Robin Williams 1951-2014

(0:36-end mark from the theme from the final season of American Gladiators original run play the camera moves back to see James on top of the slab with the words “The Last Of The Americans” on it then the camera zooms to the backside of the slab with the word editorial on it then a Rubber Stamp hits over all of it and the words Special Edition are placed over everything then cuts to James)

I'm James Faraci, The Last Of The Americans and the views I'm about to express...well, it's safe to say everyone has the same thought on this subject right now. Carlos Mencia said it best when he said "If You're not laughing, you're not living" and a few days ago the world lost a bit of laughter when Robin Williams tragically passed away and while details are vague right now, let me say that my condolences go to his family and to those who like myself were inspired by him and those who had the honor of working with him. I really did like a good portion of his work, he showed his versatility in both dramatic and comedic films. Believe it or not my first exposure to Robin Williams was the movie "Popeye" which aired in a classroom I was in. I then got to see how he was able to do great impressions as both Batty Koda in Ferngully: The Last Rainforest & as of course Genie in Disney's Aladdin. I eventually saw some episodes of the series "Mork & Mindy" in the late 1990's and in those episodes I did see the spark of genius and insanity that he held onto throughout his life and helped him in his career.  He was a wellspring of talent that seemed endless and it showed through in his work. In fact one of my favorite moments in cinema came from a movie he was in called Man Of The Year. His character was a "Daily Show" like show host who decided to run independently against the usual two party characters and his character was in a debate and he just went for the throat about the backdoor business that is prevalent in the political arena to this moment. But I personally never disliked any of the work he did. There may be some movies that aren't good per se but I could see that Robin Williams was able to make things he did work and in my opinion he was one of the best Character Actors I had the pleasure of seeing that he had the ability to blur the lines between the humor, the pathos and the drama of being a certain character Robin Williams had it and when he fired on all cylinders you could tell he was putting his all into it. One moment that comes to mind was his performance in the 200th episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as the character "Merritt Rook" in "Authority" I laughed when he was funny, he made people think when he went into the intelligent monologues that the character had and he scared me when he went to a dark place as that character. But despite how awesome everyone thought he was, he had his demons and whether or not I would say that led to his demise, I can't and won't say. Because even though he may not be with us. I'm going to remember one thing that Robin did, he made the world laugh a little bit more than anyone else could say they did. I'm James Faraci The Last Of The Americans. Nanu Nanu.