Hey, don’t get me wrong, I love RW in Dead Poet’s Society and Good Morning Vietnam, but the guy in his stand up routines, and his talk show appearances has never made me laugh. The rapid-fire jokes, the ridiculous mugging, for me pretty much justs adds up to a bucket of suck. And please, rolling around in a swimming pool of spaghetti, what demented agent advised him on taking that role?
Resolved: Robin Williams, not funny!
Seconded. But what are we going to do about it?
Well, we’ve got this facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which should be shortly looking for new tenants…
I thought we were not going to torture the prisoners anymore.
I concur with the sentiment.Word on the street is he steals jokes. Even if he doesn’t, I’ve never found anything he says to be funny, it all comes off like a long stream of unclever gook.
Someone on Howard Stern once said that William’s idea of comedy is that “everything is funny if you just say it in a funny voice!”
Thirded (?)
Before I started changing the channel anytime he was a guest on a talk show, I would turn into Howard Stern’s father, screaming at him, “Sit down! Shut up!”
I never got him either. He reminds me of a five year old jumping up and down saying “Look at me,” hoping if he says enough stupid things, eventually something he yells will pass for funny
Back about 1979, when Robin was still best known as Mork, he had a pretty hilarious Lp entitled Reality, What A Concept. This gave me many happy hours of listening as a pre-teen.
Since then, yeah, he mostly sucks. Seems like what he really wanted all along was just to be Taken Seriously as a Serious Actor…which, when you’re a gonzo standup comedian, basically means, “Time to sell out and become a schmalzy latter-day Danny Kaye, a defanged satyr figure beloved of The Industry and free of any disturbing creativity.”
Actually, he’s quite funny. But you have to be intelligent to get it. 
It wouldn’t be torture for any other prisoners since Williams would be the only prisoner there. The guards would be tortured though.
I think he’s had his moments. He hasn’t been terribly funny recently, but isn’t that the way most comedians go. They are always funniest in their coked up youth. They never recapture it once they’ve lost it.
Unclever Gook. Yes, the best description of RW that I have ever heard.
Unclever Gook" band name!
Guess I’m a total dumbass.
I’m glad someone finally said it; the man is not funny.
Yes, thank you. Count me in the “RW not funny” group.
It’s all taste. Some people love the antic stuff, others the more drawn out skits.
Hah! You guys are late. I’ve been wondering what the attraction is for Robin Williams for years, and posted as much here in June of 2006. He’s horrible in any comedic situation or movie. The man is simply not funny. Period. Whatever comedic ability he did have died with Mork and Mindy. His career’s running on fumes.
I think he has moments. I was watching a DVD of his recently that my boyfriend owns, and he did this bit about the Crusades, where (I’m paraphrasing from memory) he said the residents of Jerusalem reacted to the Christians by saying “Hide the women and the children and the number zero!” That bit cracked me up.
But I think his moments are few and far between.
He’s one of those bizarro guys who kicks ass at dramatic roles (I have loved him in every film where he plays a character that is not Robin Williams) but he strikes me as a hairy, criminally unfunny presence.
He’s got the lisping gay voice, the sassy black woman voice… and am I missing any others? The stream of consciousness coked-up one liners grate. If that’s how people on coke really act, I think you have the best possible anti-drug message in Mr. Williams.