Rob Schwartz is the Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\CHIAT\DAY in Los Angeles He writes an “Inspiration is Everywhere” to the LA creative department every week. Sometimes, he shares them with us:

Amigos,

I watched the Golden Globes last night. I don’t usually watch the Golden Globes but I happen to love comedian/writer Ricky Gervais and he was hosting.

Yet is wasn’t Ricky or George Clooney or even the ever-prolific and brilliant Meryl Streep or for that matter the ever-prolific and brilliant Martin Scorsese who appeared as a flash of inspiration.

It was Robert Downey, Jr.

First off, he had by far the most genuine and funny acceptance speech of the night. Yup, in a show flooded with tears, thank yous, and seemingly endless shout-outs to various and sundry agents, studio muckety-mucks and hangers-on, ol’ RD,j bounded up on the stage and admitted that he “didn’t have anybody to thank.” And that everyone involved in the production needed him!

Of course, this was simply a rhetorical device. He used the negative to be extremely positive. See his disruptive speech here:

But it wasn’t simply RD,j’s sense of irony or spontaneous energy at the Globes that I find so inspiring. It’s deeper than that.

What really inspires me is his talent, his dedication to craft, his overall creative exuberance and excellence. Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that he had a few rocky years in there. In fact, from 1996-2001, Robert was mired in a black hole of substance abuse, suicidal tendencies and general shit-bag behavior. Yet to his credit, he sought the help he needed and is now enjoying one of the best comebacks in Hollywood history.

Now I won’t dive too deep into his career here. You can go to wikipedia Or imdb to find out more.

I will list some of his most inspired performances that you might want to download and check out:

Sherlock Holmes

Ironman

Tropic Thunder

“Family Guy” (Patrick Pewterschmidt episode from 2005)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

“Ally McBeal” (episodes from 2001)

Natural Born Killers

Chaplin

Saturday Night Live (He was a cast member 1985-1986)

Less Than Zero

Thanks for reading.

~Rob

If you have any comments or suggestions please email Rob Schwartz.