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Robin By Lehman Stiles Entcrtftinnwnt Editor The major scandal sheets have f nlrnn f/\ f a D/\Kin IOIVV11 tv I VIV/A A 1115 iU tWUlll Williams as "Mork" whenever he is gossiped about: "Mork's marriage Breaking Up," "Mork causes Havoc on Set." Seldom has identification of performer with character been so tenacious. On his first album, Reality ... What a Concept, Williams is beset by this very problem. When he asks for a topic upon which to improvise a Shakespearean play, the audience yells, "Mork! Mork!" Williams says, "I'm not doing Mork because that's why I perform here: to do something different.'' Album Review Robin Williams does an excellent job on Mork and Mindy, but watching the show one always foalo 3C if ho ic cnmahniv limitina 1VVIO UU U 11V UV1IIVIIVTT llllll V1I10 himself. His first album gives Williams a chance to expand his range; the result is not totally satisfying, but it does show us what we've been missing. Williams' strength is that he is constantly in character. His style is definitely, noticeably imntknl [iiuvidauuxiai, nuiui to wiiat causes the weak spots on this album. Most of the bits seem to run a bit too long; we keep waiting for Williams to get to a big punch line, but he never does. Nevertheless, the album is a curious mix. When Williams uses as his subject trendy material like drugs or uses obscenity for shock effect, we feel him trying to stretch the material. When he is truly original in subject, he is both hilarious and thought-provoking. This is a fine distinction to draw. For example, Williams announces that he is going to do "a native New York echo: Hello!" he shouts. The \ Don' me niei b jA A ? * fffc K[ m bbw^ > J ~ * Willian echo answers, "Shut the f up!" After the bit, Williams admits, "Cheap shot." The audience on the record shows a disturbing habit of laughing at anything in which the . word "drugs" is used. This is not % so much because the material is funny but because the audience knows that it is supposed to laugh at drugs. If they donl laugh at it, it suddenly becomes deadly serious, everyone is jolted back to reality, and it's not a fun show any more. rne same noias irue ior ooscenuy: without the laughter following it, it would just be so much insulting, unpleasant language. But we find that Williams himself is aware of this; once he even tells the audience, "You're laughing at nothing now." One feels a certain tension here: Williams realizes that he must make his audience laugh, even if it means using "cheap shots." That is what the audience expects him to do. When he abandons this burden, he is no less than brilliant. The album's best bit is called "Come Into My Mind;" after a joke that bombs, Williams invites the audience to see the workings of a comedian's mind when he dies onstage. The ensuing internal dialogue between such characters as me ago, me biiDconscious, ana the Rational Mind is a work of genius. The Ego says, "I'm doing great! I'm killing them!" while the Rational Mind warns, "No, you're not! You're doing pee-pee ka-ka, no substance!" Finally the Ego is reduced to a whimpering "Help me, help me!" This is comedy at its best. In stead of inventing a fanciful world like Ork, Williams relates what really happens ? indeed, what is happening at that very moment. It is screamingly funny, yet at the same time we feel some sort of I ? t Go Thi teting U m mbershi a . xi* One of the ( McB's t. I ************* ns...wl empathy with that poor Ego crying, "Helpme, help me!" Williams is a master of the more traditional forms of standup comedy also. His imitations, notably of William F. Buckley and Lawrence Welk, are accurate and tuuuy. nc is an cApci i m lumpuuu: his takeoff on "The Rev. Ernest Argry's Disco Temple of Comedy" makes the audience part of the farce and is amusing without being harsh. Williams gets some of his biggest laughs by taking the innocent and making it worldly. His Mister Rogers gets packages from Frederick's and puts hamsters in the microwave. Lawrence Welk introduces his band: "Each one a bad mother in his own right," and the Lemmon Sisters sing "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." Williams at least seems to have fun on stage. When he starts the 'ough tl nfriend ips are C I if U V ClA/NAf i o i ii icro^ HWnizi COLUMBIA'S Hmf nnn 4 W/IAXV/V/J.A ' 9251/2 HUGER STRE (803) 252-2102 lat a cc SL 4l mj.f !mbb^^h flfe f m ' I^Ni iSr'ffi nlfl' BB W 1 1 M H? W ggBL *?f a Jpi ] B|l i mm 1 Shakespearean improvisation, it takes him ten minutes to get into it, digressing along the way to banter with the audience and reel off onelinorc .QnHlv uro nan nnlv imaainA the visual effect of, for example, the Death of a Sperm ballet. * Many people try to compare Williams with Steve Martin, the only other comedian who could put an album into the number ten chart position (where Williams' is this week). The. two are similar, but while Williams is like a kid in a toy shop, picking up character after weird character to play with, Martin concentrates on his fool-of the-world act that makes his performing a statement in itself. Comparing Williams and Martin would be like comparing two types of literature. Williams has a special warmth, a softness in his performance style he Has; llij Peo| ? i i _ nvono ? S Gay Discos s ) ITV f & Disco ET mcept that is highly attractive. His GrandDa Punk, a oroiection of himself when he is an old man, is both funny and touching. It is in this character that Williams advises his audience to "stay a little tull-goose bozo ? keep just a little touch of madness in you: just enough so you don't get stupid." No better advice could be found, and it comes as a surprise in the midst of Williams' comedic anarchy. Williams' boyish looks, his gentle, warm stage manner combine to produce a comedian who can touch the heart as well as the funny bone. We are constantly aware that Robin Williams is behind each of the characters he sports. On Reality ... What a Concept, we do not hear Mork, or Ernest Angry, or Grandpa Funk as much as we hear Robin Williams. i sle of i < / pie _ _ < ble i i < < i i < i i i i i i < i i i i < i mS i JBB ^ < < jpa B^BBPJBp < ~w*m