--- description: Williams was "the same onstage and off," Gottfried says title: Gilbert Gottfried Remembers Robin Williams image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d659e0b19ceda15/69869f3ce53aba113a4d3f8b/robin-williams-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Gilbert Gottfried on Robin Williams: "It Was Such a Workout Playing Off Someone Like That" by [Larry Getlen](/author/larry-getlen/) ## Larry Getlen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 12, 2014 7:47 PM CUT  Dave Kotinsky—Getty Images; Vera Anderson—WireImage/Getty Images by [Larry Getlen](/author/larry-getlen/) ## Larry Getlen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 12, 2014 7:47 PM CUT It wasn’t easy keeping up with Robin Williams, [who died Monday at age 63](http://time.com/3101990/robin-williams-dead-63/ "undefined"). Comedian and friend Gilbert Gottfried described joking around with the late actor as dizzying. Here, Gottfried remembers the first time he met Williams: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3104473/robin-williams-dead-gilbert-gottfried-remembrance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3104473/robin-williams-dead-gilbert-gottfried-remembrance/"},"headline":"Gilbert Gottfried on Robin Williams: \"It Was Such a Workout Playing Off Someone Like That\"","datePublished":"2014-08-12T19:47:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:37:48.902Z","description":"Williams was \"the same onstage and off,\" Gottfried says","url":"https://time.com/3104473/robin-williams-dead-gilbert-gottfried-remembrance/","keywords":["remembrance","movies","celebrities","obit","robin williams"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d659e0b19ceda15/69869f3ce53aba113a4d3f8b/robin-williams-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Larry Getlen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/larry-getlen/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d659e0b19ceda15/69869f3ce53aba113a4d3f8b/robin-williams-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Robin Williams Death","caption":"Robin Williams Death","creditText":"Dave Kotinsky—Getty Images; Vera Anderson—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3104473/robin-williams-dead-gilbert-gottfried-remembrance/","name":"Gilbert Gottfried on Robin Williams: \"It Was Such a Workout Playing Off Someone Like That\""}}]}] ```