People Talk About What Working With Classic Comedians Was Really Like

After working alongside one another on CBS's hit comedy Mork & Mindy, Robin Williams remembers what it felt like to act with comedic legend Jonathan Winters. Winters was brought onto the sitcom in its fourth season, and Williams recalls what it felt like to work with such a seasoned comedian. Williams described how he felt about Winters in a 2013 article, writing:

Jonathan’s improvs on Mork & Mindy were legendary. People on the Paramount lot would pack the soundstage on the nights we filmed him. He once did a World War I parody in which he portrayed upper-class English generals, Cockney infantrymen, a Scottish sergeant no one could understand, and a Zulu who was in the wrong war. The bit went on so long that all three cameras ran out of film. Sometimes I would join in, but I felt like a kazoo player sitting in with Coltrane.

Comedian Bob Hope was known for performing his comedic acts for members of the military, often traveling to countries where American troops were stationed. Fellow comedian Al Borden once traveled with Hope to Okinawa, Japan, where the two performed for the military. Borden spoke about how Hope had a special place in his heart for GIs, saying:

His relationship with the GIs is fabulous. In fact, we were in a show on Okinawa, and all the generals sat down in the front row, had the best seats in the high-end theater. Bob stopped the show, moved all the generals to the back, and brought the GIs down. So, that’s Bob Hope. And some of the generals hate him for it, but they all admire him.

Comedians Bill Murray and Gilda Radner, both staples of Saturday Night Live, had a bond that went further than the show's set. The duo were close friends, and Murray credits Radner with helping him realize how funny he is. In a 1997 interview, Murray reflected on his time with Radner:

Gilda was really something... she could light up a room. She was an amazing person to work with. She always made it fun to work with her, and she always brought more. She always made you comfortable working with her, and I really enjoyed making her laugh... She really made me be funnier than I ever was.

Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball met backstage in 1959 when Burnett was starring in the Broadway show, Once Upon a Mattress. The two became close friends on- and off-screen, and Ball appeared often on The Carol Burnett Show. Burnett admired Ball's ability to fully be herself on the set of television shows, saying:

I did a couple of guest shots on Lucy’s show... and that was wonderful. Well, she never censored herself from here [head] to here [lips]. Whatever she said, she was thinking, and it came out.

As a pioneer of stand-up comedy, Redd Foxx was an inspiration to rising comedians. Pat Morita was, at one point, one of those comedians, working at one of Foxx's stand-up clubs. Morita gives Foxx credit for showing him the ropes in the comedy world, discussing his mentor in a 2011 interview:

See, Redd taught by example. He didn’t, except rarely, take you into the corner... and get in your face and tell you this stuff. He, on the one hand, would be like that, and on the other hand, you know, he wasn’t likely to say "now watch this" either. He had very subtle ways of being an influence.

Phyllis Diller busted onto the comedy scene as a woman in her late 30s and is known as one of the first great stand-up comedians. Fellow comedian Joan Rivers looked up to Diller when she was first starting out, recalling how supportive Diller was of her:

She was wonderful and encouraging to the young comedians - everything I’m not. After I got friendly with her, I told her what that meant to me. She broke the field for women. She didn’t sing. She didn’t dance. She would come out, say wonderfully funny things, and go home. Phyllis said, “This is what I am: I’m a funny woman, I’m a funny housewife, and I need a job.” That’s why she started in her late 30s - and she worked like a man. She didn’t ask for help and didn’t complain. She never had the attitude of, "Poor me, I’m a woman."