Robin Williams‘ devastating death was the subject of all the talk shows on Tuesday, Aug. 12, but Conan O’Brien shared an unexpectedly hilarious tale to depict what a generous man the comedic actor really was.
Having already paid tribute to the Oscar-winning star on Conan the night before, O’Brien explained he was keen to return to the topic, and share a personal story of Williams’ extreme generosity.
“I knew Robin in show business, he’d been a guest on the show, the best talk show guest ever probably,” he said. “But just a quick example of what he was like: A bunch of years ago I went through, publically, a little bump in the road and I was feeling a little low,” O’Brien continued.
“Out of the blue, Robin Williams buys me a bicycle. I was kind of low, and this is so Robin Williams — it was the most absurd bright orange and bright green bicycle with shamrocks on it,” the show host said with a grin.
“So I called him up and all he could say was, ‘Does it look ridiculous? Will you look stupid riding it?’ He had just that amazing spirit of fun.”
Jimmy Fallon also paid his tribute to the Good Will Hunting actor as he opened his Tonight Show on the same evening. “Before we get into the show, we, like all of you, we were shaken up a bit last night, when we learned that genius comedian/actor Robin Williams passed away,” Fallon said with a shaken voice.
“He was one of a kind, he was one in a million. He was like, unbelievable. If you ever saw this guy’s stand-up, you wouldn’t even believe it. If you don’t know his stand-up you should YouTube it right now and just watch it,” he told viewers.
Following suit, Seth Meyers took a moment out of his NBC Late Night show to talk about Williams and his battle with depression. “We found out after our taping last night, so I just wanted to take a moment tonight to send our condolences to his family,” Meyers said.
“The saddest part of this is Williams was battling depression, and if there is anything we can do to honor his memory I would hope it would be to use this opportunity to educate us more about this terrible affliction. So we just want to say that we miss Robin, but we’re also very lucky to have had him at all. So thank you to Robin Williams, I guess,” he concluded.
Jimmy Kimmel echoed Meyer’s concerns about mental health issues with a thoughtful tweet. “Robin was as sweet a man as he was funny. If you’re sad, please tell someone,” he wrote.
Click the link above to watch O’Brien’s heartwarming story of Williams’ kindness.