In the spirit of "Better late than never," I just realized that I never shared this great message I received from Frank Buxton upon the passing of Robin Williams. Frank worked with Robin on Mork & Mindy and knows as much about comedy as anyone I've ever met…
As always, thanks for your unique perspective on things, in this case Robin Williams.
One thing that hasn't been talked about much is that Robin pretty much brought improv into the main stream, a contribution that has led to improv groups, improv clubs and improv training that thrive today around the world. There was precedent for creating-on-the-fly, of course; Sid Caesar and his cohorts come to mind. In fact, I used to watch Caesar's rehearsals from the darkness of the balcony in New York and the performers really were extraordinarily inventive.
But prior to Mork and Mindy, sitcoms were pretty much word-for-word as written. There was always room for improvement as we filmed but very little of it was contributed by the performers. That's why there were (and are) writers. The legend that the writers on Mork and Mindy once handed in a script with blank pages titled "Robin does his thing" is really apocryphal, although it may have been done as an inside joke. When directing Robin and Jonathan I was always prepared to let them improvise but made sure that we eventually got back on script so that we'd have something to show on TV. I am grateful for my experiences with Robin (and Jonathan) and indebted to them for making it possible for us to be creative as improvisers.
If anything comes of the tragedy of Robin's death I hope that it's a heightened awareness of mental health issues. Robin's demons were evident, even back in the early days, and I am not only saddened by his loss but also by the fact that nothing seemed to help him when he was in the depths. There's got to be more than just medication and therapy but what that is I don't know. I hope someone finds out.
I don't recall if Frank said this to me but I was always under the impression that the bulk of Mr. Williams' improvisations on that series were of great amusement to the studio audience but went unheard by the home audience after the show was edited.
On a three-camera film show like that, not only do the actors rehearse the lines they'll speak but they rehearse where they'll be standing when they say them, and the camerapeople rehearse pointing the cameras at them when they're in their proper places. There's a limit to how much the performers can stray and still have the boom mikes hear them and the cameras frame the shot correctly. There's also a limit to how much the star can ad-lib and reasonably expect the other actors to ad-lib along with him and get to the story points that need to be said.
Most directors would probably say that improvisation can be a boon during rehearsals but a problem during the final filming. A director's number one responsibility on the set — the one most likely to get him fired if he fails at it — is to get all the necessary shots. He's in trouble if they get into editing and realize they don't have a vital line or close-up. Frank and another friend of mine, Howard Storm, each directed a lot of Mork & Mindy episodes. I'll bet they both made sure on the set that they got at least one good take of every line in the script.