Who is Colin Robinson in What We Do in the Shadows?

Show

What We Do in the Shadows

Played by

Mark Proksch

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired March 27, 2019

Role

Main cast

Network

FX

Occupation

Energy vampire and office worker

Show run

2019 to 2024

Also known as

Baby Colin

Colin Robinson is the energy vampire of What We Do in the Shadows, a beige-clad office worker who drains people by being as tedious as possible. Played by Mark Proksch, he is always referred to by his full name.

On What We Do in the Shadows, Colin Robinson's story runs through Laszlo Cravensworth (Housemate and Father Figure), Nandor the Relentless (Housemate), Nadja (Housemate), and Guillermo de la Cruz (Housemate).

Other FX sitcom characters from around the same time include Frank Reynolds (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Charlie Kelly (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia).

Who is Colin Robinson?

Colin is a different kind of vampire from his housemates Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja. He does not drink blood. Instead, he feeds on the energy of the people around him, leaving them exhausted after he corners them with boring stories, petty arguments, or a long explanation of something nobody asked about.

Unlike the others, he can go out during the day, and for much of the series he holds down an office job, which is the perfect feeding ground. He is so ordinary that most humans barely notice him, which is exactly how he likes it.

Personality and comedy

Colin's comedy is quiet and deadpan. Mark Proksch plays him in a flat, cheerful monotone, and the joke is how deliberately, gleefully dull he is. He loves a pun, a trivia fact, a comment-section argument, and a chance to over-explain a spreadsheet.

He is also a bit of a menace to his own housemates, whom he drains when he gets the chance. Yet the show steadily gives him more depth, especially once his strange life cycle comes to light, and Colin becomes surprisingly sympathetic.

Key storylines

In season two, a promotion at work gives Colin so much energy that he grows powerful enough to drain his housemates and eventually splits into copies. In season three, Laszlo's research reveals that energy vampires live exactly 100 years, and Colin dies after his 100th birthday, only for a baby resembling him to burst out of his body.

Laszlo stays behind to raise Baby Colin, and season four follows the child growing up at astonishing speed. In the season four finale he reaches adulthood, finds the original Colin's diaries, and regains his old memories and appearance. In season five he runs for comptroller and starts mysteriously losing his energy, and in the final season the monster Laszlo builds rejects its creator and declares itself Colin's.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Mark Proksch, a comedian known for his deadpan prank appearances on local TV and for playing Nate on The Office, played Colin for all six seasons. He received a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the role.

The energy vampire was one of the series' original additions to the world of the 2014 film, and the season four Baby Colin storyline became one of the show's most talked-about stretches.

Colin Robinson: frequently asked questions

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