Without Jonathan Winters, there’d be no Robin Williams. Williams himself said so. The two comedians’ style is often described as “madcap”, but a more accurate diagnosis would be “bipolar”. In Winters’ case, it was literally true as he once spent 8 months in a mental hospital.

Winters got his start when the Ohio TV station where he worked refused to give him a $5 raise. He quit and, with $56.36 in his pocket, moved to New York, promising his wife he’d return if he didn’t make it in a year. He started doing stand-up and got his break in 1957 when he landed a spot on “Omnibus”, a Sunday morning TV show hosted by Alastair Cooke. Sunday morning TV with Jonathan Winters and Mr. Masterpiece Theatre—who says the fifties were boring?

Breaking the mold of the wise-cracking but sane comedian personified by Bob Hope, Winters shtick was the one-man sketch, for which he provided sound effects and voices of the characters that poured forth from his imagination. In this clip, Winters is handed a pen-and-pencil set and asked to improvise. In less than three minutes, he creates twelve characters, including a water skier and a wood nymph—live, on network television.

Just as Winters gave birth to Williams, Williams cast Winters as his son on Mork & Mindy. Ever wondered where Mork’s “Na-Nu Na-Nu” came from? In one of his acts, Winters was impersonating a baby named Elizabeth. Baby Elizabeth’s mom tells her: “Take that groundhog out of your mouth—you don’t know where it’s been!” Baby Elizabeth’s answer?

“Ne-Nu-Na-Na-Nu-Nu.”

What? Exactly.