Robin Williams…

… one of the stalwarts of my childhood, the regular alien entertainment…

…Nanu , Nanu!

…that made me laugh and taught me a lot more about life than all those thousands of hours of soap operas my mum subjected me to…

…sorry mum, but it’s the truth – I hated them and its the reason that I don’t watch them now… *Shudders at the memory of watching The Young Doctors, Eastenders, Coronation Street and Prisoner: Cell Block H*…

…is dead.

He was one of the enduring faces that I grew up with and I watched everything I could get my hands on. I will miss him a great deal and I feel that the world has lost a major talent of all trades.

… *clears throat*…

After Mork & Mindy (yes, I used to get called Mindy) went off the air, I forgot about him for a while… and then Good Morning Vietnam appeared on my visual radar.

I actually went out and bought the soundtrack to this one – not only is the music damn good, but the CD has all of Robin’s DJ sections on it. To this day I cannot listen to it without wetting myself laughing or crying to “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.

While he did have a number of serious roles – “What Dreams May Come” really sticks in my mind (“Dead Poets Society” was too close to what I was doing in school for me to really enjoy) and “Bicentennial Man” was my favourite of the serious movies – the movies that really made the mark on my life were his children’s movies.

Toys, Hook, Jumanji, Fern Gully… they all entertained and made my life brighter. Wherever his voice appeared behind an animated character, the movie was instantly improved.

Robin appears at 6.40 sec

“Aladdin” was, of course, the biggest one. It’s my favourite Disney Movie of all time, simply because of the chemistry between Aladdin and Genie. Quotes from that movie slip into my conversation with my children all the time…

“All right you baaaaad boy, but no more freebies.”

The last movie I really watched of his was “Mrs Doubtfire”. As usual, I was laughing along with Robin, enjoying the transformations and the antics he got up to, then bam. I was smacked in the chest with the end scene. You know, the one where Mrs Doubtfire is talking to a little girl about her parent’s divorce.

…Swallows against a lump in her throat…

It even affects me now, without actually seeing it. O’ course, the reason it affects me so profoundly is that my parents divorced when I was 16. But the way the speech was written, the way that Robin played that scene, it suddenly hit home to me just how much damage a divorce does to children…

And I found that I couldn’t watch any more of his movies.

I watched his stand up routines, laughing myself sick at his impressions of politicians and when he appeared on chat shows and things…

… but I couldn’t bring myself to watch any more of his movies. I’ll probably go back and watch my way through his catalogue now, laughing and crying in equal measure.

I love comedy. I watch all sorts of Comedians – Bill Bailey, Michael MacIntyre, Billy Connelly and Russell Howard. All of them make me laugh until I can’t physically force the sound out any more.

Only one comedian could ever make me laugh uproariously one moment, and cry with sadness the next.

Rest in Peace, Robin Williams.

I hope that you’re alternating between getting some serious shut eye (he’s been a busy boy on earth, so I figure he deserves it) and cracking up the angels.

We’ll miss you.