When comedians take the place of politicians, it’s a wild ride, but nothing gets done. Barry Levinson tried to show it in his new movie Man of the Year. Robin Williams demonstrated it last Friday in Gaston. On Friday, Georgetown University was honored as the first stop along Chris Matthews’ Hardball College Tour. The College Tour will appear once a week, featuring less yelling, fewer politicians and more entertainment than the MSNBC program.
Georgetown’s show was taped on Friday and aired on Wednesday, Oct. 11 with guests Robin Williams and Barry Levinson, respectively the star and director of the new film Man of the Year. While the film has political implications, Matthews’ regular guests usually boast more legitimate Capitol Hill credentials. These Hollywood stars, however, attracted an active audience ready to be entertained.
As soon as Chris Matthews stepped on stage, the Georgetown audience, hopped up on free t-shirts and the volume of their own voices, began shouting “CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS!”
Matthews listed Barry Levinson’s impressive filmography—which includes Good Morning Vietnam and Wag the Dog—and introduced Robin Williams simply as “the best thing ever.” Williams took his cue to march up Gaston Hall’s center aisle, conducting the pep band with grand gestures.
As with most Robin Williams interviews, impressions, digressions and jokes abounded, eclipsing any scraps of serious content Matthews tried to inject into the discourse. Williams dominated 90 percent of the on-stage dialogue; many of his “answers” didn’t really connect to the questions they followed.
But Williams’s need to entertain and give outlet to his comedic mind didn’t stop even when the cameras stopped rolling. During commercial breaks and down time, Williams riffed on themes from Gaston Hall to Botox and even provided an accurate depiction of a keg-side frat-boy.
Audiences feed off of energy like that. Williams’ aggressive intelligence at work inspired the audience to be louder, funnier and less grounded. One group invited Williams to their party that night, and a lonely, “Hey, Robin, how long’s it been?” sparked the recital of our unavoidably long fight song. The Georgetown pep band closed out the show from Gaston Hall with an energetic march up on stage.
The Georgetown episode of Hardball fell short of the politically charged dialogue Matthews regularly cultivates on his show. The host originally promised 15 to 20 questions from audience members, but only managed four on camera, resorting instead to posing his own questions. Answers to even these questions often veered off course, rarely producing politically satisfying content. Georgetown’s ears seemed to be pricked for the next joke, not for any substantial comments.
Only once, when Barry Levinson proposed to “take the money out of the [electoral] process,” did a serious comment garner genuine applause.
Most of the students left the taping with star-struck smiles on their faces. It was an amazing spectacle to see Robin Williams’s mind at work, his agile thought processes bouncing off the very walls of Gaston. I tried desperately to collect the two hours into one coherent whole until the inevitable question arose: “What exactly was discussed? What did they say? Anything?”
thinking fondly of this event today. was lucky to be there then; am grateful to have been there now.