Morgan Fairchild recalls advising a young Robin Williams to ‘slow down’ his rapid fire delivery for first stand-up special
Before she became a household name thanks to TV soaps Flamingo Road and Falcon’s Crest, Morgan Fairchild had a recurring role on sitcom Mork & Mindy.
And the veteran actress has revealed that she developed a friendship with Mork & Mindy star Robin Williams who at the time was establishing himself as a sought after stand-up comic and actor.
During an interview on Chanel In The City With Chanel Omari, Fairchild, 71, spoke about how she’d helped Williams finesse his stand-up routine for his first solo TV special in 1978.
Memories: Morgan Fairchild, 71, has recalled how she helped a young Robin Williams with his stand-up routine during taping of the star’s first TV comedy special in 1978
Robin Williams: Off The Wall was taped over two nights at the Roxy on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard.
Fairchild recalled how the comedian invited her to come to the show and the first night ended up being a bit of a disaster.
‘He wasn’t getting any laughs…. It wasn’t working,’ she recounted.
‘I went backstage between the two shows and he was just frantic. [He said] ‘It’s not working. They don’t like me.’ I said, ‘no, Robin, they love you.”
Pals: Fairchild had become friends with Williams after being cast in a recurring role in the comedian’s TV sitcom Mork & Mindy (pictured in December 1978)
Advice: Williams struggled to get laughs during the first taping at the Roxy in Hollywood. Fairchild says she told him his rapid fire delivery was the problem and that he was going ‘too fast’ for the audience
Soap star: Fairchild, pictured in a Falcon Crest promo in 1985, said she advised Williams to slow down his delivery and recalled: ‘The second show went much better. I’m sure they used a lot more of that show for the special’
Fairchild then said she explained that his quick fire delivery was a problem for the audience.
‘You are speeding so fast because you are so fast, you’re not taking them with you,’ she says she told him.
‘You’re going too fast and you’re skipping over your punchline…. You’re just speeding through everything and you know, you’re getting it, but they’re not with you yet. You got to let them catch up to you.’
She added: ‘So the second show went much better. I’m sure they used a lot more of that show for the special.’
Williams went on to become one of the world’s most beloved stand-up comics as well as an Oscar-winning actor with a string of blockbuster movies to his name.
Williams passed away on August 11, 2014, at the age of 63.
Legend: Williams, pictured in 2007, went on to become one of the world’s most beloved stand-up comics as well as an Oscar-winning actor with a string of blockbuster movies to his name. He passed away on August 11, 2014, at the age of 63