When I was in high school, I took debate class and performed almost exclusively in impromptu and humorous and dramatic interpretation, and I was terrible at it, but the field trips were awesome. At one point, I really wanted to get better at it, so I picked some new material and decided to go with something that really charged me emotionally and got my creative juices flowing. I was really fascinated by Vietnam War movies at the time, and one of my favorites was obviously Good Morning, Vietnam, because there were so many lines that Williams delivered as Adrian Cronauer that it was impossible to pick a favorite just in that movie. I decided to find a passage from that movie that I could memorize and then deliver, and I thought maybe learning from one of the best would help me get better at competing and maybe even acting.
The problem with picking that movie, though, was that it was impossible to memorize his lines, because they were so complex and wonderful, and even if I could nail just one paragraph of dialogue, there was no way I’d do that man justice. I realized this quickly and gave up on the idea, instead settling for the Sexual Chocolate scene from Coming to America (in retrospect, a hilariously stupid decision by a white kid), but the one line I always remembered and loved from Good Morning, Vietnam was: “You are in more dire need of a blowjob than any white man in history.”
Robin Williams had a lot of great lines in his incredible acting and standup career, and that’s clearly on display on Twitter right now, as his fans are offering an incredible tribute to his legacy while most people are still shocked over the news of his death. Obviously, Williams made a lot of friends and influenced and touched the lives of so many over the years, so the outpouring of sorrow and compassion was immediate and incredible. As we continue to await more news and better understanding of this terrible event, here are the words of many of Williams’s friends on his passing, including President Barack Obama.