It's been a full day since his passing, and I still don't know how to properly process the passing of Robin Williams. Some of my earliest memories of comedy was Mork and Mindy. And as I grew older, Robin Williams' comedy was part of the fabric of those passing years. A truly sad day event to lose such a monumental and influential talent. That the full measure of his life was cut short due to his own demons makes the loss that much more unfair. He will be missed. RIP Robin Williams
one of the best in hollywood...terrific actor and very generous man; will be missed... Prayers for his family and may God give rest to his soul.
I never really put two-and-two together on where his high energy stand-up came from but I read some stuff where it was apparently well known that he would stop taking his bi-polar meds before a comedy performance to achieve the manic state necessary to deliver his comedy. If that is true, then I'm just completely stunned by learning that. Bi-polar disorder requires a consistent dose of meds to keep in check. You just don't do what he was doing to get up for a performance. It's very dangerous. It makes me wonder how much of his comedy was purely genuine versus some manic diatribe that came out as comedy. A manic can and will spew a bunch of nonsense and to label that comedy is strange indeed. I guess you could say with all that energy he exhibited you could make the connection he was on a manic high. But, not once did I think I was watching someone on a manic high doing standup. It blurs the line for me as far as was it just comedy or comedy from mania. There is a huge difference. One, we were cheering on a bi-polar person in the grips of a manic episode. That's just sad if true.
I cannot locate the post right now, but another poster in the thread said something to the effect that, even when Williams was smiling there was always this kind of sigh on his face. And that's just a perfect and beautiful way to put it. I think that's part of what made him so appealing and just so human and understandable to us all. I agree with those of you saying this one hurts especially. SF Bay Area definitely taking it hard, and there are some interesting bits on local radio, like the first club owner who booked him here (The Other Cafe, or something like that). Everyone keeps saying two things: he was the most generous of comics, especially to other comics; and he was only really happy and in his element with other comics around.
I have to disagree a bit, Surfguy. The Robin Williams pre-meds was the real Robin Williams, and it was the "real" Robin Williams off his meds. I don't doubt that that was how he viewed himself, or that it was true. The meds can "cure" someone with a serious bi-polar condition, but they aren't really cured. They also aren't exactly their "real" self, in my opinion. Essentially, they are in remission. They can stay in "remission" by taking the medications, but they are also not their true self. They are their medicated self. I think that's how Robin viewed himself, which is why he kept playing with fire. I agree that coming off his meds to prep for a performance was dangerous. Absolutely dangerous. I seriously doubt if he only stopped his meds for that reason, however. My guess is that he periodically stopped taking them so he could feel alive. Yes, there is a hell of a lot of irony there.
Conan finding out about it during a taping of his show. Video of a nice 2 minute segment at the link. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...ien-audience-shocked-taping-article-1.1900317
What you just said reminds me of Garden State. This is the first celebrity death that I was really shaken by. The one that felt closest to home, just because of how much I loved this guy I had never met in person. I'm hopeful he's painting with vibrant colors somewhere right now! Just last week I showed my older boy Good Will Hunting...we had been quoting from it since. I set the DVR to record Dead Poet's Society for us next yesterday morning. Learned this while eating dinner with him last night. Tough stuff.
Humor is very subjective but also Robin Williams was a genius who could channel his mania into something that he and more importantly the audience found funny. Also I don't think Robin Williams was that unusual as a bi-polar person who didn't take their meds as they felt it hampered their creativity. I've heard that from some other bipolar people.
We do get "personally" involved with certain celebrities, those that touch something inside us, something that needed touching, I guess. I've always loved his sort of comedy, which is why I felt connected to him, and connected to Jonathan Winters, who he viewed as a mentor. Isn't it surprising that comedians can turn out to be not just good actors, but sensational ones? Dead Poet's Society was another excellent performance by Robin. I don't know how old your boys are, but both those films are wonderful things to watch with your children, in my opinion. My last child still at home is leaving for college in less than 2 weeks. I think I'll watch at least one of those two films with her before she goes.
i3oston Public Garden with a very touching tribute. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NBjWHfBHKos" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Pretty awesome. Just watched “Good Will Hunting” and the park bench scene really is incredible. Almost five minutes straight and Williams just crushes it. When I was a kid I straight up burned through my Mrs. Doubtfire VHS. In high school all we did was quote “Good Will Hunting” to each other. We quoted it so much that when Gordon Wood came to our school for an assembly my buddy asked him if he felt that he drastically underestimated the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth. “Dead Poets Society” was watched in at least one rainy day English class every year and I truly wished “Jumanji” was a real board game. Hell, even “Patch Adams” had be wanting to be a doctor for about a month.
Agreed entirely. My older boy is 14. My younger boy is 9. I can't wait to watch Good Will Hunting for the first time with my younger boy, but going to wait until he's older. I'll watch Dead Poet's with the 14 year old sometime next week.
Robin was an actor first, then a comedian: "Robin McLaurin Williams[6][7] was born in Chicago, Illinois, on July 21, 1951.[8] His mother, Laura McLaurin (née Smith, September 24, 1922 – September 4, 2001), was a former model from New Orleans, Louisiana.[9] His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 – October 18, 1987), was a senior executive at Ford Motor Company in charge of the Midwest region. His maternal great-great-grandfather was Mississippi senator and governor Anselm J. McLaurin.[10] Williams's ancestry included English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, German, and French.[11][12][13] He was raised in the Episcopal Church (while his mother practiced Christian Science).[14][15] He authored the "Top Ten Reasons to be an Episcopalian."[16] He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he was a student at the Detroit Country Day School,[17] and later moved to Woodacre, Marin County, California, where he attended the public Redwood High School in nearby Larkspur, California. Williams studied at Claremont McKenna College (then called Claremont Men's College).[18] Williams left Claremont and attained a full scholarship to the esteemed Juilliard School. In between Claremont and Juilliard, he attended the College of Marin for theatre.[19] He had two half-brothers: Todd (who died August 14, 2007) and McLaurin.[20] Williams described himself as a quiet child whose first imitation was of his grandmother to his mother. He did not overcome his shyness until he became involved with his high school drama department.[21] In 1973, Williams was one of only 20 students accepted into the freshman class at Juilliard and one of only two students to be accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that year; the other was Christopher Reeve.[22] In his dialects class, Williams had no trouble quickly mastering dialects. Williams left Juilliard in 1976.[23]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams
Not a big "rip" poster, words never seem enough, but this one hits home, and it's a sadder world without him.
Once you get or are diagnosed with bi-polar, I would say you are never your real self again. You have a chemical imbalance in the brain. Yes, Robin probably channeled his comedy through his mania and could do it to great effect. I'm not saying he wasn't a comedic genius...because he obviously was. But, I also know the flip side of what can come out of a manic's mouth. All I'm saying is when Robin was rambling off in one of his comedic rants during stand-up, I never even considered the possibility he was on a manic high. I'm not exactly sure what you are disagreeing with me about. Yes, you have various states of the person including before the problem (or trigger of the chemical imbalance), the untreated bi-polar person, and the bi-polar treated person. So, yes, I would agree the original person in the early days would be the true Robin I suppose. I just can't account for the true Robin later on. He did say he used to take cocaine way back when (back in the late 70s/early 80s) to calm him down from his "up" states...which he said was obviously different from most people who use it and would go up or get hyper on it. Based on that, I would guess he has been bi-polar for a long time even if not diagnosed. Can you even say you know who the "true" Robin is given that? Maybe his disease is...at least in part...part of what made him a comedic genius and he learned to channel it? I just know I've heard a lot of hogwash come out of someone in a manic state and I suppose, if I didn't know any better about what was causing it, then it could be construed as funny. But, different people have different flavors. I don't know the real Robin and I would say none of us do. We were all just spectators watching him take the ride.
There was a point when I was younger and more naive where I thought anyone who took their own life was truly a coward and should be remembered differently... you know, the whole you can't be that depressed type feeling that a teenager or college age kid, without life experience, might think. Now that I'm older, I know that depression, and other similar brain issues (bipolar, etc.) are clearly 100% real, and no more wanted by the person suffering from them then any other disease. It may kill differently - via suicide - but it's dying from a disease. Just as one might die from cancer, or heart disease. RIP to a funny funny man
I read a headline that I thought was very appropriate: "Robin Williams succumbs to depression". May be a bit speculative at this point, but everyone's going down that route. I just like it better than saying suicide because too many people still have your former view.
One of the first things that popped to mind was this interview with Jon Stewart last year. They talk about him relapsing and how they thought that their lack of drug/alcohol use/abuse would hinder their creativity. I don't know. This just sucks. <div style="background-color:#000000;width:520px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><iframe src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:arc:video:thedailyshow.com:5985991b-a92c-4f68-9deb-28e31d72e3c6" width="512" height="288" frameborder="0"></iframe><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/">The Daily Show</a></b><br />Get More: <a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/">Daily Show Full Episodes</a>,<a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/indecision">Indecision Political Humor</a>,<a href="http://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow">The Daily Show on Facebook</a></p></div></div>
I wonder if his responses to serious issues in his life that were almost always responded to with some kind of joke or in a joking manner were just more symptoms of the disease. I would say it's rare if I ever saw him have a serious conversation that wasn't delivered with some kind of joke or in a joking manner. On topics that weren't really funny, he still had to joke about it. Maybe that was a coping mechanism? Or, maybe it was merely because he didn't want to project all his troubles into his public persona and image during interviews that would taint his image as the funny man?
Strangely enough .. . a good friend who is bipolar has stated he wants to go into comedy. Not sure how it will go . . . Rocket River
I read somewhere during this that Jim Carrey is also bi-polar. I wonder if he's in a similar vein to Robin as far as channeling mania for comedic performance?
