The late Robin Williams will go down as one of the most celebrated and deeply loved actors
of all time.
He got his start in stand-up comedy and he never gave up his tendency to ad-lib, coming
up with jokes, impressions, and whatever else popped into his agile mind.
Here are some of his funniest unscripted moments.
The 1997 film Good Will Hunting undoubtedly hosts a fantastic script.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote it to give themselves great roles, and they did just
that with their touching, poignant story about a Harvard janitor turned math genius.
They won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but an improvised moment by their co-star
may have just been the film's most memorable scene.
Robin Williams won an Oscar for his role as Dr. Sean Maguire, a psychology professor and
therapist to Will Hunting.
During one session, Sean discusses a hilarious and intimate memory of his late wife.
"My wife used to fart when she was nervous."
“She had all these wonderful little idiosyncrasies…”
"She used to fart in her sleep."
On the DVD commentary track, Affleck and Damon revealed that Williams made up the monologue
on the spot, and that Damon's uproarious laughter was genuine.
In the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam, Williams stars as a wild disc jockey on Armed Forces
Radio in the middle of the Vietnam War.
He angers his superiors by playing rock 'n' roll and R&B records and by speaking out about
the futility and heartbreak of war.
The drama of wartime is filtered through Williams' presence, especially his motormouth scenes
talking about the escalating conflict, the news, himself, and the music.
"Time for the news"
“We actually don’t have a teletype machine that’s Fred Astaire dancing on a hot plate…”
"thank you Fred"
Williams' moments behind the mic feel just like a real DJ's ramblings, and to maintain
that authentic feel, he was given free reign.
In the film's production notes, producer Mark Johnson stated,
"He managed to create something new for every single take."
"Ku Klux Klan sues cartoon show Casper the Friendly Ghost.
It’s not fair that he gets to float and we don’t.
… Thank you very much."
When you absolutely have to be awake at a certain time, you'd typically use a loud and
effective alarm clock.
But no buzzer could wake someone up like the booming, familiar voice of Robin Williams
bursting into a comedy routine.
In 1988, NASA asked the comedian to make a wake-up call to the crew of the space shuttle
Discovery, the first shuttle flight after the 1986 Challenger tragedy.
So in a nod to his Good Morning, Vietnam catchphrase, he shouted:
"Good morning, Discovery.
Rise and shine, boys.
Time to start doing that shuttle shuffle.
You know what I mean."
NASA then cut to a pre-recorded parody of the Green Acres theme song with lyrics about
space.
But the song isn't that funny.
They should've just let the clearly thrilled Williams keep going.
1996's The Birdcage is an extremely silly farce.
The plot concerns a young man who brings home his fiancé and her extremely straight-laced
parents to meet his two dads, Armand and Albert, played by Williams and Nathan Lane.
Albert is a drag performer, so he dresses up as a matronly old woman for the big dinner
with the in-laws.
Everything goes wrong, of course, particularly when Armand and Albert's fake servant makes
a soup but no entree.
Armand ducks into the kitchen to freak out for a minute, then carry the soup pot back
into the dining room, only to slip and fall.
Williams' sudden and spectacular tumble was unexpected, but he rolls with the moment,
not once breaking character.
"Shut up!
It's okay.
We're all right.
It's fine.
Just shut up, gdamn you!
It's all right, stop crying!
Gdamn you!
What are you standing there for?!
Go!"
To get a guest spot on The Tonight Show during Johnny Carson's last week as host was a very
big deal.
Set to retire after nearly 30 years as the undisputed king of late night, Carson was
only going to invite his most favorite and most entertaining guests.
Robin Williams fit the bill, so he stopped by Carson's final regular episode on May 21,
1992.
Williams roasted Carson with old man jokes, hitting the stage with a rocking chair for
the retiring comedian, and yelling as if he were hard of hearing.
"We're going to Spago!"
“Don’t be afraid I bought you the new LA Medic Alert bracelet.
It says, “
"I've fallen and get the hell away from me."
Before winning an Oscar, Williams won several Golden Globes.
When he took home the prize for 1991's The Fisher King, his acceptance speech was as
pure, perfect, and definitive as a Robin Williams routine as could be.
He began with a mildly suggestive joke about the look of the trophy.
There's nothing on it.
How appropriate."
Then he segued into current events.
"In the words of George Bush - Arigato Gizama"
And then he had some words for his Fisher King co-stars before just going off the rails
in the most Robin Williams way possible.
"I'm just thanking everybody now" “I’d like to thank Dustin, Steven NO WRONG
MOVIE!
Back up!"
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