George Carlin RIP

larrym. · Post by **larrym.** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:16 am

Probably one of the greatest comedic minds this country has ever known. You will be missed, "Al Sleet, the Hippy-Dippy Weatherman".

____________________

Larry

djm · Post by **djm** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:32 am

I don't know where you get all this stuff, but what's worse, I don't know what to do with it.

djm

hyldemoer · Post by **hyldemoer** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:44 am

A couple years back, thinking my husband and I liked Carlin's sort of humor, my mother-in-law got us all tickets to a performance of his while we were visiting them in up state New York.
The theatre he performed in was big enough to rival most theaters in Chicago and it was packed.

The audience booed all through the opening act.
A couple times we were showered with beer from the loud mouthed drunks seated around us.
When Carlin came out the crowd went even wilder. I know they were listening to him because they loudly shouted and applauded approval when he told jokes that mentioned incest.

After a while I started to think that even he was disgusted with the response of the audience and I left wondering if he had to go through that sort of thing at every performance
or if his fans in Schenectady were the exception.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:51 am

I worked with some guys in Maryland who had attended the Rochester (NY)
Institute of Technology. That school also has a large deaf community, so
they keep several sign-language interpreters on staff, and there's one
at every school-sponsored event. One of these interpreters was a large
man with white hair and beard, whom everyone called "Santa Claus".

One day, George Carlin came to the school to perform, and as luck would
have it, "Santa Claus" was the interpreter. Many hearing people lost their
innocence that night as they learned the signs for all sorts of sexual
themes from Santa.

MusicalADD · Post by **MusicalADD** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:48 am

As I'm reading this thread, the banner ad is for "George Carlin ring tones."

I wonder which clips they used. Hm. Now that could be potentially embarrassing, having certain choice Carlin clip as one's ring tone, and having the phone go off during, say, a business meeting....

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:51 am

Yeah, I want to add an RIP from here. His observational humor, to me, defined the genre. The routine on "stuff" already mentioned was truth, rendered in comedic form. Other bits were funny, like the weatherman, the football-baseball dichotomy, etc. A very funny guy.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:34 am

He will be missed.

I caught part of an NPR replay of a 2004 interview...there was a bright and active mind behind the comedy, a person who understood the value of the individual and of free and open thought.

--James

Post by **Dale** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:52 am

I think, frankly, there are comedians who are funnier, but of very few comedians can it be said that they were both stand-up comics and social commentators who made contributions to the latter which will be remembered.

Carlin contributed a kind of "aha" moment to my thinking. You know, the kind of thing that you hear and say to yourself, "Wow, that's totally obvious...how did I miss it?"

He was talking about addiction, something with which he had a good bit of experience, evidently. He said that when people start using a substance, there's a period of time where there's a great deal of pleasure and very little pain (negative consequences). Over time, due to tolerance effects, the pleasure gradually declines, often requiring escalation of dosing in a pursuit of that original good feeling. At the same time, negative consequences start to pile up. But, by the time it becomes apparent that the negative>positive, the addiction is in place and maintained by withdrawal effects. Like I said, it's not that profound, but Carlin had a highly clear and economical way of saying it.

Really, really smart guy.

Post by **Dale** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:54 am

The Weekenders wrote:Yeah, I want to add an RIP from here. His observational humor, to me, defined the genre. The routine on "stuff" already mentioned was truth, rendered in comedic form. Other bits were funny, like the weatherman, the football-baseball dichotomy, etc. A very funny guy.

It probably could be argued he invented the observational genre, don't you think? If so, it's hard to imagine how much he has influenced comics that came after him.

Post by **Dale** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:56 am

djm wrote:I don't know where you get all this stuff, but what's worse, I don't know what to do with it.

djm

You know, with respect, ignoring it really, really is an option.

Ro3b · Post by **Ro3b** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:53 pm

"You hear it in classrooms. And courtrooms. They'll say, 'Tell us ... in your own words.' Do you have your own words? Personally, I'm using the ones everybody else has been using. Next time they tell you to say something in your own words, say, 'Nigflot blorny quando floon.'"

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:56 pm

Youtube search = George Carlin

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:26 pm

Dale wrote:
djm wrote:I don't know where you get all this stuff, but what's worse, I don't know what to do with it.
You know, with respect, ignoring it really, really is an option.

I'm pretty sure deej was quoting Carlin. If only there were some sort of...
I don't know... maybe a typographical convention to prevent such confusion...

Anyway, I think it's from this bit:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dn1u6tzwRxA

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:03 pm

Dale wrote:
The Weekenders wrote:Yeah, I want to add an RIP from here. His observational humor, to me, defined the genre. The routine on "stuff" already mentioned was truth, rendered in comedic form. Other bits were funny, like the weatherman, the football-baseball dichotomy, etc. A very funny guy.
It probably could be argued he invented the observational genre, don't you think? If so, it's hard to imagine how much he has influenced comics that came after him.

I dunno. I guess Lenny Bruce did it as well. Also, Bill Cosby about the same time. "Why is there air?"

But Carlin was definitely the Boomer's hippie-era observational leader. A long time ago on Sat. Nite Live, there was a skit where they portrayed a comic club and a bunch Seinfeld-clones in vests and t-shirts kept asking "Hey, I wanna know!?"

In a way, it killed some kinds of observational humor, which left a gap filled by gimmick-comics (screamers, watermelon busters, etc) for a while. It seems like straight-on standup is coming back again a bit, as exemplified by Jim Gaffigan and a few others not yet famous enough for me to remember their names.

One thing that really distinguished Carlin from so many others was the seeming absence of anger. He was very gentle and I think that was very much appreciated.