Hampshire College

Congratulations to Bobcat Goldthwait, our Commencement 2009 keynote speaker.

Born in the outskirts of Hollywood (Syracuse, New York) in 1962, Bobcat Goldthwait wrote and directed his first film Shakes the Clown in 1991. A dark cult comedy, Shakes was heralded by the Boston Globe as the 'Citizen Cane of Alcoholic clown movies,' and lays claim to such fans as Martin Scorsese and Michael Stipe – in fact, the REM song “Binky the Doormat” was based on a line from Shakes the Clown.

Goldthwait’s next movie, Windy City Heat, appeared in the Cine Vegas Film Festival in '04 and won best film at the Montreal Comedy Festival that year. Matt Stone (co-creator of South Park) has called Windy City Heat 'beyond genius' and Vice Magazine called it, 'quite simply the greatest movie of all time.'

Sleeping Dogs Lie marked Bobcat’s third feature film as a director. Written by Goldthwait, crewed by film students from Craigslist, and financed by friends and pawn shops, the movie was shot entirely during a two-week hiatus from his job directing Jimmy Kimmel Live (2004-2006). It was chosen to compete in Sundance’s 2006 Dramatic competition, and was also in the London, Toronto, and San Sebastian Film Festivals that year. Sleeping Dogs Lie was hailed as “earnest and improbably moving” by Esquire Magazine, and “demonically funny and surprisingly sweet” by Rolling Stone. Bobcat credits his failure to appear in the film as a good part of its success.

Bobcat’s latest movie, World's Greatest Dad, stars long time friend Robin Williams, and was again made independently from the studio system. Shooting again with a cast made up primarily of close friends, World's Greatest Dad premiered at Sundance in January 2009 to great reviews – Defamer called the script “amazing” and the film itself “brilliant.” Also screening at Sundance 2009 was Bobcat’s short film Goldthwait Home Movies: Anniversary Edition. Upon hearing that he would have two separate films at the 2009 festival, Bobcat reportedly cried like a little baby girl.

Bobcat has directed for many television shows including Chappelle's Show, the Man Show, and Crank Yankers. As a comic he had three HBO specials and had appeared on the David Letterman Show by the time he was 20. As an actor he appeared in an innumerable slew of movies and was huge in the 80's, all of which has allowed him to live in an impossibly luxurious rental home in the Los Angeles area with two cats, his girlfriend, and his daughter Tasha, a film student at Hampshire College.