Robin Williams

I saw Robin Williams on The Actor's Studio last night and I was thinking about how amazingly unrestrained he is and how fluid and how brilliant really, even if he gets on your nerves, you have to give him credit. There were some great moments. James Lipton asked him where his art, his comedic talent, his stuff comes from and he answered almost every question by jumping out of his chair and doing amazing comedy monologues -- especially this one -- answering that most basic question about "why/how do you DO this?"

The thing was so fast as he riffed on why he did what he did -- looking small like a little boy reaching for his mom's breast, baby-talking in a tumble of words about wanting his mother's love and attention and then letting his mind run wild, as if to present it as a specimen in a petri dish, for scientists to dissect how his humor takes him here, then there, then back, watching him physically playing with characters, mentally playing with words, with rhymes, with voice -- jesus, it was amazing. Play -- that's the word, both noun and verb.

Lipton said that when he'd interviewed another comic -- was it Billy Crystal -- I don't remember, but that they said that Robin Williams called comedy "legalized insanity" and I liked that phrase a lot.

He does what all great creative minds do -- he lets you see the world the way he sees it. Van Gogh had these sunflowers he wanted to show you. DaVinci had this babe with a funky smile he didn't want you to miss. Williams wants you to see how incredibly funny and dear the people are who live in his world can be. He's so good at it.

Last night he reminded me of a psychic -- a medium -- I had once seen, who could use his body to take on the form of just about anybody. I'm serious. It's hard to explain until you've seen it, but it makes you realize that the body is completely plastic, can be completely transformed into another type of vibration or energy. This medium was making manifest people in my family -- showing me amazing things. He made me understand that the body is a mask, a very fluid mask. The spirit that energizes that lump of clay gives it life and definition. You know this if you've seen people die. They leave that lump of clay behind.

Williams uses his body in this way, incredibly well. That's why he had to answer every question by standing, moving, expressing ideas physically. His lump of clay is completely fluid. His body is amazing. His face is amazing. His face is a nun, a gangster, a prissy schoolteacher with a will to power, a genie, an infant, an old Jewish woman, all in 5 minutes. He is so physically creative, it's thrilling.