the only time i ever met robin williams was in san francisco. there is a big free festival in a park ever year and every year the ‘secret’ guest was robin williams. i was in sunnyvale playing a club called rooster t feathers and i was graciously asked to come down and do a set and i complied. i was standing in line for the backstage buffet as the bright mid afternoon sun beat down on my face when the tizzy went through the vip area. “robin is here” someone yelled and i was left standing alone in a line that had once been full of other stand up comedians. i’ve never really cared about meeting famous people. i usually find them disappointing and to be honest i was quite hungry. i was much more excited about the chimichanga that was going to be mine 5 minutes quicker than it would have been had mork not showed up and cleared the line for me. i had heard all the rumors about that guy. he stole material, was a massive coke head and a bit of a prick. thats all i needed to know that i didn’t really want to go out of my way to introduce myself to the guy. the rest of the comics crowded around him and vied for his attention and i can see their point of view. here’s the home town boy made good and they’re all happy to see him again. in that throng ,as i scooped the mexican food onto my paper plate, robin stepped through the crowd and walked right up to me and said “glenn wool, you’re a very funny man.”. he had seen me on ‘the green room with paul provenza’ and had liked a bit of the material i did. suffice to say i was shocked that he knew who i was and that he even remembered my name. he recounted the high points of the bit that he liked and then stood there to await any sort of question i might want to ask him. i must have come off as the coolest dude in the world because the bright sun had led to me wearing sunglasses at the time of the meeting so he couldn’t tell my eyes where as big as saucers. i stood there with the hot cheese from lunch burning through the thin plate and all i could muster was “uh, thanks”. he stood talking for another minute or so trying to find something in common. i couldn’t really understand why he was talking that much or what he wanted but then it dawned on me. he wanted to joke around. really, he just wanted to laugh and make you laugh. i think that was always his motivation from stage to screen to backstage buffet lines. that dude just loved to laugh. we cracked a few gags about this and that and i was left with an entirley different impression about the man and the nature of even fame. you dont have to be an asshole to get ahead in this business. sometimes the good ones get through too. i was happy that i was able to send my parents an email telling them that robin williams knew who i was. they struggle sometimes with the new comedians that i know that have went on to be famous but everyone knows who robin is (was). my mom got the email on a tuesday. thats the day that a woman named mina comes and helps with the cleaning every week. my father was in the other room when she received the message and was quite excited. she stood up and read the email word for word to my dad who’s chest swelled with pride that my career was on a good path and my mom glowed for similar reasons. mina, as she scrubbed the floor stopped her work and turned to them both and said “ yeah, that robin sure is a great guy!”. both my parents gave her a quizzical look as she explained that robin had filmed a movie in the small town of nelson, british columbia (where she used to live) and the whole town had come to adore him. he would talk to anyone that cared to and generally had the town in stitches the entire time he was there. im sure he had flaws but that’s a pretty good average if you get mentioned in a group with that many moving parts. from comedian to son to parents to cleaning lady to the entire town of nelson b.c.. if every one in that chain noticed that you had the ability to make every one feel like they were the most important person in the world then that is a talent based in honesty and decency. i always imagined i would get to tell this story to his face. there were a few times i just missed him at gigs or parties. i guess now its just out there in the universe and hopefully it finds him in the peace that he was looking for. thanks for the laughs and encouragement. none of it went unnoticed.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 01:39:14 +0000