NEW YORK (AP) - The question from a fan in a Sirius XM interview last year was innocent - what do you think you'd be doing if you didn't become a comedian? - and within seconds Robin Williams was impersonating physicist Stephen Hawking getting a lap dance at a strip club.
"Now don't sit on the keyboard!" Williams said, coaxing laughs from a few dozen people in a Manhattan studio.
How did he get there? Explaining it would take twice as long as it took to actually happen. Would anyone else in the world have made such a leap?
Not a chance. Williams, who died in an apparent suicide Monday, was a comic force of nature. The world got to know him as the wild alien in "Mork & Mindy," a comedian who elevated improvisation to an art form and also demonstrated a rare versatility in more serious roles. He moved seamlessly from comedy to drama to tragedy to comedy again during a Hollywood heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. His Academy Award as a supporting actor in "Good Will Hunting" came in a drama.
In 1997, Entertainment Weekly magazine named Williams the funniest man alive, and the very next year listed him as one of the world's 25 best actors - a double distinction that made him rare, if not unique.
He touched every generation and demographic, making his entrance in a 1970s comic generation with Steve Martin, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Billy Crystal. He exploded onto the scene at a time when two schools of comedy dominated - "Saturday Night Live" and Johnny Carson - and Williams felt equally comfortable running with both crowds.
Williams was the voice of a genie in "Aladdin" and a hyper disc jockey in "Good Morning Vietnam." In "Mrs. Doubtfire," he played a dad who dressed as a woman to see his kids, and in "Birdcage," he played a gay man. He was an English teacher in "Dead Poets Society," a scientist in "Awakenings" and a prisoner of war in "Jakob the Liar." In this year's independent film, "The Angriest Man in Brooklyn," Williams played a man mistakenly told he had 90 minutes to live.
On a stage, in front of the lights, is where Williams shined most brightly. The riffs, tangents and impersonations came rushing at the audience, a seemingly endless torrent. It looked like onstage cocaine, a drug he abused in real life and, of course, made part of his comedy.
"Cocaine is God's way of telling you you are making too much money," he would say.
On a television talk show, hosts knew Williams barely needed to be wound up. Sometimes, he needed only an audience of one: Williams visited Christopher Reeve a week after the actor's horseback riding accident, dressed in scrubs with a surgical mask and speaking in a Russian accent.
The roles became less prominent as he aged and a different generation took the spotlight. Last year. CBS cast him as the star of a sitcom, "The Crazy Ones," in which Williams played the colorful elder statesman at a New York ad agency. The network had high hopes for the comedy, which also starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, but they quickly faded and the show was cancelled after one season.
That didn't make Williams unique - Michael J. Fox also failed in a recent return to television - but it was an indication that Williams was no longer a sure ticket to success.
Like many comedians, Williams often seemed driven by demons. He had a complicated personal life, suffered from depression and was treated for substance abuse, most recently earlier this summer. He did a few lines of cocaine with John Belushi on the last night of that comic's life.
A darkness seeped in during an interview with comedian Marc Maron in 2010, where Williams seemingly dismissed what would be a career highlight for many actors. "People say you're an Academy Award winner," he said. "The Academy Award lasted about a week and then one week later, people went, 'Hey Mork!'"
Stand-up comedy was where Williams got the most satisfaction.
"You get the feedback," Williams said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. "There's an energy. It's live theater. That's why I think actors like that. You know, musicians need it, comedians definitely need it. It doesn't matter what size and what club, whether it's 30 people in the club or 2,000 in a hall or a theater. It's live, it's symbiotic, you need it."
In the 2013 Sirius appearance with Whoopi Goldberg, his comic colleague had no trouble encouraging a visit from Elmer Fudd, one of the many voices Williams could instantly slip into.
Instantly, "Elmer" was singing Bruce Springsteen: "I'm dwivin' in my car..."
Ultimately, Williams had needs no one could meet. The millions of people he made laugh over nearly four decades in the public consciousness weren't enough.
-
Related video report: Williams Talked About Addiction In North Bay AA Meeting
_
Celebrities reflect on Robin Williams' death at 63
Celebrity colleagues and admirers of Robin Williams shared their reactions Monday to his death at age 63 in an apparent suicide:
"What I will always remember about Robin, perhaps even more than his comic genius, extraordinary talent and astounding intellect, was his huge heart - his tremendous kindness, generosity, and compassion as an acting partner, colleague and fellow traveler in a difficult world." - "The Birdcage" co-star Nathan Lane, in a statement.
- "I am completely and totally devastated. What more can be said?" - "Mork & Mindy" co-star Pam Dawber, in a statement.
- "Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him. He was a pal and I can't believe he's gone." - "Hook" director Steven Spielberg, in a statement.
- "I could not be more stunned by the loss of Robin Williams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul." - "Waiting for Godot" co-star Steve Martin, on Twitter.
- "Robin and I were great friends, suffering from the same little-known disease: depression. I never could have expected this ending to his life and to ours with him. God bless him and God bless us all for his LIFE! I cannot believe this. I am overwhelmed with grief. What a wonderful man/boy and what a tremendous talent in the most important art of any time - comedy! I loved him." - actor-comedian Chevy Chase, in a statement.
- "I saw him on stage the very first time he auditioned at the Improv and we have been friends ever since. It's a very sad day." - talk show host and comedian Jay Leno, in a statement.
- "We have lost one of our most inspired and gifted comic minds, as well as one of this generation's greatest actors. To watch Robin work, was a magical and special privilege. His performances were unlike anything any of us had ever seen, they came from some spiritual and otherworldly place. He truly was one of the few people who deserved the title of 'genius.'" - "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Bicentennial Man" director Chris Columbus, in a statement.
- "His kindness and generosity is what I think of. How kind he was to anyone who wanted to connect with him. And he could not help but be funny all the time. He would do something as long as it would keep you laughing. He made many, many film crews laugh out loud before the audiences ever saw it. He made such a big impact on the world." - Night at the Museum" co-star Ben Stiller, in a statement.
"The thing that struck me about him is he had a great heart. He was very compassionate. But he was also like a benchmark. And what he did - he did what he did the best. And he set a very high benchmark for people to follow. Not only did he excel in that field, but he crossed over into all sorts of other fields as well. He's gone too soon." - Mel Gibson, in an interview with The Associated Press at "The Expendables 3" premiere.
- "Robin was friend, boss, brother, inspiration. His generosity and intelligence knew no limits. Only his home planet could destroy him." - "Mrs. Doubtfire" co-star Harvey Fierstein, on Twitter.
- "I am absolutely heartbroken. Robin was a national treasure and a beautiful soul." - "The World According to Garp" co-star Glenn Close, in a statement.
- "I've never known a sweeter, brighter, more considerate person than Robin. Robin's commitment as an artist to lifting our mood and making us happy is compared to none. He loved us all and we loved him back." - "Old Dogs" co-star John Travolta, in a statement.
- "He always lit up when he was able to make people laugh, and he made them laugh his whole life long - tirelessly. He was one of a kind. There will not be another." - "Mrs. Doubtfire" co-star Sally Field, in a statement.
- "A big tenacious overflowing hyperkinetic eruption of compassion would be (the) best tribute to Williams." - "Lee Daniels' The Butler" co-star John Cusack, on Twitter.
- "Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien - but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit." - President Barack Obama, in a statement.