It's customary that, when a film gets nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, the tune in question gets performed live. One year the song in question was from South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, one of only two R-rated animated films to be nominated for an Oscar. Because it included a heck of a lot of swearing - in South Park? Good Lord! - which TV broadcasters weren't hot on. There was also the issue that Mary Kay Bergman, who played most of the female roles in the series and film and sung the song, had killed herself not long before. Turns out the solution to both issues was Robin Williams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CTvjwt1bvY Gamely stepping up to the plate, and sympathetic to Bergman's struggles with depression, Williams ignored ABC's demands that they rewrite the song to have more TV-friendly lyrics - songwriter Marc Shaiman noted "it would be ironic to have to change the words in a movie about censorship" - and backed his pal Shaiman by singing the song verbatim, but turning his back and covering his mouth with black electrical tape whenever a swear word showed up. It's a hilarious, pointed and oddly touching performance, Williams giving it his all and the tribute to Bergman coming through loud and clear.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
