The life, work and good deeds of Robin Williams will be celebrated in a tribute at the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards. Producer of the show Don Mischer confirmed this to TV Guide.
"With the tragic loss of Robin, we're trying to deal with that and figure out what to do in the right, appropriate and meaningful way. It's about what can we do to properly remember Robin and create perhaps an emotional moment about Robin, knowing all that he did for all of us who love entertainment and love comedy," Mischer said.
Williams is close to Mischer's heart as the two have worked together several times. "We have done at least 30 shows with Robin through the years, going back into the 1980s," Mischer recalls. "We [Mischer and the production team] all know what Robin meant to the television community and to everyone, and the unique take on comedy that he brought to all of us. It's about what can we do to properly remember Robin and create perhaps an emotional moment about him."
Setting up a tribute for the late comedian won't be hard to pull off. The team behind these awards shows know very well how to make last minute changes with untimely deaths. For instance, Whitney Houston was given a tribute at the 2012 Grammy Awards one day after she passed away.
Mischer continued to share how working with Williams' showed the actor's unpredictability, which was always a source of good surprise to the directors of the live shows.
"Robin was constantly surprising us. Robin would come out on stage and go someplace you'd never dreamed he would go. He always had you off-guard. Directors would get nervous about what he was going to do. And he brought so much spontaneity. It was always refreshing."
Mischer's admiration for Williams' didn't end with the comedic skills of the actor, he also admired how genuinely good Williams is as a person. "He was always ready to devote time to trying to help people. That was a part of who this guy was," he said, referring to the tribute to Christopher Reeve back in 1998.
"He loved it. He was born to perform. It was the essence of what made him happy and gave him a sense of self-esteem and satisfaction. There's nobody else like that that I've ever worked with," Mischer said, fondly recalling being with Williams on a Toronto trip where the comedian had to do two shows simultaneously.
