The next person to say “Rest in peace” about George Carlin, should get to join him in the eternal nothingness to which he has gone. Sadly, the wrong Geoge died but… well. Mr. Carlin will indeed be missed. He was a man whose blunt take on the human condition and our sick a bed world, always made infinitely more sense then 90% of the psychotic inanities parsed out by the professional cultural and political commentators more people paid attention to… sadly.
But that’s to be expected, especially if you’re dirty like George was. Comedians are often the most insightful of social critics, seers who cut through the layers of BS to deliver the truth in a manner the spinners simply cannot do if they wish to stay employed and cover their self important asses. They invariably fear upsetting the powerful and important, they must contend with the fact that they cannot offend, at least not too deeply. A comic like George was expected to do so, and did it with a relish and verve that you could feel with every outrageous utterance.
Unlike Tim Russert, a decent chap who upon his death has been deified as some sort of sainted guardian of truth and integrity, George Carlin actually was. No, this is not to knock Russert, but with each additional encomium, which each new panegyric of praise posited for what the late ‘Meet The Press’ host did, I realize that George Carlin was a man who actually deserves as much if not much more praise, a man whose cultural influence will probably long outlast Russerts. The body of work he has left behind is ample proof of that.
Unlike Russert’s style of questioning that rarely offended, George Carlin did not tipsy-toe around the issues he addressed. He seemed to owe nor require no favors of no one so he spoke with a blunt honesty that made his reflections on culture and people more satisfying than that of most of the ‘more learned’ commentators of our time.
Both men asked questions, but generally Carlin provided the answers to his own questions. And the timeless brilliance of his observations will serve as a template not only to comics, but to regular Jane’s and Joe’s for generations to come, that will watch his videos and listen to his recorded work, and realize what those of us who grew up listening to him full well know, that there was a certain genius to his work, a probing incisive edge that eludes all but the best social satirist.
In recent years, George seemed to rely more on those dirty words he helped codify into broadcast law, along with pure venomous anger and outrage, more than he had previously, and it somewhat diluted the impact of the keen observations that he mixed with the raw words and the insults and the rage he exhibited so fluently, albeit filthily.
But his humor never came without an almost fatal dose of truth, of what is called ‘righteous indignation’. He never failed to call out we the people for being the schmucks we keep proving to be. I do not refer to my nation as the U.S. of A-Holes for no reason. And George knew that we are just that. He knew that our own innate stupidity is at the core of why we as a nation, a people, a planet, are fucked!
He colored my comedic style, well, off colored it actually. No one comic voice has been more influential regarding what I do and how I do it, than Mr. Carlin. I’d say I owe him a debt of gratitude except he’s dead and I owe him nothing.
He made life more tolerable, more bearable by simply reflecting on life, in an unvarnished style that eschewed spin and slickness for a point of view that reflected reality… imagine that pal, reality!
So no rest in peace for George because he is dead, not resting, he is dead, as in over, fini, done. George did not buy into the God and religion bullshit that consumes most of humanity, so he surely knew well enough to make every day matter, knowing that when this ride ends, there is not another ride, a bonus round, some eternal payoff. He believed that and he unabashedly let us know it and pounded religion and belief as nonsense to be treated as such. Although George believed he would not be going to Heaven, to some eternal award, he also died knowing he would not be going to hell.
Fortunately in the course of his truly all too short life, he made his living making us laugh, and more importantly, making us think. His potty mouth dispensed a certain raw genius, born of the streets of Manhattan New York City, and the Irish Catholic upbringing that he called out for its pious phoniness.
With two LP’s that are essential listening to this date, two disc that are barely dated, that still resonate with the clarion call of honesty reverberating still, ‘Class Clown’ and ‘AM & FM’, he defined a new generation of ‘Fuck you, up yours’ comedy, forged from the empirical truths he learned from life. If you do not own them, get them and understand why the word genius surely applies. Or go to ‘You Tube’ and watch some excerpts from his estimable body of work.
He seemed to feed off of his ability to inform us about all the frauds among us, reveling in revealing the hypocrisy that is rampant in this world gone mad, exposing the bullshit artist and this democratic system we trust in, that keeps fucking us to that proverbial standstill. He never ‘drank the cool aid” (the type of clichéd phrase he would rail against), and he never bought into the ‘everything is beautiful’ version of America those who rule us want us to believe in.
A blogger referred to him as the Lennon/McCartney of comedy. Beautifully said. Because indeed, he was just that. On a planet where ‘the futures uncertain and the end is always near’ George acknowledged the madness and spoke truth to the liars, the crooks, the evil, loathsome SOB’s that take the quality out of the quality of life we all crave.
He could be just plain silly too, think back on his observations about sports, or the ‘stuff’ we basically buy homes to store, so we can accumulate even more stuff. For over 50 years, he set the bar high, and few have matched his prescience, and his ability to entertain while making you think, a lesson I hoped I have learned from a true original and a master of the comedic art form.
Because of his lack of fidelity to such American staples as God, country and the blind idolization of celebrity, he has been accused of believing in nothing, just a nihilistic elder entertainer of little value and merit. Well, nothing could be more distanced from the truth.
George Carlin believed all right. He believed in the type of free speech most broadcasters never dare to attempt. He believed in speaking his mind, stating the truth as he saw it, exposing the hucksters and con men, often harshly and bitterly. And thankfully he did so often enough to be relevant decade after decade.
His style made him hard for many to take. But his penchant for riffing on those little truths of life that pass most of us by made his comedy invaluable. The good laughs he provided were invariably accompanied by a good thought, a truism, something that made you think and reflect on this insanity that rules on this world were riding upon. I like that in a comedian. And it was an integral part of George’s greatness.
And the motherfucker left us with 7 words we cannot use on the air, well most people cannot use on the air (Thank You international shortwave!), simply by having used them himself. Those deadly 7 words. You all know them right? (In his standard running order, they remain: Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits).
So in his memory… I won’t say this is for you George, because he is still dead and is not listening as much as we would like to believe he may be… but as an appreciation, allow me to offer up 7 words that define George Carlin:
TRUTHFUL
HONEST
OUTRAGEOUS
ANGRY
DIRTY
BRILLIANT
MISSED
Our loss friends, our loss.