Royce Hall was packed with a diverse cross section of humanity on Thursday, October 29th, when comic icon R. Crumb made a rare public appearance to discuss his latest and longest book, Book of Genesis with Fran�oise Mouly of The New Yorker.
Crumb discussed his work his family and his new life in France egged on by flattering comments and the occasional question from Fran�oise Mouly, the New Yorker Magazine’s art editor since 1993.
The evening started off with an unexpectedly amusing and somewhat strident introduction from UCLA Live Director, David Sefton asking audience members to turn off their cell phones. He then went on the post discussion part of the evening reminding us that the �Q� in �Q and A� stood for question and thus strongly suggested that we refrain from statements during 20-30 minute session which 
followed the one hour discussion Sadly, his second point was not heeded; the question and answer period devolved into an excuse to get a head start on exiting traffic after one man relentlessly promoted his Amazon-Woman-Loving website and several others asked simplistic questions.
The discussion itself was wide ranging although not particularly deep as Mouly seemed allergic to the idea of asking Crumb a follow up question. In addition to talking about his family, many of whom have battled mental illness, Crumb shared work from his new life in France � he and second wife, underground cartoonist Aline Kominsky have lived there since 1991. Thanks to a Macintosh which Mouly deftly manipulated � a good thing as Crumb said that he was a technophobe and did all of his work by hand � the audience was treated to a sampling of posters whi
ch Crumb has created to promote the exercise classes his wife runs in their small village along with other recent work.
Some of Crumb�s best trademark understatements came while he talked about the huge undertaking he was promoting, the 200 page Book of Genesis which he described as �laying track for the trans-Siberian railroad� at one point after revealing that it took him an average of three days to create each exquisitely detailed page of his biblical epic.
Crumb and Mouly provided those in attendance with an interesting evening listening to two clearly talented and interesting people who provided many tasty, thoughtful morsels for post Royce Hall discussions.
The Bible Illuminated R. Crumb�s Book of Genesis will be at the Hammer Museum through February 7, 2010. Terry Zwigoff�s critically acclaimed 1995 documentary, Crumb will be show as part of the Hammer Screenings on November 3rd.
For information on the above and other Crumb related happenings at the Hammer, check out their site: www.hammer.ucla.edu
