Part dervish, part comedian, all micro-impressions, free associations and countless riffs – Robin Williams' routines made his audiences' heads spin. Yes, there were potent and telling scripted lines in his act ("Cocaine is God's way of telling you you have too much money"), but the larger thrill was watching the sheer ferocity onstage as his brain buzzed and whirred and his body tried to keep up. His specials in venues small (San Francisco's Great American Music Hall) and massive (the Metropolitan Opera) come close to capturing the instants of inspiration, the wacky what-if scenarios – What if a ballet impresario coached a football team? What if a pack of dudes stood under the Golden Gate Bridge waiting for people to jump? – and the giddiness of a crowd being kept on its collective toes. Give the man a microphone, and you never knew where he'd go. You just knew he was damn near unstoppable.
Part dervish, part comedian, all micro-impressions, free associations and countless riffs – Robin Williams' routines made his audiences' heads spin. Yes, there were potent and telling scripted lines in his act ("Cocaine is God's way of telling you you have too much money"), but the larger thrill was watching the sheer ferocity onstage as his brain buzzed and whirred and his body tried to keep up. His specials in venues small (San Francisco's Great American Music Hall) and massive (the Metropolitan Opera) come close to capturing the instants of inspiration, the wacky what-if scenarios – What if a ballet impresario coached a football team? What if a pack of dudes stood under the Golden Gate Bridge waiting for people to jump? – and the giddiness of a crowd being kept on its collective toes. Give the man a microphone, and you never knew where he'd go. You just knew he was damn near unstoppable.
