Tonight when I walked into the Comic Strip for late night I saw Richie the owner smoking a cigarette. He looked at me and said “see the television cameras, Robin Williams died”. My mouth dropped- I wasn’t expecting to hear that. I knew without being told it was suicide.
We chatted outside about it then he told me to sign up for late night so I entered the club.
Like comics and non-comics alike I grew up watching Robin. I even watched Mork and Mindy c/o Nick at Nite. I remember watching him on Inside the Actors Studio being spontaneous and brilliant using a scarf to transform into various characters. As Richie said, ‘he was nuts but a comedic genius.’
An hour later while I was still at the club, the tv news program that had just interviewed Richie aired on the club TV. In silence all the comedians watched the news program that recap of Robin’s life, an old clip of Robin at the Strip, and Richie’s interview. It was very meta. After Richie watched himself on tv he said, ‘I was good’.
I got up #2 on the order for late night. It’s a prestige thing when you get up. The earlier the better because there is more likely to be an audience. I guess Richie and I bonded that night because I normally get up #6 or #7.
Unbeknowst to me Richie was in the room during my set and afterwards said to me ‘good set’, in this biz I’ll take whatever compliments I can get. Get up 1x.