The late Robin Williams, known for his work in Jumanji (1995) and Good Will Hunting (1997), once attended an improv comedy show and wasn’t recognized by one of the performers who used to be a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Williams had been fond of comedy; he started his standup journey at the comedy clubs in the early 1970s. Starring in films like Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Flubber (1997), and Patch Adams in 1998, he solidified his place in the world of comedy.
In a May 2021 podcast, former UFC commentator Joe Rogan admitted that he came across Williams during one of his improv shows and didn’t realize who he was, until a couple of minutes later.
Rogan was joined by an incredibly talented author and journalist – Sebastian Junger. He said to him that this happened when his podcast show – The Joe Rogan Experience had taken off.
Robin Williams Waited In Line To See Joe Rogan
Williams and Rogan have been prominent figures in their respective fields and had similar career beginnings as well. Prior to his UFC commentator years, Rogan had been a standup comedian.
According to his career timeline, he took on the commentator gig starting in 1997 and moved on from it in 2006, but he never left his passion for comedy.
It’s how he met Robin Williams when he began his podcast channel in 2009. He said to Junger –
“I met him after one of my shows, I didn’t know I was talking to him until a couple of minutes into the conversation. He had a crazy big white beard and he waited in line with everybody else to meet me and I was talking to him and he was telling, ‘Oh I love this bit, I love that and I loved how you put that together.’”
The sudden realization of meeting Williams took him by surprise and he was stunned by his keen eye for detail during the show as he talked about the writing and individual bits, noted Rogan.
Robin Williams Showed Up Alone To Joe Rogan’s Show
Williams had a tough time leading up to his sudden death by suicide in 2014; he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia which had been messing with his cognitive functions.
Joe Rogan knew about his condition and was amazed by his sheer will to come by himself to meet him. He said —
“I was like, ‘Thanks man, thanks I appr…,’ I’m like, ‘Holy sh-t, this is Robin Williams; I didn’t know. I literally had no idea until several minutes. It was cool that he just went to the show by himself.”
Furthering his conversation, Rogan admired Williams’ humility that he didn’t want to be seen and had a thoughtful personality. His achievements and final days were detailed in a documentary released on September 1, 2020.
The documentary – Robin’s Wish can be rented on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: The Joe Rogan Experience
