George Carlin. R.I.P.

[DukeCity]

George Carlin has passed.

Man! The seven words, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman, A Place For Your Stuff, and all of those twisted observations.

R. I. P.

[BruceH]

Wow.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised, given his age and a history of heart problems, but I am. Hell of a career he had. He will be missed. RIP

[Shawn]

One of my true heroes. The first comedian that I REALLY identified with. Words completely fail...what an enormous loss.

[Jazzmoose]

I must admit I'm shocked; I thought he'd be around longer for some reason.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I've learned about Carlin on this board. Damn fine comedian. RIP.

MG

[robviti]

while other potheads were listening to zeppelin and pink floyd, my friends and i enjoyed carlin (and pryor, cosby, and the firesign theater) during our roundtable, uh, discussions. he was one of the true comic geniuses of our time, imo, and i wish i could have had the opportunity to thank him face-to-face. rest in peace, class clown.

oh yeah - shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.

[Stereojack]

The man has mad me laugh for the last 40 years - one of the greatest, smartest, and funniest!

[Dan Gould]

Sad, sad news. A few years ago I picked up a five disc DVD set of his HBO shows. Will definitely put those on later today.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I always loved Carlin's stand-up, even though it was forbidden in the house when I was growing up. The seven dirty words you couldn't say in front of your parents was more like it.

Seven Words

Thanks George.

[Christiern]

My favorite Carlin routine deals with The Greatest Bullshit Story Ever Told.. He truly nails it.

[Van Basten II]

Shocking news, in a world overcrowded with dumb congenial humor he was one of the few who actually standed out by actually offering his listeners some food for the brain, RIP indeed

Edited June 23, 2008 by Van Basten II

[paul secor]

I wasn't surprised, given his history. He was an intelligent, very, very funny man. Thanks, Mr. Carlin.

[Christiern]

To my mind, Carlin had the most focused X-ray vision since Lenny Bruce, whom I was fortunate to know. Both had drug problems and I wonder if there might be a correlation. Probably not.

[Dan Gould]

I like the way the Times wrapped up its obituary:

“I don’t have pet peeves,” he said, correcting the interviewer. And with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he added, “I have major, psychotic hatreds.”

[Tim McG]

In college, I did a whole analysis on George Carlin's contribution to the study and current use of language for a class called Contemporary American Public Speakers. Got an A on the paper, too.

The man had a definite understanding of words and his unique take on the whole concept of "Good" words vs. "Bad" words stays with me even today. His whole idea was that words are tools and that the values we arbitrarily place on them [that there are no good or bad words; just words] got me thinking in entirely new directions relative to word use.

I will miss his unique insight and profound influence on our language.

Rest in Peace, George.

Edited June 23, 2008 by GoodSpeak

[Noj]

My favorite stand up comedian, bar none. RIP.

[Big Al]

Just my two cents:

I'll never understand how someone so angry, so bitter, so unrelentingly negative about damn-near everything could make people laugh. Seems to me that as he got older, the more bitter and caustic he got. Now, obviously, I disagreed with a lot of what he said, but that isn't what turned me off of him: it was the fact that instead of letting his audience in on the joke, he turned the audience INTO the joke, laughed at them instead of with them, and then laughed even harder when the audience paid a lot of money to hear his "major, psychotic hatreds."

Hell, if he knew there was a thread dedicated to his passing, he'd piss on that and the fans would just eat it up.

RIP? Only if you wanna, George.

If I offended anyone with this little rant, well.... in the spirit of Carlin, fuck you. I'm not here to make anyone comfortable, I'm not here to make anyone happy campers. and I certainly don't give a rats ass what you think.

Edited June 23, 2008 by Big Al

[Tim McG]

Just my two cents:

I'll never understand how someone so angry, so bitter, so unrelentingly negative about damn-near everything could make people laugh. Seems to me that as he got older, the more bitter and caustic he got. Now, obviously, I disagreed with a lot of what he said, but that isn't what turned me off of him: it was the fact that instead of letting his audience in on the joke, he turned the audience INTO the joke, laughed at them instead of with them, and then laughed even harder when the audience paid a lot of money to hear his "major, psychotic hatreds."

Hell, if he knew there was a thread dedicated to his passing, he'd piss on that and the fans would just eat it up.

RIP? Only if you wanna, George.

If I offended anyone with this little rant, well.... in the spirit of Carlin, fuck you. I'm not here to make anyone comfortable, I'm not here to make anyone happy campers. and I certainly don't give a rats ass what you think.

All comics are angry to some degree or another, Al.

And I disagree he was laughing at his audience. He was laughing at the foibles of all people. That is something all comics have done dating back to before Lenny Bruce.

Any joke has a serious side to it.

[Dan Gould]

Al, I've felt that Carlin did get a little too caustic and bitter and psychotic towards the end, too, which is partly why I most preferred his always funny and spot-on riffs on language over his psychotic hatreds toward people. That is the Carlin I'll remember.

And I never got the sense that he was laughing at his audience or in any sense making suckers out of them. His audience loved his rants, just like some people loved the Andrew Dice Clay character.

[Tim McG]

Same thing happened to Mark Twain, too.

[randissimo]

A Chicago drummer I knew named Guy Viverose was working in the house band (that also included Ira Sullivan) in a night club where Lenny Bruce was appearing. One night the CPD came in and busted Lenny for obscenities and even the band got busted because the CPD found marijuana in the dressing room. Guy told me he ended up in the backseat of a squad car with both Lenny Bruce and George Carlin. Carlin was hangin' out in the dressing room and was also arrested by the CPD for possesion of marijuana. He said it was the craziest ride he'd ever had sitting between these two comic geniuses, and both of them were crackin' up the cops in the front seat..

Gonna miss George Carlin..

[Randy Twizzle]

Just my two cents:

I'll never understand how someone so angry, so bitter, so unrelentingly negative about damn-near everything could make people laugh. Seems to me that as he got older, the more bitter and caustic he got. Now, obviously, I disagreed with a lot of what he said, but that isn't what turned me off of him: it was the fact that instead of letting his audience in on the joke, he turned the audience INTO the joke, laughed at them instead of with them, and then laughed even harder when the audience paid a lot of money to hear his "major, psychotic hatreds."

Hell, if he knew there was a thread dedicated to his passing, he'd piss on that and the fans would just eat it up.

RIP? Only if you wanna, George.

If I offended anyone with this little rant, well.... in the spirit of Carlin, fuck you. I'm not here to make anyone comfortable, I'm not here to make anyone happy campers. and I certainly don't give a rats ass what you think.

After trying to watch some of his later HBO specials I sort of feel the same way. I think he started to take himself too damn seriously and stopped being funny in order to play the role of some kind of "courageous" truth teller. Most self-conscience truth tellers are usually bores as are the people who cheer them on.

[7/4]

The man was too young!

.

[Noj]

I found Carlin's most recent routine wasn't nearly as funny as his older stuff, but it's rare that talented people continue to improve with age as opposed to trailing off a bit. There were also times when Carlin would say things which were more "over the top" than truthful, and I didn't find those moments as funny as ones when he was simply pointing things out.

Richard Pryor was a close second.

[Joe G]

Same thing happened to Mark Twain, too.

And Frank Zappa.