Whoopi Goldberg appeared to fight back tears on The View on Friday as she listened to Billy Crystal talk about their late, mutual longtime friend, Robin Williams.
During a one-on-one interview on the show, the 58-year-old co-host praised Crystal, 66, about his touching speech about the actor at the 2014 Emmy Awards. Crystal recalled being rendered speechless when he learned the devastating news that their "great, dear friend, fellow comedian and longtime Comic Relief fundraiser co-star had died at age 63 in his Northern California home on Aug. 11.
"When it all happened, it was, you know, so breathtaking, and thats why I tweeted then, I just wrote, "No words,"" Crystal said. "''Cause I didn't have any. I just had pain."
Goldberg, Crystal and Williams, who all got their start in standup comedy, go way back.
In 1986, the two joined Goldberg to co-host the first Comic Relief USA fundraiser, aimed at raising funds for healthcare for the homeless. The charity organization was formed by Bob Zmuda, longtime friend and business partner of another iconic late comedian, Andy Kaufman, and its slogan was, "Where there's laughter, there's hope," "Comic Relief, it's no joke" and "Laughter is the best medicine."
The event aired live on HBO. Also on the show's lineup were Michael J. Fox, Tony Danza, Michael Keaton, Jerry Lewis, Martin Short, Henry Winkler, and David Letterman, who had honed his comedy skills with Williams at the Comedy Store club in Los Angeles.
Williams, Goldberg and Crystal also appeared on TV shows together. In 1982, Williams was a guest on the first episode of Crystal's NBC talk series The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour and the two also starred together in and both made a cameo in the Friends episode "The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion" that aired in 1997.
Also that year, they appeared in the comedy films Father's Day and Deconstructing Harry. A year earlier, they also starred in Kenneth Branagh's movie adaptation of Hamlet.
In 1998, the three appeared on the Hollywood Squares game show. In 2001, Goldberg became the first woman to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Williams and Crystal were among the comedy friends who paid tribute to her onstage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Williams, Crystal and Goldberg also reunited for many more Comic Relief benefits over the years. In a 1989 interview with The Pittsburgh Press, Zmuda jokingly called the trio "the terrible three."
Here they are pictured at a Comic Relief fundraiser in 1992 ...
... in 1998...
... in 2006, to raise money to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina ...
They also appeared together at the Face of Tisch Gala at Lincoln Center in New York on Dec. 6, 2010.
"He was such an amazing person," Crystal said on The View. "He was the most brilliant performer you could ever imagine. His physical presence on a stage was amazing. Many times, we'd be together on stage, the three of us, and Whoopi and I were like his parents. It just became so sort of magical to work with him and it was just the greatest."