RIP Robin Williams

man I still haven't seen Garp! Should I? It seems like boring eighties Oscar bait.

dude waht you should totally see this movie

apparently he did a "Firing Line" spoof too:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/385253/our-robin-williams-tim-cavanaugh

"stonewall_61" ain't having it:

Stonewall_61 • 2 hours ago
Okay, I wasn't going to say anything, but with all of this wall-to-wall praise of Williams, I can keep quiet no longer.

Mork and Mindy was a stupid show that had been spun off from another stupid show that had in turn been spun off from a show that started well but ended very badly.

After that, some of Williams' stand-up comedy could be quite good. But then he spent the entire 80's decade taking cheap shots at Ronald Reagan. Long, drawn out diatribes that could last 20 minutes or more, characterizing Reagan as an old, senile, incompetent buffoon who slept all of the time.

Then he made a whole string of incredibly stupid movies that were nearly indistinguishable from each other, in most of which he wore clown shoes.

Then toward the end, he did a respectable job in a few serious roles.

Robin, I am sorry you had such a rough time of it, and that you felt you had to off yourself. That is very sad. I hope you found happiness in a better place, even though my religion tells me that is very unlikely considering you committed suicide. But I cannot say that I will miss you all that much. If there is any Karma in the universe, you will spend eternity having to listen to Ronald Reagan repeating all of his speeches while he wears clown shoes. RIP

haven't seen Garp in maybe 20 years, but God knows it's better than the book. Also deservedly kicked Close and Lithgow into a higher realm.

(Glenn Close was also at that Met gig... Williams shouted "hi Mom" to her before an encore.)

the Reagan stuff did wear after a while, but "Disney's last wish: Make a president" had a beauty to it

that WFB, Jr. impression is good

you should totally totally see garp

characterizing Reagan as an old, senile, incompetent buffoon who slept all of the time.

this is unfair how?

glad edelstein brought up the survivors, highly recommended for folks who want to see him running on all cylinders outside of a live special

omg at that WFB impression lol never seen that before

btw Martin Short's wicked impression of him was indeed killer

of Williams, that is. Speed was often his worst enemy.

kevin kline could have done dead poets.

he kinda did in In and Out!

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 12, 2014 2:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no, he did it in the emperor's club!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_Club#mediaviewer/File:The_Emperor%27s_Club_Poster.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/The_Emperor%27s_Club_Poster.jpg

Has this Gottfried piece been posted?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/12/opinion/gottfried-robin-williams/index.html?sr=sharebar_twitter

To see Robin perform was an experience. He was more than a comedian. He was a comedy force of nature. I remember hearing that Robin was once doing a press junket in Germany. One of the reporters asked him, "Why is it that Germany is not known for comedy?" Robin answered, "Well, you killed all your funny people." I laughed out loud when I heard that. I thought, how sick and how wonderfully truthful.

From SFGate, something from Mort Sahl:

Legendary news-based comedian Mort Sahl, who moved to Mill Valley five years ago, says he and Williams "were very close friends, via Lucy Mercer at 142 Throckmorton," where Sahl performs every Thursday. He first met Williams "17 years ago in Los Angeles. He was most extraordinary. We were very very close, on a humor basis. ... But what he did was a long way from what I did."

Sahl observes that "whatever the audience got, Williams was an actor, a classically trained actor. He had a great respect for individuality, and he was a very gentle soul. He cut up to un-inhibit the audience, but that was not him."

The two comics would meet in downtown Mill Valley. Most recently, they most often "met at my place," said Sahl. "He gave me an espresso machine, so we could have a conversation and we didn't have to go out ... and watch all those people in Tiburon reading the Wall Street Journal while they had coffee."

He is still grateful for Lucy Mercer having introducedthem. "A person like Lucy could only exist up here," says Sahl, "and Robin trusted her implicitly. She's on the side of the living, which is definitely a minority."

burst out laughing at my desk at the fox clip

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-backs-robin-williams-death-report-with-fake-mrs-doubtfire-footage/

http://www.clickhole.com/article/7-robin-williams-gifs-imperfectly-sum-his-life-and-742

It's interesting to compare RW's reaction to improv-audience idiot suggesting "Flubber" to, say, Lou Reed stalking out when the local bakery is playing "Sunday Morning."

tbf, Robin Williams presumably wanted to stay onstage and Lou Reed could easily find a good bagel elsewhere

well I don't know about that in the contemporary West Village

when I think of The Fisher King I remember Bridges, Ruehl, and Plummer, not Williams.

Lou Reed could easily find a good bagel egg cream elsewhere

fixed

when I think of the Fisher King I remember that a huge chunk of the middle of the film is devoted to a subplot that goes nowhere

welp used dvd store gave me no love. out of desperation I bought Hook but more for nostalgia than need.

so I went on Amazon & bought The Fisher King. I really fucking love that movie.

when I think of The Fisher King I remember Bridges, Ruehl, and Plummer, not Williams.

Really? For me that movie is all about Williams and Michael Jeter.

For me, the movie is all about SNAP!

wtf there were ONE HOUR PHOTO action figures??? xpost

the Fisher King is all about New York in June

i think these were only action figures from one hour photo:
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llostrfPC01qc39oy.png

What?!? They had Eva figures!??

hahaha yes saw that on fb today, forgot about that, so good

oh yeah i had a bunch of eva figures

I remember The Fisher King itself far less than I remember the experience of watching it with my mom (who liked it) and my grandparents who were just WTF the whole time.

As for What Dreams May Come, Owen Gleiberman said it best in that EW bit posted above: "Heaven looks like nothing so much as a baroque series of progressive-rock album covers."

my Mom rented Fisher King when I was in high school, she loved Jeff Bridges & Williams, and she roped me into watching it. She liked it but thought it was a bit 'arty' and a little 'quirky', but I loved it & made all my friends watch it afterwards

I'm watching it now and what starts as a narrative about a dickish Spalding Gray-like deejay getting smug about America gets diverted into this Williams section that's lit and shot and acted like Snow White's Scary Adventures.

JUST WATCH IT OKAY IT'S REALLY GOOD

don't post, watch *guitar solo*

Morbs, thanks for all your contributions to this thread, they have been excellent.

And god yeah alfred see garp yesterday. one of the first 'adult' movies i got to watch on vhs with my parents, really did a number on me, in the best way.

it's maybe the first film I saw where gender/sexuality politics were front and center in a frank and disarming way

yeah the fisher king was a family favorite of ours.

very sad, don't know what else to say.

genuinely surprised that Gottfried penned an obit rather than a bunch of tasteless mean-spirited jokes

xxp

what starts as a narrative about a dickish Spalding Gray-like deejay getting smug about America

yeah, that's what i liked in tFK, the first 10 minutes.

Hanging. Such a gruesome method.

WTF Buzzfeed http://bzfd.it/Vh4svZ

Describing Garp as Oscarbait is technically true, I guess, since it was nominated for Oscars, but its still one weird ass movie.

http://davidsimon.com/robin-williams-a-brief-encounter/

I was hoping that Buzzfeed thing would just be some garbage from a community contributor, but it was a staff article. Blech.