I like to believe in the best in people, but it has gotten me into trouble. People are really good at letting you down, especially celebrities. Part of believing in the best in people has involved me buying it hook, line, and sinker when a celebrity presents themselves as a good person. I’m a huge fan of the Foo Fighters, and therefore, Dave Grohl. His persona as a nice guy was not only enticing, it was inspiring. When it came crumbling down, I felt a bit foolish.
Grohl didn’t trick me (necessarily). He had a whole team who helped concoct his “Nicest Guy in Rock” image. The point is to get people like me to buy into it, and I did happily. I want there to be people who stay nice despite loads of fame and money. What made me feel foolish was hordes of people saying things like, “This isn’t surprising,” and warnings against “putting people on a pedestal.” Hero worship can be dangerous, but wanting people not to be s*** is far from naive or ill-advised.
Does it suck when you find out someone you thought was decent is not? Absolutely. But the payoff when people reveal themselves to be truly good makes it all worth it. Even if the public examples can be few and far between, it is immensely satisfying if you hear that someone you thought was a mensch is so, and then some. I can’t be the only one who thinks that, either. Over a week ago, Conan O’Brien told a story about Robin Williams being kind to him and people are still eating it up.
Stories come and go on the internet with a quickness. Things that seemed overwhelmingly relevant can disappear in an instant. Despite the goldfish-like memory of the internet news cycle, some stories can gain traction later, as was the case for the story of Robin Williams purchasing a bike ride for Conan O’Brien at a tumultuous time in his life. Conan had an unceremonious (to say the least) exit from The Tonight Show, and Robin Williams was there to lift his spirits.
“I was lucky enough to have some great interactions with Robin Williams before he passed,” O’Brien explained to his guest, Eric Idle. “One of the most memorable examples to me is when I went through my whole Tonight Show debacle. Finally, the show is done, and I don’t know if I have a career anymore. What am I gonna do next? I’m lying on the floor in the living room of my house, and my phone rings, and I pick it up, and it’s Robin Williams.”
“;How you holding up, chief?’ he says, and I say, ‘Oh, Robin. Thanks so much for calling.’ And he said, ‘I know you’re going to be fine. I know you’re going to be alright. I know you like to ride bikes. Go down to the bike shop in Santa Monica. I want you to go down there. I’ve set up a bike for you.”
“And I said, ‘What?’” O’Brien noted. “And he said, ‘No, no, no, just head on down there. Ride around, you’ll feel better.’ And I went down and it was a Colnago, which is a very nice bike. And he said, ‘I told him to paint it in all these crazy Irish colors.’ I get down there and it’s the ugliest — I mean, it was just greens and shamrocks and everything. And he was like, ‘You’re going to like that bike, chief. Don’t worry about it.’”
Listening to O’Brien and Idle wax poetic about Williams was fantastic. It’s made even better because a week later people are still talking about it. I’m not the only one who wants to hear that nice people can actually be nice. That makes me happy.