Bob Golub further reveals his harsh childhood in his film "Dodo." Click photo for larger image. Golub is scheduled to appear at two of the three showings of his movie, at 9:15 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, at the Melwood Screening Room.

Bob Golub moved from Sharon, Mercer County, to West Hollywood and found reasonable success as a stand-up comedian and actor. He had a small role in "GoodFellas" and appeared in "Art School Confidential," "The Kings of Brooklyn" and a few TV shows. But Golub keeps coming back to one role -- a real-life drama he endured as a child in an often violent and dysfunctional family.

In the early 1980s, Golub launched a dark stand-up routine about his abusive father, whom he describes as a chronically underemployed alcoholic nicknamed Dodo. He later created a one-man show about the same topic that was staged in Los Angeles, Youngstown and Pittsburgh.

A few years ago, he launched production of a dramatization of his experiences with his dad and the impact he had on each member of the family. When the project collapsed, Golub collected old video from the stand-up bits and performance piece, new video from the discarded drama, home movies, newly taped interviews with family members and his dad's acquaintances, and some voice-over narration. With the help of co-writer Evan Seyet and editor Brad Mays, 49-year-old Golub squeezed it all into his fourth attempt at articulating his personal catharsis.

"Dodo" focuses on Golub's father, who died this year, but quickly becomes the confessional autobiography of its author. Frank narration about drunken beatings, spousal abuse and family neglect from a father who couldn't say "I love you" are offset by darkly comical anecdotes about growing up in a violent Western Pennsylvania home where the only way to get back at his Steelers-loving dad was to root for the Browns.

"When you grow up the way I grew up in a tough Western Pennsylvania town, you either laugh or you cry," says Golub, in a recent phone interview. "I just wanted to tell the story about not telling your kids you love them, and [it] being funny to boot. ... Even after my dad's death, I wanted to get respect for him."

Respect? "Dodo" reaches for but never finds that kind of "Crumb" moment, when the family dysfunction is put in some forgiving, artistic perspective. In times of trouble -- and they are endless -- the family rallies to help each other. But "Dodo" doesn't show enough of that to depict a bonding relationship or even some kind of tough love. It's a disturbing documentary that leaves you feeling disturbed.

"The other day at the mall," says Golub, "I saw this woman beating her kid and he was screaming, 'Mommy, I love you. I love you.' Even then, you still want to love your parent, you know?"