Paul Williams: Still Alive (2011)

[Edgy MD]

Veteran Queens-born commercial director with some hints of larger success (two features) is surprised to get a chance to take in a Paul Williams gig in Winnipeg. Raised on 1970s TV, he's fascinated in trying to reconcile this hugely successful songwriter (his constant theme: loneliness) with the ubiquitous TV ham he turned into, and then with the ghost he ultimately became, and he starts hanging out with Williams trying to document his life.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

We saw this. I don't remember much but felt it more interesting than great.

[Edgy MD]

What made it interesting was that movie was very much about the filmmaker being unsure what kind of film he wanted to make. Williams seems to waver several times on whether he trusts the guy, but is never that comfortable rehashing his life. As a remarkably short guy who got to become famous, his stage persona was to come across absurdly as being the swingingest dude in the room, and nobody could take him down for being short and pudgy because he'd be the first in line to make fun of himself. But clearly that guy was masking a world of pain. A good interviewer/documentarian would know how to explore that, but documentary isn't this guy's forte, and so he backs off when Williams pushes back, as he's sort of insecurely covering up his own shortcomings as well.

As a recovering addict and counselor, Williams realizes that it's part of recovery to dig through the mistakes of your life, but he's mortified discussing on a camera what a jackass he became, and doubly mortified that there is all this footage out there on TV, where booze and drugs have turned his cornball act of the early and mid-seventies into kind of a jackass act of the late seventies, and later into an asshole act in the eighties. The slippage was subtle in real time but it's jarring to see it compressed. And it's more jarring for Williams than anybody.

The storyteller becomes half the story, which is typically a no-no in a documentary, but meaningful here. Weird and surprising. Unprofessional but worthwhile.

[Frayed Knot]

Nice little cameo for Williams in one of my favorite movies from the last few years: BABY DRIVER
Prior to that I hadn't seen or thought of him for years.

[Willets Point]

I don't know anything about Paul Williams beyond his honorary Muppet status.

[Edgy MD]

That's certainly touched on.

The filmmaker is supposed to meet his subject in San Francisco, and Paul is a no-show. He has a film crew assembled, and Paul's in town for a show, so he walks around the neighborhood asking folks about him, and they generally have no clue until he starts humming a few bars of "Rainbow Connection," and almost invariably, they practically know the whole lyric to the song, with some claiming to own the record.

Who else gets honorary Muppet status? John Denver certainly. Maybe Rita Moreno?

Eddie Van Halen never worked with the Muppets, but he always seemed like one.

[Frayed Knot]

I don't know anything about Paul Williams beyond his honorary Muppet status.

Basically he was a songwriter writing mostly soft-rock hits for the Carpenters [We'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN, RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS] and others [OLD FASHIONED LOVE SONG]
which in turn got him time on talk shows (Carson often) where he was charming and funny which in turn led to TV and movie roles which made him a star beyond what a mostly
behind the scenes writer (he'd sing his own stuff too) normally gets even guest hosting the Tonight Show in Carson's absence on a number of occasions.
The fame, by his own admission went straight to his head which led to many drinks going down his throat and many powders up his nose to the point where he'd host shows visibly
drunk or worse leading to a downfall quicker than his initial rise.

He eventually sobered up and resurfaced as the head of music publisher ASCAP and I guess still gives performances now and then.

[Willets Point]

Who else gets honorary Muppet status? John Denver certainly. Maybe Rita Moreno?

Honorary Muppets. John Denver should really be on this list.

[Edgy MD]

Wow, I didn't know you ware making reference to an official list.

[Willets Point]

Wow, I didn't know you ware making reference to an official list.

I didn't either, until I searched for "Honorary Muppets."

[Edgy MD]

All Van Halen studio albums from 1984 onward were recorded in EVH's personal 5150 Studio, with the exception of their last album A Different Kind of Truth, which was mostly recorded in London at Henson Recording studios.

And thus was Eddie's status and legacy as an honorary Muppet cemented.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

We saw the Jim Henson exhibition at Momi this weekend. He obviously was an interesting guy I didn't really know anything about, so I learned lots of things, such as that he'd had a long puppeteering career before sesame street.

I also came away with the impression that as his work got more complex and elaborate--which he was of course driven toward--it lost much of its charm.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, YouTube's Defunctland series does a great job telling the Henson story.