3/15/18. Wow, what a biopic! Never heard of him but now that I have watched this I will never forget him. A caustic, sarcastic comedian who had a good reason for being that way - he was sexually abused when he was a small child. Eventually he took all that energy and channeled it into activism against Internet child porn. More than anything he raised awareness of how prevalent child molestation is, and it's scary. Parents, protect your children!

The night after the live show that was filmed for this documentary, we all woke up to the news that Robin Williams, the best friend of director Bobcat Goldthwait, had died from suicide. I heard in interviews that Robin had considered playing the lead role if this story had been done dramatically. That came to mind a few times while watching and I could see why the character would have appealed to him. It's about Barry Crimmins, one of the main personalities behind the launch of many Boston comics' careers, but comedy seems incidental to the work he does as years pass and perspective deepens. I don't know when I first became aware of him. I know I heard Steven Wright mumble his name somewhere way back, but I looked more closely after hearing Barry interviewed by Marc Maron on his WTF podcast. Barry Crimmins personally confronts some of the purest evil mankind perpetrates on itself and tried to prevent much of the damage that continues to be done in the name of profit. While doing that, he helped nurture a conscientious brand of comedy that continues to bring out unique voices.

Barry Crimmins is not a well-known comedian outside of Boston and New York. But he is a legend among comics, including many legendary comics. His highly intelligent and hard-charging style, lashing out at greedy and inhumane politics, puts him in the ranks of Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Bill Hicks. He also helped mentor a roster of comics like Denis Leary, Stephen Wright, Tom Kenny, Paula Poundstone, and Lenny Clarke. He also mentored Bobcat Goldthwait, who directs this simple yet emotionally packed biography that explains not only who Crimmins is, but how he came to be. This is not a "how did he get to be so funny?" or "the greatest (blank) you've never heard of" fluff piece. This is a very gritty, sometimes very dark look at the horrors Crimmins endured as a child, and how he turned his suffering into a lifelong mission to help those victimized by man's inhumanity to man. His compassion permeates his actions, even as he takes the microphone at a Senate hearing on child pornography and uses it to (figuratively) beat a suit from AOL into submission. The result is an emotional wringer that will take you from belly laughs to gut-punched. See this film.

As a angrily aware sarcastic survivor of violence myself, the daughter of an alcoholic incest victim, the sister of an addicted abused child, a lifelong fan of achingly honest comedy, and as the parent of a boy named Lenny Bruce; my most sincere THANK YOU to everyone involved in the creation of this fantastic film! I laughed, snorted, cried, & cursed. A special debt of gratitude to Barry himself for being our laughing lighthouse; may we all steer towards his in the know glow. I firmly believe that the vast majority of us fiercely funny f**ks are genetically descended from the watchers, born here to witness and testify to the atrocities of soulless slaves. There isn't one person alive who shouldn't see this flick...TWICE!