If you're at all involved in the maker community, or watch a lot of DIY videos on YouTube, or saw the recent Making Fun show on Netflix (or NBC's Making It), you're likely familiar with Jimmy DiResta. This ridiculously talented jack-of-all-trades, video content creator, and undeniable force of nature has achieved almost guru-like status among legions of makers and fellow 'Tubers.
In this nearly one-hour profile of Jimmy's life and times on his farm and maker school in upstate New York, they call him the Maker Godfather, a term he doesn't much like or ever use himself. But if you know the maker world and have seen firsthand the impact Jimmy has had on so many in that community [raising my own hand], you know this audacious moniker is used with love, respect, and no small amount of humor.
Jimmy is a guy who tirelessly promotes, mentors, supports, and collaborates with so many, while fabricating in wood, metal, plastic, leather, fabric, and more, seemingly around the clock. (He reveals in the documentary that he gets about 4 hours of sleep a night and wishes he didn't have to eat).
At the end of the video, the impact DiResta has had is made abundantly clear as a parade of attendees stand before the camera at the recent Catskills Maker Camp (an event he inspired and helps to organize) and profess their teary-eyed love, respect, and admiration for him.
Jimmy has his detractors, those who cry foul over his lax shop safety, the beardy coterie of his white male posse, his unapologetic interest in firearms and knives. And those are legit discussions to have, but far beyond such things is the core character of the man and that core is kindness, generosity, creativity, and good humor.
As Jimmy himself professes in the video, he was once told by an LA TV producer: "Just be a good hang," and that's what he's tried to do in his life. Achievement unlocked! Jimmy DiResta is a damn good hang.
