An Interview with Robin Williams' son Cody

We recently chatted for a bit with Robin Williams' son Cody about growing up with the superstar comedian, what day-to-day life was like in his shadow, and also on his recent divorce.

FE: Tell us about day-to-day life growing up with your dad

I gotta say, as a child growing up it was great. Every day, you'd never know what to expect from him. On a given day, he'd be dressed up like a clown serving me soup out of a giant hippopotamus head while doing imitations of all my favorite cartoons while I ate lunch. He always stayed so in character, that even when I would go upstairs to bed, I'd hear him from my room still using the Popeye voice to talk to my mother. She really needed that, I think, because whenever he would wind down and eventually crash and fall asleep (usually around 5 in the morning), I'd hear her sobbing uncontrollably. It's great that he could keep her spirits up for so late into the night.

FE: Did his antics ever bother you?

I have to admit, it got a little tiring by the time I got to middle school. Every day at dinner he would pick up his food and pretend it was talking. This was every day, without fail. It got to the point where my mom stopped cooking, because half of the dinner would end up down his pants or smeared on the windows from one of his "bits". And if you ever tried interrupting him, you'd probably end up with mashed potatoes in your hair while he did his "swishy gay hair dresser" impression, pretending to give you a dye job.

FE: How do you feel about him now?

Well, I definitely have anger issues. When I would have a bad day at school, and come home to him wearing some kind of goofy costume and running around and yelling, I never knew how to react. I didn't find him funny, but no matter how much I asked him to stop, he'd just amp up the volume.

Also, he sort of built these stereotypes of people in my head. When I started to grow out of cartoons, he was right there with me, changing his impressions to reflect everything that I enjoyed. I started listening to rap music, so he started to do his impression of a black guy a lot around the house. There weren't any black people in our neighborhood growing up, so I always assumed that all black guys point down all the time when they talk and pose in b-boy stances after everything they say. Boy was I surprised when I first met one at college and attempted to communicate with him! I guess my impression wasn't as good as my dad's, because I got my ass kicked on a regular basis, no matter how hard I tried to get it right.

FE: Was there ever a moment when you thought he went too far?

You know those days when you just want to go home and sit down by yourself and relax after a shitty day? I recall one of those specifically. He burst into my room and starts jumping around and yelling in his different voices, spraying silly-string all over. And this was the 5^th day in a row he did this. This was the day I started cutting my wrists for fun.

Another time was when I went to my aunt's funeral. My mom's sister died, and he showed up to the funeral in a clown costume with a dildo strapped onto his face. When the owner of the funeral home quietly asked him to please come back dressed more appropriately, he started running around in circles yelling while swinging his dick around in his hand. I was crippled with embarrassment.

FE: That sounds awfully inappropriate.

Yeah, it was pretty terrible.

FE: Before we let you go, we need to ask about your parents' recent divorce. What are your thoughts on it?

I personally thought that mom waited way too long to do it. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was when she had a business client coming over to work on closing a deal. She works in real estate, and was really counting on this meeting going well. So she called dad before getting to the house to warn him:

"Please don't embarrass me today. I'm having a very important client over."

"I understand", he said, and hung up the phone.

As soon as the woman walks in the door, there he was, swinging from a vine with a full pirate suit on. And by the time he got down, the woman was already starting her car to get out of there.

After that, we--[checks his phone]--hold on a second, I'm getting a text. Shit I gotta go, my dad's sending me pictures of people using public urinals again. Goddammit, he said that was his last time.

*Cody mutters something under his breath and sprints away*