The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 10, 1979, Page Page 10, Image 10
Robin
By Lehman Stiles
Entcrtftinnwnt Editor
The major scandal sheets have
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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his takeoff on "The Rev. Ernest
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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
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Shakespearean improvisation, it
takes him ten minutes to get into it,
digressing along the way to banter
with the audience and reel off onelinorc
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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
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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.
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