American Splendor

I recently saw a great film about the life of Harvey Pekar. Harvey became friends with Robert Crumb who he met while shopping for old jazz records. Crumb inspired Harvey to write a comic about his life that Crumb would illustrate. That comic was called American Splendor.



Harvey wrote about life and all the odd characters he came in contact with including Toby Radloff, the prototypical nerd, and his wife Joyce. Harvey lives in Cleveland. He tends to focus on the negative aspects of his life, and the comic reflects his dark view of life.

But in a strange way, I find it uplifting.

Harvey is a file clerk and remained in that job throughout his comic writing career. Appearances on David Letterman were memerable, and very uncomfortable for Dave.


Here is an interview That Harvey attempts to do with one of the characters that appears in his comic book. But he ends up being interviewed himself. This is an appearance on Toby Radloff's Etv show.


"Harvey you can't have any of my white castle hamburgers, so don't even ask."


Toby made many appearances on MTV in the 80's.

The film covers Harvey's meeting with R Crumb and the conception of his comic book career, how he meets Joyce and gets married, his appearances on the Letterman show, his battle with cancer, the adoption of his daughter and the making of the film itself.

Woven into the story are appearances by the real life characters. Paul Giamotti does a good job portraying Harvey. Hope Davis plays Joyce, and Judah Friedlander does a great Toby imitation.

If you get a chance have a look at this one.

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