Remembering why we like Robin Williams
He wasn't always responsible for crap like Bicentennial Man and RV
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Robin Williams has wavered between redundantly manic comedian and self-serious maudlin Hollywood actor in the past couple of decades or so. His predictably “unpredictable” digressions into voices and stage personalities now feels old hat—even gimmicky, at times—but this talent for imitations and off-the-cuff improv once made Williams one of the most successful comedians in America, setting the groundwork for Dana Carvey, Darrell Hammond, and Mike Meyers. Ahead of Williams’ Friday and Saturday night performances at DAR Constitution Hall, The A.V. Club pushes past his recent drudge and unapologetic on-stage sweating to rediscover the career highlights that make this icon still worth loving.
The Richard Pryor Show (1977)
Though short-lived at only four episodes, The Richard Pryor Show featured Williams in all the wide-eyed glory of his early career. Fresh out of Juilliard (where he was one of two actors selected for the Advanced Program—the other being Christopher Reeve), Williams had already developed a reputation for spot-on voices that surpassed his controversially recycled stand-up. Working with Pryor could be a career high in and of itself, but the experience also succeeded in launching Williams’ acting career.
Mork (on Happy Days) (1978)
Before his repetitive fish-out-of-water spin-off sitcom Mork & Mindy, Williams made his mainstream TV debut as the chipmunk-voiced alien from Ork on Happy Days. The unadulterated absurdism of Williams’ character as he floundered in the foreign wilderness of Wisconsin suburbia is a brilliantly apt parody of mundane American culture—long before ALF or Futurama's Bender were developed for the same reflective purpose. Though Williams’ manic improvisation became a trademark of the character, the delivery and physical comedy of his original debut is well worth revisiting.
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Williams has had varying degrees of success with his efforts to lighten dark subjects (Patch Adams, cough-cough), but his Academy Award-nominated performance in Good Morning, Vietnam is an undisputed win. The movie features Williams as an irreverent DJ during the Vietnam War, who gains popularity among the troops by refusing to let the oppressive atmosphere affect his demeanor. The dramedy has its ups and downs, but Williams’ mostly improvised broadcasts showcase his knack for inspiring, uncalculated mayhem.
Aladdin (1992)
Defying Disney’s usual sugar-coated dialogue, Williams’ mostly unscripted rendering of Genie in Aladdin was not limited to youthful pandering. The manic depiction was hilarious for kids but also offered some sly winks at adults in the audience—a trend that has since carried over into pop culture reference-saturated films like Shrek and The Incredibles. The character may have been a blue-hued, smoke-tailed mythological creature, but the production was actually reversed so the animators could draw most of Genie’s movements around Williams’ already recorded dialogue rather than the usual other way around.
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Amid Hollywood’s vast catalog of cross-dressing characters, none combines humor and sympathy quite like Williams’ desperate dad posing as a British marm-cum-housekeeper in Mrs. Doubtfire. In an era of kid-friendly movies that mostly revolved around precocious brats and rambunctious animals (Home Alone, Beethoven, The Mighty Ducks, and Williams’ own ill-conceived remake of Flubber), the film offered a deeper look at family issues without sacrificing the necessary humor. As Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, Williams is brilliantly balanced and yet pleasantly painful to watch—especially in the final restaurant scene, where he rapidly shifts back and forth between his two costumes.
Parodying himself on Whose Line Is It Anyway? (2000)
One of the most important qualities for any celebrity is self-awareness. In 2000, Williams appeared on Whose Line Is It Anyway? as a guest actor. Though he kept pace with each of the other comedians and managed to elicit plenty of laughs in the awkward sequence of improvised bits, the highlight of his appearance came toward the end of the episode. Given the prompt “What is Robin Williams thinking about right now?” from a randomly drawn scene suggestion, the inexplicably platinum blonde Williams came out and, with a combination of self-parody and amusement, deadpanned: “I have a career, what the hell am I doing?”
