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25 Years Ago, Robin Williams Made an Audience Member Laugh So Hard They Had to Be Hospitalized

Williams performed for more than five hours, and James Lipton later said one audience member laughed hard enough to develop a hernia.

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When Robin Williams walked out onstage for his January 2001 appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, host James Lipton had no clue what he was in for. Williams improvised so much during the interview that the resulting broadcast became the show’s first-ever two-hour episode. And that’s only counting what made it on the air. According to Lipton, Williams performed for the people in attendance for more than five hours, leaving the producers with quite a task when it came time to edit it all down for TV.

Early on in the show,........

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