GEORGE CARLIN

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

“Rest in peace” seems a ridiculous thing to say in regards to someone who seemed so resolutely unpeaceful.
I never got a chance to see him in concert live, and will always regret that now.
PAD

65 comments on “GEORGE CARLIN”

  1. I got to see him once here in Fort Wayne (he came here several times over the years). We had some idiot who went to see him, then wrote into the local newspaper to complain about the language. Hello! You didn’t know what his most famous routine was?!
    One bit I found myself thinking of several times was from about 25 years ago. He was comparing his health problems to those of Richard Pryor. And he said something like “I lead Richie two to one on heart attacks. But he leads me one to nothing on setting yourself on fire.
    “It went like this. Rich had a heart attack, then I had a heart attack. Then Richie set himself on fire and I said ‘F*ck that sh*t, I’m having another heart attack!'”
    You and Richard are both even now, George. But you both did it far too soon.

  2. Carlin was an absolute genius. Enjoyed all his books, but obviously they were nothing compared to seeing and hearing his standup act. I was licky enough to catch him back in 1991, my senior year in college. Me and the girl I went with both laughed our áššëš off. I had tickets to see him last year, but my car broke down on the way home from New York ComicCon and I missed it, which now REALLY pìššëš me off.
    I definitely feel his humor was more philosophical than political. In what I thought was one of his more memorable quotes, he said during one routine, “People ask me why I don’t do much political humor and I’ll tell you why: It’s cheap and lazy. If you have an ignorant, uneducated populace, what do you think they’re going to elect?”
    And basically, his philosophy was: We’re all full of šhìŧ. From the arrogance of the very phrase “Save the Planet” (“The planet isn’t going anywhere! WE ARE!”) to the hypocrisy of many religious people.
    One of my favorite lines was “I am very much in favor of the separation of church and state because each of these institutions is more than capable of fûçkìņg us up on their own!”

  3. The Virgin America pre-flight safety video goes something like “For the .02 percent of you who have never used a seat belt before” and then gives the instructions. Wonder if whoever did it got the idea from Carlin.
    Also, seems HBO is showing all of its Carlin specials this Wednesday-Friday, per the Newsday tv blog:
    Wednesday on HBO2
    8 p.m. On Location: George Carlin at USC (1977)
    9:30 p.m. George Carlin Again! (1978)
    11 p.m. Carlin at Carnegie (1983)
    Midnight Carlin on Campus (1984)
    1 a.m. George Carlin: Playin With Your head (1986)
    Thursday on HBO2
    8 p.m. George Carlin: What Am I Doin’ in New Jersey? (1988)
    9 p.m. HBO Comedy Hour: George Carlin – Doin’ It Again (1990)
    10 p.m. HBO Comedy Hour: George Carlin: Jammin in New York (1992)
    11 p.m. HBO Comedy Hour: George Carlin: Back in Town (1996)
    12:05 a.m. HBO Comedy Hour: George Carlin: You Are All Diseased (1999)
    1:10 a.m. George Carlin: It’s Bad for Ya’ (2008)
    Friday on HBO
    9 p.m. George Carlin: It’s Bad for Ya ( 2008)

  4. Ðámņ. I heard it here first… 1 of my 2 favorite comedians is gone.
    It’s not a huge surprise, I guess, and he did manage to leave behind a huge body of work that indicates a fulfilling life, but still…
    It’ll be a much less enjoyable world now.
    And I’ll keep pìššìņg him off by “going around looking like a circumcised prìçk”.

  5. Man, I got to see him at the Carlton Dinner theater in Minneapolis way back in the old days.
    My favorite bit of his about baseball was when he complained about the rules.
    “I think after you hit the ball you should be able to run to ANY base and you get to keep the bat”

  6. First Thought: George Carlin has passed on. Bummer.
    Second Thought: George Carlin did not pass on. Nor did he pass away, kick the bucket, move on, check out, buy the farm, cash his chips, croak, or even run down the curtain and join the Choir Invisible. He fûçkìņg died.
    God bless him.

  7. “Rest in peace” also seems a ridiculous thing to say in regards to someone who, after all, wanted his enemies to have neither. This guy hated a lot of people, and not all of them deserved it.

  9. Posted by M. Garofalo at June 24, 2008 01:59 PM
    “‘Rest in peace’ also seems a ridiculous thing to say in regards to someone who, after all, wanted his enemies to have neither. This guy hated a lot of people, and not all of them deserved it.”
    Oh Yeah? Name TEN people that George “discussed” that didn’t deserve a taste!
    And since you brought it up, also state WHY they didn’t deserve his “attention”!
    GOOD LUCK!

  10. For years I’ve been holding out on the hope that there would be a “Bill & Ted 3” (slim possibility, I know). Now that George Carlin’s gone, I hope it never happens. No Rufus? No way!

  11. For years I’ve been holding out on the hope that there would be a “Bill & Ted 3” (slim possibility, I know). Now that George Carlin’s gone, I hope it never happens. No Rufus? No way!

  12. From all reports Carlin was a pretty nice guy offstage. I wouldn’t be so quick to state with absolute certainty that he “hated” anyone. One should not always equate the man with the performance.

  13. BTW, this weekend SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE is honoring George Carlin by airing his hosting of the very first SNL episode ever!

  14. I ahd a chance to see him a couple of years back when I had a load running through Vegas. Load turned hot, my chance was gone.
    I’ve always chuckled at the thought of Mr. Conducter being the genius behind “Mary, Mary, Quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Tinkerbells and cockleshells and an acre and a half of killer sh*t!!”

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