I’d seen Bill on a couple of interview shows recently, like Larry King, and he seemed to have his own set of talking points (give Bush props for the Iraqi election, focus on Medicare not Social Security) and he stuck to those for his first episode of the new Bush administration. He also made quite a few James Guckert jokes.
What struck me about the show was how annoying Robin Williams was. He seems unable to shut up for a full minute. He interrupted everybody on a regular basis, to the point where their own opinions got lost or confused. And he nearly spoiled Bill’s “New Rules” rant at the end.
Possibly the worst Real Time guest ever.
thwartme
(PS: I apologize if there’s already a thread on this. I did a search but couldn’t find one.)
Thanks for starting this. Robin Williams totally ruined what could have been a good show. He was on a panel with a long time senator and a former cabinet secretary and governor, and he barely let them speak at all. What an amazing prick. He didn’t even have the decency not to step all over Maher’s ending monologue.
The thing I don’t understand is why Biden was laughing the whole time. Did he really find Williams’ “improv” funny? Secondarily, is it really improv when you’ve been doing the same riffs for the last 20 years? I wish Robin Williams would just go away.
I was out of town and didn’t see it, but then I probably wouldn’t have watched it anyway because of Williams. I figured that’s what would happen. I saw him on Inside the Actors Studio and he did the same thing. Instead of answering Lipton’s questions, he’d do his schtick, and it got really annoying after 10 minutes. I’ve always like Williams doing his standup, and thought he was extremely talented to be able to improvise as he does, but there’s a time and a place, and Maher’s show (and Inside) wasn’t the place.
The sad thing is he probably could have contributed to the discussion. Every once in a while he made some decent points (my memory fails me as to what they were, but I remember thinking ‘hey, that’s a good point’ a couple of times.) But then he’d just start into another funny-voice bit.
And yeah, Biden seemed to be really laughing at William’s antics. Some of it seemed to be of the “My God, I can’t believe he just said that” type laughter. But it really seemed to me that a couple of times both he and Thompson just gave up on finishing their statements.
Well, I’ll step up to Mr. Williams defense and say that the main reason you’d book him in the first place is because you want him to natter on about everything that pops into his head.
Maybe Thompson isn’t the most charismatic speaker on the planet, but Biden has done more than his share of panel discussions. And Maher does a pretty good job at leading the dicsussion on his show. I suppose you’re right that Williams’ behavior wasn’t unexpected, but it was still rude. There was just no need for him to dominate the discussion the way he did.
And I don’t think you need to have too much show biz experience to know not to upstage the host of the show during his signature closing monologue.
Yep, that was exactly the point I was going to make. You know what you are getting when you book Robin Williams. He will try to talk and talk and talk and be the center of things. That is just who he is, and if you book him, that’s what you get.
Well, that may be; you’d think that Maher, et al would have an idea that that is what he’d do; but I tune into Maher for a relatively serious dicussion of current events. Had I watched it, I’d’ve been really pissed at Robin’s antics and interruptions. That’s the one thing that bugged me about Maher’s old show (I forget the title). He’d have comedians on with journalists, politicos, and the like, and the comedians inevitably disrupted the serious discussion with asinine comments and antics.
I have no doubt that Maher knew what he was in for. Robin Williams has always done this for as long as I can remember. I think some of it has to do with his bi-polar disorder that plays out with his particular wit and talent.
I am in agreement that it wasn’t a particularly good idea, but I don’t fault RW for being who he is.
I disagree. The show books all sorts of celebrities. Singers, actors, musicians, and loads of stand-up comics, among others. But when they come on Real Time they don’t sing or dance or do stand-up, they talk politics. Now, everyone keeps it kind of light (usually) and jokes get made, but they all know what kind of thing goes on. William’s ether wasn’t willing or wasn’t able to turn off his stage persona.
DATE/TIME CHANNEL
Wed 2/23 12:00 AM HBO High Definition - EAST
Wed 2/23 12:00 AM HBO - EAST
Wed 2/23 10:30 PM HBO - EAST
Wed 2/23 10:30 PM HBO High Definition - EAST
Thu 2/24 08:00 PM HBO2 - EAST
DATE/TIME CHANNEL
Wed 2/23 12:00 AM HBO High Definition - EAST
Wed 2/23 12:00 AM HBO - EAST
Wed 2/23 10:30 PM HBO - EAST
Wed 2/23 10:30 PM HBO High Definition - EAST
Thu 2/24 08:00 PM HBO2 - EAST
