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