Hyperactive comic Robin Williams channeled hundreds of characters Friday and Saturday night as he skewered politicians before sold-out crowds at George Washington University’s family weekend.
Jabs at Sarah Palin brought the wildest laughter from the $100-per-ticket crowd of parents, students, and the occasional D.C. celebrity at the university’s Smith Center. “How did they find her?” Williams asked. “Political Project Runningmate?”
On the difference between Palin and Dick Cheney: “If she shoots you, you stay down.”
And on the difference between Palin and Hillary Clinton: “A rifle.”
On the economy: “I saw my first Henry Paulson 20-dollar bill today. Instead of ‘In God We Trust,’ it just says ‘Trust me.’ And ‘Spend before Tuesday.’”
Williams advised President Bush to go into NASCAR racing after leaving the White House (for its easy-to-follow instructions of “Turn left, left again, left again, …”) or stand-up comedy because “he has eight years of really stupid [expletive].”
Among celebrities in the crowd, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer sat near the front row in hopes of some comic relief from “The Situation Room.” “Laughter prolongs life, and I’m interested in prolonging life, so I came to laugh,” Blitzer said.
Williams’ closing sketch impersonated a human birth, pulling his shirt over his head in order to give birth to himself. Upon being born into the outside world, Baby Williams asked, “Is George Bush still president? … Nooo! I can’t do it!”
He promptly slid back in and ended the routine — at least the comic parts.
After a brief caveat to explain his next portion “isn’t necessarily funny,” he described his day walking along the Mall, calling D.C. “a city with a dream.”
“We can pull it off again,” he added. “We’ve gotta wake up — it’s been eight years of asleep.”
(Photos by Jeff Young)
