R.I.P. George Carlin
June 23rd, 2008 | 4:00 pm est |
“I used to be Irish Catholic, now I’m an American. You know, you grow.”
Those were the first words spoken on George Carlin’s album Class Clown. While the man may have lost faith, he will forever be a deity for comedy fans — even after his passing Sunday in Los Angeles at the age of 71. When they build the Mount Rushmore of stand-up comedy, his face will most assuredly stare down at us — ideally with the look of disgust he would save for anyone who believed in any kind of god whatsoever. Luckily we won’t need a giant carving of his face to remember him, because he left behind the most impressive, voluminous, and influential body of work any stand-up comic has ever produced.
Albums like FM & AM, Class Clown, A Place for My Stuff!, and Life Is Worth Losing — and every one of his HBO specials — will forever stand as documents of their time, but will also remain fresh because his observations on our linguistic and social foibles will always be on point. Carlin understood the folly of being human, the insignificance of it, and railed at the ways we built obsessions for ourselves in order to avoid the pain. He pointed out the empty soul at the heart of show business in routines like “The Divorce Game” and his impression of a DJ working on air at wonderful WINO Radio. He deconstructed our fetishistic consumerism in “A Place for My Stuff.” And he never shied away from pointing out whenever language was used to obfuscate, rather than reveal, truth. This November, the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor will be bestowed on Carlin, a fact announced before his death. There could be no more appropriate comparison because Carlin, like Twain, was able to tell us all what we were doing wrong, and make us laugh while he told us. — Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Too bad to lose someone who never did sell all the way out. To be honest, he was only funny occasionally for me, but I usually figured that when I didn’t get the joke it was probably on me.
Having said that, I find it a little disrespectful to force the typical All Music Guide swipe at God into a memorial for a man who very well may be meeting God right this moment. Respect for the dead - and the unknown - should be the order of the day, in my humble opinion.
Too bad to lose someone who never did sell all the way out. To be honest, he was only funny occasionally for me, but I usually figured that when I didn’t get the joke it was probably on me.
Having said that, I find it a little disrespectful to force the typical All Music Guide swipe at God into a memorial for a man who very well may be meeting God right this moment. Respect for the dead - and the unknown - should be the order of the day, in my humble opinion.
The United Kingdom only got to know George by way of the Bill and Ted movies. Even so, his individuality shone through. An unforgetable talent.
m. salomon: George Carlin was an atheist, and regularly denounced religion as a part of his routine (though those two aren’t necessarily related)–I don’t think it’s a “typical AMG swipe at God” (?) as much as a way to explain the expression they were looking for.
Besides, if Carlin was still alive, you think he’d want us to censor ourselves for politeness’ sake?
George Carlin was two things: a not-very-smart man who impressed people because he sounded New York “smart”, and a not-very-funny man who relied upon the effect of his “shocking” statements. Thanks to him and the incomprehensible adulation afforded him, we have to put up with the likes of Carlos Mencia for another generation.
to compare Carlos Mencia’s no talent ass to George Carlin is almost sacrilege. obviously Mr.Graham, you have either not watched much of Carlin, or you are a “not-very-smart man” yourself because George Carlin was definitely a thinking man’s comic who used language to shock people into changing their perceptions, whether in a major or minor way. to hate on a man the day of his death doesn’t speak much of ya either. but i will dismiss you with some words of wisdom from the man himself: “Fuck it”
Re: Paul Graham
George Carlin was a comedic genius, please don’t flame him here.
George Carlin was a pleasant enough man — reminded me of some much-beloved relative — and I mourn his passing, but how, please, was he a comedic genius?
Paul Graham:
If you can’t tell the difference between George Carlin and Carlos Mencia, you probably shouldn’t be casting aspersions on the intelligence of others. You might not find Carlin funny, but his comedy albums in the 70s were groundbreaking social commentary of the highest order. They were also funny. I personally found him more amusing and less funny as he (and I) got older, but I always respected him. RIP George.
George Carlin (or maybe Lenny Bruce) introduced us to a general stand-up approach of “I am really, really smart — much smarter than you — and given my exclusive intelligence, I am going to make fun of things that strike me as dumb…” Maybe that is what you call social commentary of the highest order. Nonetheless, it is the approach that I associate with the likes of Carlos Mencia (in whose case it is made worse by his remarkably stupidity). Dom Irrera had a nice routine on stupid comics making intelligent “observations” a few year ago that would have been impossible absent the influence of Carlin.
The fact of the matter is that there have always been comedians and troupes that — presumably because they were, in fact, smarter and possessed the intellectual self-confidence — pulled all of this off in a genuinely funny manner (e.g., Pryor, Newhart, Monty Python, etc.)
Paul Graham = not funny. Carlin “not-very-smart?” Sit and watch one of his interviews sometime. He had a stage persona just like every other comedian; you just happen to not care for it. The Kennedy Center Twain award speaks for itself. Carlin himself would’ve dismissed you with a simple shrug.
Take your crusade elsewhere, pg.
George Carlin was the refreshing voice of America, which sometimes seems stuck in political correctness and bigotry, which he denounced with a razor sharp wit and observation and very crude, but hilarious humor. By criticizing he was more of a patriot than the blind followers who will not help their country evolve. Carlin’s comments on (the English) language and its useless euphemisms are highlights of linguistics. He was a great, great comedian.
My dad (who is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican) met George Carlin, and he said that he was a really nice guy.
He, like Lenny Bruce, was a first amendment hero, and helped to provide greater artistic freedom for the comedians that succeeded him, and in doing so provided more laughter in the world for generations to come.
To Paul Graham: How long have you had that hair across your ass? Carlin was indeed a comic genius. And not all of his humor was crude either. Certainly his observations on the English language were amazingly witty. There was…Jumbo shrimp…and…Early June peas (don’t you think they sneak a few late May peas in there?…and who could forget his wonderful contrast between baseball and football? Come on PG, wake up and find the humor that is all around you. Thanks to the late great George Carlin it’s a whole lot easier to find. Rest in peace, George!
I don’t know if Carlin will be considered a comic genius in the years to come, but I certainly think his comic observations were more articulate and insightful than Carlos Mencia’s. Mencia can’t express himself outside of a frat boy’s vocabulary (Deet dee deeeee!) or acquaintance with social issues (racial stereotypes, molestation by priests, etc.). Carlin could see the absurdity in anything, whether it was listing words you couldn’t say on television (at the time), or simply noticing that we “drive on a parkway and park on a driveway”.
Sadly, in his later years he became a grumpy curmudgeon and, for me, unlistenable - but in the ’70’s with “FM/AM”, “Class Clown” and “Occupation: Foole” there was no one to touch him for social satire and surreal observations of the “normal”. Certainly Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce (who was Carlin’s biggest influence) paved the way but Carlin took comedy and freedom of speech to new levels - if not actual heights.
Unfortunately this opened the door to a whole generation who missed the point and now every stand-up act liberally makes use of the Oedipal compound-noun - as well as the other six words you can never say on television - to get a laugh from an audience who not only isn’t there to think but wouldn’t know what to do with a complex thought anyway. Here we are now, entertain us.
I haven’t made a considered study of comedyland of late but I have heard Lewis Black and he seems to be carrying on the torch a bit. There must be others. Right?
And, yes, there was a time when he was a “Comic Genius TM” and, for good or bad, changed the face of stand-up in the same way that Monty Python changed sketch comedy. There was just no going back.
Much of Carlins stuff was funny, an equal amount wasn’t, I certainly believe he was an influence. The profound tragedy of his passing is that as an athiest he denied his Creator and is now doomed to spend eternity with his lower case god.. there is no humor in that !!
If there was one thing anyone could appreciate about George Carlin, no matter what you believe or what your views are, is that he made us think. It is okay to question things, including your own beliefs. Even if you are right, it just makes your position that much stronger. George Carlin didn’t see himself as better than the rest of us, he just used his own critiques on society to make people laugh and maybe think, as well. I believe he had more respect for his audience than many preachers and educators do. George always questioned society. Now I believe he has finally gone on to get the answers!
I hope his eulogy features some of the seven words. It’ll be like when John Cleese used Graham Chapman’s funeral as an opportunity to be the first person to use the F-word at a British memorial service.
I haven’t been this affected by the passing of a celebrity in quite some time. George Carlin is probably my favorite comic of all time next to the almighty Bill Hicks. Why do all the great comics die while they’re still so funny?
Wow! You’re all so young . . . . and American. Nietzsche told us god was dead, so move on. Carlin tried to drag North America out of that polite and stifling world of Ed Sullivan that likes its popular culture packaged and marketable (see also, Stones and the Who). He still has a lot to teach us about how being true to ourselves is painful, poetic, and really really funny (things that your current prez does not get). C’mon, his “Stuff,” is the greenest of green comedy, man! And he ain’t a celebrity–those are bipolar disfunctionals who squash paparazzi with their SUV’s–Carlin was an artist. There’s a difference. Man.