Friday, July 4, 2008

Missing George Carlin

How many of these have we seen in the past 2 weeks? Well, chuck this one in with the rest of them.

My Dad is very cool. When I was a kid ... a long time ago ... probably when I was 12 or so, my Dad decided that it was ok for me to listen to George Carlin records. We also listened to Richard Pryor records, wow, that ticked my mom off royal. Maybe he did just to tick her off, in any event, listening to those records, Carlin's in particular, really shaped my way of thinking about the world. Pryor records just introduced me to another cultural experience, and many words that I had never heard, much less uttered. But Carlin ... he spoke about everyday things, the irony of life in general. I had the 7 words committed to memory by the time was 12. Am I proud of that? Well, it showed that I could actually memorize stuff, but it also showed, again, the irony of everyday life. His wit was exceptional. Why do people name their dogs Spot? If I get a dog, I am going to name it "Stain" ... brilliant! Simple, funny!

But I lost George Carlin long before 2 weeks ago. After his wife died, he seemed to grow very very melocholy in his humor ... humorless humor, I guess. His bitterness toward the world was sad to see. When he proclaimed that nobody should vote, I was saddened. Everyone should vote, no matter what. I vote so I can complain because I always vote for losers.

Carlin was arrested with Lenny Bruce in Chicago in the early 1960's. What I wouldn't give to have been sitting in that paddy wagon with them ... Lenny was the Christ figure of comedy. Lenny broke the barriers ... gave his life, literally, so comedians like Richard Pryor and George Carlin could perform without the risk of being arrested for obscenity, although Carlin was arrested and his case regarding the 7 words did make it all the way to the SCOTUS .. he won, :) Carlin's big thing were WORDS ... words don't kill, people kill. Lenny Bruce was convicted of obscenity and died while appealing his case. He was pardoned after he died. The film, Lenny, was terrific. One of Dustin Hoffman's best performances.

So, that's my diatribe on George Carlin.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Likewise, you've been on a downward spiral of increasing nastiness on CD. Whats up with that?

Shhhhhh .... it's a secret said...

You want nasty? I'll give you nasty little miss or mister anonymous ... dork.