Robin Williams made a special guest appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show on Jan. 24, 2013. There to help Matt Damon exact revenge on the late night talk show host (for closing nearly every episode with a funny announcement that they had run out of time to interview him), the movie star and his celebrity friends had a great time hijacking the program. Digital Spy notes, “Kimmel’s usual sidekick Guillermo was replaced by Damon’s sidekick Andy Garcia, while band leader Cleto Escobedo III was replaced by Sheryl Crow.” Ben Affleck was also there holding up cue cards off on the sidelines — pretending to be part of the production crew. But nothing was quite as funny as Robin Williams standing in for Damon (who was standing in for the former “Man Show” co-host).
Robin Williams also appeared to complete Damon’s opening monologue. Damon then introduced a number of celebrity testimonials wishing him luck for the show, including Jennifer Lopez, Sally Field, John Krasinski, Robert De Niro, Don Cheadle and Oprah Winfrey showing off his green celebrity star power. But as always, the former Mork from Ork was the most memorable of all the star celebs polled. Which, of course, begs the question — why on earth is that man so hilariously funny and buck wild?
Born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, the Baby Boomer from the windiest city in the Mid-West really should have grown up to be tame and mild. But his family moved to the very colorful San Francisco, California when he was sixteen. Perhaps the move makes his famous rainbow suspenders mean a little more — knowing he has been a San Franciscan urban legend as a comedic genius since he first moved there.
Nowadays, he’s calming down — following a health crisis that ended up winning him a bed in the heart surgery ward. While his heart might be on the mend now from a health standpoint, his personal romance history is something he’s likely only to joke openly about in the confines of his celebrity home.
Williams and his first wife, Valerie Velardi, have son, Zachary Pym “Zak” Williams. He and his second wife, Marcia Garces have son Cody Alan Williams and daughter Zelda Williams. He and his second wife, Marcia lived in San Francisco’s Seacliff neighborhood. His third wife is a woman named Susan Schneider. The catch phrase the third time is a charm will hopefully hold out.
After disclosing a cocaine addiction from years ago and struggling through marital tensions, it was time for the charismatic comedian to mellow out.
After surviving times of trouble (drugs and alcohol abuse), Williams has recovered to maintain his status as one of Hollywood’s most tireless philanthropists. He has entertained the troops, shared the Comic Relief telethon stage with friends Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal, and entertained troops in the Middle east five times with the USO.
His major charity effort was Comic Relief, a telethon that has raised over $50 million to date in the US. The charity helps with homelessness, disaster relief and poverty issues. He also joined the board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation which helps people to live with spinal cord injuries.
Green celebrity Robin Williams turned into the invincible comic and actor he is when he had the pleasure of attending Julliard with his good friend, the late Christopher Reeve. He started in the comic age of Richard Pryor and Jonathan Winters and created the comic age of star celebs like Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal. His natural attention deficit disorder contributed to creating his unique stream-of-consciousness, frenetic style — which he showed once again to the world when he spoke in front of the cameras and live studio audience when he did took over the monologue on the Jimmy Kimmel show.
Robin Williams, Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon really are funny celebrity friends. Good ones who connect on so many levels — environmentally friendly humanitarians who support charitable causes. The group of Hollywood icons working together as a team to finally shut the late night talk show up proved to be too much fun to watch.
Ah, duct tape. Helping silence the best of friends when they are being pranked since the 1940s.