Na-new life for Williams
After heart surgery comes rehab – walking, then maybe some laps in the pool, slowly regaining strength and stamina.
For Robin Williams, who had heart surgery in March, rehab meant more than time on the treadmill. The famously manic comic also needed to regain his strength on stage, and maybe even to reassure himself that he was still funny.
Williams, 58, was in the middle of his “Self Destruction” tour when he had trouble breathing and was hospitalized. He had his aortic valve replaced – an operation that felt less routine because older brother Robert died after heart surgery in 2007.
By July, when Williams met with TV critics in Los Angeles to talk about his new HBO special – “Weapons of Self Destruction,” airing tonight at 9 – the surgery had become a series of punch lines:
•“I had the surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, and I woke up going, ‘Where am I?’ And they said, ‘Cleveland.’ And I kept going, ‘Why?’ ”
•“You go in, and they really tell you that you’re going to get a cow valve.” No problem: “The grazing is easy.”
Recent years have been especially turbulent for Williams. In addition to his surgery and his brother’s death, he entered treatment in 2006 for a relapse of alcohol abuse, and his marriage of almost 20 years broke up last year.
Then, the heart surgery, which “really opens you up, literally.”
The recuperation, which meant taking three months off, wasn’t all smooth sailing.
Eventually, Williams says, “You really do appreciate the simplest things like breath and friends,” and you decide, “Yeah, I’ve got to keep going, just take it a little slower.”
He’s been back on the road, updating and polishing the act, since summer. He’s happy still to be working “and doing stand-up, I’m very proud of that.”
Williams got his first national exposure in 1977 in an HBO “Young Comedians” special, then returned in 1978 with the groundbreaking “Off the Wall,” in which he bounced around the stage in baggy pants and suspenders.
If the Robin Williams of 2009 had a chance to meet the Robin Williams of 1978, what would he tell the kid with the suspenders and wild hair?
“Brace yourself,” he’d say. “It’s going to be a long run, and it’s going to be an interesting one.
“There’s nothing I regret,” Williams adds. “I’ve learned a lot over the years. Not everything worked, but at least it was interesting to try.”
The birthday bunch
Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck is 89. Actress JoBeth Williams is 61. Actor Tom Hulce is 56. Comedian Steven Wright is 54. Guitarist Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is 53. Actress Janine Turner is 47. Director Judd Apatow is 42.