WATCH: When Robin Williams Toyed With Sepp Blatter at the 1994 World Cup Draw
The 2018 World Cup draw is Friday in Moscow, when the 32 nations competing for the sport's biggest prize will learn their path through the group phase.
The event, like all international soccer draw shows, is typically full of celebrities, musical interludes, host-nation-specific fanfare, and pomp and circumstance, and when the USA was getting set to host the competition in 1994, it included arguably the greatest on-stage interaction of them all.
With then-FIFA general secretary Sepp Blatter running the proceedings in Las Vegas, he welcomed actor and comedian Robin Williams to the stage–and likely regretted it immediately.
Williams, brought on to select the final set of teams out of Pot 4 to complete the group draw, did not disappoint. He kept referring to the future FIFA president as "Mr. Bladder," making jokes along those lines, while also observing the colors of the balls he was picking (blue) and conducting plenty of other shenanigans, much to the delight of the crowd on hand.
And all the while, Bob Ley is guiding the ESPN broadcast, trying to play it down the middle by providing analysis on the groups being completed.
The dignitaries and host Gary Lineker will be hard-pressed to put on a more comedic, entertaining and memorable show in Russia as the pieces come together for next summer's showcase event.
