Review of Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction (2009) by Alexander Z — 27 Apr 2011

I've always admired Williams as an actor, and Live On Broadway amused me sufficiently (unlike his terrible 80s material), but boy is he bad here. Not only is it all recycled garbage jokes that he tries to sell with his mannerisms and energy, but what's really unforgivable is how dated his humor has become.

Even when speaking about current events his humor is simple, unintelligent, and mostly banal. Williams belongs to an aging generation of comedians that hasn't managed to stay relevant. His humor will please a general audience, and he peppers in swears and relatable bullshit, but anyone who's seen the comedy landscape change since 2000 won't be fooled.

Comedy may be more vulgar, but it's also more intelligent. Shtick is just not funny anymore unless it's done supremely well, and Williams is out of material. He literally uses the same topics that I have seen dozens of comics do better.

Whether it's on the absurdity of hurricane names or the fact that Barak Obama's middle name is Hussein, no topic he touches on hasn't been already analyzed to death by a hundred other people.

It's really quite sad. It's not that Robin is a poor comedian. He is simply pandering. He's become comfortable in his tedium. He sticks to easy joke structures and surefire crowd-pleasing topics, going for the most obvious punchline.

Dane Cook learned to stop trying to sell his crappy material with energetic performances and actually wrote funny material for his most recent special. Williams hasn't.