# Guess what Robin Williams? You're not funny **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2000, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076 "2000-10-31T14:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/41 "2000-11-01T18:02:10Z")
I don’t know about his latest improv work, but when he was first starting out, Robin Williams used to steal material from the Groundlings and other improv groups. One other thing…I’d bet that some of his ‘improv’ work is faked - it’s not improvised at all. If you watch his first (second, maybe?) HBO special, the one taped at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, he claims he’ll do an Shakespearean improv based on current events. He asks for an idea from the audience, who start shouting out all kinds of things that were hot in the news at the time. Williams then blurts out, “THREE MILE ISLAND!”, and proceeds to do an ‘improv’ on TMI. BUT…if you watch that tape over and over, you don’t hear ANYBODY in the audience suggest TMI, and at the time of the taping, TMI wasn’t that current, either. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/42 "2000-11-01T19:00:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SqrlCub \* > \*\*Dear Mermaid and Psychos R Us: > > My request did not arrive at midnight as promised. Did you find out that I am not capable of providing a first born since I will never be able to have children? I find this type of behaviour abhorrent and wish to receive complaint forms 6893A (the long one) and form 8942CCC (the one that specifies problems with icepick wielding psychopaths). I did meet up with a person with an icepick last night but I doubt that your company is the one who sent them and really his certifiable psycopathy and professional license as he seemed quite nice when we chatted over scones and tea and he kept sticking his icepick in the cheese rather than the appropriate eyeballs or ice. > > To continue, as I feel I have been discriminated against since I am not able to provide a first born, I have since provided your company’s not so noble name to The Better Business Bureau of this state, the ACLU, and have also contracted a private lawyer who specializes in personal/business law. I. L. Suemore will be in contact with you in the next 10 business days. > > I plan to be fully compensated by the lack of service and discriminatory issues that your company has shown against me. Talk to my lawyer. > > Sincere Hugs! > Sqrl > \*\* You failed to read the fine print. The price was one first-born human child. No one said this child had to be YOURS. Don’t you have a neighbor whose child you could steal? ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/43 "2000-11-01T19:06:48Z")
Snoooopy, I will rectify that. I will leave the address to the nearest orphanage and all my neighbors who have children. If I am lucky they will all die. I will have to take out a few hundred orders to make sure it goes through. HUGS! Sqrl ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/44 "2000-11-01T19:22:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > > Neither are great movies, but they do show him channeling both his subdued and manic side, respectively, toward interesting ends. But I think it’s no accident that his co-leads in each film were both very good (and much more consistent) actors themselves. > > The fact of the matter is that he’s trying to pull a Tom Hanks–transforming a stand-up/TV comic career to the big screen, first with lame-ass comedies and then turning all sensitive on us. The difference is that Hanks (of whom I’m no big fan) has shown real intelligence in picking out the right film roles for himself, while Williams has shown nothing of the sort (or at least not since _Moscow on the Hudson_). > > I now notice he’s the narrator for the already bizarre Spielberg/Kubrick/Haley Joel Osment production of _A.I._ I can’t wait \ > \*\* Obviously you forgot ‘The World According to Garp.’ Robin Williams is a great stand up comedian. He can be a good actor. I do loathe his heartwarming roles though. But anyone trying to do cloyingly heartworming roles make me gag. Tom Hanks should have stuck to comedy… Forrest Gump should be punishable by lethal injection. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/45 "2000-11-01T19:27:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xizor \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > > **Who do I find funny? —Margaret Cho** > > Now here is someone I don’t understand why they are considered funny. I have seen her do stand-up (stereotypical jokes about her Korean heritage) and I have seen her try to do a sit-com (stereotypical jokes about her Korean heritage). She did not even get a smirk out of me. I thought she only got air time because someone with clout said “We need more minority comedians on TV”. > > Sorry for the hi-jack, go ahead and get back to bashing Robin Williams. > > \*\* A sterotype of Cho’s work. I have her ‘Drunk With Power’ CD and have followed her other work. She does not just cover her heritage. There is much more to her work than that which are the kind of globally shared experience that is the basis for comedy. ---
**Author:** ![DavisMcDavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@DavisMcDavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavisMcDavis)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/46 "2000-11-01T19:36:50Z")
[minor note] “I’m the One That I Want” (her new movie) I think shows how she can be funny, there’s just one segment about her Korean mother, and since it’s about her mother talking about gay porn I don’t think you can really call it stereotypically Korean. It’s worth a rental. [/minor note] Now let’s go back to insulting Robin Williams. I’d like to make fun of how disgustingly hairy he is - can we do that? And then how creepy he looked in “Hook” when he took his shirt off? Do you think the Nair was in the contract? Creeeeeepy. ---
**Author:** ![Gomez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Gomez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomez)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/47 "2000-11-01T19:47:35Z")
I love both Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. I remember watching a Robin Williams stand up routine on Tv and laughing so damn hard I had to get up and walk out of the room just to get my breath back. The man’s almost as funny as John Corrado when he’s pissed off at someone, truly a comedy God. Ok I knew the risks, you can flame me now. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/48 "2000-11-01T20:06:42Z")
Joey: “Hey, what are you watching?” Chandler: “A Robin Williams movie.” Joey: “Yeah? Which one?” Chandler: “The sappy, heartwarming tragicomedy he did.” Joey: “Ooooooohhhhh…” The real dialogue was about “Three’s Company,” and the punchline was “the one where there’s some sort of sexual misunderstanding,” but you get the idea. That said, “The Fisher King” and “The World According to Garp” were fantastic movies. Pretty much anything else, you can keep. I actually made the mistake of watching “Patch Adams.” Sometimes I still feel like I’m scovered in syrup and sap. ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/49 "2000-11-01T20:12:39Z")
DavisMcDavis, “Now let’s go back to insulting Robin Williams. I’d like to make fun of how disgustingly hairy he is - can we do that? And then how creepy he looked in “Hook” when he took his shirt off? Do you think the Nair was in the contract? Creeeeeepy.” Some of us out there really like hairy men. I think smooth bodies are just as gross as you think hairy bodies are. Why don’t we talk about how some peoples noses are too pointy, why some women have “man hands,” why drag queen makeup doesn’t make them look like women, why handicapped people make you uncomfortable, or why twinkies (the people or the food) are as disgusting as licking cat assholes. Making fun of something that a person can not change and or is natural is abhorrent. I figured that since you were gay you would know about what it is like to be treated like a freak because of something you can’t change. Sqrl ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/50 "2000-11-01T20:15:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > \*\*The fact of the matter is that he’s trying to pull a Tom Hanks–transforming a stand-up/TV comic career to the big screen, first with lame-ass comedies and then turning all sensitive on us. \*\* Let’s be fair here. Hanks started his career **as an actor** –he went from community theater to doing Shakespeare with the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland. To the best of my knowledge, he never did standup at all. _Bosom Buddies_ was a gig, and a good one–many struggling actors would kill for a weekly series. And his first two movie roles were dramatic–a murder victim in _He Knows You’re Alone_ and a confused RPG playing college kid in _Mazes & Monsters_. ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/51 "2000-11-01T20:17:12Z")
Due to an unusual keyboard malfunction (I hit enter at the end of a line and it submitted rather than giving me a new line) I submitted before I was through with my editing and typing. That entire post should be prefaced with the following: I think Robin Williams is abhorrent as the next but we can and should limit his bashing strictly to his talent appeal as making fun of someone’s body and other things that they can’t change is as wrong as making fun of someone who has a pointy nose, etc (plug in the rest from there). HUGS! Sqrl ---
**Author:** ![boli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e99b99/32.png) [@boli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boli)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/52 "2000-11-01T20:41:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > > However, I personally find _DPS_ insufferably smug and patronizing, with a cop-out, meaningless ending and contrived plot elements that hammer away at its points mercilessly. It’s a knee-jerk paean to the teacher-as-saint cliche without approaching neither its characters nor situations with anything less than self-indulgent reverence. And Mr. Williams cannot refrain from indulging in his shtick (which I suppose I found significantly less funny than shadowfox). I know quite a number of people embrace this crass and manipulative movie (my wife included), but I don’t think it (like _Good Will Hunting_) is anything major to brag about in Mr. Williams’ cv. This is EXACTLY how I feel about Dead Poets’ Society. I don’t think I could’ve articulated it so well. Equally as bad and manipulative was Patch Adams - and again, I can’t even begin to express how much I hated that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/53 "2000-11-01T20:46:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SqrlCub \* > **making fun of someone’s body and other things that they can’t change is wrong** Does that mean I can’t point and laugh at Robin Williams’s square head? ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/54 "2000-11-01T20:59:36Z")
Uke, don’t make fun of his square head. Bad boy… you now must be punished. Where did I leave all my black licorice? Well, once I find it you will have to eat the whole bag. HUGS! Sqrl ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/55 "2000-11-03T10:07:19Z")
**Hastur** wrote > [@](#): > > Obviously you forgot ‘The World According to Garp.’ No, like I said before, that was a list of films from the 90s. You’ll get no argument from me that both _WATG_ and _Moscow on the Hudson_ are nicely nuanced performances–something he has yet to equal in the 15 years and myriad hours of drivel since. **pldennision** –point made. Although their origins may differ, I think Williams is still trying to mimic or echo Hanks’ pattern of success (though he’s doing a miserable job). > [@](#): > > I have a new hero I’m flattered, **boli** , though I can’t help but think I’m merely stating the obvious. As for _Patch Adams_, though it is as bad as _DPS_ (I’d argue much worse), it certainly wasn’t the favorite “inspirational” movie of so many of my peers the way _DPS_ continues to be. And to think it won the Screenplay Oscar over _Do the Right Thing_ and _sex, lies, and videotape_ ! Blech. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/56 "2000-11-03T11:11:36Z")
Has anyone mentioned Martin Lawrence in the “you’ve got to be kidding, he gets paid how much money to continue to NOT MAKE US LAUGH ONCE???” section? ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2000, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/57 "2000-11-05T04:57:59Z")
Sorry, Eve. I’ve only seen a little of Margaret Cho, and it didn’t make me want to see any more. What I saw _was_ stereotypical Asian humor, and crass as hell to boot. Neither of those things are so bad in themselves, as long as the jokes are funny, which they weren’t. I’ll allow that maybe she has ups and downs. I agree with you about Dennis Miller, though. Norm MacDonald is the anti-comedian. That guy has absolutely no timing at all. I catch his old Weekend Updates on SNL reruns, and the guy is just stultifying. When a joke bombs (very common occurence on SNL), rather than going on to something that might be FUNNY, he pauses and stares at the audience with a smirk on his face. “Oh wait,” we say, “I thought that joke was at best a mildly amusing effort, but there’s Norm _smirking right at me_! I…I must have been wrong. Yes! I see it now! It was hilarious! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Eventually, as the moment drags on and good ol’ Norm continues to radiate his sedimentary wit in silence, everyone begins to giggle nervously. MacDonald considers this “the save”. Yep, made that joke work. Then he does it AGAIN. In fact, some shows he does it EVERY DAMN TIME. The humor was spread thin enough in that show already, without MacDonald’s homeopathic dilutions. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2000, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076/58 "2000-11-05T08:06:12Z")
While we’re being fair, I’d take exception to the person who said that Steve Martin had an ‘undistinguished’ comic career. Steve Martin was one of the most successful standup comics in history. In the second half of the 1970’s he was a household name. Along with George Carlin and Cheech and Chong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-what-robin-williams-youre-not-funny/39076.md?page=2)