Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind Page #2

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Academy Awards, Elmo.

Stuff like that, Elmo,

just simple things.

-Ah. Uh-huh. Oh.

-Yeah.

And I'll tell you

what I'm gonna do

with this stick.

-What?

-I'm gonna give it to you.

Oh. Thank you,

Mr. Robbins.

Mr. Robbins?

I'm taking

the stick back, Elmo.

(laughter)

(Robin laughing)

Elmo:

I only had three lines!

Robin:

When I was 16,

we moved to San Francisco.

To everything,

turn, turn, turn...

Robin:

Boom! Everything opened up.

The whole world just changed.

Turn, turn, turn...

Robin:

Everything was loose,

sexually loose,

everything, and I was

going, "Well, okay!"

From yin to yang

in 24 hours.

A time to be born,

a time to die

A time to plant...

We were going

from Detroit, Middle West,

all-boys school,

to an open-ended

San Francisco high school.

It's this incredibly

relaxed thing.

There was

no discipline at all.

It was like we had

gestalt history classes.

"Can you see Lincoln?

He's in the back

of the room."

To everything,

turn, turn, turn

There is

a season, turn...

Robin:

I was in

a senior class parody

of all of the stuff that was

going on at this school.

I did an impression

of a teacher who was

pretty out there.

His name was

Mr. Lavezzo.

-(on radio):
Tino Lavezzo

and his lovely dystopic...

-(crowd cheering)

Enacting history,

actually having

the Battle of Hastings.

It's everywhere, behind

the chairs, chanting

"We knew we were there!"

Robin:

That was the first time

I really had a performance.

(on radio):

You're my friend,

come on over here.

Robin:

I never really

started to even

be funny openly

on that level.

We as human beings,

we are driven by the same

sexual desire.

Men, you know you have

a tiny creature living

between your legs

that has no memory

and no conscience.

You know that.

-(laughter)

-You have no control!

It should be

a separate creature.

You should be able

to take it off,

poom, put him

on the ground.

Take him for a walk.

He's got the rollers.

He'll be like...

(babbles)

Make it

a different beast!

Wouldn't it be nice

if you could go into a bar,

buy him a drink

once in awhile?

There'd be a big bar up here,

a little bar down here for him.

Go into the bar,

yeah, put him out.

He's looking up at you

with that one good eye,

like, "How ya been, baby?

"Sorry about last night.

I guess I got nervous,

"fired off a couple

of warning shots.

"What the hell?

"If you didn't try

and strangle me,

"I'd have had

a better chance!

"What the hell? I can't

go back in there, man!

"That's some scary stuff!

"I'm not going back

without a wetsuit

"and a mining helmet.

I'll tell you that.

"You better work on that!

I'm not going back!

"Hell no, I won't go! I--

"Hey, forget what I said.

Who's that?

I'm going down here.

You talk to her. Down scope."

(whirring)

My first year at college,

I went to Claremont

Men's College

to study Political Science.

It's an all men's school,

and the only girls

are at this other school

called Pitzer,

and the only classes where you

can be with girls are there.

They had an improvisational

theater class,

and I went, "That's

where the ladies are."

Was not going

to any of my Political

Science classes.

My father said,

"I'm not paying

for this sh*t anymore."

Come back home to Marin,

and we'll go to the local

junior college."

That was the beginning

of studying acting

and taking that path.

Mark Rasmussen:

Robin Goodfellow,

a fellow of infinite jest.

He had to be

told to shut up

once in awhile

because we never

could get through

rehearsals.

We had been invited to do

Taming of the Shrew,

a western version of it,

at the Edinburgh Festival.

He went to Edinburgh with us

as a late replacement.

It was fantastic,

and we had a great time.

And I really got

to know him in Edinburgh.

We had a lot

of great press.

We got the gold.

We were the best production

at the festival.

We did a royal

command performance,

and Robin's eyes

were this big, you know?

For all of us,

I think, at that time,

there was nothing

on the blackboard.

We were young.

There was nothing written,

and... that kind

of experience in life,

you only go through...

you know,

once if you're lucky.

Stanley Wilson:
I met Robin

the day he came to New York

to come to Juilliard.

My dear friend

Mark Rasmussen,

who was a good friend

of his, introduced us.

He just stood out

in a way that nobody

else quite did.

(rock music playing)

John Houseman:

An actor is an actor!

At the Juilliard School,

people ask,

"Why don't you

have a course

in movie acting

or television

acting?"

And that's nonsense.

An actor is an actor.

Wilson:

John Houseman was running

the school then.

Robin and Chris Reeve

came in

as advanced students

in our third year.

Christopher was,

you know, a preppy

from New England,

and Robin was

kind of a crazy hippie

from Marin County.

Robin:

First day you know,

I'm wearing, like,

sandals and shorts--

pretty obvious

where I'm from.

I'm like, "So this

is really interesting.

There's a certain intensity."

I knew that it was supposed

to be this incredible

kind of English training

in America.

Attention on

a different level--

movement, vocal, acting.

Getting this great set

of tools that you

can work with.

Are you reelin'

in the years...

Rasmussen:
We didn't

have a lot of things,

and we didn't care.

We had our art form.

We had the work.

That's where our focus was,

and that was demanded.

You know,

Houseman really worked

the hell out of all of us

all the time, thank God.

Are you

gatherin' up

the tears

Have you had

enough of mine?

Robin:

Moments of "Great.

Oh God, this is amazing,"

and moments of

"What the hell am I doing?"

I had this schtick

that I worked out

with a little stocking cap.

It was very tight,

but if I moved

my eyebrows,

the thing went, "Boop!"

I remember

it was the first piece

of physical business

that I saw

Houseman laugh,

and I went,

(gasps)

"Buddha laughed."

Being trained

as an actor--

that helped me

a lot just to play.

Hello. Who's got

a scene idea for us?

Right over here.

Man:

Somebody having

a close encounter.

Okay, just

a close encounter

of any kind?

-Any kind.

-Right. Good. Okay.

Robin:

When I came home

from Juilliard,

I started doing

improvisational comedy

as kind of a response

to not finding acting work.

-(high-pitched):

Yo, mama.

-(laughter)

Robin:
I started

to be able to do comedy

based on suggestions,

which is this idea

of, "Wait a minute,

you're creating it."

-And that was addicting.

-Do you want

to play a game?

Sure, let's play

Scrabble, okay?

Okay. You want to be

the board or the pieces?

-I'll be the board.

-Robin:
Freeze!

-Esmeralda, why do you

only visit me on Sunday?

-(laughter)

The feeling, the rapport

was incredible.

The instant meshing

with the audience.

It's like sex

without the guilt.

And God created man.

(piano plays note)

-I feel better now.

-(laughter)

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