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Call Me Lucky
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Bobcat Goldthwait
Mark Twain's dictum "Humor is tragedy plus time" has repeatedly been restated as the formula "Tragedy plus time is comedy." Filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait shows how tragedy plus time is activism as well, in
Call Me Lucky, his documentary about comedian
Barry Crimmins, opening in San Francisco today, Aug. 14. Making use of interviews with famous comics (David Cross, Margaret Cho, Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron, Steven Wright) and others (singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, activist Cindy Sheehan)
Call Me Lucky reveals Crimmins as a cantankerous boozehound with a heart of gold.
Like Twain, he honed his humor into sharp satire, targeting two ultimate goals: “I’d like to overthrow the government of the United States, and I’d like to close the Catholic Church.”
Given his stated desire for excommunication, it may not come as a surprise that Crimmins was once an altar boy. He cannily repelled the advances of a pedophile priest years after undergoing a scarring series of events. His wrath toward authority figures and call for justice formed the foundation for his comedy, and as he was developing his voice, he nurtured many fellow talents along the way.
