Robin Williams, Still Getting High : Rolling Stone

I think Chris Rock said it's like getting in the ring again," Robin Williams says of stand-up comedy. "It's a fix, and when you're playing 3,000-seat theaters, it's a big hit. Occasionally, we'll do 8,000, and it's almost too much. It's a bit like an OD: 'Whoooa, that's a lot of energy.'"

After a six-year hiatus, the Oscar-winning comic actor is back performing live, waving those hairy forearms with his trademark manic intensity. A lot has happened since he last toured, including a high-profile divorce and a drinking relapse, both of which Williams discusses freely onstage. "Richard Pryor could talk about setting himself on fire and make it funny," Williams says. "I'm not as personal, but when I talk about it, people laugh even more, because others have experienced these things too." He pauses. "This old wino saw me walking in San Francisco and said, 'Robin, I heard you stopped drinking.' I went, 'Yeah,' and he goes, 'You should come back — you'll never regret it.'"

A Williams show is a famously anaerobic flurry, pogo-ing from Sarah Palin to CrackBerries to Wall Street turmoil, and the 57-year-old admits to a few creaks: "Sometimes I'll be out of breath, going, 'Oh, I'm old — I better stop for a moment.' " But even after more than 50 films, no work makes him happier. "Musicians and comics talk about finding that new thing, that moment, that endorphin rush," he says. "It's a combination of serenity and exhilaration."

[From Issue 1070 — January 22, 2009]

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