AFGHANISTAN: AMERICAN COMEDY ACTOR ROBIN WILLIAMS TREATS U.S. TROOPS AT BAGRAM AIRBASE TO A SLICE OF HIS UNCENSORED ZANY HUMOUR

Record ID: 640583

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN: AMERICAN COMEDY ACTOR ROBIN WILLIAMS TREATS U.S. TROOPS AT BAGRAM AIRBASE TO A SLICE OF HIS UNCENSORED ZANY HUMOUR
  • Date: 17th October 2002
  • Summary: (W2) BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN (OCTOBER 17, 2002) (AGENCY POOL) ***PLEASE NOTE: OBSENITY IN SECOND WILLIAMS SOUNDBITE*** SV: AMERICAN ACTOR ROBIN WILLIAMS ARRIVING INSIDE AIRPLANE HANGAR SV'S: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR ROBIN WILLIAMS, SAYING: "Good morning Bagram! Welcome, it's a lovely flight in thank you, I love spiralling in, nothing like that to make your colon go fire in the hole." (2 SHOTS) SV: U.S. SOLDIERS WATCHING, LAUGHING SV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR ROBIN WILLIAMS SAYING: "It is a joy, I guess you have no alcohol here, so there is no drinking in this country, hey. No drinking at all, so the brothers going "no drinking at all". Yeah, oh please... oh you don't want. I just came from Venice where people have two beers and they are fucked up after that." WS: SOLDIERS WATCHING SHOW AND TAKING PICTURES SV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR ROBIN WILLIAMS, SAYING: "Later on you trying to piss and it is like .... oh... oh.. God....oh." MV: SOLDIERS WATCHING ROBIN WILLIAMS WS: ROBIN WILLIAMS ENTERTAINING AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN BAGRAM VARIOUS OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS LINING UP FOR AUTOGRAPHS (2 SHOTS) SV: ROBIN WILLIAMS GIVING AUTOGRAPHS AND POSING FOR PHOTOS SCU: AMERICAN SOLDIERS LINING UP FOR AUTOGRAPHS SV: ROBIN WILLIAMS GIVING AUTOGRAPHS AND POSING FOR PHOTOS SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAPTAIN BEVERLY GRANDISON, COMPANY COMMANDER, DELTA COMMAND, 327TH SIGNAL BATTALION, 18TH AIRBORNE CORPS, FROM FORT BRAGG, NEW CAROLINA, SAYING: "Oh, Robin. He was awesome, he is great, he is a really good comedian. In all the years I have enjoyed every thing he has done. I appreciate him coming out here for sure." CU: SOLDIER HOLDING SIGNED PHOTOGRAH OF WILLIAMS ***PICTURE BREAK UP DURING NEXT TWO SEQ'S SV: ROBIN WILLIAMS POSING FOR PHOTOS HIGH-WIDE OF SOLDIERS WAITING IN LINE FOR AUTOGRAPHS SCU: AMERICAN AND AUSTRALIAN FLAGS OUTSIDE BAGRAM AIRBASE LV: EXTERIOR HANGAR
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: Conflict,Entertainment,Defence / Military,People
  • Reuters ID: LVABYOR8AM3YG94VYA9MWAB0JP7
  • Story Text: Hyperactive Hollywood comedian Robin Williams treated U.S. troops to uncensored helpings of his zany humour during a tour of bases in Afghanistan.
    Within minutes of landing at the dust-plagued Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, Williams served up a raunchy, rapid-fire routine with something to offend just about everyone.
    From the moment he introduced himself with an earsplitting "Goooodmoorning Bagraaaaam!", recalling his role as a military radio presenter in the movie "Goodmorning Vietnam", he was a huge hit with the hundreds of male and female troops in the audience.
    "Welcome, it's a lovely flight in thank you, I love spiralling in, nothing like that to make your colon go fire in the hole," Williams said.
    Flocks of soldiers came to meet Williams, lining up for a chance to pose for a photo with the star and get an autograph.
    He compared Afghan women in traditional coverall burqas to beekeepers, took digs at U.S. media billionaire Ted Turner and his former wife Jane Fonda, and also risked the wrath of chat show queen Oprah Winfrey and military caterers.
    Unfettered by domestic prudery, Williams dished out plenty of expletives and sexual innuendo, but inverting the norms of U.S. television, his Hollywood publicists were insistent media cameras should show no guns in the same frame as the star.
    Williams made sure that most of his routine was more suitable for the barrackroom than family television viewing.
    He had the troops in stitches with a pun on the supposed intestinal effects of "Meals Ready to Eat", as well as references to the ban on alcohol at U.S. bases in Afghanistan and sexual frustrations in what is a strict Muslim state.
    Williams laughed off the dangers of Afghanistan, joking that it was impossible to complete a round of golf because the 10th hole was mined.
    However, Williams's Hollywood minders were apparently nervous about his security during a visit that also took him to the U.S. base at Kandahar, a former stronghold of the ousted Taliban regime and the al Qaeda network U.S. forces are pursuing in Afghanistan They insisted journalists respect a publication embargo on Thursday's Bagram show until his departure from Afghanistan on Sunday (October 20). His trip earlier took him to a U.S. base in neighbouring Uzbekistan.
    Captain Beverly Grandison, a signals officer with the battalion from the 82nd Airborne Division based at Bagram, said the soldiers were delighted Williams had taken time to share some of their hardships.
    "He was awesome, he's great. He's a really good comedian.
    In all the years I've enjoyed everything he's done. I appreciate him coming out here for sure."
    Bagram Air Base is home to around 7,000 U.S. and multinational armed services working together in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
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