--- title: One Wild Ride: Interviewing Robin Williams description: The late actor and comedian managed to leave in awe even the most seasoned reporters canonical: https://time.com/3102106/one-wild-ride-interviewing-robin-williams/ author: Belinda Luscombe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T02:44:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:58:03.631Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: One Wild Ride: Interviewing Robin Williams og:description: The late actor and comedian managed to leave in awe even the most seasoned reporters og:url: https://time.com/3102106/one-wild-ride-interviewing-robin-williams/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a5a1d5ca830358c/69869f1ef983e7663104f300/ap448034576780.jpg?branch=production&width=800&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 450 og:image:alt: Robin Williams og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: One Wild Ride: Interviewing Robin Williams twitter:description: The late actor and comedian managed to leave in awe even the most seasoned reporters twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3a5a1d5ca830358c/69869f1ef983e7663104f300/ap448034576780.jpg?branch=production&width=800&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # One Wild Ride: Interviewing Robin Williams > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: 10 Questions for Robin Williams [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Robin Williams](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/e5SUiinR.m3u8) (5:56)  _Published 2011-04-14. The comedian and actor talks about playing a tiger in his first Broadway role, the war in Iraq and why it isn't always a good thing to be funny_  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 12, 2014 2:44 AM UTC  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 12, 2014 2:44 AM UTC Robin Williams, who died on Aug. 11 at 63, was not the kind of guy you simply interviewed. He was the kind of guy with whom you lit a fuse and then stood clear. Our chat in 2011 was in anticipation of his first appearance on Broadway in a serious play, but the conversation quickly spilled over into unchartered territory. My first impression of him was that he was one impressively hairy human. Sitting there in the makeup chair (for a portrait and [video of him](http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,904668886001%5F2065366,00.html) that TIME ran with the story), I noticed that he was covered with a wild, manly mane, over all his body like the overgrowth in his film _Jumanji_. He joked about how his chest hair was so thick it actually poked through the fabric of the shirt he was wearing. As we sat down to talk, he noticed that the battery cover on my tape recorder was missing. He started talking very slowly at first, and then very fast — imitating the warp effect when you try to play back a recording when the batteries are dying or loose. Through my terrified laughter, I begged him to stop, worried about the panic it would unleash in whoever landed transcription duty. From that point on, it was like an off-road trip into comedy wilderness without seat belts. Williams was widely known and loved for his outsize comedic roles, like the Genie in _Aladdin_ and the dad turned Mrs. Doubtfire_._ He was almost as widely mocked for overly earnest roles in _Jakob the Liar_ or _Patch Adams_. Sometimes he landed the manic-depressive balance just right — _Dead Poets Society_, _Good Will Hunting_ — and those were among his most critically acclaimed roles. But in person, he was a mixture of both these extremes: heartfelt _and_ off-the-wall. One moment he’d be going off on a riff about the chintziness of the abandoned official residences he saw while [doing USO tours](http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/aug/11/robin-williams-uso-tours-kuwait-retreat-video/) in Iraq — “Colombian drug lords would be like, ‘This stuff is so tacky!'” — and the next he’d be talking about how worried he was for the mental health of returning veterans. I came away from the interview in awe of his prodigious gifts — his energy and ability to throw off one dazzling comedy firework after another, each sparking off the next in a way that was so random but brilliant that you didn’t really know where to look. But I also came away with a sense that he was a guy who had figured out how to not let it cost him too much; that he had faced down his darkness and his addictions and impulses. He had harnessed, I felt, whatever it was in him that strained at the leash, sometimes pulling him toward a manic hailstorm of comedy and sometimes somewhere just as crazy, but also scary and destructive. I guess I was wrong. At some point, I ran out of written questions. Either that, or we were so far off topic, I had to make them up as I went, asking such howlers as whether you could be funny when you get old. It didn’t matter how lame I felt my questions were though: he had a hilarious response to whatever query you offered up. I ultimately sat back and marveled at that chaotic comedy geyser’s full height. Eventually, of course, he had to go and that wild ride we were on turned back into a regular old office again, drab and ordinary. Which is what the world feels like tonight. ## Transcript >> I'm not gonna lie. When I get hungry, I get stupid. Twelve years back, I screwed up, okay? I followed the scent. I took a bite and then, fhwipp-- >> A gold [ unk ] gun. >> a tranquilizer dart comes from out of nowhere, and I wake up in Baghdad. >> Sweet ass. >> So, that was depressing. >> Hi. I'm Belinda Luscombe. This is TIME Magazine's 10 Questions. Today, we are asking our questions of Robin Williams. Hello, Mr. Williams. >> Welcome, Ms. Luscombe. >> So, in your new play, the Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, you're playing the tiger. >> Yes. >> How does one prepare to play a tiger? Prowling, little-- >> A little pacing, biting whenever possible. I'm basically playing the soul of a tiger, so I don't have to do a lot of tiger behavior except for that, but it's pretty much two- legged tiger 'cause I'm in a cage, and beginning to treat it more like jail. But it's, you know, the essence of a tiger with not a lot of-- no costume except for just beaten up clothing, you know. >> This is your Broadway debut in a serious Broadway play. >> Yeah. When I did Godot, it was under Broadway. >> That's right. >> That's about 20 years ago, actually. So, yeah, this is Broadway debut. >> And you left Juilliard in, what? 1975? >> Five, yeah. >> Yeah. So-- >> Exactly. I left school, I fell in love, and went back to live in San Francisco. >> This is actually a serious play. >> Uh- huh, very. >> And does your appearance in the play reflect any personal feelings you have about the Iraq war? >> You know, I've been there five times, Afghanistan six. My feelings are more about-- I mean, I'm still wondering, " Where are the weapons of mass destruction ." Even though they had Hussein, you had the guy himself, you think of anybody new. Saddam, what is it? I'm not telling. Too late, he's gone. How weird is that. Crazy. But my feelings about the war is just the idea of ghost especially in this war, is because I was just there recently, and you know, they're " winding down ." They're supposed to be out of there by Christmas next year. So, where do we come back from? What's the damage to the Iraqis? What's the damage to us? What do you leave for them when it just ends? You know, like he said, in the lines in the play about, " The Americans think when something dies, that's it, it's over ." But when you go to Middle East, you realize there's a real sense that things stay around. >> You did a stand- up tour in 2009 ,-- >> Right. >> Weapons of Self- destruction. >> Yes, yes. >> If I went to the right club on the right night, might I find you? Do you still have a-- >> I haven't been able to go out yet since I've started the play, but I think I'm gonna have to start to go out again 'cause it's about time, now, that I've the gig. >> Yeah. >> I can start to go out and, you know, do shows maybe on the weekends. And just I-- 'cause I've started, you know-- I'm starting to get the urge to go back in again. And it's important to go out and do it 'cause there's so much to talk about. The fact that Donald Trump wants to see Obama's birth certificate, it's kind of, " I wanna see his hairline first ." >> Absolutely. >> I think so. >> When did it stop? >> I believe the hair is actually him. I believe, at night, he walks into a small room, sits down and the hair goes, " Who should we marry next? We're going out! Put your name on that building !" >> Okay. Leading on from that question to that answer ,-- >> Leading onto that. >> Is being funny sometimes a hindrance to social interaction? >> Example, I was once walking in an airport, and a woman came up to me and said, " Be zany !" >> No. >> Big time. >> But what about with, say, family? Do you sometimes-- >> Oh, no. It's-- Years ago, my-- I was reading a story to my-- to my daughter. I was doing voices and everything and she turned to me and said, " Just read the story ." >> Ouch. >> Yeah. It was just-- >> Not. >> Yeah, it was just-- And just stay to the main points. >> Okay. No voices? >> No voices. Yeah, " Thanks dad ." >> How often does someone else make you laugh? >> Oh, big time. >> Is it kids? Or is it-- >> No. Kids do and comics, comedians that make me laugh, Chris Rock, Louis C. K ., Puddin Oswalt. I've now been hanging out with Mort Sahl and that's been a gift. I've been hanging out with him is two things. It's history, but it's also that he's amazingly funny and still has everything going and also in which which has been wonderful. >> So, you can-- when you get older as a comic, you stay funny, you can still-- what do you need to-- >> You try to stay funny as you get older as a comedian and then you get to this program, " Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Robin Williams. Thank you for coming to my show ." You try to stay funny, yeah. I mean, when you seem like that and [ unk ]. When you see these guys who are just still doing great, that's what keeps them alive. I mean, that's what keeps them going. >> Billy Crystal had said that stand- up is how comedians process things that are painful. >> Yeah. >> But does that mean we have to wish more painful things on you? Or-- >> You don't have to. I find them. I was coming in with-- you know, that concept of the Tourette's is the thing where people say kind of nasty things. Is there-- Is there another thing of like a positive Tourette's, like, " That dress is beautiful. Your legs are nice ?" So, everything is wonderful, like, " You really are lovely. Nice, nice eyes. Nice eyes !" Something like, " Your teeth are beautiful. Your teeth are beautiful, all of them ." >> Why do they have to get it the other way? >> Yeah. Oh, I think-- >> Do you think they did? >> But because-- it actually because it's the subconscious creeping out, but then you think, " Is there a nice side of your subconscious going, " I really like you. I just wanna pet you in a nice way ." >> You are sort of unique among comedians and I don't think you've actually written a book. >> No. I hope not to. >> You have not to? >> Especially biography. I mean, I have a lot of friends who are authors, who are great. I just don't have the discipline to do it. The learning is somewhat, but the discipline is to really sit down and write a book. Maybe, I've got to five years from now. I'm here with my new book, so that's the way you like it. But I don't think so. I think-- >> You know, you could just talk into a tape recorder and then someone will-- >> You're right. >> type it up. We do that here at TIME. >> Oh, then, I should do a book. >> I've got-- You've gone through all my questions. >> We did every question. 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