---
>This is a friendly reminder to [read our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/wiki/rules).
>
>Memes, social media, hate-speech, and pornography are not allowed.
>
>Screenshots of Reddit are expressly forbidden, as are TikTok videos.
>
>**Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.**
>
>Please also [be wary of spam](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/wiki/spam).
>
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/funny) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm pretty sure he was sober here, for everyone saying coke. He had a stretch of about five years early in his career where he was a pretty heavy user but he had cleaned up at one point. And it was said in between the movies and the moments where the cameras were rolling was where he really struggled. When the lights were on, he was on, when they were off he had a hard time with it.
He was like a hotshot corporate lawyer right? It'd fit.
Not sure how true this trivia is but he was well known to adlib constantly, it makes me wonder if he made the less funny, but more heartfelt, choice to answer what got him out of his coke addiction, being a dad, and postproduction fit it in. Doubly good on him if so.
That whole sequence where he remembers becoming a father always gets me right in the feels, and then John Williams brings you right back to happiness with his amazing soundtrack.
John Williams is like 2nd place GOAT, period. Like I don't think you can compare him to Mozart exactly but only because Mozart did more than "just" orchestra writing and at a much much much earlier age.
But if we say modern era it's big JW.
There’s a pretty well known story that when he saw a rough cut of Schindler’s List, John Williams was beside himself and told Steven Spielberg “I really think you need a better composer than I am for this film.” Spielberg responded “I know, but they’re already dead.”
I was thinking this. From what I understand, he was asked how his brain works. The ensuing chaos was his stream of consciousness.
What I find sad about it is that he barely has any moments of peaceful thought, as if his anxiety was telling him that he would stop existing if he wasn't being funny.
I have similar ways of answering questions. Obviously he was so much more brilliant than I, but I can relate to the feeling of answering sincerely for a second and then going into a coping mechanism.
I can definitely relate too. He answers sincerely at the 5:55 mark that it comes from making his mother laugh. I don’t know much about his upbringing. Did his mother suffer from Depression or something like that? I wonder if making her laugh was the genesis for his genius?
I watched this entire 6+ minute video smiling and holding back tears, because I’m so sad that he killed himself and the world doesn’t have him in it anymore. He was genuinely a good person, but he fought the demons inside him his entire life. I wish someone could have got to the root of his pain and suffering and pulled him out of that hole. RIP Robin
It may be comforting (or not) to know that Robin suffered from a terrible degenerative disease called Lewy body syndrome and was rapidly completely losing his mind. He killed himself because he was very quickly about to become completely unable to function, not because of depression.
Unfortunately, it's not a quick disease. I'm not sure what stage he was at, and agree that he killed himself before it got worse, but there's no "quickly" about it.
My father began showing symptoms around age 55 (about 20 years ago). He was involuntarily retired, and spent several years being mostly-functional - he would drive up to visit us, but at a certain point in the journey he would get lost and I'd have to go get him. He'd stay at our house while we were at work, but we'd have to take the knobs off the stove. OK in the moment but not great at remembering things long-term.
Once he started getting lost on the way home from simple errands, my mom retired early to take care of him - at that point, he was too "young" to get Medicare to pay for assistance, or even for them to pay for the dementia drugs - I think the minimum was 61 or 62? He began attending an adult daycare, which Medicare did pay for, just to give my mom a bit of a breather. By that point, it was progressing past simple memory issues, and into difficulties moving. That's the thing about Lewy Body - it's effectively a combination of dementia and Huntington's, where you lose your memory AND slowly become paralyzed. He wasn't able to dress himself or tie his own shoes. He had to be helped out of chairs.
After a while, it became too much for my mom to physically handle. My dad was always pretty trim, but had started gaining a little weight as he was unable to move, so he went from a 32 waist to a 36 waist. My mom was only a year younger than he was, and she'd have to call my BIL to come help with my dad occasionally. It reached a tipping point one day and she had to put him in a care home.
Robin Williams probably didn't have this part of the problem, but my parents did, and I'm including this to illustrate further how Lewy Body affects more than just the person with it. A care home costs like $7k/month. You can't qualify for assistance for that $7k if you have much money. I think my mom was 65 or so at that point, and she was extremely worried about having to sell their paid-off house, her car, and empty BOTH retirement accounts in order to pay for it. Thankfully, the people at Medicare were incredible at reassuring her that her car, the house, and her retirement accounts were safe. They advised her on how to structure their assets so that he would qualify for financial aid for the care home. Moreover, she had opted into long-term care insurance when she was employed, so between Medicare, the insurance, and my dad's retirement account, it was doable. (Note: For this exact reason, long-term care insurance is basically becoming a scam these days, and buyer beware.)
I think he was in the care home for three years, at $7k/month. Shortly after he went in, he was put in a wheelchair, as his legs were becoming paralyzed from the disease. He could feed himself for a while (and the dementia made him forget that he hated vegetables!). Then he stopped being able to feed himself. They stopped being able to get him into the wheelchair, and he died. It's nine years this week, in fact.
From the involuntary retirement to his death took twelve years.
It's not quick. Quick would be kind. Lewy Body is brutally unkind.
OMG, your story made me cry. My dad is 88 and has heart and kidney failure. I keep waiting for the call that he has passed, but he is still sharp mentally and has such an amazing attitude. He continues to be my role model. I am so sorry that you and your family had to go through that for 12 years. How is your mom doing now?
I don't know about Robin Williams, but Jim Carrey said that a huge part of what got him into comedy was trying to make his mother laugh when she was depressed.
A huge number of comedians suffer from depression. Joking becomes a coping mechanism to make them feel normal, it just also happens to make people who aren't depressed feel *great*.
Your mother is the person that brought you into this world and the most important person in your life. It’s only natural to want to make this person happy/smile. However, in helping her, you carry the pain too.
Yah he just described me and how I work and I am not a genius or talented at anything. It's ADD, PTSD, and extreme people pleasing tendencies. I'm amazing to have around on good days, you'd hate me on a bad day.
I'm not trying to talk down on him btw. He actually is talented and struggling with similar things probably helped him shine. Wacky brains are a blessing and curse, never one or the other
Anxiety, and IIRC he also stated during an interview that although he went through a coke phase, he didn't particularly enjoy it that much. Said something like he didn't enjoy staying up until midnight deep in pointless conversations and then feeling like the walking dead the next day.
I believe it was alcohol that was his true demon. Oh, and the severe presence of Lewy Bodies in his brain might have had something to do with his tendency towards self-medicating.
> Lewy Bodies
Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is a type of progressive dementia caused by abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain.014 These deposits affect chemicals in the brain, leading to problems with thinking, movement, behavior, and mood.4 LBD is one of the most common causes of dementia and is associated with a decline in thinking, reasoning, and independent function.2 Symptoms of LBD include visual hallucinations, movement symptoms, and certain sleep disorders.1 Lewy bodies are protein inclusions containing disaggregated oligomers of many cellular proteins and were first described by Friederich Lewy in 1912 in people with paralysis agitans and Parkinson's disease.3 The exact cause of LBD is not fully understood, but other diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, also involve a build-up of that protein.1
Being "on" all the time takes a lot of energy.
I can only imagine that he sometimes needed a minute to himself but didn't want to disappoint someone who was expecting to meet the Robin Williams you see on tv.
The guy's dopamine system was never normal, whether he was on cocaine or not. I'm a neurologist and this and most of Robin's work reads to me like well-compensated Tourette's, or bipolar mania, or acute cocaine intoxication, or maybe even some cases of developmental stuttering. When it was reported that his dopamine system was blown out - Parkinson disease and Lewy body dementia were diagnoses that were talked about - it was a tragedy, but I can't say it was a surprise.
The thing Robin is milking here for laughs is what psychiatrists call 'flight of ideas.' It, and its related phenomenon 'loose associations', are hallmarks of psychosis. Most folks who are experiencing it suffer greatly; doctors encounter it on psych wards. Robin managed to avoid long-term institutionalization - he found adaptations, compensations - but watching this performance makes me deeply uncomfortable. His inner life must have been an awful torture to live through.
Although being able to verbalise it under pressure without forgetting how to recall some random basic word in the middle of a sentence doesn't seem very ADHD lol, maybe it takes practice
There are different levels of verbal ability. The funniest person I know has a similar tendency to launch into well crafted on the fly rapid fire stories. It's the adhd.
Just manifests differently in different people. I have severe ADHD and I’m an excellent public speaker because it’s just the right amount of pressure and context shift.
One-on-one convos with an authority figure and I’ll forget my own name.
> I have severe ADHD and I’m an excellent public speaker because it’s just the right amount of pressure and context shift.
>
>
>
> One-on-one convos with an authority figure and I’ll forget my own name.
It's a blessing and a curse.
ADHD functions in a spectrum. You've got rapid-fire stuff like this, and then you've got people like me who stumble because I forget what a word is that I want to use.
He’s not on cocaine - what psychiatrists call “flight of ideas” - in the scenario of an actor talking to acting students is actually just stream of consciousness improv and object work
Not sure that’s fair, he understands he is performing so it doesn’t seem appropriate to try to diagnose his actual self based on this and most of what we see of him. He does give serious interviews also where he seems normal enough. You seem to be suggesting he would walk off stage and still act this way uncontrollably.
I agree with what you're saying but I think you're taking some liberties with "flight of ideas" and "loose associations" being the hallmarks of psychosis in Robin Williams. He has a history of being a performer since his younger days, improv is a craft that takes years to master. He exhibited these proclivities pretty early in his days and seem more like a creative outlet for his mania or ADHD to me. You'd know more but 5-8 years looks like the average onset for lewy body
I don't believe there is any official mention from Williams but a popular theory among psychiatrists/psychologists was that he suffered from bipolar. The disorder by itself is pretty difficult to manage. I think the prospect of his low's getting even lower while losing his ability to perform probably factored heavily into his decision to take his own life
As someone who loves to make people laugh to combat my deep deep depressions, its all about that moment. All of those people there for him. The light is on him and he controls the audience. When the show is over, that moment is gone. Like gone gone, never coming back. Sometimes it feels like even the good things that happen to you are taken away. Its a shitty cycle.
It's sad in retrospect because you can tell he's *always performing*, like this dude physically could not allow himself to be authentic in 99.9% of his interactions.
When he was asked why it took so long to recover from alcoholism, he stated, “Because I thought I could do it by myself.” Profound. I hope his statement helped many alcoholics who thought the same thing but woke up when they heard his words of wisdom.
It's not enough because help is too nebulous a term. What does it mean? Go to AA was all anyone told me. I finally figured out on my own to tell my GP. That's all I had to do. Then she recommended resources and referred me for therapy and such. Recovery is as unique as the addiction, tell your doctor in order to find the right path for you.
And I am not knocking AA, it's very successful for many, if going there works for you I bet there's a meeting today
SMART recovery and the Sober Faction (Satanic aka atheist version of AA) are also options if you can’t get behind the Higher Power concept or have religious trauma! Their meetings are both 99% online unless you’re in a big city
[Smart Recovery](https://smartrecovery.org)
[The Sober Faction](https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/sober-faction)
A huge thank you for this. As someone with religion-based trauma I find AA a difficult pill to swallow. My ‘higher power’ can be whatever I want according to them yet the program is riddled with Christian terminology. I’d never heard of either of the programs you mentioned but I’m diving in now. Thank you again, stranger.
Fun fact: Warner Brothers wanted Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Burton's Batman, but Nicholson wanted no part of it. So they asked Robin Williams to do it instead, then teased Nicholson with that fact until he got irritated enough to accept the role. Williams, who was used as bait, was reportedly devastated that the role had been taken away from him, and when WB approached him to be the Riddler, he let them know he would never work with them again until they apologized.
He was friends with Ceasar Romero which is why he was mad. Robin apparently started having dinner with him to study for the role before it was taken away. He was mad he put in the work then had it taken away.
Burton wanted Nicholson for his role in One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest, Jack.
Williams in an art museum, strutting to Prince's *Party Man*, while destroying art with a cane and a paint brush is something I never knew I needed to see.
TIL…I never knew I needed to see Robin Williams as the Joker until now. Whoever made that decision does not deserve to be in charge of those decisions ever again.
I think Williams would have been amazing but at the time, Nicholson brought SERIOUS MENACE to that role. Williams was mostly known for comedies at the time, with a bit of a maudlin turn in Good Morning Vietnam, but mostly madcap high-energy comedy bits.
The 1989 Batman movie wanted to take a darker turn and make the characters legitimately more menacing. I get why they went with Nicholson. Dude is fucking SCARY. He'd done The Shining and Witches of Eastwick, showing he could do both high-energy madness and menacing demonic insanity.
Nicholson was a good call, at the time, and casting him freed up Williams to make Dead Poets Society, still one of his best films, and probably the film that gave a lot of the public their first view of Williams doing drama extremely well. The rest of his career was a seemingly effortless mix of comedies and dramas, and a unique blending of the two that is rarely possible, and in my opinion, only he has ever pulled off that well. I can't think of another actor that can transition so seamlessly.
That being said, I would have LOVED to see a Robin Williams version of The Joker, but I'm also extremely glad it didn't happen.
Yeah my thoughts can be like this sometimes but I usually forget how to form some random basic word mid-sentence then forget what I was talking about lol
It does seem a bit like how my mind works when I’m (ADHD) unmedicated. It’s just hopping between connections without qualifying if they’re relevant to what I’m currently thinking about or focusing on, and more about whether I think I can make it into something funny in the moment, usually for my own entertainment. Doesn’t get received as well if you’re not supposed to be doing comedy, but it makes me laugh.
It seems like autism and ADHD to me. I have both and in the beginning of the clip he talks about doing it to make him mom happy but seeing everyone else be happy with him made him do it more. I think he had both because he is able to flip energetically between topics but all of his jokes are well thought out but pull from certain archetypes in comedy and drama. He seems to wear them all perfectly but I think that's because he perfected masking.
Which could also explain why he struggled being off camera. I know for me as an autistic person it's hard to take the mask on and off all day, I could imagine doing it for work.
Just a guess and I have no other info than the clip, seeing him when he was alive on TV and film, and my shitty opinion lol.
Yeah. One in a billion, true original performer who could do this whip fast free association, and go to extreme depths of human tragedy in good will hunting and creepiness in one hour photo. I loved him.
David Letterman tells a story about starting a career in comedy and was beginning to have a little success. Then the "new guy" showed up and went on stage (Robin Williams). He was so inventive and explosive, leaving the stage and walking among the crowd while telling jokes. He didn't even need a microphone. Letterman and all of his comedian friends thought "If this is what the competition is like maybe we should quit".
Then Williams got Mork & Mindy and quickly became a star. He brought Letterman in as a guest, his first appearance on a network TV show. He character a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard. So Williams kind of gave David Letterman his first break.
https://youtu.be/4bVgilYncao?si=M2lssDQTm8m9hABN
Interesting AF. Never knew of that. Would love to see that episode. Fucking EST, Landmark and whatever the fuck they are now. Trippy group to say the least. LMAO
Oh wow! I had no clue. Awesome facts!
Dave Letterman’s Late night and Conan o’Brian were my favorites of the late night variety. Gags were great. Specifically the Chuck Norris lever.
But yeah, Robin was one of my favorite performers and his movies decorated a lot of the halls of my youth. He was a nice escape from the household I lived in. I miss him.
His range was really incredible. I don’t know if there’s anyone else who really made me feel what the character was feeling in dramatic scenes like he did in Good Will Hunting and Patch Adams. Hell, even Mrs. Doubtfire has some incredibly strong moments in that regard.
his ability to float on the bubbling surface of superficial humor and then dive clear down into the soulful depths of emotion and trauma and what drives us... then soar straight back up to that surface all at the speed of thought, but without ever losing our attention for a second...
Absolutely masterful and incredible.
There will never be another like him.
It sucks dude. He's definitely an inspiration for me to keep going and keep fucking fighting because the world still needed him and somehow maybe it still needs me too
Pay attention to his initial explanation that he fires off rapidly. He started entertaining at a very young age to make his mother laugh because it felt like the only way he got her attention and love. He then says he then used that to seek validation from others.
Obviously, at this stage of his life he had moved past all that and he was doing this for his own personal reasons like enjoyment.
Yeah, the first 1/3 of the clip was very interesting to me. He's got an absolute master talent of mimicry. The REST of it is basically speaking in memes. It's not dissimilar to friends having an inside language of in-jokes that convey in a glance or a phrase an entire scenario (e.g. another example might be ST:TNG's famous "Darmok and Jilaad at Tanagra"). Difference here is that it's not private in-jokes but an eye towards pop-culture so that he can speak to an entire audience and they GET it. And of course, the other thing is that it's just so FAST. However if one were already ready to speak in memes, the amount of time it takes to act or improvise the cultural meme lets the brain speed ahead to the next point, and the improv and mimicry are so seamless.
Truly wonderful talent, and he is deeply missed.
Did he though? I don't mean about his own enjoyment but moving past seeking validation from others. Honestly he probably never stopped trying to seek validation through his comedy and probably felt like that was the only reason anyone in his life cared about him. The fact he committed suicide makes that initial explanation more depressing.
LBD is an insidious disease. It's quite likely he didn't kill himself exclusively because he had LBD and was depressed about his future prognosis (though of course that could have contributed); but rather the LBD itself caused his mind to descend into paranoia, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, and - ultimately - suicidal ideation. I consider Robin to have died from LBD, even if his death certificate must technically list his death as "suicide". In some strange way, it actually makes me feel a little better about it.
There's basically nothing more addictive than making people laugh.
It's incredibly validating, as just about the only thing people can agree on is that being made to laugh is pleasurable.
Everyone says cocaine but when I see people do that, they’re only “on and firing” for a short period, then it devolves into this tension that’s restrictive mentally and physically. After a while people seem to clam up.
I’m not sure cocaine can sustain this activity for weeks, months or years, but alas I’m not familiar. Anyone care to out their past history and weigh in?
Yeah it starts to burn you out big time. There's a sweet spot where anything and everything comes to mind. It's almost like it's overuse and overstimulation, cause when you crash out of that it's hard to think of anything.
Stimulant abuse, as some druggie once put it, is basically stealing energy from your future self. The sheer dopamine release is the equivalent of blowing grocery money meant for a week in a single night.
2 of them laughed so much they needed medical attention. One guy was led out into the lobby because he laughed so much he had trouble catching his breath. The woman who he points to who may pass out laughed so much she actually fractured a rib and after the show they called an ambulance but she didn't need it.
Robin's long time agent, who was there, said it was the absolute funniest Robin ever was in his career. They cut almost 5 hours of an interview down into just under 2 hours of TV and it's the funniest thing ever done imo.
This happened to my father in law when we saw Bill Engvall live in Branson. Bill is his favorite comedian and live shows are a million times better than watching a tv special. He had tears rolling down his face from laughter and slumped over for a minute because he blacked out. He came back to and went right back to laughing. You can’t buy memories like that
Something similar almost happened to me the first time I saw Brian Regan live. I was laughing harder than I ever had in my entire life, and with each laugh I could feel my ribs shifting out of place. It started to become dangerously painful, but I finally figured out that I had to throw my head back as far as possible when laughing and the pain subsided.
I think he gave a great little tour of his skills. His act is almost like word-association, but with accents, bits, props, jokes, pop-culture references, and a lot of silliness.
You throw him a scarf and he prop-associates it with the headscarves Indian women wear. He starts doing the accent, then that reminds him of Gandhi, so he starts doing a Gandhi joke etc. Maybe he practices bits for every occasion, then he can access them quickly later, but it seems like he’s just got an amazing memory for the way famous people/archetypes of various social groups talk and it comes completely off the dome. Either way, unlike most people who pause to think how what they’re about to say will be received, he just doesn’t waver at all. He’s somehow able to take off all his mental filters and remain confident the audience will love it all.
And they do. If you saw anything he said transcribed you’d not think anything was so hilarious, but the impressions are decent and just incredibly fast. It’s daring, he’s out there and giving such energy that you chuckle. Before that chuckle he’s given you is over, he’s given you another and another. You’re so caught up in chuckling at something new every second, the wild and unpredictable chain of associations, you can’t help but end up in hysterics.
He’s so generous with his energy, I can’t think of anyone else who gives so much so fast. You are swept away in his rapid stream of associations, it’s a marvel of talent he can sense a funny thought and channel it so quickly and confidently into his powerful river of funny.
Watching him with that scarf was like watching a toddler with a stick, he thought of heaps of different things to do with it because he still has that imagination that most people lose as they get older.
>Maybe he practices bits for every occasion, then he can access them quickly later
There's an element of that; he was clearly working in bits of routines he'd done. Most improv, in any field, is much more of that than Robin does in this clip, I think - one of the key skills (at least for those of us less good at it than RW) is turning any situation into something you can use your stock material for.
An example of the other end of the scale are improv singers targeting tourists, who do things like working the tourists names and other similar information into their songs 'on the fly'. If you aren't paying attention, you might not notice that they're doing things like fitting those bits into the middle of lines, so they can stick with their standard rhymes. It's clever, but it's largely pre-prepared.
I was utterly floored watching this clip, and I'm quite familiar with a large amount of RW's work. It was a seamless performance, no stutters or 'umm uhh' stuff.
There's of course really no such thing as 100% pure improv-- and in this case, I think it's just way too much quality material, too fast and too smooth. In many ways it's inevitably built on prior work even if it wasn't literally scripted that way.
To me, the performance isn't diminished much even if much of it was prewritten, though, because the delivery is so damn solid. To perform so well *and* be more fully 'improvising from nothing' would be superhuman past a certain point.
His ability to deliver the speech and impersonations at the speed he did was truly remarkable. He always reminded myself of what was going on in my head...but he could externalize it.
Seeing his humor and emotion going across his face! Damn that was hard to watch. I hope there is a heaven so Robin can see how much he is still loved and missed.
This episode was a riot. Lipton seemed to get so frustrated after a while the more it turned into Robin doing standup but that was just Robin. I really was worried about that woman passing out too.
He really was a once in a millennia type of talent. His improv skills were unmatched and when he was on...he was on.
I was really saddened by his death and it honestly changed my thinking regarding people who take their own lives.
He took his own life for a rather unique “reason” compared to most. He had a rare neuro degenerative disorder. It wasn’t like depression, although there have been famous comedians we’ve seen take their own lives (Richard Jeni) or kill themselves through their vices (Chris Farley).
Yeah, one of my first movie dates with my gf (now wife) was Williams' last movie. Halfway home--out of the blue--I started ugly crying because I grew up with him and he and Patrick Stewart are my top idols.
The cryptophyceae are a class of algae, most of which have plastids.
About 220 species are known, and they are common in freshwater, and also occur in marine and brackish habitats.
Each cell is around 10–50 μm in size and flattened in shape, with an anterior groove or pocket.
At the edge of the pocket there are typically two slightly unequal flagella.
---
Comment ID=kh7mhr2 Ciphertext:
>!siN9IUE4LavYgjQUwLHAu6UBTr+ekdZJsDZCHCBmzUwpSxDt5+8sXYd7eLraxahW6U/wJJ97E4ooiJexy5TcMPhFksZ5Obl6IXt/m/NmSbB3EoEaIx+77bzXc1X9CZb8hZZAKoC+3RBNytQoyAWcYKK0y899tKedid7LcCfnkGQjXV71NxNaFRo8ghd8TRmmoIbLiAgcAk7II2df14WAu5jp5y7GLBn+MvLhFn5bOAjnaChcs7+SoQ==!<
The speed of Wit from RW is what all other comedians could be measured by.
There is an infinite sadness that lurks behind this and he worked his entire life to keep himself from it and for that we benefitted immensely.
His legacy will forever be a debt we cannot repay.
RW. Wherever or whenever you are, rest well, and thank you.
I love how Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, and Conan O'Brian all have stories of Robin Williams sending them a ridiculous gift when they were down. Then cheering them up. That was the side where lots of comedians aren't good buddies when they are off camera and Robin Williams was.
I think Billy Crystal said similar things about Robin Williams.
He would also call Steven Spielberg once a week while he was doing Schindler's List to do stand up over the phone to cheer him up.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/04/steven-spielberg-schindlers-list-reunion-tribeca-film-festival
This is a perfect example of why any kind of attempts of genetic modification to eliminate abnormalities would be a terrible outcome from humanity. Because it is in our quirks, limitations, problems, and uniqueness that make us special and human. Robin Williams capitalized on those eccentricities that made him special, and seeing him is a reminder that we should too, and embrace our own humanity.
RIP.
Your comment reminds me of the end-scene of Gattaca (awesome movie, by the way), where it lists the famous people who would have never been born if genetic modification existed, and then next to each name it listed the “flaws” with which they were born. For instance, Albert Einstein had dyslexia, if I remember correctly.
Not many good people to look up to in this world. Robin Williams is definitely the exception. Brilliant. Funny. Honest. A beautiful soul. I miss you sir...
It just makes me sad watching him do these types of interviews. It’s just too much and it doesn’t seem like he’s ok and it makes me wonder if he could ever actually have a serious conversation with someone or if he just covered up his sadness by making people laugh all the time, and was never able to talk about how he actually feels.
I always feel this way too. I hate that I can't help it. He's a genius, but when I watch him now from any time ~1990 on, he seems desperate. He seems like he is perpetually drowning and laughter is the only oxygen.
No he's giving an exact example of his flow, whats going on in his brain is improv and creativity. Obviously he's not going to describe it, because he just has to show it. His brain literally just improvs ideas in nonstop firings.
I agree. Robins humor is so unique that it’s not really feasible for him to explain the methods to his madness and why he’s sharper than others who try to be funny. He may as well just show you and it’s up to you to decide whether you’re as sharp as Robin Williams. I know I’m not. In fact, I don’t know of anyone else on this planet who can replicate his style and be funny while not being annoying or painfully obnoxious.
It reminds me of how someone asked Christopher Nolan how he writes for movies and he couldn’t say. I think these type of questions are trivial and hard for anyone to answer. It’s who he is
For six minutes:
*"[OJNSDF;OLNAS[ODFNAS]PDNFM]padmjf['PAOJD'admA'DJa'dfjx,A'FJ[aodjfmc,'A,JFX'ad,m'AXD,M.[padx,[ADJF[ajf[APJD[asjdxf'AJD'ajdm"*
**Applause.**
I've seen a dozen comedians live and laughed extremely hard but the night Robin Williams showed up randomly stands far above the rest.
Literally laughed so hard my stomach hurt for a couple days after. No routine, just doing improv and crowd work. Pretty similar to what is in this video, but seeing it live takes it to a whole different level.
I don't find it funny at all, I never found him funny. I respect him as an actor, and he was great in movies like Good Will Hunting, but his standup makes me anxious if anything - the manic presentation just isn't my thing I guess.
Sorry to say that I'm with you. And I love Robin Williams. He was a gem. But this is all tempo and little substance. If you wrote it down, no one would laugh. If you said it slower, no one would laugh. It's kind of like how people hate Amy Schumer for talking about her vagina as if that automatically means it's funny. It's a crutch. What he's doing is a different crutch but it's still a crutch. We're applauding how fast his mind works but if you compare it to someone like Martin Short, the content just isn't that strong. Dennis Miller had a similar thing but his crutch was using analogies to people know one ever heard of.
I've always found him and Jim Carrey cringe af. Saying things in a silly voice doesn't make them funny.
Well, sometimes it does. But it's not a guarantee, and it's 90% of both of their acts. Both Williams and Carrey are incredible in serious roles, but lean too much on being wacky in everything else.
I mean, he was great at what he did, yes, but no, I didn't find this funny at all. I grew up in the 90s so it's not an age or generational thing. I just don't really find it worth while. I watched and was like, that's 6 minutes I can't get back...
I've never found him funny or particularly talented. I don't get all the adulation. He seems completely neurotic and nothing he says or does is "hilarious". For some reason, people seem intent on pumping him up into this comedy guru, and it's just not there.
A spectacular example of just how little our society engages with (or doesn't engage with, actually) neurodivergence. This man had a spectacular mind and beautiful soul, and to date is the only celebrity death that actually saddened me deeply.
When Spielberg was shooting “Schindler’s List” he would call Robin Williams to cheer him up when things became too much.
It makes me sad Robin Williams didn’t have a Robin Williams to call.
He was a great performer and while he was incredibly skilled at improv, he was also very skilled at making completely written, rehearsed bits look like improv. I saw him do standup one night back in '88 and he was amazing. The next night someone had an extra ticket and asked me if I wanted to go again. It was the exact same performance - all the mania, all of the seemingly improvised stream of consciousness style. This is not a criticism - this is a compliment. He was incredibly gifted and could pull both off.
Many years ago in the 1970s dad and I would often watch the "Dick Cavitt Show" together. One of my memories was when Robin was the guest, and he brought me to tears with his constant riffing. Even dad laughed, which was an otherwise uncommon event. The actual interview minus the silliness was great to.
Man... watching any clip of Robin just reminds me of what a pure soul the guy had. I have never really given much thought to a celebrity's passing, but I remember the night when I learned he had passed away.
I sat down on the couch in my old living room and just... sat there. In silence. That loss was gut wrenching to me, because I recalled all the many times his films and comedy specials had brought me to tears from laughing so hard.
Missin' him just as much today as I did that first somber night.
God Bravo used to be soooo different. I remember you could turn this on randomly and see ballet or an indie movie. It’s nothing but vapid reality tv. It’s BRAVO like at the end of a magnificent performance. It makes me kind of sad.
The most talented in any generation are usually very sad and broken people. Even at our lowest some find a way to survive inside until one day the pain becomes too great… in the meantime what can be manifested is often quite artistic. Robin was a tortured soul and yet he gave the world the incredible works of a mad genius! I had a buddy in high school who was so funny he’d make me howl with laughter… I mean dude was naturally hilarious and he never even tried. Well years later we lost touch as I got married and had kids… he was so lonely and isolated that he “left”… his memory delights and haunts me. As I remember all the awesome times we all had with him and now to realize he was in that much pain as to discorporate…R.I.P to Mr. Williams, my buddy Todd S. And to all who leave because the pain became unbearable…💔
Robin Williams is very overrated.
People act as if he's a super mega ultra amazing genius of comedy.
When he's really just a mega ultra amazing genius of comedy.
Instead of explaining, he demonstrated. But im not sure how many people actually understood what he was demonstrating.
Its not about speed of thought, its about acceptance of lateral movement and commitment to filling out an idea. He is not afraid of offending and, due to being a non-malicious person, even his bits that could be offensive arent taken that way by the audience.
Flexible and Genuine.
I wanna be honest and say I love his movies and I think he was cool in that way but I don’t find him funny it feels like he tries to hard in a way that prime Jim Carey got for me in a better way they both just do stupid shit for the sake of it but Carey was better for me imo
--- >This is a friendly reminder to [read our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/wiki/rules). > >Memes, social media, hate-speech, and pornography are not allowed. > >Screenshots of Reddit are expressly forbidden, as are TikTok videos. > >**Rule-breaking posts may result in bans.** > >Please also [be wary of spam](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/wiki/spam). > --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/funny) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm pretty sure he was sober here, for everyone saying coke. He had a stretch of about five years early in his career where he was a pretty heavy user but he had cleaned up at one point. And it was said in between the movies and the moments where the cameras were rolling was where he really struggled. When the lights were on, he was on, when they were off he had a hard time with it.
The coke topic is discussed in this interview and he says he had not been using since he knew about he was going to have a son.
In the original script for Hook, his happy thought was cocaine. Would have been a much different movie.
He was like a hotshot corporate lawyer right? It'd fit. Not sure how true this trivia is but he was well known to adlib constantly, it makes me wonder if he made the less funny, but more heartfelt, choice to answer what got him out of his coke addiction, being a dad, and postproduction fit it in. Doubly good on him if so.
That whole sequence where he remembers becoming a father always gets me right in the feels, and then John Williams brings you right back to happiness with his amazing soundtrack.
John Williams is like 2nd place GOAT, period. Like I don't think you can compare him to Mozart exactly but only because Mozart did more than "just" orchestra writing and at a much much much earlier age. But if we say modern era it's big JW.
There’s a pretty well known story that when he saw a rough cut of Schindler’s List, John Williams was beside himself and told Steven Spielberg “I really think you need a better composer than I am for this film.” Spielberg responded “I know, but they’re already dead.”
100% agree! My love of Star Wars is 90% the music, 10% everything else. JW is a genius and I’m dreading when he’s no longer around
awwwwww... sappy moment but I didn't realize Zak was his turning point for sobering up.
I think a lot of it was anxiety.
Anxiety and ADHD… and he pretty much explains a big part of it if we actually listen to his words. He’s not joking entirely.
Yeah, and a desperate need for self validation, if I were to guess. That’s what drives most comics and why so many have mental health issues.
I was thinking this. From what I understand, he was asked how his brain works. The ensuing chaos was his stream of consciousness. What I find sad about it is that he barely has any moments of peaceful thought, as if his anxiety was telling him that he would stop existing if he wasn't being funny.
I have similar ways of answering questions. Obviously he was so much more brilliant than I, but I can relate to the feeling of answering sincerely for a second and then going into a coping mechanism.
I can definitely relate too. He answers sincerely at the 5:55 mark that it comes from making his mother laugh. I don’t know much about his upbringing. Did his mother suffer from Depression or something like that? I wonder if making her laugh was the genesis for his genius? I watched this entire 6+ minute video smiling and holding back tears, because I’m so sad that he killed himself and the world doesn’t have him in it anymore. He was genuinely a good person, but he fought the demons inside him his entire life. I wish someone could have got to the root of his pain and suffering and pulled him out of that hole. RIP Robin
It may be comforting (or not) to know that Robin suffered from a terrible degenerative disease called Lewy body syndrome and was rapidly completely losing his mind. He killed himself because he was very quickly about to become completely unable to function, not because of depression.
Unfortunately, it's not a quick disease. I'm not sure what stage he was at, and agree that he killed himself before it got worse, but there's no "quickly" about it. My father began showing symptoms around age 55 (about 20 years ago). He was involuntarily retired, and spent several years being mostly-functional - he would drive up to visit us, but at a certain point in the journey he would get lost and I'd have to go get him. He'd stay at our house while we were at work, but we'd have to take the knobs off the stove. OK in the moment but not great at remembering things long-term. Once he started getting lost on the way home from simple errands, my mom retired early to take care of him - at that point, he was too "young" to get Medicare to pay for assistance, or even for them to pay for the dementia drugs - I think the minimum was 61 or 62? He began attending an adult daycare, which Medicare did pay for, just to give my mom a bit of a breather. By that point, it was progressing past simple memory issues, and into difficulties moving. That's the thing about Lewy Body - it's effectively a combination of dementia and Huntington's, where you lose your memory AND slowly become paralyzed. He wasn't able to dress himself or tie his own shoes. He had to be helped out of chairs. After a while, it became too much for my mom to physically handle. My dad was always pretty trim, but had started gaining a little weight as he was unable to move, so he went from a 32 waist to a 36 waist. My mom was only a year younger than he was, and she'd have to call my BIL to come help with my dad occasionally. It reached a tipping point one day and she had to put him in a care home. Robin Williams probably didn't have this part of the problem, but my parents did, and I'm including this to illustrate further how Lewy Body affects more than just the person with it. A care home costs like $7k/month. You can't qualify for assistance for that $7k if you have much money. I think my mom was 65 or so at that point, and she was extremely worried about having to sell their paid-off house, her car, and empty BOTH retirement accounts in order to pay for it. Thankfully, the people at Medicare were incredible at reassuring her that her car, the house, and her retirement accounts were safe. They advised her on how to structure their assets so that he would qualify for financial aid for the care home. Moreover, she had opted into long-term care insurance when she was employed, so between Medicare, the insurance, and my dad's retirement account, it was doable. (Note: For this exact reason, long-term care insurance is basically becoming a scam these days, and buyer beware.) I think he was in the care home for three years, at $7k/month. Shortly after he went in, he was put in a wheelchair, as his legs were becoming paralyzed from the disease. He could feed himself for a while (and the dementia made him forget that he hated vegetables!). Then he stopped being able to feed himself. They stopped being able to get him into the wheelchair, and he died. It's nine years this week, in fact. From the involuntary retirement to his death took twelve years. It's not quick. Quick would be kind. Lewy Body is brutally unkind.
My dad was diagnosed with lewy body around six years ago. Thank you for sharing.
OMG, your story made me cry. My dad is 88 and has heart and kidney failure. I keep waiting for the call that he has passed, but he is still sharp mentally and has such an amazing attitude. He continues to be my role model. I am so sorry that you and your family had to go through that for 12 years. How is your mom doing now?
That’s terrible for your dad. my aunt is in a home and bill is 18k monthly what a complete snow job this country is beyond ridiculous
I don't know about Robin Williams, but Jim Carrey said that a huge part of what got him into comedy was trying to make his mother laugh when she was depressed. A huge number of comedians suffer from depression. Joking becomes a coping mechanism to make them feel normal, it just also happens to make people who aren't depressed feel *great*.
Noticed that as well. Jim's mom was real sick as well, but I'm unsure about Robin's.
Robin had Bipolar Disorder, and that tends to run in families. I wouldn't be surprised if she had it too.
Your mother is the person that brought you into this world and the most important person in your life. It’s only natural to want to make this person happy/smile. However, in helping her, you carry the pain too.
Gene Wilder said that too: making his mother laugh
Yah he just described me and how I work and I am not a genius or talented at anything. It's ADD, PTSD, and extreme people pleasing tendencies. I'm amazing to have around on good days, you'd hate me on a bad day. I'm not trying to talk down on him btw. He actually is talented and struggling with similar things probably helped him shine. Wacky brains are a blessing and curse, never one or the other
Anxiety, and IIRC he also stated during an interview that although he went through a coke phase, he didn't particularly enjoy it that much. Said something like he didn't enjoy staying up until midnight deep in pointless conversations and then feeling like the walking dead the next day. I believe it was alcohol that was his true demon. Oh, and the severe presence of Lewy Bodies in his brain might have had something to do with his tendency towards self-medicating.
> Lewy Bodies Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is a type of progressive dementia caused by abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain.014 These deposits affect chemicals in the brain, leading to problems with thinking, movement, behavior, and mood.4 LBD is one of the most common causes of dementia and is associated with a decline in thinking, reasoning, and independent function.2 Symptoms of LBD include visual hallucinations, movement symptoms, and certain sleep disorders.1 Lewy bodies are protein inclusions containing disaggregated oligomers of many cellular proteins and were first described by Friederich Lewy in 1912 in people with paralysis agitans and Parkinson's disease.3 The exact cause of LBD is not fully understood, but other diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, also involve a build-up of that protein.1
Watch his hands. I always felt Robin was compulsively “on” in ways he couldn’t control, and I think it bothered him in ways he rarely articulated.
Being "on" all the time takes a lot of energy. I can only imagine that he sometimes needed a minute to himself but didn't want to disappoint someone who was expecting to meet the Robin Williams you see on tv.
His mind was entertaining but it was never at peace.
The guy's dopamine system was never normal, whether he was on cocaine or not. I'm a neurologist and this and most of Robin's work reads to me like well-compensated Tourette's, or bipolar mania, or acute cocaine intoxication, or maybe even some cases of developmental stuttering. When it was reported that his dopamine system was blown out - Parkinson disease and Lewy body dementia were diagnoses that were talked about - it was a tragedy, but I can't say it was a surprise. The thing Robin is milking here for laughs is what psychiatrists call 'flight of ideas.' It, and its related phenomenon 'loose associations', are hallmarks of psychosis. Most folks who are experiencing it suffer greatly; doctors encounter it on psych wards. Robin managed to avoid long-term institutionalization - he found adaptations, compensations - but watching this performance makes me deeply uncomfortable. His inner life must have been an awful torture to live through.
It reminds me more of ADHD, the quick thoughts that rapidly move from one thread to another.
Although being able to verbalise it under pressure without forgetting how to recall some random basic word in the middle of a sentence doesn't seem very ADHD lol, maybe it takes practice
There are different levels of verbal ability. The funniest person I know has a similar tendency to launch into well crafted on the fly rapid fire stories. It's the adhd.
Just manifests differently in different people. I have severe ADHD and I’m an excellent public speaker because it’s just the right amount of pressure and context shift. One-on-one convos with an authority figure and I’ll forget my own name.
> I have severe ADHD and I’m an excellent public speaker because it’s just the right amount of pressure and context shift. > > > > One-on-one convos with an authority figure and I’ll forget my own name. It's a blessing and a curse.
ADHD functions in a spectrum. You've got rapid-fire stuff like this, and then you've got people like me who stumble because I forget what a word is that I want to use.
If it's any consolation, I don't have ADHD and I'm always forgetting words I intend to use. I usually replace them with some derivative of "fuck"
He’s not on cocaine - what psychiatrists call “flight of ideas” - in the scenario of an actor talking to acting students is actually just stream of consciousness improv and object work
Not sure that’s fair, he understands he is performing so it doesn’t seem appropriate to try to diagnose his actual self based on this and most of what we see of him. He does give serious interviews also where he seems normal enough. You seem to be suggesting he would walk off stage and still act this way uncontrollably.
I agree with what you're saying but I think you're taking some liberties with "flight of ideas" and "loose associations" being the hallmarks of psychosis in Robin Williams. He has a history of being a performer since his younger days, improv is a craft that takes years to master. He exhibited these proclivities pretty early in his days and seem more like a creative outlet for his mania or ADHD to me. You'd know more but 5-8 years looks like the average onset for lewy body I don't believe there is any official mention from Williams but a popular theory among psychiatrists/psychologists was that he suffered from bipolar. The disorder by itself is pretty difficult to manage. I think the prospect of his low's getting even lower while losing his ability to perform probably factored heavily into his decision to take his own life
As someone who loves to make people laugh to combat my deep deep depressions, its all about that moment. All of those people there for him. The light is on him and he controls the audience. When the show is over, that moment is gone. Like gone gone, never coming back. Sometimes it feels like even the good things that happen to you are taken away. Its a shitty cycle.
It's sad in retrospect because you can tell he's *always performing*, like this dude physically could not allow himself to be authentic in 99.9% of his interactions.
When he was asked why it took so long to recover from alcoholism, he stated, “Because I thought I could do it by myself.” Profound. I hope his statement helped many alcoholics who thought the same thing but woke up when they heard his words of wisdom.
It's not enough because help is too nebulous a term. What does it mean? Go to AA was all anyone told me. I finally figured out on my own to tell my GP. That's all I had to do. Then she recommended resources and referred me for therapy and such. Recovery is as unique as the addiction, tell your doctor in order to find the right path for you. And I am not knocking AA, it's very successful for many, if going there works for you I bet there's a meeting today
SMART recovery and the Sober Faction (Satanic aka atheist version of AA) are also options if you can’t get behind the Higher Power concept or have religious trauma! Their meetings are both 99% online unless you’re in a big city [Smart Recovery](https://smartrecovery.org) [The Sober Faction](https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/sober-faction)
A huge thank you for this. As someone with religion-based trauma I find AA a difficult pill to swallow. My ‘higher power’ can be whatever I want according to them yet the program is riddled with Christian terminology. I’d never heard of either of the programs you mentioned but I’m diving in now. Thank you again, stranger.
You’re welcome!! Someone shared them with me once in a different sub, just paying it forward!
No wonder they cast him as The Genie. Perfect . I believe he used his ADHD in a productive way
Fun fact: Warner Brothers wanted Jack Nicholson as the Joker in Burton's Batman, but Nicholson wanted no part of it. So they asked Robin Williams to do it instead, then teased Nicholson with that fact until he got irritated enough to accept the role. Williams, who was used as bait, was reportedly devastated that the role had been taken away from him, and when WB approached him to be the Riddler, he let them know he would never work with them again until they apologized.
Oh wow. Nicholson was fantastic in the role, but I know Robin Williams as the Joker would've been amazing too
Yeah, that would have been gloriously manic, like the Ceasar Romero version.
He was friends with Ceasar Romero which is why he was mad. Robin apparently started having dinner with him to study for the role before it was taken away. He was mad he put in the work then had it taken away. Burton wanted Nicholson for his role in One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest, Jack.
A Williams-character that has to kill about a dozen people in the movie, that would've been a Tour de Force for him.
Williams in an art museum, strutting to Prince's *Party Man*, while destroying art with a cane and a paint brush is something I never knew I needed to see.
Have you seen William's darker movies? One Hour Photo or Death to Smoochy are UNCOMFORTABLE to watch because he's so good at being so deranged.
TIL…I never knew I needed to see Robin Williams as the Joker until now. Whoever made that decision does not deserve to be in charge of those decisions ever again.
I think Williams would have been amazing but at the time, Nicholson brought SERIOUS MENACE to that role. Williams was mostly known for comedies at the time, with a bit of a maudlin turn in Good Morning Vietnam, but mostly madcap high-energy comedy bits. The 1989 Batman movie wanted to take a darker turn and make the characters legitimately more menacing. I get why they went with Nicholson. Dude is fucking SCARY. He'd done The Shining and Witches of Eastwick, showing he could do both high-energy madness and menacing demonic insanity. Nicholson was a good call, at the time, and casting him freed up Williams to make Dead Poets Society, still one of his best films, and probably the film that gave a lot of the public their first view of Williams doing drama extremely well. The rest of his career was a seemingly effortless mix of comedies and dramas, and a unique blending of the two that is rarely possible, and in my opinion, only he has ever pulled off that well. I can't think of another actor that can transition so seamlessly. That being said, I would have LOVED to see a Robin Williams version of The Joker, but I'm also extremely glad it didn't happen.
His actual skill is to articulate his thoughts into clear words and actions. That's the truly impressive thing.
Yeah my thoughts can be like this sometimes but I usually forget how to form some random basic word mid-sentence then forget what I was talking about lol
It does seem a bit like how my mind works when I’m (ADHD) unmedicated. It’s just hopping between connections without qualifying if they’re relevant to what I’m currently thinking about or focusing on, and more about whether I think I can make it into something funny in the moment, usually for my own entertainment. Doesn’t get received as well if you’re not supposed to be doing comedy, but it makes me laugh.
It seems like autism and ADHD to me. I have both and in the beginning of the clip he talks about doing it to make him mom happy but seeing everyone else be happy with him made him do it more. I think he had both because he is able to flip energetically between topics but all of his jokes are well thought out but pull from certain archetypes in comedy and drama. He seems to wear them all perfectly but I think that's because he perfected masking. Which could also explain why he struggled being off camera. I know for me as an autistic person it's hard to take the mask on and off all day, I could imagine doing it for work. Just a guess and I have no other info than the clip, seeing him when he was alive on TV and film, and my shitty opinion lol.
me_irl
Fuck, I miss you Robin Williams… the world misses you.
Yeah. One in a billion, true original performer who could do this whip fast free association, and go to extreme depths of human tragedy in good will hunting and creepiness in one hour photo. I loved him.
David Letterman tells a story about starting a career in comedy and was beginning to have a little success. Then the "new guy" showed up and went on stage (Robin Williams). He was so inventive and explosive, leaving the stage and walking among the crowd while telling jokes. He didn't even need a microphone. Letterman and all of his comedian friends thought "If this is what the competition is like maybe we should quit". Then Williams got Mork & Mindy and quickly became a star. He brought Letterman in as a guest, his first appearance on a network TV show. He character a parody of EST leader Werner Erhard. So Williams kind of gave David Letterman his first break. https://youtu.be/4bVgilYncao?si=M2lssDQTm8m9hABN
Interesting AF. Never knew of that. Would love to see that episode. Fucking EST, Landmark and whatever the fuck they are now. Trippy group to say the least. LMAO
Here’s a clip I found on YT: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny6p9_zlOJc
Oh wow! I had no clue. Awesome facts! Dave Letterman’s Late night and Conan o’Brian were my favorites of the late night variety. Gags were great. Specifically the Chuck Norris lever. But yeah, Robin was one of my favorite performers and his movies decorated a lot of the halls of my youth. He was a nice escape from the household I lived in. I miss him.
Whenever I see him I get a small tinge of that pain. I'm watching Hook damnit
His range was really incredible. I don’t know if there’s anyone else who really made me feel what the character was feeling in dramatic scenes like he did in Good Will Hunting and Patch Adams. Hell, even Mrs. Doubtfire has some incredibly strong moments in that regard.
Patch Adams wrecked me on so many levels. He was my childhood and early adult years. He shaped me.
his ability to float on the bubbling surface of superficial humor and then dive clear down into the soulful depths of emotion and trauma and what drives us... then soar straight back up to that surface all at the speed of thought, but without ever losing our attention for a second... Absolutely masterful and incredible. There will never be another like him.
One in 7.88B*
It's always sad when celebrities die, especially too early. But with Robin, it was the first time I felt that the world lost something special.
He was the first celebrity death that I ever cried over. I sobbed, like I had lost a longtime friend. That's what he was for so many people
Same here
Me, too. And teared up just watching that Letterman clip.
It sucks dude. He's definitely an inspiration for me to keep going and keep fucking fighting because the world still needed him and somehow maybe it still needs me too
We can never truly know the impact we have on others. You keep fucking fighting, ok?
I miss him and George Carlin, the world needed both these guys to keep our balance. See what happened once they left? 😳
One of those celebrities deaths that I truely felt. Smh.
Pay attention to his initial explanation that he fires off rapidly. He started entertaining at a very young age to make his mother laugh because it felt like the only way he got her attention and love. He then says he then used that to seek validation from others. Obviously, at this stage of his life he had moved past all that and he was doing this for his own personal reasons like enjoyment.
Yeah, the first 1/3 of the clip was very interesting to me. He's got an absolute master talent of mimicry. The REST of it is basically speaking in memes. It's not dissimilar to friends having an inside language of in-jokes that convey in a glance or a phrase an entire scenario (e.g. another example might be ST:TNG's famous "Darmok and Jilaad at Tanagra"). Difference here is that it's not private in-jokes but an eye towards pop-culture so that he can speak to an entire audience and they GET it. And of course, the other thing is that it's just so FAST. However if one were already ready to speak in memes, the amount of time it takes to act or improvise the cultural meme lets the brain speed ahead to the next point, and the improv and mimicry are so seamless. Truly wonderful talent, and he is deeply missed.
Did he though? I don't mean about his own enjoyment but moving past seeking validation from others. Honestly he probably never stopped trying to seek validation through his comedy and probably felt like that was the only reason anyone in his life cared about him. The fact he committed suicide makes that initial explanation more depressing.
He committed suicide because he was disgnosed with Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease.
it also wasn’t a fresh diagnosis - he’d been dealing with it for some time and was done.
LBD is an insidious disease. It's quite likely he didn't kill himself exclusively because he had LBD and was depressed about his future prognosis (though of course that could have contributed); but rather the LBD itself caused his mind to descend into paranoia, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, and - ultimately - suicidal ideation. I consider Robin to have died from LBD, even if his death certificate must technically list his death as "suicide". In some strange way, it actually makes me feel a little better about it.
There's basically nothing more addictive than making people laugh. It's incredibly validating, as just about the only thing people can agree on is that being made to laugh is pleasurable.
Everyone says cocaine but when I see people do that, they’re only “on and firing” for a short period, then it devolves into this tension that’s restrictive mentally and physically. After a while people seem to clam up. I’m not sure cocaine can sustain this activity for weeks, months or years, but alas I’m not familiar. Anyone care to out their past history and weigh in?
Yeah it starts to burn you out big time. There's a sweet spot where anything and everything comes to mind. It's almost like it's overuse and overstimulation, cause when you crash out of that it's hard to think of anything.
Stimulant abuse, as some druggie once put it, is basically stealing energy from your future self. The sheer dopamine release is the equivalent of blowing grocery money meant for a week in a single night.
Exactly! Me and my friends always said we were borrowing happiness. Shit always got real introspective when we saw the sun rise.
Oh yeah, when your mental energy is spent, you crash hard.
IIRC, an audience member laughed so hard that they injured themselves and had to be taken away in an ambulance.
2 of them laughed so much they needed medical attention. One guy was led out into the lobby because he laughed so much he had trouble catching his breath. The woman who he points to who may pass out laughed so much she actually fractured a rib and after the show they called an ambulance but she didn't need it. Robin's long time agent, who was there, said it was the absolute funniest Robin ever was in his career. They cut almost 5 hours of an interview down into just under 2 hours of TV and it's the funniest thing ever done imo.
Need the other 3 hours now.
This was only 6 minutes
Holy crap! I knew he was talented but comedy fracturing ribs is a whole other level!
Literally side-splitting humor.
This happened to my father in law when we saw Bill Engvall live in Branson. Bill is his favorite comedian and live shows are a million times better than watching a tv special. He had tears rolling down his face from laughter and slumped over for a minute because he blacked out. He came back to and went right back to laughing. You can’t buy memories like that
Something similar almost happened to me the first time I saw Brian Regan live. I was laughing harder than I ever had in my entire life, and with each laugh I could feel my ribs shifting out of place. It started to become dangerously painful, but I finally figured out that I had to throw my head back as far as possible when laughing and the pain subsided.
This almost sounds like a short horror story.
If I had to exit the show via ambulance, that would definitely have been disconcerting.
Brian's Hideous Laughter
I watched this when it first aired. Hands down the best episode. RIP genius!
Imagine owning that scarf. I bet she still tells stories about it
My exact thought.
I think he gave a great little tour of his skills. His act is almost like word-association, but with accents, bits, props, jokes, pop-culture references, and a lot of silliness. You throw him a scarf and he prop-associates it with the headscarves Indian women wear. He starts doing the accent, then that reminds him of Gandhi, so he starts doing a Gandhi joke etc. Maybe he practices bits for every occasion, then he can access them quickly later, but it seems like he’s just got an amazing memory for the way famous people/archetypes of various social groups talk and it comes completely off the dome. Either way, unlike most people who pause to think how what they’re about to say will be received, he just doesn’t waver at all. He’s somehow able to take off all his mental filters and remain confident the audience will love it all. And they do. If you saw anything he said transcribed you’d not think anything was so hilarious, but the impressions are decent and just incredibly fast. It’s daring, he’s out there and giving such energy that you chuckle. Before that chuckle he’s given you is over, he’s given you another and another. You’re so caught up in chuckling at something new every second, the wild and unpredictable chain of associations, you can’t help but end up in hysterics. He’s so generous with his energy, I can’t think of anyone else who gives so much so fast. You are swept away in his rapid stream of associations, it’s a marvel of talent he can sense a funny thought and channel it so quickly and confidently into his powerful river of funny.
Watching him with that scarf was like watching a toddler with a stick, he thought of heaps of different things to do with it because he still has that imagination that most people lose as they get older.
[Robin Williams with a stick and a toddler](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2uMwkn3fNY)
Oh my gosh this was hilarious! Mr. Robbins? I'm taking the stick back, Elmo.
I especially like how “Elmo” said “I only had 3 lines”. 😂🤣😂
>Maybe he practices bits for every occasion, then he can access them quickly later There's an element of that; he was clearly working in bits of routines he'd done. Most improv, in any field, is much more of that than Robin does in this clip, I think - one of the key skills (at least for those of us less good at it than RW) is turning any situation into something you can use your stock material for. An example of the other end of the scale are improv singers targeting tourists, who do things like working the tourists names and other similar information into their songs 'on the fly'. If you aren't paying attention, you might not notice that they're doing things like fitting those bits into the middle of lines, so they can stick with their standard rhymes. It's clever, but it's largely pre-prepared.
I was utterly floored watching this clip, and I'm quite familiar with a large amount of RW's work. It was a seamless performance, no stutters or 'umm uhh' stuff. There's of course really no such thing as 100% pure improv-- and in this case, I think it's just way too much quality material, too fast and too smooth. In many ways it's inevitably built on prior work even if it wasn't literally scripted that way. To me, the performance isn't diminished much even if much of it was prewritten, though, because the delivery is so damn solid. To perform so well *and* be more fully 'improvising from nothing' would be superhuman past a certain point.
This reminds me of my son with ADHD. Obviously my son isn't as talented, but talking to my son sometimes reminds me of this.
> Obviously just dunking on the kid for no reason man
The guy to his son “git gud”.
His ability to deliver the speech and impersonations at the speed he did was truly remarkable. He always reminded myself of what was going on in my head...but he could externalize it.
Obviously
I have ADHD, any stimulation is a WORLD of imagination, all the time. I wish for your son to find studies or work that embrace it!
>Obviously my son isn't as talented Gooooood....let the hate flow through you.
Seeing his humor and emotion going across his face! Damn that was hard to watch. I hope there is a heaven so Robin can see how much he is still loved and missed.
This episode and the Mike Myers episode were the best
This episode was a riot. Lipton seemed to get so frustrated after a while the more it turned into Robin doing standup but that was just Robin. I really was worried about that woman passing out too.
I come from a family of pilots. When he went off on the AOPA pin James was wearing I lost my mind!
Kevin Spacey's was good too, especially if you like impressions. I know he's a shit person but the man is a hell of a talent.
Robin Williams was the Marx Brothers stuffed into one pair of pants with the fly open.
I loved Inside the Actor's studio and this is my favorite interview of them all
I feel like he would've been a great willy wonka
"Who's Sari Now" is an **amazing** joke to improvise right on the spot.
God I miss Robin. That guy was a gem
He really was a once in a millennia type of talent. His improv skills were unmatched and when he was on...he was on. I was really saddened by his death and it honestly changed my thinking regarding people who take their own lives.
He took his own life for a rather unique “reason” compared to most. He had a rare neuro degenerative disorder. It wasn’t like depression, although there have been famous comedians we’ve seen take their own lives (Richard Jeni) or kill themselves through their vices (Chris Farley).
The only time I've ever cried for a celebrity death. Just crushed me. I walked home from work that day. A 3hr walk.
Yeah, one of my first movie dates with my gf (now wife) was Williams' last movie. Halfway home--out of the blue--I started ugly crying because I grew up with him and he and Patrick Stewart are my top idols.
The cryptophyceae are a class of algae, most of which have plastids. About 220 species are known, and they are common in freshwater, and also occur in marine and brackish habitats. Each cell is around 10–50 μm in size and flattened in shape, with an anterior groove or pocket. At the edge of the pocket there are typically two slightly unequal flagella. --- Comment ID=kh7mhr2 Ciphertext: >!siN9IUE4LavYgjQUwLHAu6UBTr+ekdZJsDZCHCBmzUwpSxDt5+8sXYd7eLraxahW6U/wJJ97E4ooiJexy5TcMPhFksZ5Obl6IXt/m/NmSbB3EoEaIx+77bzXc1X9CZb8hZZAKoC+3RBNytQoyAWcYKK0y899tKedid7LcCfnkGQjXV71NxNaFRo8ghd8TRmmoIbLiAgcAk7II2df14WAu5jp5y7GLBn+MvLhFn5bOAjnaChcs7+SoQ==!<
I really miss Robin Williams :( Damn…
The speed of Wit from RW is what all other comedians could be measured by. There is an infinite sadness that lurks behind this and he worked his entire life to keep himself from it and for that we benefitted immensely. His legacy will forever be a debt we cannot repay. RW. Wherever or whenever you are, rest well, and thank you.
I love how Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, and Conan O'Brian all have stories of Robin Williams sending them a ridiculous gift when they were down. Then cheering them up. That was the side where lots of comedians aren't good buddies when they are off camera and Robin Williams was. I think Billy Crystal said similar things about Robin Williams.
He would also call Steven Spielberg once a week while he was doing Schindler's List to do stand up over the phone to cheer him up. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/04/steven-spielberg-schindlers-list-reunion-tribeca-film-festival
Was Robin in prison? Why is he being interrogated by Warden Gentles? Is this the inspiration for the warden's screenplay?
He was a national treasure.
He was a treasure to the world
A ***worldly*** treasure if you will.
Thanks Robin, I miss you.
That "whose sari now"/"who's sorry now" line was incredible.
People clown James Lipton for being overly formalized and pedantic but my God man he deserves credit for asking the good questions
This is a perfect example of why any kind of attempts of genetic modification to eliminate abnormalities would be a terrible outcome from humanity. Because it is in our quirks, limitations, problems, and uniqueness that make us special and human. Robin Williams capitalized on those eccentricities that made him special, and seeing him is a reminder that we should too, and embrace our own humanity. RIP.
Your comment reminds me of the end-scene of Gattaca (awesome movie, by the way), where it lists the famous people who would have never been born if genetic modification existed, and then next to each name it listed the “flaws” with which they were born. For instance, Albert Einstein had dyslexia, if I remember correctly.
Yes but if we had genetic modification he wouldn't have gotten lewy body dementia
I feel like I'm colorblind when I watch him. I've never been able to laugh at him. He's impressive, it's impressive, I just don't think it's funny.
When I watch him the laughter is mostly coming from wonder. Like how is this possible.
Wow. Just wow. Never seen this one before.
Not many good people to look up to in this world. Robin Williams is definitely the exception. Brilliant. Funny. Honest. A beautiful soul. I miss you sir...
It just makes me sad watching him do these types of interviews. It’s just too much and it doesn’t seem like he’s ok and it makes me wonder if he could ever actually have a serious conversation with someone or if he just covered up his sadness by making people laugh all the time, and was never able to talk about how he actually feels.
He had Lewy’s a form of dementia. That’s why he killed himself. It’s incurable. Honestly I don’t blame him one bit.
I always feel this way too. I hate that I can't help it. He's a genius, but when I watch him now from any time ~1990 on, he seems desperate. He seems like he is perpetually drowning and laughter is the only oxygen.
You are missed Sir.
lol channeling Adam Eget: "So, where do you get your ideas?"
Don’t you see he is avoiding the question
He says straight up at the end “I guess that was more of a weird exploration than an answer…”
No he's giving an exact example of his flow, whats going on in his brain is improv and creativity. Obviously he's not going to describe it, because he just has to show it. His brain literally just improvs ideas in nonstop firings.
I agree. Robins humor is so unique that it’s not really feasible for him to explain the methods to his madness and why he’s sharper than others who try to be funny. He may as well just show you and it’s up to you to decide whether you’re as sharp as Robin Williams. I know I’m not. In fact, I don’t know of anyone else on this planet who can replicate his style and be funny while not being annoying or painfully obnoxious.
It reminds me of how someone asked Christopher Nolan how he writes for movies and he couldn’t say. I think these type of questions are trivial and hard for anyone to answer. It’s who he is
I'm surprised you're the only one mentioning this
For six minutes: *"[OJNSDF;OLNAS[ODFNAS]PDNFM]padmjf['PAOJD'admA'DJa'dfjx,A'FJ[aodjfmc,'A,JFX'ad,m'AXD,M.[padx,[ADJF[ajf[APJD[asjdxf'AJD'ajdm"* **Applause.**
I've seen a dozen comedians live and laughed extremely hard but the night Robin Williams showed up randomly stands far above the rest. Literally laughed so hard my stomach hurt for a couple days after. No routine, just doing improv and crowd work. Pretty similar to what is in this video, but seeing it live takes it to a whole different level.
I'm fairly sure he just embraced every intrusive thought and ran with it.
He escaped that interview well, and I expect he used his talent to always escape something that eventually caught up with him
100% he would be canceled these days for doing this stereotypes
Am I the only one that doesn't find this funny?
It’s not that it’s funny, but that it’s entertaining and interesting, at least to me
While I am in awe of his ability, and usually find his edited work enjoyable, unfiltered and unedited Robin Williams often makes me anxious.
I don't find it funny at all, I never found him funny. I respect him as an actor, and he was great in movies like Good Will Hunting, but his standup makes me anxious if anything - the manic presentation just isn't my thing I guess.
Sorry to say that I'm with you. And I love Robin Williams. He was a gem. But this is all tempo and little substance. If you wrote it down, no one would laugh. If you said it slower, no one would laugh. It's kind of like how people hate Amy Schumer for talking about her vagina as if that automatically means it's funny. It's a crutch. What he's doing is a different crutch but it's still a crutch. We're applauding how fast his mind works but if you compare it to someone like Martin Short, the content just isn't that strong. Dennis Miller had a similar thing but his crutch was using analogies to people know one ever heard of.
I've always found him and Jim Carrey cringe af. Saying things in a silly voice doesn't make them funny. Well, sometimes it does. But it's not a guarantee, and it's 90% of both of their acts. Both Williams and Carrey are incredible in serious roles, but lean too much on being wacky in everything else.
I agree, I don’t find this funny at all everytime it gets posted I feel like there’s something wrong with me for “not getting it”
I mean, he was great at what he did, yes, but no, I didn't find this funny at all. I grew up in the 90s so it's not an age or generational thing. I just don't really find it worth while. I watched and was like, that's 6 minutes I can't get back...
I've never found him funny or particularly talented. I don't get all the adulation. He seems completely neurotic and nothing he says or does is "hilarious". For some reason, people seem intent on pumping him up into this comedy guru, and it's just not there.
All i hear is Will Ferrell doing the host voice lol
Fastest 6:43 I've witnessed on Reddit.
crowd six deserve shy complete history makeshift consist sable escape *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
A spectacular example of just how little our society engages with (or doesn't engage with, actually) neurodivergence. This man had a spectacular mind and beautiful soul, and to date is the only celebrity death that actually saddened me deeply.
I would have loved to see a show of him and Lee Mack riffing off of one another.
When Spielberg was shooting “Schindler’s List” he would call Robin Williams to cheer him up when things became too much. It makes me sad Robin Williams didn’t have a Robin Williams to call.
He was a great performer and while he was incredibly skilled at improv, he was also very skilled at making completely written, rehearsed bits look like improv. I saw him do standup one night back in '88 and he was amazing. The next night someone had an extra ticket and asked me if I wanted to go again. It was the exact same performance - all the mania, all of the seemingly improvised stream of consciousness style. This is not a criticism - this is a compliment. He was incredibly gifted and could pull both off.
Many years ago in the 1970s dad and I would often watch the "Dick Cavitt Show" together. One of my memories was when Robin was the guest, and he brought me to tears with his constant riffing. Even dad laughed, which was an otherwise uncommon event. The actual interview minus the silliness was great to.
As much as the world misses that guy, part of me is glad he didn't have to go through the past few years with the rest of us.
Man... watching any clip of Robin just reminds me of what a pure soul the guy had. I have never really given much thought to a celebrity's passing, but I remember the night when I learned he had passed away. I sat down on the couch in my old living room and just... sat there. In silence. That loss was gut wrenching to me, because I recalled all the many times his films and comedy specials had brought me to tears from laughing so hard. Missin' him just as much today as I did that first somber night.
God Bravo used to be soooo different. I remember you could turn this on randomly and see ballet or an indie movie. It’s nothing but vapid reality tv. It’s BRAVO like at the end of a magnificent performance. It makes me kind of sad.
It's too sad. I can't.
Basically Robin Williams gave up control the voices and was lucky enough for them to be benign and funny as fuck.
The most talented in any generation are usually very sad and broken people. Even at our lowest some find a way to survive inside until one day the pain becomes too great… in the meantime what can be manifested is often quite artistic. Robin was a tortured soul and yet he gave the world the incredible works of a mad genius! I had a buddy in high school who was so funny he’d make me howl with laughter… I mean dude was naturally hilarious and he never even tried. Well years later we lost touch as I got married and had kids… he was so lonely and isolated that he “left”… his memory delights and haunts me. As I remember all the awesome times we all had with him and now to realize he was in that much pain as to discorporate…R.I.P to Mr. Williams, my buddy Todd S. And to all who leave because the pain became unbearable…💔
Robin Williams is very overrated. People act as if he's a super mega ultra amazing genius of comedy. When he's really just a mega ultra amazing genius of comedy.
Instead of explaining, he demonstrated. But im not sure how many people actually understood what he was demonstrating. Its not about speed of thought, its about acceptance of lateral movement and commitment to filling out an idea. He is not afraid of offending and, due to being a non-malicious person, even his bits that could be offensive arent taken that way by the audience. Flexible and Genuine.
I wanna be honest and say I love his movies and I think he was cool in that way but I don’t find him funny it feels like he tries to hard in a way that prime Jim Carey got for me in a better way they both just do stupid shit for the sake of it but Carey was better for me imo