Robin Williams Interview on Donahue in 1989

you they're crazy about you yes it's been a while since we have you surrounded here we didn't want to take any chances at all uh welcome to a show on paranoia these are new this is great though you can call on this stuff this is great yeah that's true careful here we go oh well sorry sure go ahead oh already hi hi my mother here I wanted to stand up she used to watch Mark and Mindy and she always she doesn't know how to pronounce your name because she's from Italy well she's she's been here for 30 years but she used to laughs on New York yeah she used to call you nanu nanu from work and Mindy so I just wanted to introduce her because she wants me to pronounce Robin Williams in Italian for her or Mark say Monica Marcus we do like like the Italian version of Marco like the New York Italian version Mark what are you doing hey [Applause] yes I'm right over here yes you get that time some surprises where'd you get the tie she wants to know oh this is from the Timothy lyric collection this was one of those times when I used to drink was very convenient [Applause] let me just uh for those of you who've been living in a cave uh Robin Williams is 36 do I have that 37 32 taking one year off but that's that's a hundred dog years you were um you were born in Chicago Illinois 1951 right uh your father was a Ford executive you probably knew all this you traveled around this is a very uh had a nice Bloomfield Hills then I lived I lived in basically Lake Forest Illinois for a while I was 16 before I had my first Mercedes I had to work all summer just to go to Europe and then Marin County yeah and that was high school that was high school yeah and you actually ran apparently there was was it at the men's College Claremont men's college some guy some teacher actually introduced improvisation as a kind of Fiat of an academic subject right and you were I took it and flunked on my other subjects it doesn't seem to be too badly now well you've been interviewed upside down sideways from every way as as have all of your relatives your mother tells uh interviewers that you were not a wise guy yeah very quiet um bouldering on catatonic I was very uh shy but didn't talk about that now um uh for a while I mean she used to tell me I guess I had this image that I was a little fat kid for a while if anybody here I'm sorry if nobody offended but I was like uh I I thought of myself as very kind of um withdrawn until realized I could perform sometimes change welcome to Chippendale [Applause] hi I want to ask you um which of your films are you the most proud of oh god um [Applause] the cartoon I did called Deep Bambi um I think there's a thing a different public television called Seize the Day which was a drama Good morning Vietnam this one [Applause] you uh trained at Juilliard here in New York City and your classmates included Chris Reeve Mandy potamkin and who kill hurt Bill hurt was in your head no it wasn't in my class he was it was the weird thing I started off I was an advanced student which was like a two-year program and then in one year it was a class of 25 and I think 23 left so it's basically you're doing a lot of just two-person scenes after that you're really a romantic when you're alone with your lover well if that's the question I was going to ask no you took him right out when I'm alone with myself [Laughter] [Applause] what did you like for you shut up that'll make sense let's see if that makes the air no am I always joking was difficult for a comic to if you're a comedian it's that's the hard part sometimes if to drop that someone does not want to go look like a chicken but that's something that you yeah to drop that yeah I have to you have to kind of do other things now you you are honest to tell us that there is a natural high outside of the one that you and I might what are you talking about Phil um you mean about performing and yeah when you're out there it's amazing you find a new idea when you find something that live a little bit in creating when you find something if you get a suggestion or if you create a character there's been times when I find uh the other night I was on stage and I found a new identity it's something it's amazing there is a drug it's some sort of it's beyond endorphins which is what you get when you run long distances which is why marathon runners always look that kind of how you doing [Applause] it is now uh you also um you make your way to various comedy stores type uh yeah and you walk in and you may get up huh sometimes sometimes in uh sometimes sheer fear will do it uh sometimes it'll be uh like doing you know talking about the news we can talk Dan Quayle it's pretty easy what time is it Dan [Applause] yeah Nancy and I are like growing up in a house with you with sisters and brother you must have the time there's a line for that I just played with myself but I I just had my you know that's why the some of the imagination came from just growing up my mother's very very funny as he's talking about her so hey she's uh she's her first joke was uh she used to read this poem to me when I was about six I love you in blue I love you in red but most of all I love you in blue and at the time I'm going there's something wrong with that Mom but uh it was amazing my father was a different type of humor he was very dry very and very wonderful man and had a great way of dropping his voice that would really scare me but a very I think he gave me the other side which is what this movie has to deal with that kind of that ethical I know he had a very great sense of power about him did you discover your humor when you discovered girls was it about the same thing that the flower should I do the puppet show now oh no I came about the same time it was uh it happened in a little bit high school but the first year of college from those classes when I really started to see you weren't a wise guy in high school no a very good student as a matter of fact yeah laude Society the whole number and the president of the class and most likely to succeeded I think it's actually said that didn't it at least likely to succeed but most interesting to do something oh it's kind of it would be it was like very experience because I was going to study political science that's why I went to that the Claremont men's college to study political science and economics and after two weeks of improvisational theater classes I uh didn't do too well in the economics but he's trying to think of me now in an embassy going I'm kidding Put the gun down yeah so your first laugh then and it's sort of in a theatrical sense was not until you were a freshman in college yeah basically performing last I mean it sounds like and then I remember oh there's this time yeah I think that was the first time of really performing live for people other than my mother but yeah and you liked it and said oh yeah they can make a living doing this yes I want to ask how your son was he's wonderful how old is he oh Mr hinckley's here we're having a show on automatic weapons I think we need them you know as a hunter you never know when you're going to run across a deer with a 38. okay yeah he's doing wonderful though he's in great he's six it's a it's a great time because he's just learning to read you know it's weird if he finds one of the old books like what's this book that's something by D.H Lawrence you know he's it's an amazing time because for him you can see a personality forming and transforming and learning I mean he's decides his reading and the other day we had a discussion on degrees of infinity which is a great way good night I didn't finish college I was wondering why you didn't use your real name in Baron von Munchausen because of the time I was worried uh Terry the people who are producing it were after his house so I was a little worried that they might be a little abusive of the privilege of using the name it's especially when you're coming off a movie like Good morning Vietnam you have to be careful of how they're promoted and that was just a cameo it's five minutes and I want to be very protective of that oh it was fun it was a great time to do it's that's a very unusual fairy tale you know the Wizard of Oz staged by the market Assad yeah don't be afraid I just want to ask you are you married now are you involved in anybody yes I'm very married now like two months yeah I'm sorry I stepped on oh sorry have you had a son yes how old is he he's six six years old yeah and I'm about to have another baby not me personally but okay Pokemon it's like sea monkeys but a lot different you know have you been to Moscow and how did you prepare for that particular role no I didn't get to go to Moscow and there's really not much chance to let me for a while we really enjoyed that movie we run it backwards so it has happy endings how did I prepare I studied Russian for three months I've played saxophone for three months but at the end I still sounded like a way of but it was like even so bad the musician was gone that's that's close let's stop now but the Russian was most amazing let me just speak Russian I love because it's an amazingly beautiful language it has a quite Robin I wanted to ask you who is your idol when starting out uh flat out Jonathan Winters more than anybody [Applause] how did you get involved in your new film what inspired you to do it the script reading it in basically living in the whole piece not just the fact my character but the Ensemble you know here today but we'll talk people all these just the whole thing I love the story of and I love the fact that it is an ensemble that it wasn't just my character but some wonderful characters in it also and then the whole Arc of it it's like a line from GARP you okay there welcome to San Francisco that I found the Ark of the character and the whole story quite moving in quite powerful I found myself sobbing on a plane and it's difficult when you're having the people walking going oh something's wrong with him but it's a very powerful story to me it is a powerful story it is titled Dead Poet Society you may have read uh the publicity about this picture is considerable Here Comes Robin Williams as a professor in a uh in a Vermont College New Hampshire I don't think we even know it's inside it's in New England somewhere a New England that's it man going on a journey Beyond Sight and Sound uh private boys uh you know Preparatory School this is quite a performance for uh Mr Williams who presents as a uh rather unorthodox uh teacher to a group of uh the kind of guys you would find at a mostly New England boys from 1959 here's a scene uh here's his introduction to uh great books literature poetry and art roll this film excrement that's what I think Mr J Evans Pritchard I'm not laying pipe I'm talking about poetry if you're not going to describe poetry like American Bandstand I like Byron I give him a 42 but I can't dance to it now I want you to rip out that page flip out the entire page here at me rip it out rip it out come on rip it out thank you Mr Dalton gentlemen tell you what not to tear off that page tear out the entire introduction I want it gone history to leave nothing of it rip it out Rich be gone Jay Evans Pritchard the PHD rip spread the hair rip it out I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr Pritchards real perforated put it on a roll all right [Applause] well guess who else is here The Ensemble about uh whom you spoke a moment ago these young actors deliver in this film I ought to know I saw it here are Josh Charles Ethan Hawke Robert Sean Leonard Gail Hansen Dylan kussman and alalan Ruggiero which you kindly stand and say hello to these folks around rogerio I'm the last uh from the last talk show host it's going to mispronounce it uh just I want to get this uh line up here but I'll tell you something I this you are serious about your work um you're how old I'm 17. and you're in the movies yep and this happened ah and uh summer stalker how'd this happen I mean I started when I was about eight years old doing stand-up around Baltimore and uh that's sort of got me really I had to get serious you went somewhere did you yeah I went to a place in Upstate New York called Stage Door Manor performing arts training center it's like a theater Camp I went there for five Summers and that just did a bunch of plays there and really got me into it you are Ethan right and you're how old 18. really and uh and your and your rise to stardom I let's tell him because after all we got more than a few folks out there'd love to have your job how did this happen hey um that sets in early age uh started in the lottery you know I bought a ticket and um I gave it and before too long I had to park he's trying to be funny around my town and uh did a did a bunch of work and just came about and the phone rang and here you are yeah and here is the highly regard Robert Sean Leonard you are Neil Perry in this you are a talented and tortured animal in this film and you are and you do you do deliver a very important performance uh to the script your start and how old are you 20 20. I'm an old guy and you um did you do summer stock or yeah I did Summer Stock for three years starting when I was 12 and I've been working in New York for five years since then he's really boring on the set isn't he rob Robin yeah he's a real drag to have around uh thanks uh very much uh Robert and you're Gail you're the old guy in this group yeah I'm the uh Grandpa I'm in my 20s [Laughter] did you come up through Summer Stock or did you go to actually no I think um I think you could best describe me as a studio rat I've been studying with uh most of the historically prominent acting teachers in New York Stella Adler Sandy Meisner UDA Hagen and here is uh Dylan kussman Cameron you thinks out you think out on this I think out in a major way bill okay I blow it and uh the phone rang and somebody said you want to be in a film with Robin Williams how long have you had an agent well you know uh Pete that's what we call him on the set Peter where uh Pete give him a call and said uh you know I was wondering if you'd like to do my film and he knew about you because no I I I I uh this thing had gone before and and they had test tapes from before the uh did you have to make a screen test for the film yeah we did yeah all right red we're down to your rogerio that's right and your rise to stardom um yeah it hasn't occurred yet hey man I love you what have you done before the film uh just a lot of theater at uh performing arts school in Philadelphia yeah and uh that's this must be very exciting oh yeah oh yeah just just a little bit just a little bit well I'm here to uh support you in a big way I thought your performances were significantly wonderful and uh Robin as your teacher this is a this is an afternoon or an evening at the movies I'm pleased to recommend it and I'm glad you came and made us look like a big act here we'll be back with Robin Williams [Applause] foreign [Music] for being that loud hey too late oh 600 what's the o stand for oh my God it's early speaking of early how about that Crow Magnus thank you Marty for silky smooth sound make me sound like Peggy Lee Good morning Vietnam what the heck is that supposed to mean these young men here gathered to enjoy uh kind of conversing with Robin Williams will be pleased to know that there is a woman in Dead Poets of society with Alexandra powers let me knock them out too boy are you gorgeous in this film and we are not surprised uh there's no camera trickery here all right Alexandra it was fun and it took a couple of months and you had the time of your life with uh this whole crowd with the boys oh yeah and you kept your eye on them at least we give this uh this intrusion in your privacy but we do we are curious to know how a young woman gets herself into a big film like this obviously your talent but so are a lot of other people did you study did you are you you're from Los Angeles I'm from Los Angeles and I tested as some of the boys did also the first time around year and a half ago half ago here we had seen my original test and luck and God and you say uh he had seen your original test you've got to be you decided when you were a little girl you wanted to be a movie Stars yeah yeah well it was a writer and she she had written for Kung Fu so ever since I went to the set of kung fu and I was six I wanted to be like David Carradine well I'm not exactly like him but I wanted to act so you grew up in this environment yeah you must be very excited very excited well you should be proud too and thanks for stopping by Robin Robin you're so successful in the answer anything you haven't done yet that you'd really like to do yeah that's a Top Shot oh God no I'll talk show would be one um game show another flown my own plane I want to be in my top Community Robin Williams we're talking to male lesbians we'll be right back men who like women why we'll be right back back in a moment may I ask where you would uh like your permanent residence and how do you like New York good luck to you Mr Donahue hello I live in San Francisco that's always where I've lived in probably will be there until if there is the big one then I'll serve to Wyoming [Applause] but I um how do I like living New York is always amazing for me because New York always peels away any pretensions when you start to think yourself really like I am something like the other day I was walking New York I guess I didn't wave at somebody and the guy leaned out of his car and went the ones you didn't win the Oscars foreign [Applause] who is your favorite actor and actress your favorite actor or and actress actor God living alive right now oh there's many I uh the boys are holding up names I love uh I've Dustin Hoffman just put character things uh Jack Nicholson just for just for being jacked and then there's uh there's a lot of English actors I think they're amazing Bob Hoskins and there's a English character actor I mean there's also Olivier that's in a category all by itself um over here oh sorry what do you like about playing the teacher in this new movie I like the fact that it was different for me of taking the turn of not having to always be funny but yet still having wit and passion but it didn't it didn't have to be it was it's the power of ideas that's what I love about it the thought can make a point without having to have a lot of spin on it and you were you took these kids out of her out of a rut yeah that there is in the parallel in the sense of it's 1959 it's kind of a complacent time it's also a time when they were being geared up if anyone's ever been to a prep school I mean I was geared up they were geared to get into college that was basically it you have to get to go that way these Ivy League schools that way and it's to try and get there is something more than just that and there's something that you can take from especially something like poetry and something like literature there is a reason there's a speech where you basically talk about you don't read poetry because it's cute but it's because it has passion in life and because it comes from truth and it's something we do that must be done by great art it has to be done people who are great painters and stuff they do it like Van Gogh if he's ripping a zero if it's still going but maybe I still try to paint we heard your wife is pregnant when is she due July 23rd or maybe my birthday the 20 to be amazing now where is she buying the furniture from do you have a card yes a lady what's up baby furniture dude hold on and the streams don't go away you need anything it's a funeral home not yet but just in case just in case you want a box it's got a waterbed anything you want in there that's amazing of your new wife so how's the marriage wonderful it's amazing it's amazing to be married it's amazing to be expecting a child to be expecting a child again is a wonderful thing people think you have it together this time you know I have a son before was it any more do you have it together no I'm still like it's it's a wonderful combination of delight and Terror at the same time of knowing that you think that day the day it happens you know the Beeper goes off I have to leave the set I come home everything okay and you walk in the door like I've got it wonderful to see and just she's a tiny woman and this is going to be one giant baby this is baby it's not a pretty picture but when I had to you it's going to be a heavy duty fast I've seen this kid move this kid not only moves it does spins you know it's difficult to see you normally sometimes you see the stomach go like this I'm seeing like someone's putting up paintings I don't know who your favorite Bay Area your rock and roll band would be oh God Huey Lewis I mean there's a lot of great rock and roll bands that are like club bands that are incredible and I go blank right now because I've been home in a couple of months um I'm trying to think um Starship yeah we know that people are helping me now I mean there's so many club bands I've seen because I in the comedy clubs are usually next door to rock and roll Club it's a great place called uh I go to school in Berkeley and I'm wondering if you think from Dead Poet Society that academic schools tend to stifle creativity I went to Juilliard which is a combination academic and creative school which is a hard thing that you know sometimes to acknowledge you know they acknowledge creativity but sometimes acknowledging the real world too that's the hard one academic schools like Berkeley for stifling creativity you think say it ain't so I think that they can there can be a combination of it I mean of academic and the Creator I mean that it's just like classically trained artists I mean I went to us the idea of Juilliard was to train you as a classical actor and then so you can do anything if you can pull off Shakespeare you can do a beer commercial and if you could call us both at the same time you're basically basically Be not Afraid no it's steel and the foam that comes from within and we'll be back in just a moment [Music] how are you hi in your movies how uh what percentage of your part is ad-libbed and what percentages written for you oh spring out the Improv meter I don't know this one it's not as much because um it wouldn't hold it we tried sometimes to kind of push the envelope with this movie and it didn't hold it didn't work it came off looking like a performance rather than teaching and there's still times when a teacher will be funny but it was important that it's still trying to get an idea across this is not overdone but the um irrepressible uh brother Williams is not all together uh kept from himself in this film but there's only flashes of it this is a very disciplined performance may I say it I want to patronize anybody Also may I say a very entertaining one here's here's uh the teacher here's the teacher at the Preparatory School uh you might recognize Robin Williams in this brief excerpt roll this film how many of you have seen Shakespeare done very much like this oh Titus bring your friend hither but if any of you have seen Mr Marlon Brando no that Shakespeare can be different France romance you can also Imagine maybe John Wayne is the best guy well as that's our dagger I see before me hi got my home yeah hi what role do you consider most representational of your own personality different things this one represents more of a of my own philosophy Good morning Vietnam represents more of my Persona just the fact of that the two sides of it performing and non-performing and an HBO represents the darker side the psyche that comes out but that um of those three that's what it represents me yes Robin you're such a fantastic Talent what are you doing to keep yourself in shape so you can be around a long time like Milton Berle and and George Burns well occasionally I have a nice piece of corned beef a little piece of chicken but not that well done I run long distances uh I've been I like in New York running in the park it's like running uh I run the river sometimes uh it's amazing for me running is the only time great when you run in New York people it's a trip you run in the park people recognize even people it's you you'll be running and also some people go oh I'm not gonna let him pass me but it's the only time I can really get it's like it's my peaceful time even though it's like running long distances it's a great time because you can still check out the world but it's too late even if they recognize you it's like no I ain't here it's a quick time um since you've done serious TV with Mork and Mindy and then you found some movies would you like to go back to series TV or stay with the movies I would go back series you mean oh serious oh sorry seriously a TV series as the world Burns a soap up um I would go back if it was an ensemble piece if it was if it was something really really interesting I mean I don't out you know put that out of bounds TV is hard obviously they're putting it out every week is a whole other bag it's a different thing it takes it sucks up stuff so quick and you have to really be on top of it and uh that type of work it's it's really you have to be ready for that hi hi welcome to New York thank you um I was just wondering I love the job with it but I want to see more plants we'll work on it I was just wondering do you prefer acting to stand up live comedy shows they both feed each other they vote the Bible of each other they both you know it's stand-up comedy is such a great release it it's almost like energy and then the other one is like uh it's refined energy it's the difference between a laser and a Searchlight you know stand-up comedy for me is just total freedom it's all full out I can do anything it's a freedom to go from one subject to the other and not have any bounds acting is a very disciplined thing so you can take that same energy out here and just refine it and really use it for something interesting like with this movie which is like really focused and very intense but it goes to a point and the point is to you know once again creativity thought passion love simple things you talked about uh how wide-ranging you can be in in a Solo performance uh and on your HBO special you are you can get politically uh funny heavy Savvy inside here is your Riff on none other than PW Boda roll the tape prime minister Botha white courtesy phone prime minister Botha white courtesy phone Frankston South Africa is getting to the point where even less Dramatics is gonna have to go over there and go okay Mr Botha can I talk to you for a moment George what do you think okay come on [Applause] Mr Bubba Mr bowther can I explain something to you let me show you the odds here Sparky there's 14 million black people there's three million white people now the name Custer mean anything to you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Lucas Hull

Views: 196,096

Keywords: Donahue, Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society, Ethan Hawke, Phil Donahue, Robert Sean Leonard, Gale Hansen, Dylan Kussman, Allelon Ruggiero, Alexandra Powers, Stand Up, HBO, Comedian, Funny, Good Morning Vietnam, Laugh, Interview, talk show, found, lost, rip

Id: sQXg7Yxmb-Q

Length: 33min 34sec (2014 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 18 2016