Karen Kinna

Having never had a blog before, I'm at a loss.  What do y'all want to know?

Let's see...  The highlight of my journalism career happened when I was a girl of 24.  I met, interviewed, and played pool with Robin Williams.

Seriously.

It was the coup of my fledgling career as an arts reporter for a local rag.

He popped into Punchlines, a comedy club in Vancouver, B.C. one night around midnight, and my girlfriend, who was working the box office at the time, called me and told me to come get my first "scoop."

I jumped into my pickup truck in my jammies (literally wearing the red flannel so popular during Canadian winters), and drove to the historic center of the city, known as Gastown.

And there he was... Robin, that is... under the bright lights, doing his best genie impression from Aladin live before a staggered audience.  Turns out, he was in Vancouver shooting the movie "Jumanji" and his raison d'etre was, so he said, because he thrives on the "high" a live audience gives him and Jumanji was shot almost exclusively against a blue screen.

He'd entered the (seedy) joint in disguise through a back door, wearing a 3 foot yellow foam cowboy hat.  No joke.  I was the only journalist there to begin with.  Of course, that changed by the end of the week.  A few nights later, he came back, shot some pool after hours, and again took the stage around midnight.  Then, he returned the next night.  And so on.

The crowds went wild, and soon there was a lineup around the block nightly for this dingy little hole-in-the-wall comedy club that was struggling to stay afloat.

I can honestly say, while much of our discussions were "off the record" -- Robin left an impression on me as big as the Grand Canyon.  He's a family man, first and foremost.  And, in case you were wondering, he's like a lightbulb... ALWAYS ON!!! 

He really does have those hairy arms and that gravelly voice in person.  He's kinda short and very stocky.  You almost want to pat him on the head like the family dog.  Almost.  But don't tell him I said so.  <cheeky wink>

And, it goes without saying, he's Pee-Your-Pants funny, off the cuff.

 Oh, and he can't play pool worth a damn.

 I guess the old saying holds true... a man can't be good at EVERYTHING.

--K.