Robin

  sobriety with birth of Zak

  son Cody and

  son Zak and

  sports and

  stand-up, childhood influences

  stand-up, in Los Angeles

  stand-up, in New York

  stand-up, in San Francisco

  stand-up, Throckmorton Theatre and Napa Valley

  stand-up, with rising fame

  stand-up tour of 1982

  stand-up tour of 1986

  stand-up tour of 2001–2

  stand-up tour of 2008–9 Weapons of Self Destruction

  suicidal thoughts and

  Survivors and

  therapy and

  Throbbing Python of Love album and

  Tonight Show and

  To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar and

  Toys and

  toy soldiers and

  travels to London and meets comedy idols

  travels to Poland

  TV appearances by

  TV appearances by, America 2-Night

  TV appearances by, Great American Laugh-Off

  TV appearances by, Homicide

  TV appearances by, Richard Pryor

  TV appearances by, Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre

  USO tours and

  Vietnam War and

  Waiting for Godot and

  What Dreams May Come and

  will and trust of

  World According to Garp and

  World’s Greatest Dad and

  Williams, Tennessee

  Williams, Zachary Pym “Zak” (son)

  Williams, Zelda Rae (daughter)

  Wilmington, Michael

  Wilson, Mara

  Windfall Foundation

  Winfrey, Oprah

  Winkler, Henry

  Winters, Jonathan

  Wiseman, Joseph

  Witherspoon, John

  Witness (film)

  Wizard of Oz, The (film)

  WKRP in Cincinnati (TV show)

  Wolfman, The (film)

  World According to Garp, The (film)

  World News Tonight (TV show)

  World Series (2014)

  World’s Greatest Dad (film)

  World War II

  World Wildlife Fund

  You in Your Small Corner and I in Mine (Roper)

  Zaillian, Steven

  Zmuda, Bob

  Zukav, Gary

  ALSO BY DAVE ITZKOFF

  Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies

  Cocaine’s Son: A Memoir

  Lads: A Memoir of Manhood

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Dave Itzkoff is the author of Mad as Hell, Cocaine’s Son, and Lads. He is a culture reporter at The New York Times, where he writes regularly about film, television, theater, music, and popular culture. He has previously worked at Spin, Maxim, and Details, and his work has appeared in GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, and other publications. He lives in New York City. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Prologue

  PART ONE: COMET

  1. Punky and Lord Posh

  2. The Escape Artist

  3. Legalized Insanity

  4. My Favorite Orkan

  5. The Robin Williams Show

  6. Mork Blows His Cork

  7. Bungalow 3

  PART TWO: STAR

  8. Mr. Happy

  9. Tough Love

  10. Gooooooood Morning

  11. O Captain!

  12. Dreamlike Parts, with Phantasmagoric Associations

  13. Father Man

  14. Hot Flashes

  PART THREE: SUPERNOVA

  15. The Golden Dude

  16. Fade to White

  17. Weapons of Self Destruction

  18. The Tiger in Winter

  19. Gone

  20. Everything Will Be Okay

  21. The Big Room

  Epilogue

  Photographs

  Robin Williams: Selected Works and Awards

  Notes

  Acknowledgments

  Index

  Also by Dave Itzkoff

  About the Author

  Copyright

  ROBIN. Copyright © 2018 by Dave Itzkoff. All rights reserved. For information, address Henry Holt and Co., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.henryholt.com

  Cover design by Karen Horton Cover photograph © Harry Borden/Contour by Getty Images

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Itzkoff, Dave author.

  Title: Robin / Dave Itzkoff.

  Description: First edition. | New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017050678 | ISBN 9781627794244 (hardcover)

  Subjects: LCSH: Williams, Robin, 1951–2014. | Comedians—United States—Biography. | Actors—United States—Biography.

  Classification: LCC PN2287.W473 I89 2018 | DDC 791.4302/8092 [B]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017050678

  e-ISBN 9781627794251

  First Edition: May 2018

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