Robin Williams – Spinning Platters

Film Review: Boulevard

Williams makes unimaginative picture worth seeing

Leo (Roberto Aguire) accepts a ride from Nolan (Robin Williams).

Boulevard is a tough movie to review, and an even tougher movie to watch, and not because it’s exceptionally good or exceptionally bad; it’s neither of those, but is a decent, if somewhat unoriginal, follow up by director Dito Montiel to his much lauded 2006 picture A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints. What makes the film hard to look at objectively is that it features Robin Williams in his last dramatic role, and it’s very difficult to see Williams’s performance here and not think about what he was going through when this film was made, only a year or so before his tragic suicide.

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Spinning Platters Interview: Andrew Holmgren of Sylvan Productions

Andrew Holmgren is a local comic that hosts a monthly show at Dirty Trix Saloon called Get Yucked Up. He is also a member local comedy crew Sylvan Productions, who put on high quality comedy shows all throughout the bay area. He will be doing Get Yucked Up as part of SF Sketchfest at Cincecave at Lost Weekend Video on Friday, January 25th and as part of the Comedy Happy Hour at Cafe Royale on Monday, January 28th. On New Year’s Day, we got together at a coffee shop in downtown SF to talk about his career and comedy culture in San Francisco in general.

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Sketchfest Review: Viva Variety! at Eureka Theater, 1/29/11

At The Eureka Theater last Saturday night, there was a definite air of nostalgia. I often consider Viva Variety! to be the forgotten middle child. It wasn’t nearly as popular as it’s predecessor, The State, nor did it have the longevity of Reno 911. It was a fun program, the fictitious variety show from Europe featuring Thomas Lennon as Mr Meredith Laupin, Kerri Kenney (Silver) as The Former Mrs. Agatha Laupin, and Michael Ian Black as Johnny Blue Jeans, their announcer. But, it never comes up. When you search for the program on YouTube, you will find all of about 4 clips. Where you can find almost anything ever on the internet, the 13 episodes of this show are merely a fading memory.

I don’t think anybody ever expected this reunion. It may be because of the success Sketchfest had with The State in 2009 and Reno 911 in 2010, but the masses snatched up tickets to this show faster than any other gig this year, including Murphy Brown and Saturday Night Live reunions that were far more popular in it’s day, and have lasted in syndication.

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SF Sketchfest Review: The Greg Proops Chat Show with Special Guest Robin Williams at Yoshi’s, 1/20/10

I had heard rumors of the renowned aging sasquatch riding around the damp streets of San Francisco in unforgiving bike shorts, but a confirmed sighting still eluded me… until…

On a dark stormy night, in a tiny Fillmore club, Robin Williams bedazzled a lucky audience with a one-on-one chat with Greg Proops. Well, it wasn’t much of a chat, more like a never-ending barrage of witty banter between the two comics that had no real direction or ending for that matter. Fueled exclusively by H2O, and lots of it, we enjoyed close to two hours of fast-paced ADHD ramblings from Mr. Williams that made the rest of the world seem distant. Good entertainment is rated by how easily you can escape from your own surroundings, and with Robin onstage, I was whisked away to a land of sodomy, various accents, and career revaluations. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: The Greg Proops Chat Show with Special Guest Robin Williams at Yoshi’s, 1/20/10”