his comedic work was where is true brilliance shined. Fellow comics have said that he was on a different level than most of them.

Personally, I think Robin's illness fueled his stand-up work. I can't help but wonder if he had bipolar disorder. He was just so fast sometimes, maybe manically so. However, most people who have manically induced racing thoughts have no control over them and are scattered. He was always in control, and as one of his peers said, fearless when it came to the stage.

he suspected that Williams was bi-polar, for what it's worth.

Some of those performances were the funniest things ever. I liked him a lot in some movies, especially Good Morning Vietnam and One Hour Photo (where he was really creepy - an excellent performance completely different from his usual characters). But I tend to agree that while he was a good actor (sometimes in films that weren't that great), he was a spectacular stand-up comedian. I'm sorry he's gone - a very funny guy and by all accounts a truly decent and kind person.

my young mind was blown when he was on Dick Cavett's show to do improv, and the whole Mork & Mindy sitcom was basically just an excuse and setup for him to free-form riff off of

and basically told the animators "try to keep up with him."

but I agree that his movies never lived up to his brilliance on stage, and some of the movies are atrociously bad.

Just the worst kind of Hollywood schmaltz, and an insult to the man's talent.

though Williams had some funny bits in it. The other movie of his that I didn't like (others may disagree with me) is "What Dreams May Come." I thought it was awfully, awfully sentimental and syrupy.

I really couldn't stand to watch his stand-up/improv work, but I do think he was pretty good in most movies.

No one has ever made me laugh more than Williams did. Not Carlin, not Lewis Black. No one.

IMHO, comedy is the most difficult discipline in entertainment, bar none. Comedians cross over to drama much better than the reverse, IMHO, and Robin was a classic example of that.

Some other recent examples of actors that started in comedy:

Tom Hanks-remember Bosom Buddies? Tom probably wishes you don't.
Sally Fields-Flying Nun anyone

I'm with you. His stand-up work was the best. He often had me in tears from laughing so hard. The only other person who can make me laugh as hard and as often as Robin did is Stephen Colbert.

I've heard a lot of praise of his work on Mork & Mindy. Growing up, as a tween and then young teen, that loved Sci Fi when Mork came on, I hated him and that show. Looking back, it was so rare that Sci-Fi got on the air back in the 70s that I probably thought the show was mocking the entire genre at the time.

Several years later, I was in college and somebody had his show "Live at the Met" recorded from HBO (circa 1985 or 86?) and I watched it and I was blown away and just couldn't stop laughing - laughing so hard at times I had tears coming out of my eyes. It really caused me to do a complete 180 on the guy.

I watched it with my parents and sister. We all had the same reaction to it that you did. His "Live on Broadway&quot 2002?) was equally funny. This is my favorite bit of it, especially the part about cats:

especially when he did One Hour Photo - not the greatest movie but OMG did he creep me out

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I, myself, don't care for stand-up comedy (in his case, because I could never keep
up with his rapid-fire repartee!), but I was aware that he was a superb comic and
that many others enjoyed that side of him.

(And remember that Bogart, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, even Gary Cooper had
their share of bombs!)

Personally, I think he's brilliant in both areas, especially his acting skills, in which he is able to make even mediocre films such as Flubber and Jack watchable. Good Will Hunting was his best performance overall IMO.

Robin was an extraordinary artist and a great, gracious, and giving human being.