--- description: Williams "only let you see so much," Maher says title: Bill Maher Remembers Robin Williams image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b25688b135af592/69869f4fcd804d283bccc53d/robin-williams6.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 # Bill Maher: 'You Could Just Tell There Was a Humanity in Robin Williams' by [Larry Getlen](/author/larry-getlen/) ## Larry Getlen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 12, 2014 9:40 PM CUT  Mireya Acierto—Getty Images; Jeffrey Mayer—WireImage/Getty Images by [Larry Getlen](/author/larry-getlen/) ## Larry Getlen Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 12, 2014 9:40 PM CUT Robin Williams, [who died Monday at 63](http://time.com/3101990/robin-williams-dead-63/ "undefined"), knew the secret to being a good television-show guest: adapting to the program without losing yourself. Not everyone can do that, says _Real Time_ host Bill Maher, but Williams could do it as well as, if not better than, anybody on his show. Here, Maher remembers Williams’ shape-shifting comedy: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3105100/robin-williams-dead-bill-maher/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3105100/robin-williams-dead-bill-maher/"},"headline":"Bill Maher: 'You Could Just Tell There Was a Humanity in Robin Williams'","datePublished":"2014-08-12T21:40:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:38:07.327Z","description":"Williams \"only let you see so much,\" Maher says","url":"https://time.com/3105100/robin-williams-dead-bill-maher/","keywords":["remembrance","celebrity","robin williams"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b25688b135af592/69869f4fcd804d283bccc53d/robin-williams6.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/blt2b25688b135af592/69869f4fcd804d283bccc53d/robin-williams6.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":"Mireya Acierto—Getty Images; Jeffrey Mayer—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/3105100/robin-williams-dead-bill-maher/","name":"Bill Maher: 'You Could Just Tell There Was a Humanity in Robin Williams'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Celebrities Mourn The Death Of Robin Williams","description":"Two themes are emerging in celebrities’ shocked reactions to Robin Williams’ death: that he was a comic genius, and one of the real nice guys of Hollywood.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3YWaeZ9S/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-12T16:12:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3YWaeZ9S.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3105100/robin-williams-dead-bill-maher/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3105100/robin-williams-dead-bill-maher/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```