I generally regard entertainers as trained monkeys. They’re there to make me happy and help me kill some time and when I’m finished with them they go back up their trees until I’m ready to be entertained by them again. And when they die I don’t care. I might miss the entertainment, but I won’t miss the entertainer.
So I find it a little surprising that I feel so badly hearing about George Carlin kicking it over the weekend. I was first exposed to adult stand-up comedy in the early 80s. When my grandfather, who was the first person I knew with a VCR, rented Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip I remember being amazed by the colorful language coming out of the TV, but I didn’t get the comedy. I was only like 12, after all.
Not long after then we got cable TV, with HBO. I was home with the flu and feeling miserable, but I was allowed to lay on the couch and watch TV to help me pass the time. I remember one night I came across a special that was airing called Carlin at Carnegie and something about the guy talking on there made me stick with him.
Even though I was only 12 (or maybe 13), I swear I never laughed so hard at anything in my life before or after then. Carlin was so funny and so observant and so raw and so right and so easy to understand that I was amazed. I became a big fan of this “new” guy I found. It’s because of George Carlin that I can write what I wish on my blog now without giving a shit what people think. Sometimes my opinions my might not be popular, but that doesn’t mean they’re not relevant or that they’re not right. Sometimes people really are the assholes and it’s not just me. George Carlin encouraged me to call a spade a spade and let the people who have a problem with that fact worry about it.
I found that Carlin got a little too bitter and lost some of his edge as he got older, but when he was being interviewed and not trying to be “on” like he was during his latter HBO specials he was still an amazing observationist and was able to express himself in ways that were truly profound.
This is one instance where I’m sorry the monkey isn’t going to be coming back down from its tree to entertain me.
I was sad too. I just saw “It’s Bad for Ya” on HBO last month and thought not only was he looking old, he seemed pretty bitter and maybe ready to die.
Cocksucking motherfucker! I heard the news this morning on NPR. Shit. I think I’ll be responding to every Carlin blog today. The rest of this insane world can wait a god-damn minute.
And yes, it was Carlin who made it OK for me to curse like this. Even my mom laughed at it when I was also 12. One of the few time I did NOT have to eat the soap.
Great post on George. I think he got at least some of his humor from growing up in Jewish neighborhoods in New York City. Certainly he was influenced by Lenny Bruce. Jewish comedians: Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Seinfeld, Don “Insult Humor” Rickles, Lenny Bruce, etc etc.
How could I forget Andy Kaufman?
I liked him too!