Ethan Hawke Made Robin Williams ‘Insane’ By Not Laughing at His Jokes

Comedy legend Robin Williams obviously starred in quite a few notable dramas over the course of his career — from Good Will Hunting, to Awakenings, to the soul-crushing tragedy that was Old Dogs with John Travolta.

But just because Williams occasionally took on more serious projects didn’t mean that he was any less of a laugh riot behind the scenes, as Ethan Hawke recently revealed. 

An 18-year-old Hawke co-starred with Williams in the acclaimed 1989 film Dead Poets Society, playing a prep school student inspired by the school’s new, unorthodox teacher Mr. Keating (Williams) who urges his students to explore radical new ideas — just as long as those “new” ideas came from old white guys. 

During a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Hawke was asked about a rumor that he believed Williams didn’t like him during the Dead Poets Society shoot. Hawke admitted that the story was true, but explained that it was all because he refused to laugh at Williams’ jokes in an effort to become a “great” actor.

“My character would not find any of Mr. Keating’s antics funny,” Hawke told Eisen. “He’d be too nervous Robin, he’s one of those people he could sense anybody in the room, if you weren’t laughing, all energy went to you until you were laughing. He’d make fun of you. The more he tried to make me laugh, it wasn’t that I didn’t find it hysterical, it was that I thought he was messing with me. Because I was just trying to do a good job, and so I would see (laughing) as a failure.”

“And it made him insane,” Hawke added. “So he was just mocking me constantly.”

One of Williams best comedic riffs was a pun involving Mr. Keating’s beloved Latin motto. “My favorite at the time was ‘carpe per diem,’” Hawke said. “Because we were all living in Delaware, and we were staying in some low-rent Marriott and Robin would make everybody laugh by (asking about) what they were doing with their per diem. And then, instead of carpe diem, he’d say ‘Carpe per diem. Can I have yours?’”

Despite not being a big laugher, Hawke still impressed Williams with his acting chops, so much so that the Mrs. Doubtfire star went out of his way to give the teen actor’s career a big boost. “He helped me get an agent. And that felt really good,” Hawke noted, recalling that he randomly got a call from one of Williams’ reps wanting to meet with the “very talented young man” that Williams had told them about. 

Sadly, they never got the chance to reunite for Dead Poets Society II: Keating’s Revenge.