Danny DeVito actor

"Down Cujo!" Robin Williams yelled.

He was on a conference telephone call, trying to answer questions from zealous university journalists from across the country about his new movie, "Death To Smoochy," while his dogs howled and barked in the background.

"Never buy your puppy from a meth lab," Williams said. "Know that!"

Talking to student journalists inspired Williams to reflect on his college days.

"I have a few college memories," he said, before clarifying the statement. "I lost a few memories in college."

Robin Williams actor

In the new movie, Williams plays a washed-up children's TV show host who wears a bright, rainbow-colored outfit to compliment his character's name, Rainbow Randolph.

"It looks like something that Liberace would go (in a feminine voice): 'Don't wear that. Don't put that on,'" Williams said about the outfit. "Siegfried and Roy would go (in a feminine, German voice): 'That is way too much. That's loud even for a blind person.'"

Williams knew he wanted to take a part in "Smoochy" as soon as he read the script.

"I laughed my ass off when I read it," Williams said. "It was almost like my stand-up (routines) because it was so free form and nasty in its own way. When Danny (Devito) had signed up to direct it, I went, 'I've got to do this because he won't be afraid of it.'"

"(The movie) is nasty funny, kick-ass funny. If you want that, that's great, but if you want happy, just regular 'fun' fun, this is not that movie. And don't bring a kid, please, please, or else the welfare worker will be calling," Williams added.

DeVito, who also co-stars in the film, said he enjoyed the spontaneity the cast brought to the set every day.

"The experience was really exciting," he said, "but when you have people who are very prone to improvise and constantly have a lot of fun, your experience is broadened and is made more exciting. I allowed Robin and Jon (Stewart), Edward (Norton) and Catherine (Keener) to have a few takes where they just let loose. The one person that you have to be careful to say that to is Robin because he just goes."

Though Williams admitted to his fair share of adlibbing, he said he believed Adam Resnick's script was strong enough to stand on its own.

"His writing was so strong that you didn't need to improvise a lot," Williams said. "(But) In terms of percentage of improv, my God, all of a sudden I become Dustin Hoffman like (in a Hoffman-esque, 'Rain Man' voice): 12 percent, 12 percent, definitely 12 percent improv."

Williams loved that Devito allowed him so much creative leeway with his character.

"There are no boundaries; with him, there's not even little road cones," Williams said. "There's just the sense of try anything and he'll pick the best because he's so visual. I think that's why he pushed the physical comedy in this, which I think is great. That combined with his own nasty sense of humor. He just wanted to go more. He's not afraid of anything."

Devito said he believes taking risks is vital to his artistic expression.

"That's what life is all about as an artist," he said. "Whether you're a painter, photographer, filmmaker, musician, whatever, if you take risks you're going to grow and try things. It's more exciting for you as an artist to take that risk, as long as you're really not hurting anybody besides a couple of really lousy characters that you don't mind hurting. The risks are part of the joy of it."

Devito said he found working the double duty of acting and directing difficult, but worth the effort.

"It was so much fun to get up in the morning and go figure out the shots and get with all the other actors and the director of photography and all the other artists that make a movie," he said.

"It's really exciting. It can be lots and lots of fun if you love it as much as I do."