The underground comic book artist, Robert Crumb, became a cult figure during the flower-power generation as R. Crumb, founder of ZAP Comix, creator of characters like Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, and Angelfood Mc-Spade. The reclusive Crumb previously avoided self-disclosure, keeping interviewers at arm's length with wry put-downs that revealed as much as they concealed. Filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, a friend of several decades who always believed Crumb to be an unrecognized American genius, wanted to tell his story before it was debased by some hack from the media culture that Crumb's work frequendy derides.

By report, Zwigoff was able to overcome Crumb's considerable resistance