Paul Feig Says Robin Williams ‘Sabotaged’ Him During Their Stand-Up Comedy Days
The ‘Bridesmaids’ director shared an early memory of the late actor during Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s ‘Dinner’s On Me’ podcast
Paul Feig recalls how he and Robin Williams were once rivals on the stand-up comedy circuit.
Speaking to Jesse Tyler Ferguson in an all-new episode of Sony Music Entertainment’s Dinner’s On Me podcast published on Tuesday, Oct. 8, the Bridesmaids director, 62, recalled a time before his fame when his career was almost “sabotaged.”
“I was in the era of when Jay Leno was out there and [Jerry] Seinfeld was out there and, you know, and I, and Robin Williams, I mean, yeah, I got sabotaged by Robin Williams a couple of times when I was finally got to be a performer at The Improv,” Feig said of his early days at the comedy club franchise that originated in New York City in 1963.
According to Feig, though he was getting his foot in the door, he still “wasn’t one of the main guys” during this time. “So you’d kinda have a later spot,” he added.
Next, Feig shared how the late actor reportedly blew his chances one evening.
“I remember like once, it’s my time to get up and there’s a full audience. I was like, so excited and they come up like, ‘Oh, you know Robin just wants to get up and do a quick set first.’ I’m like, ‘Well cool,’ ” Feig said.
“He did an hour and he finished it. Everybody left except for one woman who was waiting for her husband to come back from the bathroom,” he added.
Although things may not have gone as planned for Feig that evening, he did find success later.
During the conversation with Ferguson, 48, Feig recalled a life-changing moment when a project he’d been working on was green lit.
“It was huge, I mean it was life changing,” he said of NBC acquiring Freaks and Geeks, adding that he was in London when he got the good news.
