I don’t exactly know how to start this review. It will admittedly be biased and viewed through rose tinted glasses because even though I had never met the man or ever seen him perform live, on August 11th 2014 the world lost a little bit of it’s magic and everything around me felt a little bit sadder.

Robin Williams: Live on Broadway is not the best example of this clowns stand-up work but it is the most easily accessible. There are numerous clips of past shows on YouTube showcasing his genius stretching back to his very early years. But we are here to talk about full shows and this one sold out every ticket for every date in less than 30 minutes.

Robin walks out on stage and the first thing that hits you is just how many bottles of water he has on his prop table – I counted at least a dozen and that alone really highlights just how much energy is going in to this thing. He takes a standing ovation upon arrival and then as the crowd settles down it begins… comedy by machine gun!

Robin Williams tells more jokes in his opening monologue than some clowns tell in an entire show. For every joke that you laugh at you miss two more and even when he makes a mistake (in the hockey routine he says Freddy Krueger when he means Jason Voorhees) it isn’t worth dwelling on because A) you actually got the gag and B) you will miss far too much material by pointlessly nitpicking.

I cannot begin to list the amount of topics he covers in this comedy assault but one that did stand-out was a World Cup routine that actually managed to make New Yorkers laugh at soccer (Yes it’s football, but for the this one review we’ll let it slide) material… I didn’t even know that was possible in 2002.

The thing that I cannot get out of my head whilst watching this performance is that here we have a clown who has won Grammy’s, Golden Globes and an Academy Award. His movies have grossed over three billion dollars and include some of the greatest performances ever committed to film  –Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, Aladdin and Good Will Hunting instantly stand out- and yet here he is on this stage giving the audience absolutely everything that he has, desperate for this performance to be great and for you to enjoy what you are seeing.

He could have sold out purely on reputation and many people in that position would have taken it easy with the performance, but not this clown. This clown needs to be loved and is absolutely willing to destroy himself in pursuit of that goal.

Back in 2004 I found myself in the judges room at the Hackney New Act of the Year Awards and I was talking with the past two winners (Matt Kirshen and Graham Anthony), I had recently seen two well known comedians absolutely die on stage and not even try to win the audience back, in fact they almost reveled in it. I asked them why they thought two reputable performers would do this and the answer given was that some comedians don’t think it’s worth the effort and would rather just be memorable for dying in the most spectacular way possible.

That sentiment has stuck with me and I guess that it’s what separates a good, solid comedian from an absolute legend of the game.

With Robin Williams you get everything, his enjoyment is your enjoyment and over the years that thirst, that drive to be adored has given us moments of great comedy and also great tragedy.

In conclusion all I can say is watch his stand-up, watch his interviews on YouTube, watch his classic films like Good Morning Vietnam and his lesser known works like What Dreams May Come, watch the Mork/Happy Days crossover TV episode, watch whatever you can. Because clowns who give their audience their very soul in order to make them laugh do not come around all that often.

Clown Stars: * * * * *

 @Broadway Theatre, New York City