R. Crumb: "I've got to do it. I'm going to get hell for it, I know, but I have to do it."
I came of age when "alternative America" was a pedagogy, and R. Crumb was core to the curriculum. I had not, and still have not ever seen an artist willing to be so raw, honest and revealing about his most innermost truths.
This short documentary features delightfully open answers to an off-camera interviewer that are intercut with stills of his prodigious output to make the case for how completely unique he is.
Here's a typical comment: "I had this inspiration: when it comes into my head, oh, I've got to do it. I'm going to get hell for it, I know, but I have to do it. Somehow, somebody's got to lay this out. It's like, there's this shit underneath that people just don't want it out front. So, just put it out there, this whole paranoia, and put it out there in a comic book."
Video: Robert Crumb Interview: A Compulsion to Reveal