# Robin Williams back in prime time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-back-in-prime-time/669828 "2013-09-27T18:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-back-in-prime-time/669828/21 "2013-09-28T18:14:04Z")
Even in the Mork and Mindy days Robin wasn’t that funny. Robin doing Shakespeare, now would be funny. Hamlet perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-back-in-prime-time/669828/22 "2013-09-28T19:49:36Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I agree with the other posters – it’s way too “trying too hard” and self-conscious for me. Look at me, I’m funny and now I will do this zany thing!! My taste runs more to telling a story well or throw away jokes, otherwise I have that spectator embarrassment. I don’t like most stand-up comedy because of the same thing, but I like people like Jim Gaffigan and Daniel Tosh because they refer to the fact that they are doing an act, they don’t just put on an act. Hard to explain. > > I don’t know if I would like Don Rickles in performance, but I liked him on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee because it was just him and he’s funny just talking. Same way with everyone Jerry’s had on except Michael Richards, who used it to do a monologue. Again, just be funny in conversation, not performing. That’s my problem with him as well. He’s always ‘on’ and can’t turn himself ‘off’ and just have a conversation. I remember years ago on David Letterman when he was still on NBC, Robin Williams was one of the guests. After he was introduced and sat down David said something like, “I’d like to ask one question before you do whatever you’re going to do.” ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-back-in-prime-time/669828/23 "2013-09-28T23:38:57Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I think Robin Williams is one of the best comedians of his generation, but if ever a preview stank of desperation, it was for this show. > > They must be paying Williams a buttload of money, and [del]if[/del] when it tanks, somebody is going to have to explain why they thought it was a guaranteed success just because _Mork and Mindy_ was fresh thirty years ago. He has said frankly in several interviews that he’s doing it [strictly for the money](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20733694,00.html). His divorces have cost him tens of millions of dollars and his movie career isn’t what it used to be financially but he still has an expensive lifestyle. I haven’t seen the show yet, but this admission alone kind of turned me off a little bit; granted, money’s the main motivator for most TV shows probably, but he doesn’t even pretend it was because of the scripts or comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-back-in-prime-time/669828/24 "2013-09-29T00:58:39Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Robin doing Shakespeare, now would be funny. Hamlet perhaps. He does work Shakespeare into some of his bits. Standup or talk show he’ll usually rattle off something in Shakespeare idiom and then flick into old man, then young William Buckley, Reagan, little kid…until someone comes along and drags him offstage with a black bag over his head. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-back-in-prime-time/669828/25 "2013-09-29T16:46:52Z")
There were a few moments in the episode where Williams’s character would start going off on a tangent and the one girl would burst out laughing while everyone else stood around uncomfortably. That’s kind of how I felt about the show itself. A few funny moments, but it was mostly uncomfortable. And I really do like Robin Williams. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-back-in-prime-time/669828.md?page=1)