Robin Williams, Academy Award-winning actor and comedian, spoke yesterday in the Memorial Chapel before the roughly 200 audience members lucky enough to purchase tickets to the sold-out event. Tickets to the event went on sale on Tuesday at 10 a.m. and sold out within two hours.
Known both for his livewire stand-up routines and roles in such films as “Hook”, “Good Will Hunting” and “Jumanji,” Williams fielded questions from interviewer Wally Hays ’10, a member of Beta Theta Pi instrumental in bringing Williams to campus. Students packed the Chapel almost an hour before Williams appeared, and erupted into applause as he made his way to the stage. Dressed in a black t-shirt and dark cargo pants, Williams sat beside Hays, who was more formally dressed in a jacket, shirt and tie.
When he wasn’t cracking one-liners or impersonating celebrities such as Sean Connery and Al Pacino, Williams discussed his early days as a comedian and actor. After dropping out of Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College) to pursue theater, Williams was selected for the Advanced Program at the Juilliard School. The only other person selected that year for the Advanced Program was fellow actor Christopher Reeve, whom Williams remained friends with until his death in 2004.
Williams went on to discuss his multitude of experiences as an actor. He found a particularly vivid way to describe the seeming artlessness of Method acting, in which an actor attempts to create a realistic character that will allow the audience to forget they are performing.
“Method acting is like urinating in brown corduroys,” Williams said. “You feel wonderful, but we [the viewers] see nothing.”
Williams also talked about his experiences performing for active-duty American soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He jokingly added that entertaining the military provides particular incentives for a comedian.
“It’s interesting telling jokes to a room full of heavily armed men,” Williams said.
He later directed his sharp wit towards the Iraq war and its effects within the United States. Commenting on Iraq’s struggle to adopt and implement a national constitution, Williams put forth his own suggestion.
“They can take ours [America’s], we’re not using it!” Williams said.
This willingness to take risks when performing remains central both to Williams’ acting and stand-up comedy. At one point, Hays asked Williams to explain the term “legalized insanity,” which Williams has used in the past. Williams described the liberating power of performing on the stage, where normally inappropriate thoughts take on a different meaning.
“You can say things on stage that you people would pretty much do time for anywhere else,” Williams said.
“You see what works and it turns out that what works is the most outrageous stuff,” Williams added later.
His candor extended beyond comedy. Williams directly addressed his past battles with alcoholism and drug use, saying that his famed mental agility has only improved as he came to rely less on intoxicating substances.
“I feel that over the years it has gotten better,” Williams said. “That’s the one thing that has increased.”
After about 30 minutes of questions and answers, Hays switched the format from an interview to simple word associations. At one point, Hays threw out the phrase, “political correctness.” Williams responded simply by saying “Fuck it!”, a reply that had the crowd cheering.
Students responded positively to Williams’ energy and enthusiasm.
“As soon as he entered the room, he had an immediate control over the audience, sending us into endless fits of laughter,” said Ben Roberts ’09.
The interview, organized by Beta with assistance from Associate Director of Parent Development Frantz Williams, was the first in this year’s Beta Lecture Series. In the past, the Series has hosted such speakers as Ethan Bronner ’76, Deputy Foreign Editor of The New York Times, and former Connecticut congressman Sam Gejdenson.
The event, which charged $10 per ticket, raised over five thousand dollars, which Beta plans to donate to a local charity.