I am always affected when a beloved piece of my childhood is suddenly ripped from the public landscape. I never knew Robin Williams personally, but I (along with millions of others who grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s) feel like he was trying to personally make me laugh.

I was floored when I first saw him on Happy Days. I never missed an episode of Mork and Mindy. I could have cared less about the other characters; I just wanted to see Robin Williams. I watched his first ever comedy special and rushed out to buy his first comedy album. I never missed any of his HBO specials and I even suffered through Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal on Comic Relief just to see Robin.

When I first found out Monday what had happened, I was shocked but not moved. Another celebrity was gone and it didn’t affect me. But Tuesday morning, I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it. One of the funniest men to ever live died so tragically. I don’t know why, but I cried. That is so stupid. I never knew the man and I owed him nothing. But then I realized just how important he was to my childhood and it started to make sense.

There is a large contingency of people who think it is silly for the general public to emotionally lament the loss of a celebrity. I always felt that those people must live shallow lives to not let a talented entertainer touch their hearts. I don’t lament the death of every celebrity. Gilligan was a huge part of my childhood to and I just found out a month ago that he passed away a while ago. It didn’t affect me one bit. But Robin Williams is a different story.

Robin Williams had a conscience. He was born into an affluent family, yet he spent much of his free time raising money and performing for the homeless whenever he could. He was also a tireless performer for our troops overseas. He donated millions to charities and did public appearances to raise awareness to countless others. He was an Oscar-winning actor and a highly regarded stand-up comedian. He had and did it all. But all of it was not enough.

Robin Williams is one of those celebrities I got so used to seeing on television that whenever I saw him, it felt like I was watching an old friend. He was the last great improv comic and his idol was Jonathan Winters. Truth be told, as much as Robin revered Winters, Robin Williams took improvisational stand-up comedy to places Jonathan Winters never could. It can honestly be said that there will never be another one like Robin Williams and that is a good thing.

Robin Williams was corny, he was cheesy, and he was often the biggest cliché in the stand-up circuit. But he pulled it off in such a way that you had to laugh. He was one of those comedians that I would see people laugh at heartily and then watch those same people announce seconds later “that joke was stupid.” It was stupid, but you laughed. That is all Robin Williams wanted.

I am a person who has incredibly strong emotional ties to my past. When something occurs that upsets those ties, it hits me very hard. This is the first time that the impact was not immediate. I guess I just could not believe that Mork would commit suicide because he just couldn’t be here anymore. I really wish Orson would have talked him out of it.

In the end, our greatest comedians give us so much of themselves that we get selfish about their existence. We want them to keep making movies and keep doing stand-up because they make us laugh so much. But there comes a time when comedians have to think of themselves, and for the great ones, that sometimes has tragic results.

The country should be mourning this week, because it has experienced a tragic loss. It has lost a man who had given everything he had to make a difference in everyone’s lives. Robin Williams will be remembered as a generous and funny man. He was that class clown that we all wanted to see in action every chance we got. He was the best friend that made us laugh when laughing was the last thing we wanted to do. But for people like Robin Williams, it is hard to find someone to make them laugh.

R.I.P. Robin Williams. You will definitely be missed.

Nick Oliver is a Niagara County resident. His column appears every Wednesday.

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