Hollywood director Paul Feig accused late comedian Robin Williams of sabotaging his stand-up career “a couple of times” as he tried to break into the comedy industry in Los Angeles.
Feig, best known for directing hits including “The Office,” “Bridesmaids” and the controversial “Ghostbusters” reboot, revealed what it was like trying to stand out in the competitive stand-up “era” when Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld and Williams were dominating the circuit.
Feig claimed that Williams occasionally wanted to perform an unscheduled set, which cut into his performance.
“I got sabotaged by Robin Williams a couple of times when I finally got to be a performer at The Improv,” Feig said on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s on Me” podcast.
“I still wasn’t one of the main guys so I’d have a later spot. I remember like, once it was my time to get up, there was a full audience and I was so excited and they come up like, ‘Oh, Robin just wants to get up and do a quick set first’ and I’m like, ‘cool.’”
Williams took the stage for his stand-up set, which pushed Feig’s time back in the show. When Williams finished, the audience left the venue with the “Dead Poets Society” star.
“He did an hour and he finished and everybody left except for one woman who was waiting for her husband to come back from the bathroom,” Feig said.
It’s common for popular comedians like Williams to pop up and be allowed to jump on stage for a surprise set.
Dave Chappelle shocked fans with a 30-minute set at the now-closed Carolines on Broadway when he went to visit his former “Chappelle’s Show” cast mate Charlie Murphy perform in 2009.
Jerry Seinfeld is known to drop into New York’s comedy clubs without telling fans so he could test out new material while gearing up for a larger show.
The Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village has anonymous-looking photos posted on their lineup specifically made for each celebrity comedian who wants to quietly drop into a show but not be identified in advance to ticket buyers, an insider told The Post.
Feid said he didn’t want to cause a scene and anger the few comedy club owners in Tinseltown when Williams, who died by suicide in 2014, crashed his set.
“You were so held hostage, if you will, by The Improv and The Comedy Store because those were the– that’s the place. That’s where you’re going to get discovered, that’s where you’re going to be a big shot so you had to do anything to stay in their good graces, to impress them,” Feid said.
Other factors that inspired the five-time Emmy nominee to drop the microphone included “losing the spark for it” and not wanting to be a “miserable” guy doing comedy.
Feig started his producing career with “Freaks and Geeks” in 1999. The show only lasted one season but eight years later, he joined “The Office” as a co-executive producer.
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