Time Out spoke to cult US comic Barry Crimmins ahead of his three-night stand at the Leicester Square Theatre.
'I'd like to overthrow the government of the United States. And I'd like to close the Catholic Church'. Most comedians would settle for headlining the O2. But then Barry Crimmins isn't most comedians. In a 30-year career, the cult comic has inspired some of the sharpest minds in US stand-up, led a crusade against online child porn and agitated for political change. A loud-shirted Jongleurs MC he is not.
A suprise hit at the 2015 Sundance Festival, documentary 'Call Me Lucky' is a moving account of Crimmins's remarkable life and the truth-teller spirit he brings to his stand-up ('I do political and social satire. I smuggle content via humour', he tells me). Comedians Stephen Wright, Patton Oswalt and David Cross, fellow veterans of the '80s Boston stand-up scene, line up to acknowledge his influence. Louis CK is also a huge fan.
The focal point of 'Call Me Lucky' is Barry's on-stage admission in the '90s that he suffered repeated sexual abuse as a child. It led to the comic taking on AOL at the time over the issue of online chatrooms where child porn was shared. Humbled by the documentary's impact among survivors of abuse, Crimmins tells me: 'I now hear from a lot of people and try to help as best I can.'
But it's politics he'll be talking when he visits London later this month. He's withering on the US presidential race: 'You have a woman who represents just about the worst the patriarchy has to offer running against the absolute worst the patriarchy has to offer'. And promises to take our own leaders to task when he hits the capital: 'The attack on your nation's long-standing efforts to maintain basic standards for the poor is right out of Ronald Reagan's playbook'.
Watch out, Theresa May. The honeymoon is over.