George Carlin opened his last HBO special by complaining that he didn't like being told whom to admire in this country. If I'd ever had the chance to tell him how much I admire him, he probably would have told me not to. And that's one of the reasons I do.
Carlin died on Sunday the 22nd of June of heart failure. He was still writing and still touring and still causing trouble. I got in trouble, in fact, for not calling my son immediately when I heard—but I wanted to tell him in person that his hero was gone.
Carlin factoids:
•George Carlin was the very first host of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE in 1975.
•Carlin was the first performer in Las Vegas to refuse to wear a dinner jacket or tuxedo.
•Carlin has been arrested for obscenity. An obscenity case involving his material (when a radio station played his routine about the seven words you can't say on television (shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits)) went to the Supreme Court, who decided you couldn't say those words on the radio, either.
•Carlin was briefly in the Air Force (they asked him to leave) after he dropped out of high school.
•Carlin has been honored in several ways for his lifetime of comedy, has several Grammies, an Emmy (and many nominations), and best-selling albums. A few days before his death, it was announced that he would receive this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He will now be the first posthumous recipient (even Mark Twain doesn't have one!).
•Wal-mart would not stock his book, WHEN WILL JESUS BRING THE PORK CHOPS, when it came out.
•Carlin has been associated with THE SIMPSONS three times. He voiced a hippie, Munchie, (who had apparently had
This is his favorite gesture
sex with Homer's mother) in the episode "D'oh-in In the Wind." In "Homie the Clown," Krusty is being sued by George Carlin, although he claims his seven dirty words sketch was different from Carlin's. In "The Last Temptation of Krust," Krusty tries to reinvent himself as a cross between Lenny Bruce and George Carlin (look for Carlin's iconic black clothes and hairstyle).
•The early HBO specials come with warnings. You can see them on the DVDs. A very nice woman tells us that Carlin's comedy is not for everyone, but if you don't like it, you have the freedom to change the channel and watch network t.v.
I'm not going to pretend that Carlin was a top-notch actor, but, as James Lipton noted on INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO, he did improve over time. His first great role was Rufus in BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. Knowing what we do about Carlin's thoughts on religion, it's ironic to see him playing the keeper of the philosophy Bill and Ted found. However, I can see him buying into a belief system in which we are simply expected to "be excellent to each other."
Two years later, in 1991, Carlin appeared as Eddie Detreville, the gay neighbor, in THE PRINCE OF TIDES. While the character was swishy, Carlin also made him thoughtful and three-dimensional.
Most people will remember Carlin as Cardinal Ignatius Glick in DOGMA. It's like watching Carlin play himself in bizarro-world. His pandering, hypocritical proselytizer of the "Buddy Jesus" is sacrilicious.
From what I'm told, this role may also be the opposite of the "narrator" of THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE AND FRIENDS and his Emmy-winning role as the conductor on SHINING TIME STATION. As much as I
best part of the movie: Carlin
love George, I just couldn't go watch those, not even for research.
I am possibly the only person in the world who saw JERSEY GIRL. (Apparently, most people were scared away by the Bennifer quotient.) I don't even remember Jennifer Lopez in this movie (she "exits" pretty early). But I do remember George Carlin, who must take care of his son and granddaughter when they move in with him. This is actually my favorite Carlin role. He's a curmudgeon, but like all the great ones (here's looking at you, Granddaddy), his primary goal in life is taking care of his family. Even when his granddaughter wants to stage a song from SWEENEY TODD. In fact, watch the movie for that song, if nothing else.
If you really want to remember George Carlin (or to accept him as your impersonal non-savior), you need to read his books, listen to his albums, or watch his concert films; there are twenty, spanning thirty-one years.
Although most people only think of Carlin as doing "blue" material or anti-establishment rants, most of his comedy is observational—it's about what we do when we get wedgies in public and why we pretend it's okay when someone's dog humps our leg. It's about what we say when we're embarrassed or when we're bullshitting. It's about sports and pets and our stuff.
I don't want to discount the "blue" routines or the counter-culture insights, however. I use Carlin's materials when I teach language. He brings a wonderful logic to our understandings of why we use the words we do (why we say we're going to get "on" a plane, when we most certainly are getting "in" it, etc). His use of "profanity" is simply a part of this obsession with language (one he claims is
How can you not love this face?
both inherited from his grandfather and taught by his mother). And I have to agree with him that profanity is not profane. That is, words are not good or bad. It is, as he explains, entirely about context. To get caught up in the words is to run the risk of ignoring the context—and the causes—of our tendencies to actually profane each other in thought and deed.
Go watch my favorite clip, from his 1990 special DOIN' IT AGAIN:
As for the anti-bourgeois leanings, I have to say I'm with him. I don't have complete trust in my government. I do think that the rich and the corporations are fine with screwing over the poor. And religions are, in almost all respects, poor representations of God or what is supposed to be good about the human soul. On this point, I'll leave you with Carlin's words, from his October 11th, 1975 performance on what was then called NBC'S SATURDAY NIGHT.
"Religion - religion, at best - at BEST - is like a lift in your shoe. If you need it for a while, and it makes you walk straight and feel better - fine. But you don't need it forever, or you can become permanently disabled. Religion is like a lift in the shoe, and I say just don't ask me to wear your shoes. And let's not go down and nail lifts onto the natives' feet."
Dr. Karma is a silly, nerdy know-it-all, but in a good way. She brings all her overeducation to discuss that which truly matters: comedy. As some famous guy once said: “And if I laugh at any mortal thing, ‘tis that I may not weep.” Or something like that.
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