The genius of Robin Williams was obvious. What wasnt always so - TopicsExpress

The genius of Robin Williams was obvious. What wasnt always so obvious was his generous heart. Robin and I arrived in LA at just about the same time. We did our first film together, a little known non-union film that I ended up getting top billing over Robin. Im not really proud of that, and only mention it because its the only time I ever got top billing over Robin. We worked the comedy clubs together and my partner and I often either preceded Robins set or in some unfortunate cases found ourselves following his set. That was almost always disastrous because there wasnt much energy in the room after Robin got done with them. Our names are right beside his on the Comedy Store window to this day. In 1977, we opened the Laff Stop in Newport Beach together and that ultimately led to the comedy boom of the 80s. We improvised together many times doing Improv at the Improv in the late 70s. Then a few years later, when his career was flying high Robin saw me at an audition for his then new film Best of Times. He said hed put in a good word for me. Later, I found out that the director didnt want me, and I realized that Robin fought for me and won. I will never forget that act of kindness. If Robin liked you, if he respected you, he fought for you. Robin was always generous as a fellow improviser, and more than generous as a human being. I will remember his quiet reflective nature off stage, and his brilliant intellect and incredible comic energy on stage. There are many stories like this being told today on Facebook and Twitter. My story is special only to me, but I feel the need to get it out there to add to the praise of this very special mans life. I cant say we were close friends in life, but we were great professional friends who made each other laugh. Ill take that.