Narrator, referring to Paul Williams: “But as the ‘80s came, he got swallowed up by drugs and alcohol, and then he was gone.” (0:02)
“I found out Paul was 16 years sober. For awhile he even worked as a drug rehab counselor.”
Sign: "Careful Nervous Mother Driving" (0:03)
"Paul sang a lot of songs about depression, loneliness and alienation." (0:07)
Paul: "I got drunk."
Fan: "Well, I'm glad you sobered up."
Narrator: "When I first bought my plane ticket to Canada I thought maybe I was crazy to want to see Paul Williams... we can't all be crazy, can we?" (0:09)
Johnny Carson tells Paul, "It's a great ego builder."
Narrator: "I got really nervous around him." (0:10)
"I felt like a stalker. (0:17)
"I needed to get some insight into who Paul really was."
"When Paul was at the height of his fame, Cas was the only one who confronted him about is drug problem." (0:18)
Mom on television show tells her son, "Something called Quaaludes to help you sleep." (0:24)
Paul: "... and you're really nervous..." (0:24)
Paul: "To be special is addicting." (0:27)
Spokeswoman: "Today is the 2006 fall luncheon, at the Council on Alcohol and Drugs in Houston... we bring in high profile speakers who have gone through addiction and are now on the path to recovery..."(0:28)
Narrator: "Madness."
MC, referring to Paul: "But what you don't know is that he's 16 years sober and he's a certified drug rehabilitation counselor..."
Paul: "I was seven months sober. (0:31)
Paul: "We all smoked a little grass. We all drank. We all did a little psilocybin. We all did a little MDA. We all did some shrooms and took a little acid... Peter Lawford called me and said... there is some blow in Philadelphia that is spectacular..."
Paul, on television, referring to Peter Lawford, "He's insane..."
Paul: "And all I know is that we were absolutely fried. The '60s, '70s, and '80s there was a drug culture." (0:32)
Paul: "I was not exactly the model husband, and a lot of it was my drug-fueled lifestyle..." (0:38)
Paul asks band leader Cas, "Were you with me in the Philippines when I got alcohol poisoning? When I like freaked out?"
Cas: "He started hallucinating backstage..."
"... kind of flipping out. "
Musician: "You know how addicted people do that?"
Baretta on television: "Cocaine."
Paul: "People don't die from cocaine." (0:51)
Narrator: "The food looked fantastic, but I was too paranoid to eat any of it."
"I was having a panic attack."
"I was exhausted and nervous..." (0:57)
Paul: "Which slowly, as my drinking and using began to isolate me, went away." (1:00)
Narrator: "Nobody knew what was happening, and I was panicked... maybe I was being a little too paranoid." (1:03)
Paul talks about his father's death: "In a way it was like I lost both parents." (1:05)
Narrator tells Paul, "You must be freaking out."
Paul: "I remember feeling like that when I couldn't get the dealer on the phone. If I couldn't get the dealer on the phone, then I was freaking out... You're looking for me to respond with some sort of insightful, intelligent response... when in fact I was in such a panic, and so lost, I can't tell you... But you know my dad drove drunk with me in the car, and I swore I'd never do that." (1:09)
Cas: "I said the drugs are out of control..." (1:10)
Paul: "I lost 40 pounds through willpower and about $3,800 worth of amphetamines."
"And I can go back and get crazy about that anytime I want to... and not have a sense of how arrogant and grandiose and shallow and ruthless an image of myself I was presenting." (1:14)
Narrator: "I felt like an idiot." (1:18)
Paul: "And what happened to me is I wound up finding a place in this world through my recovery that is bigger and more important than anything I ever did as an entertainer." (1:20)
Title: "Last year Paul celebrated his twentieth year of sobriety." (1:22)