Wow. It looks like he died from an attempted suicide.
We all know about Robin's past with drug use but I want to remember the good times he made for many people.
Robins death profoundly affects me because being a comedian from the Bay Area, I use to see him around in the SF comedy community hanging out and/or performing!
Here are some of my fondest moments of seeing Robin around in the Bay and watching him on television/movies:
- I was hanging out at the Purple Onion in San Francisco (Columbus & Jackson) when Photographer Dan Dion was running the room, circ 2004, I remember talking to the door girl upstairs when this guy in a dark coat walked in and she said, "excuse me, theres a show going on downstairs" , and then she paused and said, "oh my bad Mr. Williams ..." I immediately went downstairs because I knew he was going to perform. That was the night when Joe Kloceck was going to close the show and then he got bumped, he was so upset he left. I remember thinking to myself, "Joe should stay because he just might learn something" .
- OMG, another time I got to see Robin Williams unexpectedly was when I was performing at the Club Deluxe. (Haight & Ashbury) That was when Al Gonzales was running the room, circ 2005, I was on stage performing when I started to do a bit where I was shaking my man-titty's like a burlesque dancer, you know, like they had tassels on them. So when I was done I went outside and there was Robin, hanging out in the front, I was really star struck. When I looked at him, he had this really scared look on his face like he just saw a ghost and I said, "you just saw me shake me tittys on stage huh" ?? And then he made some kind of funny Robin Williams comment and thats when I flipped out. I was so embarrassed.
- A couple years later (2008) we went to Bimbo's in SF to watch him work out for one of his upcoming comedy tours and at the end of the show, he took improv suggestions from the crowd and did my suggestion. That night he taught me how to censor my material for mainstream audiences because I originally gave him a dark improv suggestion, I thought it was too dark, revised it, re-submitted, and he did it. My re-submitted suggestion that he did was just as edgy, but it was about revising.
- Speaking of learning from him, I watched his episode, "Inside the Actors Studio" , (2001) with James Lypton and thats where I learned how to hit the audience with tags after telling a joke, it was all about listening to crowd, waiting for them to take a breath from laughing and then interjecting again with another tag, in short - timing.
- I am a child of the 80's, I grew up watching Mork & Mindy. I also loved his older movies, "World According to Garp" , and, "Popeye" .
RIP Robin #nanunanu
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