When a used car salesman annihilated Robin Williams at improv comedy: “That was the lesson”
Plenty of actors have said that comedy will always be much harder to master than drama, and there’s arguably nobody in Hollywood history who conquered both as well as Robin Williams.
Whether he was performing stand-up, starring in sitcoms, appearing on talk shows, or headlining studio movies, he was a comedic force of nature. The hardest thing about dealing with Williams on set was trying to rein him in, with his inimitable stream-of-consciousness riffing causing nightmares in the editing suite when his improvisational skills guaranteed that no two takes were ever the same.
On the dramatic side, he won an Academy Award, earned a further three nominations, and delivered further standout and straight-laced turns in films like Insomnia and One Hour Photo. Every big-name comedy star tries their hand at a serious picture eventually, but it’s hard to think of anyone who weaved so effortlessly between the two genres as he did.
Admittedly, Williams faced repeated accusations that he was a joke thief who’d try and pay off the comics he stole from, but that didn’t apply to his improv skills. Going on long-winded routines and monologues with nothing prepared beforehand is the hardest facet of stand-up, and as far as most of his peers were concerned, he was the cream of the crop.
However, he met his match in the unlikeliest of opponents when he was pitted against a used car salesman. Not a used car salesman who’d become an actor or a used car salesman who dabbled in comedy in their spare time, but a full-time used car salesman who worked at a Ford dealership.
What series of events led to someone who spends their days shilling second-hand automobiles sparring with, and winning against, one of the modern era’s sharpest comedic minds? Marlon Brando’s ludicrous acting school, with the iconic star convincing the salesman to attend a workshop and then tasking him to try and convince Williams to buy one in a 30-minute session.
“We didn’t know he was a real car salesman,” attendee Edward James Olmos informed The Hollywood Reporter. “We didn’t know who he was or where he was from. We just thought it was going to be another improv. But Brando brought this guy onstage, and he tells him to try to sell a car to Robin Williams. And then he tells Robin, ‘But you don’t want to buy the car’. And all of a sudden, this car salesman kicks in, and he’s incredible.”
“He was so fast; he wouldn’t let Robin get a word in,” the Battlestar Galactica headliner continued. “But that was the point of the exercise. Even Robin Williams, who was an expert at improv, who was so quick he could annihilate you, had to listen and react when dealing with the truth. Even Robin Williams gets slapped in the face by reality. That was the lesson Marlon was teaching.”
In 99.99% of cases, a used car salesman didn’t stand a chance against Williams in a comedy face-off. Somehow, Brando found the other 0.01%, and he handed the A-lister his arse on a silver platter.
