Robin Williams once threatened to buy a comedy club just to impress David Bowie
This Feb. 28, 2004 file photo shows Oscar host Billy Crystal, center, and presenter Robin Williams, right, joking around after a writers' meeting for the 76th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Williams once stormed a London comedy club and threatened to buy it to impress David Bowie. (AP Photo/AP)
The story, resurfaced by "The Comic Strip Presents" creator Peter Richardson in an interview with The Guardian this week, dates back to the early 1980s, when London's alternative comedy scene was taking shape at The Comic Strip, a legendary venue in Soho.
Williams arrived unannounced one night with Bowie and insisted on performing a full hour of stand-up, Richardson recalled.
Comedian Alexei Sayle, who was helping run the club at the time, offered the "Mrs. Doubtfire" star a 15-minute slot. Williams wasn't satisfied.
"I told (Bowie) I'd do an hour," he said.
When Sayle declined, Williams reportedly responded, "I'll buy the club!"
"We don't own it," Sayle replied. "It belongs to a bouffant-haired pornographer."
In this June 5, 2007 file photo, singer David Bowie accepts the lifetime achievement award at the 11th Annual Webby Awards in New York. Robin Williams once stormed a London comedy club and threatened to buy it to impress Bowie. (Stephen Chernin/AP)
While Williams never got the chance to impress his rock hero, his star continued to rise.
He became one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, earning an Oscar for "Good Will Hunting," along with two Emmys, six Golden Globes and five Grammys.
Williams died by suicide in August 2014 at age 63, after a misdiagnosis of Parkinson's disease. An autopsy later revealed he had been suffering from Lewy body dementia, a rare and devastating neurological disorder.
This week, on what would have been Williams's 74th birthday, his eldest son, Zak Williams, shared a tribute to his father on Instagram.
"Every year, this season arrives with gravity," wrote Zak, 42, alongside a photo of his father. "In just sixty days, we pass through Father's Day, his birthday, and the anniversary of his death. It's a tender and complicated stretch of time. One that asks a lot of the heart."
He continued, "For me, grief isn't linear. It loops and echoes. It softens, then crescendos. But alongside it lives a legacy, the kind built not from fame or recognition, but from generosity and relentless kindness.
"My father lived to make people feel seen. He gave permission to feel deeply and to laugh through the pain. In his absence, that mission continues.
Zak Williams, son of Robin Williams, gives a speech before awarding Melissa McCarthy the Robin Williams Legacy of Laughter award in San Francisco on October 19, 2022. (Justin Katigbak/Speical to The Chronicle)
"So today, I hold close the idea that the best way to honor those we love is to live the values they stood for. To lead with service and compassion. To lift others when they're down. And to find paths of light, even in the dark corners," Zak wrote.
"To anyone carrying loss right now: you're not alone. You are part of a passage of love and connection that never really ends. Happy birthday, Dad. Love you forever."
Williams had three children: Zak, from his first marriage to Valerie Velardi, and daughter Zelda and son Cody from his second marriage to Marsha Garces Williams.
He was married to his third wife, Susan Schneider, at the time of his death.
Each year, Zak publicly honors his father's memory.
"There's not a week that goes by without someone sharing with me how you helped them through a dark time or a rough patch," he wrote last year. "I'm so grateful to be your son."
