Sketch o’the Week: Mork and Mindy!

Nanu Nanu! It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for our “Sketch o’the Week”! Shazbot! We continue our “classic TV sitcoms” series, now in the 1970s, with

“Mork and Mindy” debuted in May of 1979, so it BARELY qualifies as a 70’s sitcom. However it was one of my favorite shows as a teenager and I get to draw whatever the hell I want for these weekly sketches, so here’s Robin Williams and Pam Dawber as the titular characters.

“Mork and Mindy” was a spin-off of “Happy Days”, after a single episode featured Williams as Mork, an alien who planned to abduct Richie but was stopped by Fonzie. The episode was so popular producer Garry Marshall decided to give Williams and his Mork character his own show.

I’m not sure America quite knew what to make of the manic comedy stylings of Robin Williams. His high energy antics and over-the-top persona was so breathless, exhausting, and nuts, it was like nothing anyone had ever seen on network TV before. The show was very popular the first season but by the third season ratings were sliding badly and it was cancelled after four seasons. I admit I thought the whole Jonathan Winters as the Benjamin Button-esque child of Mork and Mindy was kind of lame. However every time Williams was onscreen was a delight, and Dawber made a wonderful, grounded straightwoman to bring balance to the zaniness. Plus I might have been in love with her a little bit at age 13. 

This show introduced the world to the comedic genius that was Robin Williams, sadly lost way too early.