A recurring motif in my life has been how out of step I am with many aspects of our culture. I seem to be the only person I know who finds the music of the Beatles to be insipid, screechy and childish. I don't like watching cartoons in the cinema or anything with Hugh Grant in it. I don't like R&B music or Jazz and I'd go a thousand miles not to eat sushi, whether its fish, or, more likely, whale. I also am not a fan of The Harry Potter books or films - yeah I can see why kids like them, but why grown-ups tolerate that twee bollocks is utterly baffling to me. I also find Robin Williams to be completely insufferable....
My idea of hell would be watching Patch Adams, Mrs Doubtfire, What Dreams May Come, Jack (do you remember Jack directed by Francis Ford Coppola?), Jakob The Liar (!), Bicentennial Man (!!), Death To Smoochy, Old Dogs etc. bloody etc. on an endless loop. Robin Williams to me is mawkish, irritating and deeply unfunny in every film he's been in. And its not just the movies. When I'm flipping through the channels at two in the morning I'll often catch Williams on talk shows doing that tedious gay Latino bit he stole from Seinfeld or his impression of Ronald Reagan as a robot falling asleep. (Ronald Reagan - Jesus). The audience of course is always in stitches and I'm thinking, what the hell is the matter with you people? Are you all bloody morons? This guy is pathetic. I suppose you're the kind of eejits who laugh at Saturday Night Live.
...
I'm sure Robin Williams is a decent guy in person. I bet he's a great dad and apart from a few joke stealing allegations I dont think he's hated the way some people are in Hollywood. He recently got in trouble here in Australia because he called Aussies a bunch of English rednecks on David Letterman. Following this Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister, felt it was necessary to give an offical response to defend Australia's honour. A response that happened to damn the lovely state of Alabama. This furore reflected worse on Rudd than Williams if you ask me and it made me wonder why the Prime Minister of Australia has nothing better to do than comment on the routines of stand up comedians; but then at least he didn't stoop to the Prime Minister of New Zealand's level by reading out a Top Ten list on Letterman.
...
But Kevin Rudd isnt really my problem, my problem is still Williams. His lame jokes and lamer films exhaust and weary me. I just want him to go away and have a nice quiet life somewhere with his millions. Of course I realise I'm in a minority with this view. Years ago I wrote a book called Hidden River, where I had this line: "it was like being trapped in a elevator with Robin Williams" which I used to describe my own personal nightmare scenario. My editor made me cut the line because, he said, Robin Williams was universally loved. When the book was being copy edited I asked the dour, Glaswegian, copyeditor if I could slip the line back in and, as a fellow misanthrope, he agreed. Of course Hidden River is now out of print and Mr Williams goes from triumph to triumph. C'est la guerre.
39 comments:
I used to love the stand up stuff but I reckon he went off the boil when he stopped drinking.
Agree, altough when he is doing serious stuff (not comedy or smaltz) he is pretty good.
I'm kind of with you on the Williams front, though I don't think he moves me enough to write any rants about it. But I certainly get the disaffected state of being out of sync with one's culture. The Simpsons would be my personal version of that and hell would be not watching the show in the elevator, but being stuck with a group of people who absolutely delighted in telling me every episode. (Used to happen at work, but there I could walk away--eventually.)
Working in a bookstore, you do come across a lot of this. It's not just books that seize hold of the popular imagination and that seem mediocre at best, but because we sell magazines as well, I hear a lot of people's opinions on celebrities I've never even heard of. I actually find it kind of interesting to observe, but it's more when people want to drag me into their opinion on,well, anything that it all becomes a bit torturous. People seem to need so much in the way of response.
A few years ago a friend of mine told me he felt out of touch with popular culture and I said I felt the same. After a few minutes of silence I said, "But not as far out of touch as you are."
He wrote a great novel, (Black Bird.
I laugh at Saturday Night Live sometimes, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were both very funny on the show, especially Weekend Update, but both their sitcoms are awful.
Robin Williams, well let's just say sometimes he is in touch with popular culture.
John, I bought a copy of Blackbird based on your rec awhile ago, but I haven't gotten to it yet. It looks good, though.
I'm with you on the Beatles and sushi (where I come from it was called bait). I read and more or less enjoyed the first three Harry Potters, but by Number 4 I'd had enough. I'm down with most jazz and R&B though. I needs my periodic Tower of Power fixes.
I've seen Robin Williams be very funny; I've also seen him be an ass. That's what happens when someone works without a net every night. Sometimes he falls, and the reflexes aren't what they used to be as you get older, so he falls more often. Like Wostry, some of his dramatic work is pretty good. (INSOMNIA comes to mind.)
*stands and applauds* I agree with every last word of this post!
Paul
Or doing coke with John Belushi. Or both.
Ferenc
I remember thinking Insomnia was ok, but not a patch on the original, and I am not a huge fan or whatshername either.
Seana
Yeah normally I wouldnt be THAT moved but the Williams/red neck story became big news here last week and a lot of Williams defenders came out of the woodwork.
John
I will get to Black Bird too. I like Tina Fey personally and all that, but boy she seems to be spreading herself thin. I havent seen Parks and Rec.
Dana
Yeah I thought Insomnia was ok, but the original was a classic.
I sometimes wonder if people in a sushi restaurant ever have a Hans Christian Anderson moment..."Jesus, wait a minute, its just raw fish! All of its just raw fish!"
Mike
Our brains are like in sync or something.
And we both like Triumph motorcycles too.
"Universally loved" is hilarious just in itself.
However, thanks to that dour Scotsman, I think you can now really kiss your Hollywood dreams goodbye. Getting on the wrong side of Robin Williams, Tom Cruise and Sean Penn is not the best way to climb to the heights. Maybe John McFetridge will be able to get you in through a back door some day, though.
A good book published last year was 'I'm Dying Up Here', about the trials of stand-up comics trying to make it in 70s L.A. Letterman, Leno, Dressen, Williams, Martin, all of them...Great read. Williams was an acknowledged and unapologetic thief of material.
Now I didn't see Williams' latest film directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, World's Greatest Dad, and I did like his last film, Shakes the Clown, so it possibly may be a future rental.
Good God, much agreed! I just don't get it... people always think Williams is funny and guess what: HE'S NOT FUNNY. AT ALL. Did a great job in Good Will Hunting, any other movie and I immediately flip the channel. Ugh.
I think Williams has gone so far off the deep end he's now making his living in the shallows.
What page?
Popular culture? This is a culture that watches Letterman and Leno, except for the intellectuals, who watch Stephen Colbert.
I want to start an advertising campaign whose slogan will be:
If you read just one book this year -- and you will read just one book this year -- make it "Harry Potter."
==========================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
If it's only one book, why not make it Fifty Grand?
We have this newish campaign, complete with buttons that say "I took the One Book Pledge". I am constantly having to explain what the One Book pledge is, even though I don't actually understand it myself exactly. The basic idea is that you're supposed to buy one book less from Amazon and one more from your favorite independent. I guess it's a good idea, but the fact that I am almost certainly explaining this to someone who already values their local indie makes this kind of a pain. I guess I find marketing kind of a pain in general.
Seana
Yeah you might be right. But I dont really have any Hollywood dreams so thats ok.
Matt
I read somewhere that David Brenner threatened to beat Williams for lifting his material. Getting threatened by David Brenner is FUNNY.
Duff
Yet to see Good Will Hunting. The combination of Williams, Damon, Affleck and Boston does not appeal to me.
Ryan
Well he did start with Mork and Mindy and Popeye.
Miss Witch
I dont remember which page, but it is definitely in there in both the British and American editions.
Peter
It would be nice if that one book was The Way of the World, but it wont be.
Adrian, don't bother watching GWH. It is mawkish crap.
You're spot on about Robin Williams.
Joe.
Well, I'm still holding out hopes for Michael Forsythe on the big screen. So don't wreck it for me.
I also despise Mork from Ork..BIG TIME. Always have, always will. Kevin Costner and Hugh Grant are also equally annoying. Oh yeah, Tim Robbins too.
Be careful, Sean. Adrian here is a big Tim Robbins fan.
==========================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Adrian,
How I feel about Madonna is how you feel about Robin Williams I think.
I loved Robin Williams in Mork from Ork and would have loved to be able to wear rainbow suspenders but they got in the way of certain body parts.
But no R&B?
How about this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87FjkqtK67o&feature=related
Oh yeah: people at a U2 concert yelling out, "Nanu Nanu." Hilarious.
Peter, I like your ad campaign but agree with Seana that it should be Fitty Grand. Though you were probably tongue in cheek as you chisled out the words in your comment box online.
Joe
I will make it a must this then.
Sean
We must be on some kind of secret wavelength. Seriously.
Sean
We must be on some kind of secret wavelength. Seriously.
Peter
Heh heh
Sheiler
Hmm, I guess I mean more kind of soul music, Barry White Usher type of crooning stuff. I hate that. And Maria Carey.
I do like Aretha though cos I'm an old school kind of guy.
Remember when Madonna said that anyone who didn't love a particular painting of a woman giving graphic birth to a full grown man couldn't be her friend? I'm like that with Robin Williams; anyone who likes his work cannot be my friend.
I was shown some clips of Jonathan Winters and it appears that Williams stole his entire schtick from him.
Rob, that's a lonely road to walk. Robin Williams is universally loved. I think it's like the eleventh commandment or something.
Post a Comment