Inside the Actors Studio
As the tributes pour in around the world as we mourn Robin Williams’ death, one theme stands out continually. He was a study in contrasts. He was an electrifying improviser and a skillful, nuanced dramatic actor. His stand-up was gloriously raunchy and strictly for adults, but his outrageous comic sensibilities also appealed to children, in films like Mrs. Doubtfire, Night at the Museum and several of the animated features that he lent his many voices to (Aladdin, Happy Feet, et al). He chose one of the most public professions, but was a man of intense privacy.
So, to choose any one film to re-watch as a fitting tribute for his range of talents is difficult. However, although Jumanji and Aladdin were popular VHS choices in my household growing up, I think that I re-watched his stint on Inside the Actors Studio more than any of his screen performances. (It has been removed from YouTube in its entirety, but you can find various clips online.) And while I know that it is not a movie per se, it is still one of my fondest memories of the actor and that’s why I’ve chosen to include it on this list.
James Lipton has hosted and interviewed hundred of guests since the series originally aired, but Robin was probably his most memorable. Not only was his appearance a terrific look back at his work from Mork and Mindy onward, but also showed the actor opening up about his demons, his dear family and the difficulty of physical comedy. While a serious exploration of his life and career, the episode also features Robin cracking one-liners, doing impressions and performing for the audience. At the start of the show, it takes nearly ten minutes from his entrance for him to stop his theatrical comedy and get to Lipton’s first question – but the audience and the host are laughing so hard, nobody minds this delay.
At another point, while explaining how his brain works creatively, he dons a variety of voices and poses, before taking a pink shawl from a woman in the second row and doing five minutes of original characters with the prop. One man in the audience laughed so hard he got a hernia and had to be hospitalized, James Lipton later said.
As an open, revealing glimpse into a genius’s creative process and work, it is invaluable. As a piece of improvisational and physical comedy, it is incredibly funny. As a tribute to one of our great comic performers, it is essential. When Lipton asks Williams, “If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?” the actor replied, “To know that there’s laughter, that would be a great thing.”
– Jordan Adler