Russell Brand: Robin Williams’ divine madness will no longer disrupt the sadness of the world

Russell Brand: Robin Williams’ divine madness will no longer disrupt the sadness of the world

I’d been thinking about Robin Williams a bit recently. His manager Larry Bresner told me that when Robin was asked by a German journalist on a press junket why the Germans had a reputation for humourlessness that Williams replied, “Because you killed all the funny people.”

Robin Williams was exciting to me because he seemed to be sat upon a geyser of comedy. Like he didn’t manufacture it laboriously within but had only to open a valve and it would come bursting through in effervescent jets. He was plugged into the mains of comedy.

I was aware too that this burbling and manic man-child that I watched on the box on my Nan’s front room floor with a Mork action figure (I wish I still had that, he came in a plastic egg) struggled with mental illness and addiction. The chaotic clarity that lashed like an electric cable, that razzed and sparked with amoral, puckish wonder was in fact harvested madness. A refinement of an energy that could turn as easily to destruction as creativity.

He spoke candidly about his mental illness and addiction, how he felt often on a precipice of self-destruction, whether through substance misuse or some act of more certain finality. I thought that this articulate acknowledgement amounted to a kind of vaccine against the return of such diseased thinking, which has proven to be hopelessly naive.

When someone gets to 63 I imagined, hoped, I suppose, that maturity would grant an immunity to adolescent notions of suicide but today I read that suicide isn’t exclusively a young man’s game. Robin Williams at 63 still hadn’t come to terms with being Robin Williams.

Now I am incapable of looking back at my fleeting meeting with him with any kind of objectivity, I am bound to apply, with hindsight, some special significance to his fragility, meekness and humility. Hidden behind his beard and kindness and compliments was a kind of awkwardness, like he was in the wrong context or element, a fallen bird on a hard floor.

What a beautiful piece written by Russell Brand.

I was surprised at how intelligent Russell Brand is & he has a great way with words.

I will miss Robin Williams, another great legend gone too soon. Millions suffer with depression & it is always heartbreaking when it becomes to much & they end their life. I really hope his daughter Zelda can hang in there & won't commit suicide as well. My heart goes out to his family & friends.

A guy I went to high school with was on set with Robin Williams for 'Night at the Museum 3' & said it was a great experience to be able to work with Robin & to see him in action.

People can say what they want about Brand, but he is a very intelligent, very articulate man. Agree with his views or not, he is what he is. I like him. This was a very well written piece and described Robin William's very well and in a way a lot of us felt about him but could not word quite as well.

There are quite a few here that do not seem to think depression exists. I guess those who feel they have run out of options in a life they no longer find any kind of joy in just take this way out because it's more fun that way. /sarcasm

The sad loss of Robin Williams just goes to show that money can't buy everything. I hope he was at least able to snatch some small pieces of happiness for himself here and there while he was with us. He gave so many so much joy, I really just hope he got to feel that in brighter times.

He's a great loss and there will never be another like him.

I don't know much about Russell Brand except what I've overheard on "news" shows when I'm not really listening, but that was one incredible statement - such an eloquent description of such a funny sadman - by someone who seems to have a genuine understanding of how the lack of appreciation for humor in this world contributes to ugliness.

Just wanted to add Russel's accompanying video on this for those who like a human element.

The cause of robin Williams death was drug / alcohol addiction / depression...... Not a mystery, only am idiot like Brand would over read into it.... Its very sad but its not all that complicated.

originally posted by: funkadeliaaaa
The cause of robin Williams death was drug / alcohol addiction / depression...... Not a mystery, only am idiot like Brand would over read into it.... Its very sad but its not all that complicated.

Depression can lead to addiction and addiction can lead to depression. It is far more complicated than you think.
I have lost good friends who committed suicide that suffered depression and some were addicted but having known them it was depression that led them to the drug addiction in the first place.

Due to multiple friends committing suicide I started to want to help the local community but to be honest it was emotionally hard to take - to the point I was getting depressed myself. My last encounter was when I was asked to talk to the families of a couple that committed suicide together which both where suffering from depression and both on Prozac-no drug addictions.

In my view, depression is a medical term for an older term called melancholy which in its time had some merit. It was viewed that sadness and depression was a positive aspect and not a negative. In our world depression is medical and therefore requires a cure when I believe the cure is the people that surround you.

I will give you some examples of my friends suicide.

My friend xxxxx fell in love, got married and had two beautiful kids. His wife a couple of years later left him for another. He became depressed and started drinking and taking drugs. The last time I spoke with him he was going through two bottles of scotch a day. He committed suicide with a friend that was equally depressed.

My very good friend xxxxx, he always wanted to have a normal life but his family was messed up, he tried so hard and maybe too hard. He finally met someone and he was so happy. It didn't work out... resorted to alchohol and drugs and gassed himself in his car.

My very good friend xxxxx suffered from diabetes and was one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He would do anything to help you. Nice guys don't always attract and he was lonely. He often talked to me about committing suicide and how he hated life..no drugs and no alcohol issues. He decided one night not to inject insulin and died in his sleep.

I met this guy who grew up as an orphan and had some mental issues, he believed he was experimented on and all sorts of conspiracies. The guy was nuts but was still a nice guy. However, he had some amazing lucid moments that would surprise me. He was suffering from depression- no drugs or alcohol. I helped him out just by being a friend, gave him my old guitar and taught him the basics. My other friends were amazed by the changes in his personality. I later had to relocate for work. A month later I found out he was upset that I was not coming back, smashed the guitar and the next day committed suicide.

So, will you tell me again that its just about an addiction and Brand is an Idiot because from my view you are very ignorant and without experience making insensitive blanket statements.

a reply to: stanislas

Depression may lead to addiction but not all depressed people are inclined to take intoxicants... Depression is just as likely to cause obesity and vice versa imo.

Addiction damages the nervous system in ways depression can't that's what I was getting at..
People can get so messed up by addiction that they can no longer tolerate being alive in their messed up bodies, so they kill themselves as they feel they've damaged themselves so much life is no longer worth living... We don't know at the moment (I think) the extent and severity of robin Williams addiction but I can say this, the older you get the more irreversible the damage becomes.. Poor Robin had clearly gone too far... I refuse to believe he would have killed himself had it not been for the booze, call it intuition, that's just my gut feels.

a reply to: Qumulys

Thank you for including that. It's a great video

originally posted by: funkadeliaaaa
The cause of robin Williams death was drug / alcohol addiction / depression...... Not a mystery, only am idiot like Brand would over read into it.... Its very sad but its not all that complicated.

I disagree with that statement. ((Doesn't mean you are wrong, just I disagree))

1. Brand isn't an idiot. I used to think he was because of his comedy & crazy characters on movies but then I saw a video of him interview some guys from Westboro. (or whatever that church name is) It blew my mind, he was very intellectual & very tactful. I've seen a couple other videos of him where he is the same. It reminds me of Marlyn Manson, my Mom used to say he was an idiot so I believed her because I was too young to know better. In high school we watched 'Bowling for Columbine' & was surprised at how intelligent Marlyn Manson is.

2. Yes Robin Williams had suffered with depression pretty much all his life & had his addictions for an extended period of time. It's not as black and white of "if you have depression you become an addict so that you are dulling the pain"

I've suffered with period of depression in my life because of crazy things going on & too much crazy things happening at once. I, however, have never resorted to any form of substance abuse. My Mom is a recovering alcoholic & growing up with her being like that, even despite her getting an incurable disease, I knew I never wanted to be like her. I didn't want to ever put my kids through that. Instead I found other ways to deal with my emotions, in a creative way. (Writing stories & poems)

Not all addicts start off because they were depressed. Some suffer depression because of the terrible things they do because they are so addicted. My Mom started drinking, technically, when she was 8yrs old because she couldn't sleep. She would have a bit of her Dad's whiskey to help her sleep at night. I think she really got into drinking at 16 (maybe younger) and hit it hard. She toned it down once she had kids but it started to creep up after my parents split up. Then after she got sick it went back up & got real nasty when she started dating her current boyfriend. He always supplied her with booze & lots of it.
She has had periods of depression here and there in her life but that wasn't what started her drinking, it would just make her drink more when it happened.