Craig Robinson’s new sitcom flashes back to his life in Chicago

After spending nine seasons playing Darryl Philbin on “The Office,” Chicago native Craig Robinson is delighted to be starring in his own sitcom — one that pulls things out of his real life and puts them out there on the small screen.

“Mr. Robinson,” debuting at 8 p.m. Wednesday (WMAQ-Channel 5), is based on some pivotal years for the comedian and actor in his hometown.

Calling from Los Angeles the other day, where he took a break from rehearsals for a production of “Spamalot” at the Hollywood Bowl, Robinson said, “Chicago is where I’m from, so it’s great to bring it all to this new show. A lot of parts of it are my real life story. … It’s got my band in there. It’s based on my teaching in the inner city in Chicago. It is my story.

“Hey, if people accept this, then I’ll know they’ll accept me. If they don’t, well then I’ll know that too,” he said with a deep belly laugh.

“Mr. Robinson,” shot mostly in California, mirrors what the real-life Craig Robinson experienced back in the day: teaching music while still playing with his band, Nasty Delicious. The actor loved the name his show’s writers came up with for the school in the series: Studs Terkel — a nice homage to the legendary Chicago writer and broadcaster.

“The writers get all the credit for that one,” said Robinson. “They are big Studs fans. In real life, I taught at Horace Mann on the South Side.”

While the essence of Robinson’s TV show is inspired by his own life, he made a point of saying, “We’ve taken it in a lot of new and totally fictional directions. I don’t sit there with the writers and come up with the scripts. That’s their job. We just go in and take it from there.”

That said, his real band Nasty Delicious IS in the show, and while his real-life brother and bandmate Chris Rob is also playing on camera — as he does during the band’s non-TV gigs — it’s the actor Brandon T. Jackson who plays Robinson’s younger brother in the sitcom.

The band’s presence on the show is a big plus for Robinson.

“Whenever we can get together and play — either for an opening on the show, in the middle or at the end — it gives me an important boost,” he said. “I always look forward to playing and singing the music, as it keeps my energy way up.”

Another thing he likes about the show is the way the writers have honed it to incorporate both humor and messages appropriate for teens. “There are teaching moments you’ll see in the show, because they are based on real stuff going on out there,” said Robinson, pointing specifically to a scene where he catches a favorite student with a joint in the school’s parking lot.

“Mr. Robinson” was a project that took a number of years before it was ready to debut on network television. According to Robinson, he began developing the sitcom while he was still doing “The Office,” NBC didn’t pick up the first attempt at a pilot, but after a lot of tweaking and re-tuning, the network did give the go-ahead for six new episodes.

Two episodes will debut each week “and we’ll see how it goes from there,” depending on how the audience reacts to the initial half-dozen shows.

One big change from the first incarnation of “Mr. Robinson”: That first pilot was set in Seattle, for some reason. “It felt very good to bring it back to Chicago,” said Robinson.

The only actor who stayed on from the original pilot is Amandla Stenberg, the teen actress who played ill-fated tribute Rue in “The Hunger Games.” Robinson told me he is “constantly blown away by how talented Amandla is. … She not only sings, but she also plays like nine instruments! She’s incredible.”

With that, Robinson was forced to bring our interview to a close, as he was off to another “Spamalot” rehearsal. “After all, you know you ARE talking to King Arthur here, don’t you?”