Tim Heidecker remembers Robin Williams, talks Awesome Show’s ‘Robin’
In a recent interview with Tim and Eric s Tim Heidecker ahead of the duo s forthcoming live tour with Dr. Steve Brule (John C. Reilly), I had the opportunity to ask the funny man about the classic Awesome Show, Great Job episode Robin, in which Tim and Eric poke fun at Robin Williams (via a great performance by Williams impersonator David Born).
Here is what Heidecker had to say about Williams influence on his career, the Awesome Show episode (which now admittedly feels like a tribute), and working with Williams.
First of all, he’s one of the prime reasons I’m in this business at all, Heidecker said. As a young kid, he was absolutely god to me. Unbelievably influential and inspiring. I had a Mork Halloween costume. He was really important at a young age.
I think as we got older and turned into 20-something assholes, at the same time he kinda turned into a pretty big example of the old guard of the kind of comedy we were trying to change — or at least trying to do a different kind of comedy. He’d done a bunch of mediocre movies and he became sort of not cool. He was kind of a joke to us for a little while. And I think that inspired that episode. There was something annoying about his comedy at that point — there is something kind of annoying about his comedy: It’s sort of relentless and it would be like having a yappy dog, you know?
But then the past couple of years — first of all he made that movie World’s Greatest Dad. It’s on Netflix and it’s a classic, in my opinion. It’s insanely good. He’s amazing in it. And it was this shift in my mind: This guy is super, super talented and incredibly gifted and just a great actor. And just after I saw that I got offered a part in a movie that he was in (A Merry Friggin Christmas). OK, I’m gonna work with Robin Williams. I hope he doesn’t feel I made fun of him and I hope it’s not weird.
I met him and he was the nicest guy you can possibly imagine. Super sweet and he had seen our stuff and was really excited by it and thought it was cool and crazy. He gave me his number and said, If there’s ever anything you need and you’re in San Francisco Just one of those kinda guys that was super sweet to the crew.
I felt a little guilty I had turned on him for a few years. I’m horrified and disgusted and saddened by his death. So it’s been weird. But I’m really glad I got to spend some time with him and got to know him as a really decent human being.
Heidecker will be appearing with Williams in A Merry Friggin Christmas, out this November.
You can see Tim and Eric and Dr. Steve Brule live at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver on Sept. 7.
Find more from our Q A with Tim Heidecker next week in The Vancouver Sun.
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