Althouse: Trailer for the new HBO documentary about Robin Williams.

June 8, 2018

Trailer for the new HBO documentary about Robin Williams.

A little oppressive to happen upon this in a week of 2 celebrity suicides...

15 comments:

Bill Peschel said...: I just learned today electronica musician Avicii killed himself, too.

http://www.tmz.com/2018/05/01/avicii-dj-suicide-glass-cut-bottle-death/; 6/8/18, 11:59 AM
Shane said...: It seems there is often melancholy associated with great perception.
Groucho Mark, Styron and John Lennon come immediately to mind. I saw Robin Williams perform at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby in the earlier 80's, a great smaller hall. I can remember one joke from his entire set: comparing Qaddafi and Moe Howard. It wasn't that good a joke. But I completely remember the serious, plaintive and sad ( in contrast to the hour plus of near mania he had put forth for our entertainment) voice he used at the very end as he spoke to his small son (as if his son was right there next to him on stage) about the future, and then walked hand in empty hand Chaplinesque to the backlit curtain and off, stage left.

We are exposed to these people in ways that impart familiarity when we know next to nothing about them (as it should be) other than what they or their people want made known. It is human to feel profound sadness for those who make their mark on our lives, whether we know them or not. The greater sadness is for those who did know them and are left behind in the vacuum of their passing.; 6/8/18, 12:21 PM
Wince said...: All these "celebrity" suicide cases seem very confused by the world around them. Shouldn't we blame Samantha Bee more than Donald Trump?

I’m a guy who’d like to blow up every safe space, every trigger warning. I would like to unleash every comedian to say "cunt" as many times as they like, or any other word they care to use. But the threshold of acceptable rhetoric right now, the threshold of hate and animus that’s being shown at this point — this really naked hatred of every flavor, racists, sexists, pure misogyny, class hatred, hatred of the educated — this is something I’ve never seen before. And it’s now acceptable! It’s more acceptable in public at political rallies than it is at universities, which is where people should be saying offensive shit.

Anthony Bourdain: The Post-Election Interview
"We are a violent nation, from the beginning."
by Helen Rosner, Dec 21, 2016
https://www.eater.com/2016/12/21/14038332/anthony-bourdain-election-trump-interview; 6/8/18, 12:23 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Often, I wonder what % of suicides are mistakes -- folks just having a really bad day, or week, or month.

We do have a cohort of survivors from Golden Gate Bridge jumpers, some who say, the minute they lept off the bridge, started thinking, "oh shit! - what have I done?"; 6/8/18, 12:25 PM
Shane said...: I used the singularity of Groucho Marx, which of course, he was; just not in spelling.; 6/8/18, 12:26 PM
mockturtle said...: Robin Williams had Lewy Body Dementia, which my husband had for ten years and which led to his ultimate death. It is beyond horrific and Williams no doubt felt that suicide was the best solution. I won't be watching the movie. I lived it.; 6/8/18, 12:30 PM
madAsHell said...: "oh shit! - what have I done?"

How many times will that run through your mind before you hit the water? It is truly my biggest fear.; 6/8/18, 12:31 PM
Quaestor said...: Yet another reminder to count my blessings — chiefly two: Hillary isn't President, and I own no television.; 6/8/18, 12:45 PM
rcocean said...: Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.

Not a Robin Williams fan, and his story sounds very Familiar.; 6/8/18, 12:55 PM
Etienne said...: Drug addict, free-ranging insane.

I'll pass...; 6/8/18, 1:04 PM
Amexpat said...: We do have a cohort of survivors from Golden Gate Bridge jumpers, some who say, the minute they lept off the bridge, started thinking, "oh shit! - what have I done?"

I think that is a compelling reason not to commit suicide. Should somehow communicate that to anyone considering suicide.

On a comedic note, I recently meet a French women who, as a teenager in the 80's, wanted to wave au revior to a sailor whose ship was sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. She was leaning over the railing waiting for him to pass when she was tackled by police who thought she was contemplating suicide. They didn't accept her explanation and placed her under psychiatric care until her mother, who was not aware of her affair with the sailor, came to bring her home.; 6/8/18, 1:08 PM
rehajm said...: He was sooo quick of mind. I don't hold any ill will about his suicide as he strikes me as just another druggie from his era. Weren't you all druggies? Shit, many of you assholes ended up in positions of power...anyway, I saw him at RPI in the field house and he made a some joke about football and the end zone (...is that a finite space?) that brought down the house. Months later he tried the same joke on TV at some other un-nerdy venue and it fell flat. Made me wonder if all comedians keep a joke inventory. Seinfeld's Netflix show answered that years later- they sure do...; 6/8/18, 2:55 PM
rcocean said...: "He was sooo quick of mind."

That was my problem with Williams. I don't need a million *mediocre* jokes a minute. I'd rather just have *one* good one.

I saw one of his TV specials in the 80s - him in a nightclub. It was just rat-a-tat-tat constant free-association. Peeps in the nightclub thought it was hilarious - but I was at home - sober.; 6/8/18, 3:54 PM
Gordon Scott said...: Someone described being invited to dinner with his friend, and Robin Williams, and a fourth person. The friend told the narrator, "Whatever he does, whatever he says, don't laugh. If you do, he'll keep going and never relax." At one point someone at the table did laugh at some opening joke, and Williams kept going for five minutes.

It can't be easy to have to deal with that urge to make others laugh.; 6/8/18, 10:03 PM
Alex said...: Robin Williams free association doesn't really work unless your as high on drugs as he was. Robin Williams in films is another story. His performance in "What Dreams May Come" was mesmerizing.; 6/8/18, 11:16 PM