order yet, but right now, it's just the pilot. So that's what we're going to work on. Ten days after we wrap The Office, I’ll be in production on it.

What do you consider your most challenging film role?

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I was doing two movies at once. One was The Goods and one was Miss March. Some people here have done it where you do The Office and you fly to New York and then you're back Monday for The Office. I had that minor problem. I got booked to do these movies. The reason I was doing so many movies at once was because they had the writer's strike, and people hurried to cast before the strike. I think I did five movies within that time, including an indie and Zach and Miri. With these two in particular, at that time I was shooting two or three days in a row. The trailers were these little honey wagons, which is basically a closet, and I was trying to get whatever sleep I could get at "Miss March." The honey wagon was parked on a hill. It was like, you're already uncomfortable. Now, you're on an angle.

You've got multiple movies on the way. What else is in the mix?

I'm embracing the music side of my career. I'll be producing songs with my band Nasty Delicious. I want to get the shows rolling and then get the music part out. Once this pilot goes, that's what I'll be doing for the rest of the year. Oh and Hot Tub Time Machine 2, we're going to film that this summer.