Even the greatest performers in their chosen profession need to be inspired by those who came before, and in the case of Robin Williams, that person was Jonathan Winters.
Long before he’d established himself as one of the most side-splitting talents on the comedy circuit – which soon parlayed into a massively successful movie career that saw him win plaudits and awards in the arenas of both comedy and drama – Williams had been captivated by Winters ever since he first saw him on television as a child.
Writing in tribute to his hero in The New York Times following his death in 2013 – just a year before Williams’ own passing – the rubber-faced funnyman with an endless supply of energy and charisma outlined just how big an impact Winters had on him.
“My father’s laughter introduced me to the comedy of Jonathan Winters. My dad was a sweet man, but not an easy laugh. We were watching Jack Paar on The Tonight Show on our black-and-white television, and on came Jonathan in a pith helmet. ‘Who are you?’ Paar asked. ‘I’m a great white hunter’, Jonathan said in an effete voice. ‘I hunt mainly squirrels’.
“’How do you do that?’
“’I aim for their little nuts’.
“My dad and I lost it. Seeing my father laugh like that made me think, ‘Who is this guy and what’s he on?’”
Beginning his career in the late 1940s, Winters wore many hats as a comedian, actor, writer, and TV host, and he even proved himself to be an accomplished painter. The recipient of two Grammy Awards and a Primetime Emmy – and eventually a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – he recorded countless comedy albums to go along with his live-action endeavours, with Williams remarking that “not only was Jonathan funny on TV, but his comedy albums are also auditory bliss”.
They say you should never meet your heroes, but the friendship between the two comedic titans flew in the face of that notion. In fact, Williams drafted Winters in to guest star on Mork & Mindy during its final season. The star knew that the show was running out of gas and admitted that drafting him in “woke me out of a two-year slump”, celebrating the arrival of Winters as “the cavalry was on its way”.
Even their peers drew similarities between the two, as Gilbert Gottfried explained to CNN: “When you watch Robin Williams, you can see a lot of Jonathan Winters. Robin is the first one to admit that; he worshipped Jonathan Winters. He insisted that Jonathan be written in as a regular on Mork & Mindy.” The self-deprecating Winters knew where he stood in terms of their dynamic, though, with Williams making a point of saying that “once upon a time, I called Jonathan my mentor and he immediately corrected me and said, ‘Please,’ he told me, ‘I prefer idol,’” when he presented him with the ‘Pioneer’ trophy at the 2008 TV Land Awards.
Williams signed off his tribute to Winters in suitably hagiographic and endearing fashion: “Jonathan has shuffled off this mortal coil,” he said. “So here’s to Jonny Winters, the cherubic madman with a stick who touched so many. Damn, am I going to miss you”. However, he wasn’t the only household name to share their thoughts on a huge loss to the comedy community.
Steve Martin anointed him as “not only one of the greats, but one of the great greats,” with Pee-wee Herman star Paul Reubens echoing those sentiments: “Jonathan was an influence on so many, and there was nobody like him. Loved you, Jonathan!”
Labelled as “wildly funny” by Steve Carell and an “actual genius” by Kevin Pollak, Bob Newhart was adamant that “He was number one. There is no number two”. Another name on par with Williams’ worldwide celebrity who was also heavily indebted to Winters was Jim Carrey, and he praised the trailblazing comic as being the “worthy custodian of a sparkling and childish comedic genius”.
Williams may have been most closely associated with Winters in the eyes of the public, given their mutual appreciation and regular collaborations, but the latter’s influence extended far beyond inspiring just one of the genuine greats.
