There is no point to this post, other than silliness – which is point enough, in my book. I have been asked to share the fabulous story of the day I “interviewed” Robin Williams. [I put that in quotes for reasons you will soon see.] I love taking a ride on the memory train, especially this one.
It was 1976. I was a student at the KISS-FM Broadcasting School in Los Angeles, where we learned how to spin records, splice tape and read news straight from the teletype machine. [What, you never heard of these things? Why yes, it WAS ancient history.]
And one day, we had a class in How to Host a Radio Talk Show. Apparently, it’s harder than it looks.
The school had hired an unknown actor to play various characters as ‘guests’ while we each took a five-minute turn in the glass booth. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only female in the group to fall in love with the actor when he was introduced: a mass of curls, a sweet, innocent expression, and a long coat that made me think of The Little Prince.
He was adorable. And when he spoke in his soft voice, he had a lovely British accent.
We were told that each guest character would present a common problem that talk show hosts have to face. Of course, we weren’t warned in advance what our problem would be – or that our sweet-faced Little Prince was FUCKING CRAZY.
We found out soon enough.
Imagine a world where Robin Williams does not exist, where there is no such thing as stream-of-consciousness, GENIUS comedy. That was the world of 1976.
The first student walked into the booth full of confidence. Robin metamorphosed into a fast-talking hipster who turned his host into a gibbering idiot in ten seconds flat.
Next!
The next character talked even faster – a foul-mouthed pimp who sexually harassed and even fondled the breasts of the poor young woman who had the bad luck to be his host.
Next!
My turn. Gulp.
My ‘guest’ was an old man who represented the Arthritis Society. Phew! After a few wheezing words, he dropped dead – in my lap. [Yes, Robin Williams’ head was in my lap – that’s my claim to fame.]
What do you say on live radio when your guest dies?
“Is there a doctor in the house? I think he’s dead.” Brilliant.
Robin’s old man character popped back up.
“No, I’m not! I just wanted to show you how serious arthritis can be!”
And so on. It was a crazy, terrifying, hilarious day, as each of us was tormented by another facet of Robin Williams’ genius. At the end, he turned back into his sweet Little Prince with the British accent, and I wanted to leave my husband and marry him.
A few months later, when the TV sitcom “Mork & Mindy” became an overnight smash hit, I recognized the Little Prince. I thought, “What talent – a Brit who can do an amazing American accent!” It took me another year to find out that I’d been had, and Robin had been faking the British accent for our class.
Which made me admire him even more.
That’s my brush with fame – what’s yours? Tell us in the comments below!
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OMG, that is HILARIOUS! Thanks for cracking me up, LaVonne!
As for my brush with fame, I have nothing nearly as entertaining. The year I lived in New York I spotted someone famous every month or so, but nobody died in my lap.
Ah, well, there’s still time! 😉
You’re welcome! lol, I loved living in NY for all the famous faces I saw. My kids are always saying, “Not another one! Is there no famous person you haven’t seen?”
Absolute. Comic. Genius.
And he still is.
Thank you, LaVonne, that made my day!
I love sharing that story. Forgot to add that ten years later, I actually named my youngest son Robin, in part after the funniest person I ever met. And Robby is a very funny young man. *so proud*
I used to play cricket with sports commentator Jon Champion. Oh, and Prince William went to school with me, but he respects my privacy.
How nice of William to be so respectful! Always liked that boy.
I agree – hillarity is a wondrous thing! :>
Thnx for sharing this story. I can only imagine what that might have been like in person – watching him on telly can be exhausting enough at times!
As to my own brushes with fame – I have the honor of having confused Andre Norton in a hallway once at one of the Orlando cons back in the day. I don’t remember all the details by now, since that was a good twenty years ago now, but in there somewhere was the fact that she drove a mean scoot-a-poot – nearly ran me down at Worldcon later (not on purpose – just in a hurry). I didn’t know those mobile scooters could go that fast! 😀 Classy lady, she was, and a good author to boot!
Exhausting is right!
And yes, those mobile scooters are dangerous. I rented one at BlogWorld and
nearly ran down several people, banged into more than one wall, and felt
completely out of control a few times. Ack!
Thanks for your brush with fame story!
~LaVonne
I so so so enjoyed this, LaVonne – You know Jen Gresham speaks so highly of you and then I read this….I am MAD about Robin Williams. One of my favorites is The Birdcage and then Mrs. Doubtfire. He is a genius through and through – and to have been in his presence and in his youth….I have nothing to match. Alright but we did play craps in Las Vegas with Senator John McCain, we saw Dustin Huffman being harassed by French Paparazzi in Paris….I flew in First Class in the same cabin as James Earl Jones, and I was mistaken as a Hollywood Actress in both Four Seasons I stayed this year – that’s it I think! GREAT POST and so happy to have read this! 🙂
Wow, playing craps with John McCain is awesome! I hear he’s quite the
gambler. Wouldn’t HE have been interesting in the White House?
Re being mistaken for an actress – anyone in particular? You do have that
gorgeous thing going on… 🙂
~LaVonne
p.s. I speak highly of Jen Gresham too… love that girl!
LaVonne,
No one in particular – they were wondering “which actress is she” and asking my driver….so it was easy to make up the Persian/French Princess traveling with her “bodyguard” (my husband didn’t follow through, argh) but I had my fun with it :)))!
Thanks for this memory, Lavonne. I loved him, too, for all his zaniness and fun attitude. Especially his penchant for flaunting social rules.
This reminded me, speaking of 1976, of Steve Martin who hadn’t been at his wild and crazy ways for very long. The two of them changed the face of comedy in my opinion.
Thanks, Dorothy – yes, Steve and Robin definitely changed everything. I also
have a story about Andy Kaufman from those days. I’ll have to blog about
that — after an appropriate interval, lol!
~LaVonne
Lavionne’s memories of Robin Williams made me laugh.
This was a delightful story, LaVonne. Thank you for sharing. Hmmm, for me, I’ve been fortunate enough to have lunch with four different national best-selling authors, have received email from Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert and a gracious and wonderful man), and have been on television discussing No Child Left Behind with John Ashcroft. Smiles to you, you ray of sunshine!
Whoa, now that’s impressive! I’ll see you Scott Adams and raise you Gloria
Steinem, lol!
~LaVonne
That’s so funny, LaVonne – love it.
I did give Roald Dahl an ECG when I was working in a hospital. I managed to get about half way through before I turned into a squeeing fangirl and told him how much I loved his books. He was very gracious about it, particularly since I was sticking rubber suckers on his chest at the time!
Great story, Kirsty – I can see you as a squeeing fangirl and Roald Dahl
laying there helpless. Priceless!
~LaVonne
This is a a great story! My brushes with fame mostly come from my HS days when I went to school with people who WOULD be famous some day. I had English classes with Edie Brickell and was in band with most of the members of the New Bohemians. Andrew Comess (Spin Doctors drummer) and Roy Hargrove (Grammy award winning Jazz trumpeter) were also there during my tenure and in the band with me. Norah Jones came along after my time there…
Clearly, you went to a good school! Was it the High School of Performing
Arts? Juilliard? Pretty impressive classmates!
~LaVonne
Not Julliard (though a few classmates ended up there!). It was the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Of course we all just called it “Arts” or “the Arts Magnet.” I never knew we had our own Wikipedia entry until now! :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington_High_School_for_the_Performing_and_Visual_Arts
I love it when you tell your stories! I can completely picture Robin Williams doing this.
My only brushes with fame are old classmates. I was best friends with Susannah Grant in middle school. She wrote Erin Brockovich and some other movies. I no longer know her but still have highly incriminating letters sent from her to me at summer camp. 🙂 I also went to school with Joe DiPietro, who won a few Tonys last year for writing the play Memphis. Was also friends with Alan Alda’s daughter Bea but never met Alan.
Oh, and I interviewed LaVonne Ellis after her meteoric rise to fame. ;-D
I wish I had a cooler claim to fame. I saw Molly Shannon at Starbucks. And my husband peed in the urinal next to the Duke basketball coach once. So lame.
But I love your stories and I love your blog. I’m new here, but I’ll be back.