Robin Williams

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

For some reason, I wasn't surprised by the news. Maybe it's the "tears of a clown" stereotype.

Of course, it's still only an "apparent" suicide. Maybe we'll find out more as time goes on.

The only thing I know for sure is that the media's going to stop focusing so much on the murder and riots in Missouri and start focusing on Williams.

[scarletregina]

I'm not wholly surprised either. I knew that Williams had battled depression for decades. Things like this are always shocking, though.

I wish it would start a larger conversation on mental health, but it won't. We only ever have talking points about mental health. No one really talks about we stigmatize depression and label people with it as toxic, etc... Or we glamorize mental illness as something "cool." We never talk about the reality of it.

[Scotia]

His list of credits are pretty deep. Mrs. Doubt Fire, Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, Fisher King, What Dreams May Come etc. An Oscar and Golden Globe to boot. Not bad for a spinoff character form Happy Days. He will be missed.

[Djack Zteelecock]

I was surprised when I saw the headline, and a little more surprised when I read the alleged suicide part. I remember how Robin Williams used to be alive.

[Space Tycoon]

He was a true American original. I loved his work, even when it didn't quite work.

Yes, I'm aware of the duplication in that previous sentence.

[neglet]

Somehow, it's not that surprising that someone who worked so hard (and was so successful) at being funny was fighting depression, and finally gave up the fight. Very sad.

[Dalty]

Very, very sad. Mental illness is a bitch. Horrible.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

Somehow, it's not that surprising that someone who worked so hard (and was so successful) at being funny was fighting depression, and finally gave up the fight. Very sad.

There's some sad things known to man, but ain't too much sadder than the tears of clown when there's no one around.

[Dalty]

It is a common theme. I guess making people laugh is a strange form of self validation for some.

Reggie's tweet (re-tweet) re: medical cover limiting access to mental health professionals was bang on the money. I have experienced that with a family member. WTF?

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

Here are some Norm MacDonald tweets.

[Scotia]

Nice words from Norm. The fact that they were alone in the dressing room and Williams was beyond gracious to a relative unknown says so much about the guy. Didn't need an audience to be a sweet, sweet man. What a loss.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

Here's a thing Mike Rowe wrote about meeting Williams.

[Mango]

I like how he touches upon the strong feelings we have towards people who were barely in our lives. Hell, it often feels weird enough referring to actors by their first name. I'm going to do so here though.

I sometimes feel very strongly about celebrity deaths, even though I have no idea who these people really are. I rarely comment on death because it is one of those situations where I rarely know what to say and it makes me feel very uncomfortable, like most people I suppose. The only thing I can really think of is "I am sad, I liked them a lot."
That's not what I say though, It feels pretty insignificant to pop into a discussion about someone and say something so banal. It's even worse when it's a friend, as my response is usually the same and probably sounds worse. Usually my first reaction is to make stupid jokes. When Eddie Guerrero died the comments me and a friend, a fellow fan, made were horrible, but it's all release I guess. Perhaps Robin would appreciate this, knowing full well the need to use humor for coping. Or maybe I should be solemn and respect the man he likely was inside.

I guess i'll go this way:
I heard about Robin's death as I was sitting down to watch "Ninja Turtles" and my first comment was "I knew this movies was going to be bad but geesh."

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

Mark Evanier has made a number of posts about Robin Williams's death on his blog. Like a lot of people, he talks about Williams's gifts as a performer and about suicide. The best bit among the posts he's made has to be this, though:

Five minutes ago, I sent a bad taste e-mail to a comedian friend whose material occasionally came out of the mouth of the (now) late Robin Williams. It said, "Now Robin's stealing from Freddie Prinze." My friend just wrote back, "Robin's probably pissed that he's not around to steal that."

He also has this bit, which is pretty good:

Years ago, a wonderful man I knew named Lorenzo Music would volunteer one or two nights a week to answer a suicide prevention hotline. During the days, he was the voice of Garfield and did oodles of commercials but evenings, he would "give back" that way. He told me that he would sometimes get a call that went like this. He'd answer and ask what the problem was. The caller — this was all anonymous on both ends — would say…

"My life is a shambles. My wife has left me and I lost my job and I need an operation I can't pay for and my kids hate me and my car just died and I'm drinking way too much and I don't know what to do. I want to just end it. I want to just…hey, did anyone ever tell you you sound a lot like that cat on TV?"

And from there, he said, it usually got better.