Call Me Lucky Page #6

- He stopped, I think,

worrying about whether

he was being funny or not.

And the audience,

rightfully was like,

"Who the f*** is that guy'?

Why is he yelling at us

because I don't know about

where chalk comes from? "

- What I couldn't do is,

I always had to close shows

and would watch the

acts on before me,

and I would watch the audience

think they were great

and I'd hate the audience

by the time I got out there

because it was, you

know... you know,

"Where you from'? What do you do?

You're a queer. "

You know those comics.

Why do women go

to the bathroom in pairs?

Because they get

hassled by drunk men.

Write an act, you a**hole!

How come foreigners drive

cabs and work at the 7-11'?

Because they're entry

level jobs, that's why.

Same reason your great

grandparents built the rail road.

Write a goddamn act!

I used to be proud

to consider myself

a stand up comic but I can't.

I don't want the

guilt by association.

- He doesn't do it on purpose

but he can make you feel

a little small or guilty

about having had a...

really a basically

incorrect political idea

or notion about something.

- I didn't mean to

insult you or anything...

well, I guess I meant to,

like, inform you

but it came out as an insult.

I'm awful goddamn

sorry for that.

- He doesn't even really

like the word "comedy".

And, you know, having

covered comedy for so long'

I can understand how he's

sort of at odds with it.

I sometimes feel cheap,

that I'm up just up on the

stage making people laugh.

It's kind of like

testing your reflexes.

It's just a nervous reaction.

And I think he has

always felt that way'

I suspect, as a comedian,

that he wasn't going up there

just to make people laugh.

- F***ing I hate comedy,

I really do.

Almost everyone involved

with it, ya know?

I'm super-needy

but blah, blah.

What did you think?

- And it was extremely

stressful just watching him

because first people

would be mad that

they're not really laughing.

Some people would leave.

And then there would

be... some people would heckle.

Barry doesn't...

he doesn't suffer

fools wisely.

He lays into those hecklers.

It is completely unbelievable.

It's just beautiful.

Whoever it is doesn't know'

does-n'! know what he's doing,

really.

He thinks he's just going

to yell at the guy on stage.

He doesn't know the force,

the energy,

that he's going to be

crushed verbally for two'

three minutes maybe.

Just overwhelmed.

- Someone would say something

and he would just go off.

What?

Did I vote for Carter?

In this most recent election?

Yeah, I was a die-hard.

Jimmy Carter?!

What, if I don't like Reagan,

I have to like...

therefore it falls

I like Carter. F*** you.

You're like a college student,

aren't you?

College students

these days are real hip.

"I support the president.

I've got a computer

in my dorm.

I've never gotten laid.

I got drunk once;

I'm pretty sure

the beer was bad. "

F*** you.

F*** your family.

No, he kept going and going.

And then he would f***in'

beat them down so much.

Want some more?

F***ing gold boy?

F*** you. F*** you.

Jesus, not tonight,

not tonight.

- And he would do

a litany of sh*t.

More facts and'

"Did you know this?

And did you know that?"

And the people would go,

"What the f***, man?

It's a comedy show. "

Jimmy Carter?!

What, do you think

I like Jimmy Carter'?

Jimmy Carter and his immediate

family has never been seen in

public without mucus on

some part of their body.

Carter's best plan

to get the hostages out

is go out into the desert

and attack ourselves

with helicopters.

You know what he promises?

"A government as good

as its people. "

Apparently we suck.

"If you don't like Reagan,

you like Carter. ll follows. "

F*** you.

"F*** you.

F*** you,

Mister Politic Boy.

That sh*t doesn't

affect me. "

He goes,

"It doesn't affect you?!"

- My impression of

Richard Nixon:

"Where is that constitution?"

How come nobody ever shot

that motherf***er?

Shoot him.

Piss on his grave.

He would go into a rage.

And I said,

"Barry, what the f***?"

- There was something shaky

and weird about him

but I couldn't put

my finger on it.

- I don't know if a lot of

people knew why at that point.

I don't 'think I did.

- I certainly wasn't the

only one who noticed it'

but there was just...

you knew that wasn't him.

And then when all that

stuff happened with him,

you kind of understood,

you know,

that self-protective shell that

he put over himself for so long.

- I remember writing about it

and talking to him and saying'

"You gotta cutout

the clubs for a while.

The clubs just

aren't working for you.

I don'! know what you're

going to do next

but the clubs obviously aren't

the right place for you. "

As I look back now

in retrospect,

a lot of this makes sense.

- Okay.

Mm-hmm. I love you.

- Okay.

Bye, mom.

He's had some rough times

but he's like I am,

you know?

I've had them, too, but I

forget about the rough ones

and try and be happy

that I'm alive and doing well.

- I knew my mother liked

Black-Eyed Susans

and I would pull clumps

of them out of the ground.

I didn't know that you were

supposed to cut them off,

so I would bring them

to her like clumps

with the roots still dangling,

all full of dirt.

And because she liked it

so much I kept doing it,

and I didn't realize she was

getting kind of a kick out of me

being an idiot.

Now I feel bad about

wiping out generations

of Black-Eyed Susans.

But, you, know, that's me,

I find a way to ruin anything.

He was really a great boy.

- So this was dated back

in early May of 1992.

"Barry Crimmins has been the

social and liberal conscience

of the Boston comedy

almost since its beginning.

His topical and political

humor has always been

intensely personal

and acidic.

Crimmins took both of those

traits to a new level last night

in perhaps the most

highly-charged

and soul-baring

monologue ever staged

in one of the city's

comedy clubs. "

That was amazing.

He got up at Stitches.

- It was just like a regular

stand up comedy show.

And the crowd was good

and he was popular in Boston

and everybody loved him,

you know,

so they were all psyched.

- There was nothing

funny about it,

as one might imagine.

"Near the end of the night'

after a rambling,

scathing indictment

of almost every aspect

of American government

and culture'

a clearly tortured Crimmins

suddenly shifted topics. "

- Anytime somebody that

you've known for a long time

discloses something huge

and game-changing and...

it makes you rethink

that whole person.

- "Since I was a little kid,

he began,

I could never stand to see

anyone innocent victimized.

I've always identified with

victims and thought that was

because I was some

white kid from a rich town

in upper state New York.

Only recently, Crimmins went on,

did he really begin

to understand that

wasn't the reason.

The room instantly grew as

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