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Humor's Magic
RD: You were involved with Comic Relief. Are there any other causes that are close to your heart?Williams: There's Chris [Reeve]'s paralysis foundation, and there's Lance [Armstrong]'s foundation connected with cancer survivorship.
RD: I understand you've cycled with Armstrong. What was that like?
Williams: It's like lap-dancing with Angelina Jolie. The first five minutes are amazing, and then she takes off. It's like, "Bye-bye. Bye-bye."
RD: You've done several USO shows. Did you go to Iraq?
Williams: I was in Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Bahrain. The first year I went pretty much by myself. Then I went with General [Richard] Myers, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The shows and audiences were amazing. You'll never get a better group of people.
RD: Was it dangerous?
Williams: Yeah, we were doing open-air shows in a place where we could get mortared. I did a show and said, "You're all wearing flak vests. I didn't get that memo." And leaving is kind of scary. They do combat takeoffs. It's like a really intense roller coaster -- straight up, at night, no lights. Everybody in the cockpit's wearing night-vision goggles, and you're in the back in the dark. Then they level off at 15,000 [feet] because that's outside the range of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
RD: Then you try to find your stomach.
Williams: Yeah, it's like, "Oh, there's my corn." "Excuse me, sir, would you hand me my sphincter?"
RD: You did some stand-up specials after 9/11.
Williams: I did an event in Washington, and it was like we lifted a sea. If you remember immediately after [9/11], there was a stunned shock -- kind of this feeling of "What do we do now?" I started performing, and there was a catharsis in the laughing. People started to be able to laugh again. Laughter can be many things -- sometimes a medicine, sometimes a weapon, depending on who's administering it.
RD: Do you ever use humor as a weapon?
Williams: Oh, big time. It's a great defense, and an offense too. Usually the recipient isn't too happy about it, but the people around are laughing.
RD: But in this case the laughter really did have a healing power?
Williams: Healing isn't the word. Therapeutic maybe, or cathartic. After being in extreme situations, it kind of brings you back to life.
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