Comic Relief

Maybe Mork just went home!

Growing up I remember watching Comic Relief on television (I believe it was on HBO). While at the time many of the jokes went completely over my head I can still hear my parents laughing as Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams took the stage and proceeded to conduct an improv set the likes of which I had never seen. Even with my limited understanding, I couldn’t help but watch them go back and forth not missing a moment or opportunity to turn common responses into belly laughs. While Crystal and Goldberg were good, Robin Williams was always the one that took over the entire stage and the audience.

Recently I have been thinking about Robin Williams ever since we learned that we will be having a baby early next year. For some reason I have been thinking about a part of one of his stand up sets when he talks about becoming a father. It was one of those rare moments of honest vulnerability that he would occasionally touch upon during those wild times on stage. In the midst of clear chaos, it was those moments that made you stop and think about something so serious that it just sticks with you years later. Maybe that it why it has been on my mind during the last few weeks.

 

Of course, as I am certain you have heard, Robin Williams was once again on the forefront of all our minds. I am still shocked that he is gone. I am not one to dedicate an entire lost to the loss of a celebrity but Robin Williams was on a completely different level. As I have gotten older I have constantly looked forward to what he would do next… whenever he was on I was going to watch.

And as I have gotten older, caught up and now understand those jokes lost on me during my childhood, I have continued to become more and more envious of the ability to create at an instant no matter where he was, what he was given, or what was said. He is a talent that we will never fully understand let alone replace. He was a complicated man but one with unparalleled ability, talent, and passion. I will miss watching that complicated man both during those intense moments of improv and also during those subdued roles that showcased a complexity and range that few have possessed.

Unfortunately, we all have our flaws and our struggles and his death is a reminder that no matter how much we watch someone, or their outgoing personality, or the success that they have… we don’t know what is going on inside of them. It is the scariest part of life not knowing what can be just below the surface and the horrible way that people see themselves. We can only do so much but one thing that we can do is make sure that we are there for our friends and family regardless of whether they seem like they need someone or not from the outside. You just never know.

Alright, Alright, Alright…

This time every year, the awards shows block off an entire evening on network television to tell me about all the shows I didn’t watch and all the movies I didn’t see in the previous year. There are a few programs that I recognize, and occasionally they seem to humor people like me with nominations for the shows that I enjoy. But usually it looks a bit odd like “one of these things is not like the other” (much like Matthew McConaughey’s acceptance speech verses everyone else’s).

Despite my seemingly lack of connection to most of what is found on television or in the theaters, these shows are rather entertaining. If anything for the reactions of the people who really didn’t expect any recognition. Not for what they say but for the shock on their face at the news and the slight horror of having to get up on stage and thank everyone without a script having been written beforehand. The Golden Globes this evening was a prime example.

Watching The Andy Samberg and Amy Poehler win awards this evening was worth watching. Both of these Saturday Night Live Alumni looked to be in genuine shock when their names were called and even Seth Meyers, who announced Samberg’s win, were filled with a childishness glee (in a good way) when the reality finally hit them. While we were all watching this unfold, Poehler getting a massage from and making out with Bono and Samberg high fiving Leonardo DiCaprio on his way to being mauled on stage by Meyers, the evening seems to take on a surreal quality for the two of them.

On the other side of the spectrum is the simple fact that as you watch the camera cut to different stars, you are faced with the aging, some gracefully and others not so much, of some of the many stars that you grew up watching on television or in the movies. It makes you wonder how much longer they are going to be performing. While some may seemingly go on forever you know that some others, no matter how much you enjoy their work, are probably going to be gone soon. While many were nominated this evening, Michael Douglas and Jon Voigt to name a couple of winners, it is an interesting dynamic to watch the transition to a new crop of actors in the prime of their careers, DiCaprio and Matt Damon seem to be the two that most accurately fit that description.

As you can see, even if the majority of your entertainment comes from life and nonfiction programs (or even those things we call books) you can still get a kick out of watching the Hollywood social experiments known as awards shows. And while this evening proved entertaining and even as a means of prediction for the other two majors, things will surely be a bit more interesting with the raised stakes that come with the Oscars and Emmys. Based on tonight, this should be interesting.