Joe Rogan has accused the late Robin Williams of âmaterial theftâ, or stealing jokes from other comedians.
The comic and UFC commentator made the comments on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience to fellow comic Harland Williams, where he said that while he is a fan of the Good Will Hunting actor, he does believe that he deliberately took other comediansâ material.
“I think (Robin) wanted to kill more than he wanted to be ethical at any cost,â Rogan said. âPart of that manic sort of style is this constant need to have a bit about anything that you’re talking about ever. Killing was more important; filling that hole inside of him was more important than anything.â
He went on to say that he thinks other comedians were also conscious of the behaviour. âIf you ask any of those comics from back then, there’s always instances of Robin going on a talk show and doing your bit,â he continued.
He went on to describe the practice as âmaterial theftâ, which he explained was when a comic âtries to pawn off other peopleâs bits as their ownâ.
Williams took his own life in 2014 aged 63 after struggling with a misdiagnosed neurodegenerative disorder. Following his death, an autopsy revealed that he had advanced stages of Lewy body dementia.
In other Williams news, it recently emerged that he wrote a letter to the school of one of the child stars of Mrs. Doubtfire to try to get her expulsion overturned.
Lisa Jakub, who played the elder daughter Lydia in the 1993 comedy-drama, had been informed by her high school that she was no longer welcome after taking time off to star in the film, when Williams took it upon himself to try to help.
âI got thrown out of high school on Doubtfire,â Jakub said. âIâm Canadian. I was attending high school in Canada, then I left for four months to film the movie. We were going to set up this system, pre-internet, where Iâd mail my schoolwork back and forth to the school. We did that for a while.â
âWe were a couple of months into filming, and my school in Canada sent a note saying: âThis isnât working for us anymore, donât come back.â Yeah, 9th grade. I was devastated. It was just so heartbreaking, because I had this life that was very unusual, and that was the one normal thing.â
âThe amazing thing was Robin saw that I was upset â he asked me what was going on,â she continued. âHe wrote a letter to my principal saying that he wanted them to rethink this decision and that I was just trying to pursue my education and career at the same time, and could they please support me in this. The principal got the letter, framed the letter, put it up in the office, and didnât ask me to come back. Amazing.â
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