Things You Didn’t Know About Jonathan Winters

Larrylambert
3 min readFeb 3, 2023

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

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.