(applause)
(Letterman) Thank you, I guess a lot of us,
most of us, have been thinking about Robin Williams.
I believe we found out a week ago that he had died.
Many things come to mind in a situation like this,
and, of course, more questions are raised than can possibly be answered,
but I started reflecting about it.
I knew Robin Williams for 38 years.
38 years, which, in and of itself, is crazy how time...
(applause)
And I met him at The Comedy Store.
He and I were kids, along with myself and Jay Leno, and Tom Dreesen
and Tim Thomerson, and Johnny Dark, and Elayne Boosler,
and on and on, and Jimmy Walker. And we were all out there
at The Comedy Store and we wanted to make people laugh.
We wanted to get on the Tonight show, we wanted something because
we all felt that we were funny.
In those days, we were working for free drinks--
some were working for more free drinks than others.
(laughter)
So you would go on stage, and then you would do your little skits,
and then you would come off stage, and if there was a new guy
coming on, you'd want to stick around and make fun of the new guy.
(man) Sure.
Because we were all worried that somebody else is coming in
who's really funny, and then we'll have to go back, in my case, to Indiana.
- Yes. - (laughter)
And I can remember the night my friend George Miller
and I, who was a very funny comic, and was on this show many times,
we were at The Comedy Store and they introduced Robin Williams.
And, for some reason, in the beginning he was
introduced as being from Scotland. They said he was Scottish.
So now we're stumped. We don't know.
There's a Scottish guy, really, coming to the United States?
So we were feeling pretty smug about our position right away
because it's gonna be haggis and that kind of crap.
(laughter)
So we're relaxed. We're ready to go.
And, all of a sudden, he comes up on stage
and you know what it is. It's like nothing we had
ever seen before. Nothing we had ever imagined before.
We'd go home at night and are writing our little jokes about stuff,
and this guy comes in and we're like morning dew.
- He comes in like a hurricane. - Yeah.
And now the longer he was on stage, the worse we feel about ourselves.
(laughter)
And because it's not stopping!
And then he finishes and I thought, "Well, that's it. They're gonna have
to put an end to show business because what could happen after this?"
And then we get to see this night after night after night,
and we didn't approach him because we were afraid of him.
Honest to God. You though, "Holy crap!
There goes my chance at show business because of this guy from Scotland."
(laughter)
And then, like shot out of a cannon, he goes and he's on the Happy Day's show.
And then from the Happy Day's show, he gets to be on Mork and Mindy.
Now there's some structure to his life.
He's not at The Comedy Store every night because he's got an actual job.
(laughter)
So the rest of us can pretend that it never happened.
(laughter)
But, yet then, he goes from Mork and Mindy, and then he starts making movie
after movie after movie.
He's nominated four times for an Academy Award.
And it wasn't really until Paul and I started the NBC version of this show,
which, by the way, is still running in Mexico--
- It is. - (laughter)
Very popular.
(applause)
But it wasn't until then that I got to really know Robin Williams
because he would come on to promote movies,
or concerts or whatever he was talking about,
and he was always so gracious, and we would talk about the old times.
Never did he act like, "Oh, I knew you guys were scared
because I was so good."
And it was just a pleasure to know the guy.
And he was a gentleman and delightful, and even in the old days,
he was kind enough to ask me to appear on his Mork and Mindy show.
Now this is a double edged sword.
(laughter)
Because he did it only because he was trying
to help other fledgling, starting out comics.
- Makes sense. - Right.
The other side of the sword is I have no business being on that show.
I can't...I have no business being on this show.
(laughter and applause)
But he gave me a job!
In those days, jobs were hard to come by,
and there I was, and I was on Mork and Mindy,
and I can remember between the dress rehearsal
and the actual taping of the show, the director of the program,
- Howard...Howard...Howard Shore-- - Howard Storm.
Storm. Howard Storm comes up to me and he says, "Well, you've been trying
all week, so this is your last chance."
- (laughter) - Oh.
So even to the detriment of the show, Robin was kind enough to invite
me to come on because he thought, "Why can't I spread this around
and have some of my friends share in my success?"
Which is exactly what he did.
He then was on our show, this show and the old show,
- a total of merely 50 times. - A total of 50 times?
- 50 times. 50 times. - (applause)
And two things would happen because Robin was on the program.
- One: I didn't have to do anything. - Yes.
(laughter)
All I had to do was sit here and watch the machine.
Yeah.
And two: People would watch. If they know Robin was on the show,
the viewership would go up because they wanted to see Robin.
And, believe me, that wasn't just true of television.
I believe that was true of the kind of guy he was.
People were drawn to him because of this electricity.
Whatever it was he radiated that propelled him and powered him.
And then he came back after my heart surgery,
Robin was nice enough to come on that night
and it was very, very funny and very, very appropriate.
And here is a picture that I will now cherish,
even more than I had previously.
- There are four people right there. - Wow.
Two of which wildly funny, insanely funny. Two are not.
(laughter and applause)
(Letterman) The handsome woman there is Mitzi Shore.
She owned The Comedy Store.
We all, the three of us, worked there.
I think Robin and I, it'd be safe to say,we started there.
Richard Prior was already Richard Prior, but he would work there
and the guy in the middle, I trimmed hedges.
(laughter)
- So we would like to-- - (applause)
We put together a segment of Robin William's appearances,
and moreover, more than anything, it will make you laugh
and, really, that's what we should take from this.
He could make you laugh under any circumstances.
- Here he is on our show. - (applause)
It's from the Gandhi on Ice collection!
(laughter)
Oh, god, how you doin', Mr. Williams?
God, Mrs. Doubtfire is very funny.
You know, you're much more attractive as an older woman.
(laughter)
- (Letterman) Hold him! Hold him! - Okay, I got him. I GOT HIM!
- Alright! - (Williams) TAKE IT EASY, DAMMIT!
- Our next-- - It's my first day on the job!
Aren't you glad you didn't see this in the surgery?
- "Hey, Dave! It's me!" - (laughter)
- Take it's gonna be real funny. - (laughter)
Well, you had a television show, Mork and Mindy.
- Nice. - And the producers,
for some unknown reason, invited me for a little thing on the show.
- That's right! You played a-- - I've never seen anything.
I'm not bringing myself to watch it until tonight.
- You have it here?! - (laughter and cheering)
Somebody has stolen my Rolls-Royce!
Well, don't worry, Ellsworth. Losing your Rolls-Royce is a concept.
- Getting it back is a reality. - (laughter)
It's amazing when you win the Academy Award, you have about a week
where everyone's like, "Hey, Good Will Hunting! Way to go.
Good Will Hunting, Academy Award. Way to go."
And two weeks later, it's like, "Hey, Mork! How are ya'?"
(laughter)
(reflective music)
(applause)
God bless you, my friend!
(reflective music)
(applause)
Oh my, that's...
well...
What I will add here is beyond being a very talented man,
and a good friend, and a gentleman,
I am sorry, like everybody else, I had no idea that the man
was in pain, that the man was suffering.
But what a guy. Robin Williams.
- We'll be right back, ladies and gentlemen. - (applause)