A well-written perspective (by John Lynch) on the loss of Robin Williams. I was sitting in the audience at a comedy club called the Laugh Stop in Newport Beach. It was maybe 1977. Im politely watching a fairly funny comedian doing typical mother-in-law, airplane food humor; stuff Id come to expect. Stuff youd see Jackie Vernon or Louie Nye do on the Dean Martin show. It was fine. I mean, apart from Jonathan Winters, its kind of what comedians sort of did. I always wanted to be one; a comedian. But I couldnt relate to most of them. But there was another name on the bill. Id never heard of him. ...Robin Williams. Then, the lights came up. And I would never be the same. He started quoting scenes from Hamlet, speaking into one of the hurricane lamps he spontaneously pulled off one of the tables. I couldnt get my breath. He caught me off guard and wouldnt let up. I was fearing 30 seconds in that I wouldnt make it out without peeing all over myself. ...I know he later became a bit of a caracature of himself, even tame and a bit cliched. But oh, there was a time. He just enjoyed himself so much. He was so magically fast and so unrehearsed, so frantic. He was stunning; blessed of God with what I previously had no words for: unguarded, off the rails brilliance and random, irreverent but staggering funniness. He was created to be funny. ...I guess he just didnt know what to do with himself. Genius never does. He made stupid movies and sometimes transcendently brilliant movies. He did that golf piece, for the love! ...He just needed to be protected. Genius always does. He was probably as deeply insecure and fragile as I am. It is a common trait amongst humans who love the stage and love to make people laugh. You just want it to work. And theres no net. You want to create this environment for others to delight in. And you cant always hit it...So, you can get depressed and can lose your way...Anyway, he was about my age. And now hes gone. I would have loved to have dinner with him, or driven back roads with him. But I would have been too self-conscious, trying too hard for his approval. He would have liked my preaching I hope-if he could have heard me without the pressure to have to tell an audience what he thought. And I would have liked hearing him reflect on Jesus, without an audience hoping hed mock all things faith related. Im deeply glad I get to wait for heaven to see who showed up. Until then, I wont deal with it. I just get to love that God put Robin Williams on this planet. And I will pray, that somewhere along the way, he privately trusted the Creator of all things brilliantly funny to do for him what he could not ...deal with, once and for all, on a cross, the stuff that broke Robins heart, and robbed his joy. Good night for now, my friend.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 04:29:19 +0000
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