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Things You Didn’t Know About Jonathan Winters

Larrylambert
3 min readFeb 3, 2023

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For me, he was a more relatable Robin Williams.

Creative Commons: StudioMONDO

Robin Williams was renowned for his improvisational skills. As was Jonathan Winters before him. A huge difference between the two was Williams worked at a frenetic pace. Winters worked at a pace that allowed me to understand what he was saying. Plus, Winters generally worked with material I had an easier time relating too.

When Winters joined the cast of Mork and Mindy as their son, Mearth, it was the last gasp of a dying TV show. While the pairing of Williams and Winters might have looked good on paper, the concept just didn’t work. Winters was at his best when his characters did a soliloquy. Of course, that’s just my take. My personal opinion out of the way, here are some things you might not have known about the hugely entertaining, Jonathan Winters.

1: Jonathan was very honest about his mental illness.

He was institutionalized twice. After one confinement, he took a role in the star-studded movie, ‘It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.” Based on his recent experience, Jonathan might have thought it was autobiographical.

2: His most memorable character was probably Maud Frickert.

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Larrylambert
Larrylambert

Written by Larrylambert

You probably don't know my name, but have likely seen my work. I've written for numerous syndicated cartoon strips and my gags have appeared in national pubs.

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