Call Me Lucky Page #3

And years later I was

reading this book about

the Iroquois Indians'

and apparently Ben Franklin

and Thomas Jefferson

thought they were

f***ing hilarious.

So, yeah, there

was an ad, you know,

"Comedians Wanted" for a

comedy open mic night happening.

The ad did say.

"Comedians Wanted,

Bear Cat"

People called him Bear Cat.

I don't know if he referred

to himself as Bear Cat

tn the text of this ad.

- Oh, n did in the ad.

- n did say n?

- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

- Oh, okay. So guilty.

- We did start calling

ourselves Bobcat and Tomcat,

- directly kind of making fun of, making fun.

- As a spoof.

I used to be a doctor,

but now I'm

- I was 16,

you were 15 I think.

- We were in

high school anyway.

High school knuckleheads.

How old was Barry then?

He was in his...

maybe like 26 or 27

when we met him.

Yeah.

So you know Barry would be

calling and my mother was,

you know, understandably curious

and a little nervous like...

- Yeah, yeah.

- "Who is this Barry Crimmins?"

"He runs the comedy show

at the Old Stone Mill... "

"What's he doing

calling here?"

"He wants to talk about

the comedy show. "

'How OK! is he?"

"I don't know... 40? 45'?

I don't know. "

He always seemed

like an old guy.

You talked me into

doing comedy.

"Hey, you're funny,

you know what I mean?"

Ah, I don't know.

You were always Bob

"Full Steam Ahead"

Goldthwaite.

And I'm Tom

"Let Us Not Be Hasty'

Let's Weigh All The Options"

Kenny.

You know, that whole night

and that experience, like,

you know, going up and

then getting the validation

of this guy Barry Crimmins,

that did change the whole

course of my life, I think.

- To see Barry in

this environment

with the comedy

made sense.

It was extremely funny.

I mean, I laughed

to the point of tears.

And he said to me,

"I'm gonna make a living

at this if it kills me. "

And that was shortly before

he left and came here,

he came to Boston.

He called me and goes,

"I found the perfect spot.

It's a Chinese restaurant

that does country western line

dancing four nights a week.

I'll be able to talk

him into anything. "

- "I'm gonna start a

comedy club here.

We're gonna make it

five days a week. "

- He ran a club there that

everybody wanted to work.

It was a great club.

- Might have been the

best comedy club ever.

- He saw the comedy

wave coming.

- The Connection was

paying $15 bucks a set.

Barry paid $20.

Connection said,

"Okay, we'll pay $20."

Barry paid $25.

Connection went to $25,

Barry went to $30.

And the next thing you know,

you're making $400 bucks

on a Friday night.

That was Barry.

He recognized talent.

He booked

Paula Poundstone over there.

Sweeney and Lenny.

- Bobcat Goldthwaite

was part of that.

Kevin Meaney, Rogerson.

Dennis Leary.

- He basically spawned all

of these great humorists.

It was a family, a real family,

not like a show biz family.

It was f***ing cool.

- He knew something

was happening.

- We didn't know what hit us

and it turned out to be

the foundation of

comedy nationally.

He would take the money,

like, what I was being paid,

like, $30 bucks.

He'd have it crunched up,

crunched up

and he would throw it

on the floor.

He'd just throw it on

the floor at my feet.

He'd go, "There!"

Then he'd walk away.

Jokingly,

like, you know'?

Over and over.

Not just once.

- Of all the

bigger-than-life characters,

Crimmins was the biggest.

And you could tell he was,

like, in charge.

- He wasn't the most

successful comedian in Boston;

he was, like,

the president of the scene.

- He had become this guy

that you could go to

and he understood your plight.

He understood my comedy.

Even though I didn't even

understand it myself.

What's wrong with you people'?

God... my eye!

- He just seemed to have extra

knowledge of stuff in general.

So if he was giving you a

compliment comedy-wise,

it was really...

it felt good.

- I mean, I remember we did

a Ding Ho reunion one time,

and everyone was going on and on

about what a great guy Barry was

and how he helped

me do this and,

you know, I said, "Look,

I don't think Barry likes me.

And, you know,

that's just the way it is. "

And then afterwards for,

like, every time I saw him,

"Yeah, I don't like you,"

"Yeah I don't like you,

I don't like you,

what are you gonna

do about it?"

"I don't like you. "

- And he was very

direct with comics.

He had quality control

at the Ding Ho

m terms of who he booked.

- I love most of the

comedians that I work with.

Almost every single

one of them.

- The first time that I

performed at the Ding Ho,

I brought about 40 friends

from the neighborhood.

I was supposed to do

5 minutes.

H ran about 24 minutes.

I don't want to brag,

I'm not trying to make

anyone feel uncomfortable,

but two years ago

I went to Europe.

Huh!

Excellent country.

I was an open micer

and Crimmins is in the back

going, "That's Clark!"

"That's Sweeney!"

"Do your own sh*t, Tingle!"

You know,

I was demoralized.

And so he was saying

the next day,

"You know, you really have

to go through your stuff

with a fine-toothed comb

to make sure it's not

derivative of other people. "

I think that was the first time

I heard the word "derivative. "

- You could tell straight away

that there were other comics

who respected mm

but were a little irritated by

their having to respect him.

Does that make sense?

I was really scared of him.

He didn't have an

open demeanor.

- I think the terror of

Barry Crimmins being mad

made us funnier.

- You know what else

made me mad this summer

when we sold the

Statute of Liberty

to huge corporations?

I felt we could have fixed

that with our tax payer's money.

I would... would you be

real indignant about that

if they took tax money...

What, you would say

"You took our hard-earned

tax payer's dollars

and you fixed the goddamn

Statute of Liberty'?

Next thing you know you'll be

defending the Constitution. "

They surrounded the Statue

of Liberty on its birthday

with rich thugs in yachts.

H's looking down and saying

"I asked for huddled masses.

What is this?

Who painted "Beatrice"

across my crown?"

Liberty and justice for sale.

I got sucked in.

I donated $100 bucks,

they sent me a Statute

of Liberty tote bag.

I use it to smuggle baby

Mexicans into the country.

- Barry, are you going

to vote this year?

- Yes, I already

voted in the primary

and I will vote, certainly.

- Ah, would you tell us

who you voted for?

Um... no.

...No?

- He was a very lovable,

capable,

straightforward comedian

that was able to smuggle

stuff about authoritarianism

and consumerism

into a seemingly

middle of the road set

that the audience would laugh

at and then it was too late,

they'd already started

laughing at some pretty

subversive, you know,

apocalypse-culture

son of stuff.

- Can you believe Exxon actually

called a press conference

to tell us that they're going to

pass the cost of the oil spill

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