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Here are some of the most interesting anecdotes fromCome Inside My Mind.
He filled in as a bartender so he could get up onstage and play.
He had a French accent and offered me a drink and chatted me up and was absolutely delightful.
Such was Williamss tendency, onstage and off.
He would just do it.
Velardi and Williams soon became romantically and professionally involved.
And we made it kind of a project to keep our eye on him.
In my head, my first sight of him was that he could fly, because of the energy.
It was like observing an experiment.
Being a writer for Robins stand-up is like being a pinch hitter for Barry Bonds, Tramer said.
Youre not necessarily needed, except for special circumstances.
Tramer seemed to have worked more on fine-tuning Williamss bits than creating them.
Its interesting to see how he would build a bit.
He had a lightning-fast mind, but it wasnt like everything he did came from that night.
There was real work and preparation.
There was a real thoughtful analytical process behind it.
It probably took him longer to explain it to me than coming together in his mind.
But who could play him?
1 in the ratings Im gonna put a kid who stands on the sidewalk with a hat?
Thats who Im gonna put on?
And Ronnie said, Its a pretty full hat.
Thats because of Williamss unpredictable behavior as Mork.
And there was like union cameramen.
He would do something great and my dad would go, Did you get that?
Did you get that?
The cameraman said, He didnt come by here.
You gotta capture this, hes a genius!
And the cameraman said, If hes such a genius, he can hit his mark.
He knew how to handle a heckler.Eric Idle recalled seeing Williams perform a stand-up date in 1980.
He came onstage and it was just like he took the place apart.
And he had one persistent heckler.
And he made the entire audience pray for Little Timmy at the back, that he might die.
And he said, Dawbs, thats never gonna happen to me.
Williams evidently kicked drugs not too long after.
He got Zen before his stand-up shows.In 1986,Newsweekdispatched photographer Arthur Grace to follow Williams on tour.
He remembered Williamss pre-performance routine.
He would go into his private room and get ready.
Robin would stand there looking down, his arms hanging loose, completely quiet, completely silent.
The first time I saw it, I thought he fell asleep.
He was quiet and still.
Zen-like, Grace said.
And then, [it was] like someone launched him out of a rocket.
He put so much energy into the show, so much of himself into the show.
He came off stage, he was just dripping, exhausted, mentally and physically, emotionally, exhausted.
He left it all on the stage.
Great people make you better.
I wanted to be able to play and keep up.
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mindpremieres tonight at 8 p.m. on HBO.
