Another goodbye

A teacher of mine said she thought that comedians made great dramatic actors.  I can't remember the context, but I agree with her.  I think it was the same conversation where the statement "Actors are athletes of the effing heart," (daily baring their souls, the full range of humanity, so the rest of us don't have to) came up, and either way, those go together.

Comedy, especially stand-up, is an incredibly vulnerable experience.  You are exposing you, just you, to a bunch of strangers who want you to "be funny" and make them laugh.  And if you can't, you get ripped apart.  And you get up and try again, and "toughen" up as they say, grow a thicker skin, develop a persona, a schtick, so that the rejection gets removed slightly away from your true self.

So we get used to seeing the schtick, the over-the-top, the mask.  And then when they do a dramatic role, the good ones let that drop, and we see this raw, vulnerable human being before us, and it's beautiful, and a privilege to see it.  It's rare that we see that in anyone, we do whatever we can to hide the vulnerability.  Vulnerability is viewed as a weakness, and the weak get picked off and eaten.

When she said it, I originally thought of Jim Carey in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," because I was so awed by the subtlety of that performance; or Bill Murray in "Lost in Translation" or even "Rushmore."  For me, it was such a contrast from the over-the-top, the snide, the personas that they had.

And then there's Robin Williams, who was funny, and charming, and had wonderful comedic timing, doing "Good Morning Vietnam," which I thought, "wait, Robin Williams is doing that?"  And it was good.  And then "Dead Poet Society," and "Good Will Hunting." And it was great.  Powerful stuff.  Some of my favorite movies, especially when I was younger and lost.

Thanks for the time, the laughs, the vulnerability, the hope, the talent, the deep soul, and the human being you shared with us.

RIP.