I grew up watching Robin Williams go nuts for 30 minutes a week
\non television, and spent a good portion of my teenage\/early adult
\nyears laughing at his comedy routines he performed onstage. I
\nremember my dad taking me to see
\nPopeye<\/i>, and us all watching
\nThe World According To Garp<\/i> on cable. No one cheered louder
\nthan me (well, at least in my household) when Williams won his
\nfirst Academy Award earlier this year, an award I thought he should
\nhave won for
\nGood Morning, Vietnam<\/i>.<\/p>\n
But I also remembered that Williams had released three comedy
\nalbums based on his stage routines. (Actually, I had forgotten
\nabout the second album,
\nThrobbing Python Of Love<\/i>, until I started writing this
\nreview.) The first of these albums,
\nReality… What A Concept<\/i>, captures an early edition of
\nWilliams’s manic stage act and improvizational skills.
\nUnfortunately, a hacked job of editing ruins the sequence of this
\nalbum, and the comedy routines suffer.<\/p>\n
Williams very much is a comedian who relies on his physical
\nappearances – he can say more with one funny face than some comics
\ncould in an hour’s routine. The problem is that this doesn’t
\ntranslate onto vinyl, meaning characters like the toddler in
\n“Kindergarten For The Stars” and “Reverend Ernest Angry” lose a
\nlittle bit in the translation.<\/p>\n
Oh, there are some hilarious moments on
\nReality… What A Concept<\/i>, such as Williams contemplating
\nwhat chairs think about all day and Mr. Rogers sending a hamster
\ninto nuclear meltdown in the microwave. Even though this album is
\nalmost 20 years old (and having worn out a taped copy I made from
\nthe library when I was a kid before adding it permanently to the
\nPierce Archives), it has lost very little of the punch. Even the
\njokes about then-president Jimmy Carter and references to the Three
\nMile Island disaster still evoke laughs from me.<\/p>\n
The problem with this disc is in the editing. You can easily
\ntell where snips in the tape were made – the sound is incredibly
\nuneven within even one particular sketch. (C’mon, how do you
\nexplain Williams’s improv Shakespeare jumping from Studio 54 to
\nThree Mile Island?) Sketches, thus, are created using material that
\nnever was supposed to be related. Some sketches, like “Kindergarten
\nFor The Stars,” sounds like it ends way too soon, while “A Touch Of
\nFairfax”‘s only understandable reference is to drugs, and isn’t
\nthat funny.<\/p>\n
The final result of this album makes it sound like it was pieced
\ntogether at random – and that, kids, isn’t funny. Williams’s style
\nof comedy has always been “shoot from the hip,” going in whatever
\ndirection his mind chooses at the moment. As a result, whatever he
\nwas working on at that time has its own unique flavor – and mixing
\nsuch flavors rarely works well.<\/p>\n
If you really want to get a good taste of Williams’s stage
\nroutine, turn off your stereo, hie yourself out to the local video
\nshack, and rent both of Williams’s performance tapes. Then, put
\nthem in, laugh your ass off, watch them again, and repeat as
\nneccessary.<\/p>\n
\nReality… What A Concept<\/i> is no longer available, except at
\nsome used record stores (and you may have to search for this
\ntitle). But the sad reality is, this concept isn’t worth searching
\nout unless you are a diehard Williams fan.<\/p>\n
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