Move Over Jimmy Olson

I've never had a post so hard for me to find words for, but I did want to wait until I was ready to touch on this subject. Bear with me, there may be some rambling, and I know I have some tears in there. But I think I got this. What topic?......

Robin Williams...

You could say that Robin Williams was an interesting character... you would be wrong. He was alot of interesting characters. He could be funny, he could be serious and dramatic, he could be both. And I'm going to touch on some of my favorite aspects of his career.

I will start up with his stand up. There was no one better. NO ONE. And that is saying alot considering comedians like George Carlin and Joan Rivers. Robin was unique. He was stable and unstable at the same time. He was erratic yet calm. And he was incredible at self-awareness. Every stand up DVD special he did, he always touched on the different phases of addiction he went through, and wasn't shy about making jokes about himself at his own expense because of it. And self-aware...... the first special, he even mentioned himself going off on tangents and different directions. Why? He would be in a story, and go off in a random direction like flipping a switch, spend a few minutes on a random topic, and come right back where he left off. No losing his way. All of the way, he was going Mach 4, not missing a beat, perfect delivery every time, and if he did make a mistake, he instantly made it a part of the bit... and improv will always be where he excelled. If Jonathan Winters would be the Grandfather of Improv, Robin Williams would be the Father of it. For stand up... for improv... no one was better. And in a comedy world where using vulgar language is a crutch(and I loooooooove Lewis Black), Robin used it as a humorous weapon. Everything combined, on stage... NO ONE WAS BETTER!

What about TV? I don't have much to say about that because there wasn't as much from him. But I will touch on Mork & Mindy. The show that GAVE us Robin Williams. He took a cameo character on Happy Days, and earned his own show based on it. A show about an alien adapting to human life. It took a TV standard set by The Jeffersons(turning a role on one show into your own show), and set two more standards of it's own: a comedian getting their own show and basing the material on their own stand up AND the show eventually failing because of producer changes. Mork & Mindy was hilarious... but the execs wanted to change it, and it ruined it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Rodney Carrington, Whitney Cummings, and the late Greg Giraldo just how well their sitcoms worked out(George Lopez, Tim Allen, & Louis CK got lucky, really).

Now what about movies? What Robin Williams movie is your favorite? For me? Almost all of them. So many good movies, and of course... most of them are funny. Look at his line of work...
"Good Morning Vietnam" gave him something special, the chance to use his voice...
"Awakenings" how many actors can you say out acted Robert DeNiro?...
"Popeye" he had to do a musical...
"Patch Adams" funny, sad, uplifting... you know you cried...
I could keep on going, so I will touch on my faves...
"Aladdin"... first time a MAJOR actor lent his voice to a Disney animated movie, and they couldn't have made a better decision. Robin improv-ed all of his own lines, and Disney animators made the movie around it. Tell me, if it hadn't been Robin, would it have been as good?
"Mrs. Doubtfire"... Robin as a cross dressing granny. Amazing performance. Sad movie as much as it was funny. And the scene where Mrs. Selner makes the apartment visit, he went to change out of the prosthesis, and held a conversation with her as two different characters, as three different characters in the same conversation... without missing a beat.
"Good Will Hunting"... serious movie that earned Robin his only Oscar... sad he only had one, because he deserved so many more.
"Insomnia"... Christopher Nolan's crime drama. Did you think Robin Williams could pull that off? I did. Now we all do.
"The Birdcage"... based on a Broadway play about a gay couple meeting their son's in-laws, one who happens to be a politician, while trying to hide that they are gay. Robin playing the "straight" one, was surprising, and with Nathan Lane bouncing off of him as the feminine one(fuck... no pun intended), and Gene Hackman... it was a funny and unique film. Robin and Nathan needed more work together.
"What Dreams May Come"... a vivid take on life, death, suicide, Heaven, Hell, and how love can rise above all of it.
And so many many many many more... I would be at this all night...

But there is one movie I have to talk about. "Bicentennial Man". This movie has a love/hate relationship with the moviegoers. I personally love it, and now... I think it may be his most important film. Why? I can now see it as an allegory of Robin's own life. His character was Andrew. A servant. Giving his life for the betterment of other people. But quickly, he and everyone else realized he is different than all of the other servants. That he was unique. It took awhile for him to decide to strike out on his own, and make his own mark in his own life, but still didn't feel like he totally separated himself from the need to be that same kind of servant. After he got the acceptance he needed, he sets out again, and fights through years of depression to find out why he was so unique, and failed at finding someone just like him. Because there would never be anyone quite like him. That discovery led him to want to become more human, and want to lead a normal life, even though he knew he couldn't completely. Even finding love, even though it wasn't enough for him to achieve normalcy. And wanted to die a normal death... a release from his unique exsistance. Oh, did I mention Andrew was a robot? Why not? Because anyone who has gone through that kind of depression feels nothing more than a robot while going through it... so... Yes? No?

What about his end? The man committed suicide. He couldn't handle it anymore. He knew how much he was loved, and he still took his own life. People have probably given him shit now because he took his own life, but I understand it. I've been there. I know the feeling. Robin killed himself, but he didn't do anything wrong. I've really searched my feelings about it, and I now I truly believe that was going to be his end all along. I hate to say it that way... but it's true. Comedians are sometimes the saddest people. And Robin Williams was the funniest robot we have ever seen. It is still a shock, but I believe he wanted that release. I don't think he could see himself not being that robot anymore, serving us normals. I know he loved his family, I know he loved his friends, and I know he loved us fans. I also know he knew how much all of us loved him... and sometimes it isn't enough. Not sure if something was missing or if he was afraid... but whatever it was, I understand. I will always understand.

Robin Williams was my hero. He was a good man. A funny man. A humanitarian. And one of the greatest actors to ever grace ANY screen. A good friend of mine pointed out that I get my comedy from him. She is right. But I didn't get just that. Robin had always been an inspiration to me that no matter what, humor conquers all, and you can always learn to be a better person.

He was special. He had to be special. He was roommates with Christopher Reeve at Juilliard School of the Performing Arts. And when Christopher ended up paralyzed, the first person to make him laugh was his friend Robin. Robin Williams was good enough to make Superman laugh...

I think that makes him a BETTER best friend than that poser Jimmy Olson...

Don't you think?

It hurt when I heard the news. It still hurts now. It will hurt tomorrow. It will hurt years from now.

I lost a piece of myself on August 11th, 2014.

Maybe... just maybe... I can carry a piece of Robin Williams with me as I go forward.

Since then, we have lost Joan Rivers...

Johnny Carson, George Burns, George Carlin, Joan Rivers, and Robin Williams... the Mount Rushmore of Comedy is now all gone...

Robin... I will miss you...

You are STILL my hero...

~The Master is Out

"OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!!!"

Post your thoughts on here or on my Facebook what you think...

And your opinion... I want to link this to his daughter Zelda. I know she had issues with jackasses on Twitter, and I wanna know if you think I should? Did I wait too long? Would it even matter? I need feedback on this... thank you ahead of time.