Remembering the Career of Robin Williams

What would you wish for? Me? No one's ever asked

me that before. Well, in my case... Forget it.

What? No, I can't. Come on, tell me! Freedom.

You're a prisoner? It's all part and parcel of

the whole genie gig. PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS!

Hey, the big living space. Aw, a genie. Let's

make some magic! Cast Radio Network. You are

listening to a crossover between Geekcast Radio

and Talking About My Generation as we pay tribute

to one of the most prolific actors and comedians

in Hollywood history. I am TF2 and Mike. Joining

me is my Geekcast Radio cohort, Steve Megatron.

Hello. Hello. And from Talking About My Generation,

Doug Abel. Hello. Hello. Can you hear me at all?

Yes. It is good to hear from you today. Yeah.

I'll stop. Dueling Kermits. Great. All right.

And it is with a very sad breath that we bring

you this news, because as of this recording on

August 11th, 2014, the world lost a wonderful

soul, someone who has touched all of our lives

in many ways over the years. Robin Williams has

passed away. He supposedly, and now I am saying

supposedly because there have been no confirmed

reports, there have been suspicions of how he

died, supposedly committed suicide by asphyxia,

but it has not been confirmed. So all I can say

is that that's what it is, supposedly. He was

suffering from severe depression at the time.

And of course, if you're thinking of taking your

own life, stop and call the National Suicide

Prevention Hotline at 1 -800 -273 -8255. Someone

will always answer. Robin has been an actor and

a standup comedian for the last four and a half

decades. His career spans television, film, theater,

and so much more. This... actor has had a career

you couldn't fit into a one -hour photo booth.

He has used his phenomenal cosmic powers as an

actor to make all of us laugh or cry, depending

on the role. He made an adult Peter Pan look

cool in Hook. He ate his spinach as Popeye. He

led the Dead Poet Society to greatness, and he

loved introducing himself to the world, screaming,

Good morning, Vietnam! He truly was the Cadillac

Man of Hollywood. He gave us Mork for Mork and

he showed us that comedians aren't always about

the funny with very serious roles in many films

and television guest appearances. I remember

as a kid watching reruns of Mork and Mindy and

loving every minute of it. Robin Williams, there

are no words, honestly. Steve, when did you first

notice Robin Williams? What was the first thing

you s - You saw as a kid or even as an adult

that really made you a fan of his. Mork and Mindy.

I used to watch it on TV land with my mom. Absolutely.

That was such an awesome show. It played on his

persona. Like much of his roles do. Yes. Yes,

very much so. What about you Doug? You know,

I'm gonna say the same thing for me It was my

mother had sat me down and said you need to watch

the show and I was a kid I had never seen it

before and she goes watch and you'll you'll die

laughing and I I said, okay and then that episode

they had He goes oh she you know the work is

showing off all of his furniture and he says

And you know his friend walks in says, what's

that? Oh, that's my footstool. It's a giant foot

and she goes a footstool and he goes Oh wait,

you're gonna love my end table And from that

right down and on I was I was hooked what can

I say? Yeah, I remember watching Morgan Mindy

as well and I I love that show. Now, I know that

show ran from 78 to I think 81 or 82. So it actually

aired before I was born. But the 80s was the

era of the reruns. Everything was being rerun

in the 80s on television. I mean, syndication

for reruns was what the 80s TV, you know, what

the 80s TV landscape was like. I remember Mark

and Mindy and I remember in, you know, Later

on in life, I would remember roles like, you

know, Professor Keating in Dead Poets Society

and, you know, Adrian Crona or in Good Morning

Vietnam and all this and all that. And honestly,

what really made me a fan of his after Mork and

Mindy was the fact that Disney got him to play

the Genie. Robin Williams as the genie was amazing

That is his character that that's not any no

one else can pull that off That they just can't

And since then I've liked him in several different

roles over the years Even though people might

not want to admit it. He was pretty damn good

at Mrs. Doubtfire. Oh, yeah I know some people

on the internet aren't huge fans of that movie,

but I just love the way that his comedy style,

he was able to fit his personality and his style

and his bravado into every different role, whether

it was a comedy role or a serious role. What

are some of the more serious roles you remember

seeing, Doug? Oh, for me, Good Will Hunting.

That was it. I mean, seeing him... Just be completely

serious Going on with Matt Damon and telling

him, you know, look you've got you you've got

to work on this you've you're You're this genius

why aren't you showing it to everybody and Matt

Damon is kind of throwing his attitude back at

him and You just see Robin Williams turn around

and just You know, this was his Academy Award

winning scene in his role. I just it Yeah For

someone who was not a Bostonian at all because

he was born in Chicago, Illinois Robin Williams

really got that Boston accent down. I mean he

really did and when he was telling Matt Damon's

character Will Hunting when he was telling him

about the 1976 pro series I Could I could really

see him being an old -time Boston Red Sox fan?

Like, that emotion he poured into that character

and that role and how Boston Sean McGuire was.

It was amazing. It was so amazing. What about

you, Steve? What are some of the more serious

roles that you remember Robin from? Well, I mean,

I remember him. I mean, you could almost say

that Mrs. Doubtfire to an extent would be a little

bit, just because it's a man trying to fight

to get his family back. Right. And then you have

the... For me, they kind of touched it home only

because as a kid, my parents were getting divorced.

So that was one of my go -to movies as a kid.

I also... You had Jumanji, which wasn't really

comedic. I mean, there were elements in all of

his movies that kind of played on him again,

but you still had... that element that made it

more serious. And I did see Good Will Hunting

and various other films to that degree, and Good

Morning Vietnam, and Dead Poet Society, and all

of those films I actually own. But I mean, he's

got such a plethora of films that I grew up on

that just, I don't know, I can't even fathom

it. you know what's happened I mean it's still

kind of like a shock yeah I mean it's it's one

of those things where you wake up and you hear

about a celebrity dying and depending on if you

have an emotional connection to that person and

okay sure none of us To my knowledge, well, Doug

lives out in California, so he might have, but

none of the three of us have ever met Robin Williams

in person. None of us know him personally. Yeah,

we all wish. None of us knew him personally,

but see, here's my thing, is that actors, even

though they are acting and putting on faces and

putting on roles and playing characters, They

are still allowing us as the viewer or listener

or whatever medium they're using, they are allowing

us into their psyches. They're allowing us into

their hearts and they're allowing us to... What

it allows us to do is it allows us to escape

and laugh at, you know... Oh, dearie. Oh my god.

It was a run by fruiting, you know, I mean it's

it's one of those things where you know It just

it just boggles my mind that some people on the

internet can say oh, well I didn't know him personally

So why should I be sad about it? So you mean

to tell me that nothing that anyone has done

in Hollywood has affected you We all watch movies.

We all watch television shows. We all listen

to the radio and everything, you know all this

and all that and yeah sure none of us knew him

personally we weren't in his personal circle

of friends but every week for four years morque

from orc morque from orc came into our television

series television sets and made us laugh every

two or three years sometimes more than one movie

in a year robin williams would do movies um sure

he comes from a stand -up background Now, I'll

be honest, I don't know a lot about his stand

-up. I know and I've heard rumors that it's similar

to Bob Saget where Robin's a more dirty comic

than he is the family kind of, you know, comedian

that he does on other roles. I've listened to

it and it's pretty dark, but it's hilarious.

Yeah, he's very blue. I'm not saying it's not

hilarious. I'm just saying that he's similar

to Saget in the way that his stand -up is completely

different and more adult. nature and and and

content than what he does for say a Mrs. Doubtfire

or like when they said in 1990 whatever it was

when the trailers first started coming out and

I know our our movie cohort movie role Dan here

at the Geek Caster Network doesn't like this

movie for some odd reason but when they announced

Robin Williams as Peter Pan, I was like, oh my,

and this was like, you know, the mid 90s, so

I was 14 or 15 years old. I was like, that's

just sheer genius. That's amazing. Robin Williams

as Peter Pan and Dustin Hawke, the Rain Man as

Captain James Hook, you couldn't come up with

a better, you know, rivalry and have those two

actors do it. Some of the rules that that he

has taken have really freaked me out, you know

in in my little intro there I mentioned one -hour

photo That was a creepy movie to me Well, that

was real freaky. Yeah. Yeah He had another one

that he did where with Pacino where they were

up in in Alaska that was that one was chilling

too because Pacino was doing a He was like suffering

from insomnia and Robin Williams was a killer

that he was supposed to be tracking down Him

and Hillary swank were trying to track him down

and it just to see that dark side of Robin was

kind of creepy on that Well, and the thing is

his comedians actually play for really good villains.

Yes Yes, they do I think outside of the genie

and Aladdin Think the other one that I really

remember him from and it's just kind of silly

because I know a lot of people probably don't

like this movie I remember him as the voice of

The bat in Ferngully the last rainforest the

batty rap. What can I say? Yeah It you know It's

so interesting to me when he would lend his voice

to do characters for voiceover because Robin

Williams is He himself is a larger -than -life

character. He really is. And putting his voice

to any animated character, you know you're going

to get the Robin Williams touch. Even in that

little uncredited role of the peddler in the

beginning of Aladdin. That was him. I didn't

know that until probably 20 years after the movie

came out. And you know that whole scene was improved

by him He was actually they they brought a bunch

of things and set that in front of him And he

was riffing the entire time and they decided

they were gonna animate all of that so they could

put that all together as the peddler I Was impressed

by that that's actually really funny. Yeah You

know, I mean And in movies like dead poet society

sure dead poet society is a very serious film

But he can still have his one -liners and you

know, there's the whole scene in the in the I

Assume it's a church. It's their their their

main hall which I assume is a church and you

know in that scene Dalton stands up and says,

oh sir, you know, there's a phone call from God.

It's for you He wants us to have girls at Hilton

and you know five ten minutes later Keating knocks

on the door at the end of he's like Mr. Dalton

phone call from God if it had been collected

would have been daring and I just it's just so

many little things about Robin Williams's career

that just makes me laugh and that is the greatest

he gave, you know Rob Paulson always says, you

know, laughter is the best medicine. And honestly,

Robin Williams has made me laugh for as long

as I can remember. And then when he does something

like what he did on Law and Order Special Victims

Unit and plays this really, really crazy, out

there, sadistic character, it just twists me

inside to see the depths that he will go for

his acting. career. When he came back last year

in The Crazy Ones, sure it didn't get picked

up, but it was nice to see him on TV again. And

they even had an episode where Pam Dobber returned

and reunited with him. That entire scene in that

episode of that show was amazing. The only thing

I don't think he did was nenu nenu. It would

have been even more awesome if he would have

done that. It would have been actually funny

if they ended his show that way. Yes! And then

show that all of this was just something that

happened in the end of Mork and Mindy before

he went back to his home world. What are some

of your other favorite roles he's done, Steve?

I love Man of the Year. Yeah? Where he plays

Tom Dobbs, the uh... basically like the Jon Stewart

of TV, and then he's riffing on politics, and

then they tell him, why don't you run? And he's

like, I will. And Christopher Walken's in it,

and all these other characters. And it's funny

because he basically wins the election, but it

was through a technicality. The though just the

whole film. I mean he got to be his goofy self,

but it was also serious at the same time But

he was also throwing off jokes that were making

fun of politics And it was just it was something

you would probably see from him anyway in stand

-up So I mean it was like the perfect fit for

him, but then I mean you have other you know

you have other Movies that that that he's done

More serious you know you have the The what met

what dreams may come and you have you know, you're

What's the woman John Travolta I don't know.

It's they play advertisers anyway, and then he

discovered he has kids like eight years after

Disney flick with Seth Green was in it too, and

I can't like it was like old dudes or something

like that or old dogs. That's it Old hogs that's

what it is old hogs no old dogs because Wild

Hogs was the Tim Allen movie. Oh, that's right

They both had John from Travolta in it so easy

mistake But I mean it's just films like that.

I just enjoy watching him in In my shows plus

you know the fact all of his animation. You know

I mean he's been in you know, uh, the, uh, the

happy feed or he's been in like the surfs up

or, you know, he's been in the Aladdin. I mean,

he's done a lot of animation because he can play

all those kind of crazy accents and, you know,

all the different stuff that he just kind of

throws in, um, just because that's his personality.

Oh, exactly. What about you, Doug? What are some

of the other roles you really liked him in? Uh,

well, Obviously Aladdin. I mean that probably

was the big one for me Just because that he broke

out The mold and he actually really I would say

he called attention to voice actors without him

We wouldn't know people like Frank Welker. We

wouldn't necessarily know of Rob Paulson because

he he being the big name for Aladdin was the

draw and everybody kind of heard him and was

like Wow, that's Robin Williams. Robin Williams

is doing animation. Well, and from that you started

seeing Matthew Broderick showing up. You started

seeing Jeremy Irons showing up. All these different

people showing up in animation. It started becoming

a big thing. That, you know, I mean that right

there was was a big one for me. Aladdin. And,

you know, just. Seeing that was probably the

best one. I mean there there are so many others,

you know, Mrs. Doubtfire the fact that he he

was Teddy Roosevelt in the night at the museum

movies for which there's a third one coming out

Yeah, just phenomenal absolutely phenomenal Yeah

for me some of his other ones, you know, I've

already mentioned a few of the ones that I liked,

you know A lot of people give this movie flack.

I'm sorry. He was amazing as the absent minded

professor in 1997's Flubber. Oh, I love that.

That was awesome. Yeah. That was awesome. Everyone

gives Jumanji a bad rap. Honestly, it was one

of his better ones. You know, I already said

hook, toys. Honestly, I saw it. I believe this

was back in the time. Came out in 90. It was

90 I'm gonna say it's somewhere between 94 and

98 This is before UPN and the WB became the CW

on UPN I saw like they used to run the I still

think the channel does it now I think it's my

TV or MYO or whatever the hell it's called now

They still do this on Saturday and Sunday. They'll

run some obscure, like obscure of the obscure

movie for an afternoon movie. And I saw Cadillac

Man for the first time and I was like, whoa,

wait, what? Robin Williams as a car salesman?

What is going on here? What is this movie? And

there's just so much, so much in his career.

He will be very sorely missed. Now I have to

go back and watch Popeye because I don't think

I've ever seen it. I Know that people say it's

it's okay. Some people say it's not that great

other people Pete other people praise it I really

need to go back because I need to see how good

he is as Popeye Well, I mean the dude can do

the voice I mean that's and in plus is the way

he can kind of You know just voice to face what

he does. I mean, it's just amazing Yeah, it's

it's definitely a good one out there, I mean

it's not It's not some of his best work in my

mind, but it is It is Robin Williams film which

you need to see if you're a fan of Robin Williams

See it. That's the best I can tell you Yeah And

you know doing Something like Jack in 1996, that

was a completely different role. It was comedy,

but it was also serious, but it wasn't as dark

as, you know, something like One Hour Photo.

Well, it was family -serious. Yeah. Yeah. And

he just... He died I hate to pull a line out

of the Cave of Wonders, but he is truly a diamond

in the rough when it comes to diamond in the

rough Okay, thank you. Thank you Cave of Wonders

go go back to your slumber. Who disrupts my slumber?

There I'm done Okay, thank you Robin Williams,

I You know as we sit at the top of this podcast

here he has passed away and honestly he is someone

like his passing some people may say oh well

he did all this and all that when he was younger

so he deserves it but that's stupid don't you

know that's fine if that's somebody's opinion

but don't uh the man was a freaking comedic genius

i mean he was yeah yeah he really was he's he's

on the same level as bill cosby You know Well,

I gotta mention because Mikey posted it up earlier

on Facebook the Yeah, the whose line is it? Anyway,

I remember seeing that with my mom and we were

sitting there watching this and just watching

Robin Williams riff and it was just he went off

and They turned to his kids in the audience and

they said is he always like this and his son

goes No, this is one of his better days Just

I mean just hearing that from his kids. I'm like

Damn, even they've got quick wit. Yeah, I mean,

he's one of the greats. I mean, Hollywood, we've

lost a lot of people over the last six, seven

years. Well, this year, this year alone, we've

lost so many good people. Yeah. I mean, it's

just it's sad. Yeah, it really is. And I know

we've lost a lot in the last seven or eight years,

but. I really do think that with Robin Williams

no longer with us, it's going to leave a hole

in Hollywood that won't be filled for years.

There's no one in Hollywood nowadays that can

do what that man did. No, it's going to be quite

some time, I think, before we can find somebody

even close. And even then, the thing is, no one

ever comes close to the original. Whether it's

animation or original or recasted actors or whatever.

I mean just You know it'd be like trying to replace

William Shatner. I mean you just can't do it.

I mean it's he's like the you know the icon for

you know crazy animation and Comedy films I mean

just I don't know I told my wife about it after

I was Because we were sitting down watching a

movie with with my son and I was on my phone

and then I saw the report of Robin Williams passing

away and I was like Wow, and she's like what

and I says Robin Williams passed away and she's

like What like just genuine because you know,

we've we've all grown up on him and it's it's

just it's a shock Yeah, I felt kind of the same

way I mean I I was at work and my mom sent me

a text and said did you hear Robin Williams passed

and I thought at first my mom had fallen for

one of these death hoaxes that's been going around

you know just I thought no no Robin Williams

can't be dead and I started looking it up and

it was just it hit and at that point it was I

was shocked absolutely shocked to hear it just

you know it's it's this point Understand how

the man felt going through his depression. I've

been there myself. It's not You know if he really

was suffering from depression And that's the

problem you you know you committed suicide if

he did I don't know yet I don't want to speculate

on it too much, but no you know it's I'm sorry

to see that the man is gone at this point It's

you know especially for all the good that he

did even after getting sober You know just exactly

Well, and I think the shocking thing is I mean

for one I I thought that it was Bogus too I mean

so I started doing a little dig in after I read

that before I said anything and I was like this

has to be total bullshit and Then I started looking

it up and I was like, oh no, it's it's true.

I mean because I started seeing reputable places

posting it But um No, I mean it's There's there's

a story that has just come out as As we're recording

this the amazing true story of Robin Williams

friendship with Superman Yes Williams is one

of only two students accepted the advanced program

at the Juilliard school in 1973 the other student

was Christopher Reed Christopher Reeve Who would

become Williams roommate and lifelong friend?

He says After Reeve's crippling accident in 1995,

Williams was one of the first to visit Reeve

in the hospital to cheer up his old friend. Williams

pretended that he was a Russian proctologist

that was going to perform a rectal exam on Reeve.

In describing Williams' visit, Reeve wrote, for

the first time since the accident, I laughed.

My old friend helped me know that somehow I was

going to be okay. It's stuff like that that you

just want to... No, you just know that this man

was a good man within his personal life in his

professional life Everybody has demons We're

not here to talk about the demons. We're here

to talk about how good Robin Williams actually

was. Oh, yeah Well, I don't know if he knew this

but he actually For all the time that Williams

are all the time that Reeve was in the hospital

and he was going through his therapy Williams

was paying his medical bills They were getting

hit really hard the reef family and William said

you know what I'll do some bad movies. He took

movies like RV and You know the one with Mandy

many more I don't want the marriage Yeah Yeah,

I mean he said he goes you know I know that these

were gonna be bad movies But he took them so

that he could make money to pay the bills And

you know between that and his work for st. Jude's

Just the man had a heart bigger than all of us

Absolutely You really really wanted it. I mean

especially nowadays it takes a special kind of

person actually help You know When when you're

in that kind of situation where you have the

ability to help? In the fact that he would even

do that Yeah, oh, yeah, I mean that just speaks

volume about his his character Absolutely absolutely

so anything else any final thoughts you guys

want to give before we close this out I wanted

to mention. I don't know if you guys knew this,

but he was something of a geek He actually loved

Legend of Zelda and he named his daughter Zelda

after that. Oh Wow, that's funny. Yeah. Yeah

that he was he was big in the world of Warcraft

and Warcraft 3 Half -life he showed up at e3

in 2006 to talk about Spore Just yeah, I mean

the guy actually had a huge following for a lot

of video games and when we when he did one of

his last HBO specials I remembered him joking

about his son going into his room and playing

with the new joystick playing with his we we

You know and he goes yeah, and then I heard funny

noises, and I didn't want to ask any further

So you know just hearing stuff like that. It's

kind of like okay to know that Robin really was

He was kind of a man all over the place. I mean,

yeah, he he had you know, he had his attitudes

where he was bouncing all over because you know,

let me say it he had drug problems and we know

that and part of that was When he woke up the

next morning after Belushi had died and they

told him, you know Belushi's dead after an overdose

and He said that was a wake -up call for him,

you know slapped to his face You know, he started

sobering up and it's I'm glad that the man lived

as long as he did that he had such a good fulfilling

life Despite how he may have gone out Oh Exactly

Steve final thoughts um I would definitely say

that if you haven't seen all of his movies you

should Because each one of them is memorable

in their own way And Just You can't watch one

of his movies without enjoying him Even even

if the film is terrible kind of like places to

wet her RV Yeah You still can't go away without

Really, you know acknowledging the fact that

He's he's just hilarious and everything Yes,

he is For me final thoughts You owe it to yourself

to check out all of his work Whether they're

good movies bad movies whether it's good TV shows

bad TV shows Check I really need to find I I

wish I hope at some point we get some sort of

Compilation album on iTunes of all of his stand

-up. I would love to go back and listen to all

of his stand -up honestly That would be amazing

You know Robin Williams was a man that made us

all laugh and he will be sorely missed So I think

that's gonna do it for this Geek cast radio talking

about my generation crossover You can get all

the episodes that Doug does over talking about

my generation .com My generation podcast calm

my generation podcast calm and you can catch

us on geek cast radio Com where we have done

some updates recently. So go check that out All

the content is over there. Where can the people

find you on Twitter Steve at SCP 21? Doug, what

about you? I'm still using at SP R Z O U T Yes.

Find me at TF2 and Mike, and I think we're gonna

let Robin Williams close out this episode. Thank

you for listening. But I found something a lot

more scary than cocaine. It's called Nintendo.

That's some kitty cocaine! Ever see a little

kid play that? Give him a little chocolate. Danny,

Danny, Danny! Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario,

Mario. Eight hours later. How you doing? Hey,

listen, could you spare some money for Pac -Man,

motherfucker? And then play it backwards. Play

the Nintendo cartridge. You put the cartridge

in and play it backwards. He goes, we won the

war. We won the war. We won the war. I'm free.

Quick, quick! Wish for something outrageous.

Say, I want the Nile. Wish for the Nile. Try

that. Uh, I wish for the Nile? No way! How does

that feel good? I'm free! I'm free at last! I'm

hitting the road! I'm off to see the world! Genie,

I'm... I'm gonna miss you. Me too, Al? Today

we're going to be talking about William Shakespeare.

I know a lot of you look forward to this about

as much as you look forward to root canal work.

We're going to talk about Shakespeare as someone

who writes something very interesting. Now many

of you have seen Shakespeare done very much like

this. Oh Titus, bring your friend Hither. But

if any of you have seen Mr Marlon Brando... No,

but Shakespeare can be different, France, Romans,

countrymen. Let me rest. You can also imagine

maybe John Wayne is McBesclay. What is this,

a dagger I see before me? Why do I stand up here?

Anybody? You feel taller. No. Thank you for playing,

Mr. Dalton. I stand upon my desk to remind myself

that we must constantly look at things in a different

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