Remembering Robin Williams: A comic, a genius, and a personal titan (editorial)
In the world of entertainment journalism, you like to try and wake up in the morning and run down some of what the activities for the day are going to be. There are deviations here and there where you veer off-course by this announcement or that announcement, but you can allot for those. After all, most of them are positive: A new show has been picked up, there’s breaking casting news, or [insert this person] will appear at your favorite convention.
This is one of those rare moments where it feels like almost the entire entertainment world stops: Robin Williams is dead at 63 years old after seemingly taking his own life. Why would someone responsible for so much joy end his own life in such a sad way? Sitting here and speculating would be presumptuous and wrong. It’s sad. That’s the only adjective to describe it.
The truth is that I’ve never met Robin Williams. I’ve never been in the same room as him. Surely there’s been dozens of interviews over the years with people who knew him, but I still personally liked to feel like I did. “Aladdin” was one of my favorite movies growing up, and in turn the Genie was one of my favorite characters. I would quote him to anyone and everyone who would listen. I’d even play the old Super Nintendo game and envision my own favorite Genie lines.
This only scratches the surface of the impact Robin Williams had on me as an entertainer. He’s right up there with Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson or “All That” / “Kenan & Kel” creator Dan Schneider as the greatest influence on my life in terms of entertainment. There are always other influences growing up, and then there are aspirational ones. These are the people who you want to be growing up, or at least the people you want to be like.
When I was in middle school I started getting into theater and improv, with Robin being a personal hero and a big reason why. He just had that gift of riffing about anything, and finding a way to make you laugh even sometimes through the tears. Remember “Dead Poet’s Society,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “Patch Adams.” Even the comedies sometimes had a darker quality to them. No one could be Robin; the fact that he was just out of reach made him all the more alluring.
You never want to see your personal heroes go, and as a reporter it is even harder writing about them when they do. You want to believe that every outlet in the world has it wrong, that he somehow emerges. You want your heroes to be everlasting.
But behind every human is a hero is a person, someone who laughs and hurts and feels. I never saw that Robin underneath the performance, but I know that person was there and feel for those who were lucky enough to be a part of his life.
All I can say today, while looking ahead at work that needs to be done and stories that are constantly evolving, is that Robin will remain on my mind. Regardless of the headlines today, he is everlasting. Those memories and those inspirations will last beyond any end credits, and continue to spread from the great magic lamp of his mind.
(Matt Carter is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief at CarterMatt.)
Photo: CBS