[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o[/youtube]
George Carlin was 29 when Lenny Bruce died in 1966 — the same year he recorded his debut album, Take Offs and Put Ons. He picked up the comedic blaze of scathing social commentary Lenny Bruce had lit, and for the next 42 years George Carlin torched the fucking joint. The world is gonna feel way too chill without him.
[two of George Carlin’s favorite targets: War and Religion. Religion in the clip above, and a War clip after the cut.]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDkhzHQO7jY&NR=1[/youtube]
Although Woody Allen was the first standup comedian I became a fan of (thanks to a now out-of-print album my dad owned), Carlin was the first one I listened to who engaged the world around him (I didn’t hear Pryor until I got to college). I would say even though he had his occasional dry spots, no comedian has made me laugh as consistently as he has over such a long period of time.
RIP, George.
This was a horrible way to start the week. Deaths of the great and the close are hard anytime, but sudden deaths like this one, and Russert’s are particularly hard. 71. 58 is very young. 71 is young. Somehow I never expected Carlin to go early. Well, early early maybe, like Lennie Bruce, but once he passed 55 I figured he was gonna live forever.
His 7 words… now it just sounds like an episode of Deadwood. But then, and the edge to his work, blew our minds and pushed us conservative kids finding ourselves in the 1970s to the edge (as if Watergate and Vietnam and feminism weren’t enough).
sad day…sad loss. Whoever said it above is very right. The world will feel a bit more chill from now on.
2008 is the worst year ever – Russert, Carlin, Ledger. I don’t often cry when famous people die, but I think I’ve cried at least three times this year.
He was the funniest thing about Dogma, and he’s one of the only people who can make me literally cry laughing. R.I.P. George Carlin – the world was a less painful place because you made us laugh.
Oh yeah. Buddy Christ was awesome.
I guess with 2008, we should expect someone prominent to die every month. Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. I never actually indulged in Carlin’s stuff, but man, did my journalism teachers love the shit out of this guy.
Pierre, I think what always energized Carlin was the shit he was always finding that pissed him off, and he turned humor on it.
BTW, anyone remember him as the Archbishop(!) in DOGMA? That opening of him presenting “Buddy Christ”…..the movie is good, but never as good as that scene.
During the height of the anti-war/drug counterculture movement of the 1960s and 70s, that generation embraced Carlin as one of its own — a new generation that “got it” as opposed to comedians from earlier eras such as Jerry Lewis.
Carlin earned his seat in the pantheon of comedians largely because of his notoriety as one who challenged obscenity statutes through his material. He repeatedly defied convention — not to mention the law — by using words in his routines that were forbidden at the time. Perhaps the most infamous one, his “7 dirty words” routine, resulted in his arrest on more than one occasion. Authorities at Milwaukee’s Summerfest, for example, were ready and waiting for him — and he knew it — but he did the routine anyway, becoming a cultural martyr.
In his later years, as I recall, he became more politically conservative for awhile and maybe lost some of his touch, perhaps having been beaten down by the system. As he aged, however, I think he returned to his game.
The guy was a major cultural phenomenon — to the point and hysterically funny in doing so.
Thanks Sasha. That brightened my day. RIP George.
For CJ — From the Village Voice:
“I love words. I thank you for hearing my words. I want to tell you something about words that I uh, I think is important. I love..as I say, they’re my work, they’re my play, they’re my passion. Words are all we have really.
“We have thoughts, but thoughts are fluid. You know, [humming]. And, then we assign a word to a thought, [clicks tongue]. And we’re stuck with that word for that thought. So be careful with words. I like to think, yeah, the same words that hurt can heal. It’s a matter of how you pick them.
“There are some people that aren’t into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can’t say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They’d have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That’s what they told us they were, remember? ‘That’s a bad word.’ ‘Awwww.’ There are no bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad Intentions.
“And words, you know the seven don’t you? Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, huh? Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that will infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war.
Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, wow. Tits doesn’t even belong on the list, you know. It’s such a friendly sounding word. It sounds like a nickname. ‘Hey, Tits, come here. Tits, meet Toots, Toots, Tits, Tits, Toots.’ It sounds like a snack doesn’t it? Yes, I know, it is, right. But I don’t mean the sexist snack, I mean, New Nabisco Tits. The new Cheese Tits, and Corn Tits and Pizza Tits, Sesame Tits Onion Tits, Tater Tits, Yeah. Betcha can’t eat just one. That’s true I usually switch off . But I mean that word does not belong on the list.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/bushbeat/archives/2008/06/say_it_aint_so.php
sad, real sad 🙁 I would not want to have to think of who is the comic or comedian who is equal to George Carlin.. Nobody can equal him.
I would name Dave Chappelle as somebody who can be looked up to in the next generation. Chris Rock too.
Nick, look up “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” on Youtube and enjoy. It’s his most famous bit and brilliant.
Agreed Ryan, this one hurts the most. I have so many quotes of his dedicated to memory. He’s always been my favorite Stand Up because he was utterly fucking fearless. When he wasn’t making me laugh he was expanding my mind or giving me a perspective that I would never have considered. Let’s hope he’s happy meeting “The Big Electron”
Now we have to turn to the only other thoughtful anti-authoritarian comic out there: Lewis Black. I would have thought more people would take up the mantle of Carlin, but only Lewis Black comes even a little bit close.
Whoa cjK!
Honestly, as usual, I have no idea who this guy is or was, but I read this, before I came over to AD: http://cinemascopian.com/2008/06/23/george-carlin-is-in-deep-shit/ and I have decided that I liked the guy.
What a shame, the genii die and the idiots live.
Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits
What is this summer turning into…?
Salon.com has pulled Carlin’s interview with Heather Havrilesky from their February archives. Here’s the last question:
This is the saddest of the many recent talents to leave us (i almost cried through the laughter during the clips), so many this year, I love this guy. I have all his books and a couple of his lps, this is a truly sad day. Brilliant just Brilliant guy, he always made me laugh.
Well, after showing Carlin’s take on Religion, here is his pisser on Feminism…
Things You Never See…
*A Rolls Royce with a bumper sticker saying “Shit Happens”
*A fat Japanese woman…in Japan.
*Wheel Chair with a roll bar
*Someone taking a shit while in full speed.
Thanks for the heads up on the video censoring by youtube, RRA For whatever reason they claim it was pulled, the clip I chose to post was about America and War. Funny they would feel the need to yank that one, 25 minutes after news of Carlin’s death hits the wires.
So I replaced it with another anti-war clip, and this one’s even better.
Ryan, Oh I know…..hell, same with Carlin as well around that time period. There was a point where with his tame conservative routine, he was top draw in Las Vegas, but he decided that with Vietnam and the drugs and counter-culture….the money just wasn’t fuckin worth it anymore.
He lost alot of potential $$$ by going on the road with his new act, which got him alot of shit with authorities and night club owners unwilling to hire him….
But who’s the man now, dawg?
“You know what heaven is? The titty bar by the airport” – George Carlin
That video got pulled….and while Carlin would rather we not weep for his departure…..Too bad Rufus.
His take on “Religion”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o
I was gonna mention Richard Pryor on the main page, RRA, but wanted to keep it simple.
Pryor had been working Vegas in the early ’60’s with a tame routine, and the year after Lenny Bruce died he walked onto the stage of the Aladdin Theater, looked out over the packed house, and said, “What the fuck am I doing here!?”
At that point he became the Richard Pryor whose name is mentioned in the same breath as Bruce and Carlin.
That period of time, those couple of years, 1966-1968, must’ve some kind of nexus in American culture. There’s a stark Before-and-After difference, isn’t there?
This one hits me harder than any other recent death.
Most effective way on Earth to work our emotions. Open up our hearts and minds by making us laugh so hard we have tears in our eyes, Then death slips in to pull the rug out from under the party, turning those happy tears into sad ones.
So long Rufus, and thanks for the Jokes.
Its either Carlin, Bruce, Pryor, or Rickles who are the greatest stand-up comic act of all-time………….for today, Carlin is the King of Comedy.
🙁
He was so funny. He’ll be missed.
RIP.