I can't even begin to explain the huge influence George Carlin had on my sense of humor, much less my entire way of thinking. My sister turned me onto him in the early eighties with his 'best of' album Indecent Exposure. I taped it, shared it with all of my friends outside of school and even shared it with my mother (what was I thinking there?). Shortly thereafter, we discovered his HBO specials and the world was never the same.
His comedy became meaner and angrier in the last ten years and there was more commentary than before, but when he wanted to be funny, he'd still get me. Even at seventy years old the guy could have me in tears, I was laughing so hard. One reason that I was in awe of him was that even after fifty years in comedy, his act was still one of the most offensive and provocative out there. Who else could say that? Who, in any profession, spent forty years on the cutting edge?
George Carlin was insane, immature, biting, ridiculous, brilliant, insightful, and a host of other magnificent adjectives. From him I learned the term "Mongolian cluster fuck," and I always think of him when my dog freaks out upon my return from getting the mail at the end of the driveway. The world has lost someone special and important. I'll close with my favorite Carlin line:
"I never had a ten, but once I had five twos."
A sad day, but not entirely unexpected. We're all getting to an age where our heroes begin to leave the stage, one by one.
ReplyDeleteI loved his humour, and I think learned the joy of anger and ascerbic wit from him.
My favourite Carlin line (redacted):
"Have you noticed that most of the women who are against abortion are women you wouldn't want to f**k in the first place, man? There's such balance in nature."
RIP George Carlin.
high quality replica handbags replica bags china high quality replica handbags
ReplyDelete