YouSaid · the spoken record

Dave Itzkoff

lines on the record: 63
first: 2018-05-19
most recent: 2018-05-19
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“But he seemed to be out there in the world and still working. And so sudden loss and the lack of understanding or not knowing why it had happened, I think it was hard for me, and I'm sure for many other people to just kind of compute.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's hard to predict, but I think you're right that the volume of outpouring had to do with, on the one hand, as you say, the fact that pretty much every person on the world, some who had internet access, they knew who he was. They had a kind of idea of him in their mind in some way. On some level probably thought of him as a joyful person or a person who brought joy to others. So that just the loss of him, you know, was really palpable. And also, you know, the terribly tragic manner in which he died. And at least at the time when he died, the sort of lack of information or just not knowing really the circumstances that had precipitated his death and that, you know, he seemed to have been there's obviously a timeline, but he was still making movies. He had just had a not so well received.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think there are not many people who were as big a star as he was for as long as he was, and I wonder if we're going to have versions of that going forward because culture is so atomized. Someone like Rihanna or Beyonce is very popular. Lots of people know them, but it's hard to imagine them having such a long career that touches so many people. I'm thinking again right now we've already done talking about Kanye West, right? But that was a big deal. A week ago, everyone on my Twitter feed is talking about Kanye West, but my hunch is that actually most people in the world are not talking about Kanye West. Long way of saying just about everyone knew Robin Williams for some reason or another. And do you think we're going to have other people like that?”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You mentioned this in the book after Robin Williams died in 2014 that there's this giant outpouring over the internet. We've now become sort of used to this idea that someone who was a big deal, Prince David Bowie dies, and then there's a public reflection on the internet.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. Like you say, there is this idea that you become a giant comedian and then you decide that what you really want to do is be a serious person. And he is sort of the archetype for that, but other versions of the writer Tom Hanks or Jim Carrey has played with this. A lot of folks play with this. Usually doesn't work very well”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's pretty extraordinary to think that he was that guy, let's say, in 1978, exactly as you say. I mean, you know. Best selling comedy record that would go on to win a Grammy, you know, top five TV show. And he's still 20 years out, let's say from winning his Academy Award. I don't think anybody would have anticipated that looking at him in 1978 or so. But also if you knew the sort of origins of his career and the work that he did before his sort of seeming overnight success, I mean, he was always on this kind of dual track where, you know, I mean, he was classically trained. He studied, you know, for three years at Juilliard and before that had attended two other colleges where he was focusing on acting. And so, I mean, as much as”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Specials, et cetera. I mean, there was a period where he had a hit TV show, he had a hit comedy special, he had a hit record. And this wasn't as famous as he was going to get. That was the beginning part of his stardom. And then he became more famous. Yeah.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, and had kind of reinventions for you and I, I mean, we remember Mork and Mindy and Popeye, and we were there for, of course, Good Morning Vietnam and did Poet Society. And we were older when things like Aladdin or Jumanji came out in the 90s, but there's a whole other generation of fans, people who are in their 20s now that that's what they grew up on and that's what they know Robin for. And then, of course, I mean, you know, the years and years of standup and the stand-up specials, the comic relief specials, et cetera.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This is someone who has basically been in my life as long as I can remember because I was a kid when Mork and Mindy was on. And I assume for just about anyone listening to this, there's some version of that where he has been sort of omnipresent in their life unless you sort of only recently became aware of pop culture really in the last few years. But he was a giant star for multiple decades”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, his family is complex. There are kind of different branches and divisions of it, but I certainly tried to get support or involvement or participation from all of them. I don't think you could, for reasons we may get into, you'll not be able to get all of them, but I certainly tried to get as many as I could.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because sometimes when you tell someone's life story, there is a person or an entity sort of pushing back against you telling it if it's not authorized. But in this case, basically, you had sort of cooperation from the family, or at least parts of the family.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And we'll talk about that arc in a minute, but just to give people a sense, this is obviously you couldn't talk to him because he was dead, but you had talked to him multiple times over the course of your times reporting. That's right. So his voice to you is in this book as well. Looks like you talked at least one of his family members extensively, his son, Zach.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I certainly tried to. I think that's the best way to do it. It was a pretty, I mean, he led an extraordinary life, and I think people perhaps forget, I mean, just the breadth of his career and really the whole life that he led before he got famous.”
2018-05-19 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Media: Robin Williams biographer Dave Itzkoff · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT