RIP George Carlin

[JimG.]

Generally speaking, this thread is making me feel my age.

Laugh-in was my favorite show...when I was like 11 or 12.

George Carlin was a comic genius. He hardly ever failed to make me laugh to tears.

Is it ski season yet?

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

watching laugh-in on the old black& white tv ..I always liked the Smothers Brothers Show best ..Pat Paulson was a riot when he was running for President..

Oh man.....This post is pretty rough....

Wonder if I'll be the same way years from now, reminiscing about Caddyshack, Vacation or the A-Team.

 

[dmc]

watching laugh-in on the old black& white tv ..I always liked the Smothers Brothers Show best ..Pat Paulson was a riot when he was running for President..

Smothers Brothers... Another great show... Too politically relevant for the times.. too bad...

 

[Dr Skimeister]

Op-Ed Piece in today's NY Times

Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder.

By JERRY SEINFELD
Published: June 24, 2008

THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about. I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes. We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: “I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they’ve had a crash. It improves your odds.”

I called him to compliment him on his most recent special on HBO. Seventy years old and he cranks out another hour of great new stuff. He was in a hotel room in Las Vegas getting ready for his show. He was a monster.

You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways. Every comedian does a little George. I couldn’t even count the number of times I’ve been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, “Carlin does it.” I’ve heard it my whole career: “Carlin does it,” “Carlin already did it,” “Carlin did it eight years ago.”

And he didn’t just “do” it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.

But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians. I personally never cared about “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” or “FM & AM.” To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality.

I became obsessed with him in the ’60s. As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.

I know George didn’t believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I’m spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, “Carlin already did it.”

Jerry Seinfeld is a writer and a comedian.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder.

By JERRY SEINFELD
Published: June 24, 2008

THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about. I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes. We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: “I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they’ve had a crash. It improves your odds.”

I called him to compliment him on his most recent special on HBO. Seventy years old and he cranks out another hour of great new stuff. He was in a hotel room in Las Vegas getting ready for his show. He was a monster.

You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways. Every comedian does a little George. I couldn’t even count the number of times I’ve been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, “Carlin does it.” I’ve heard it my whole career: “Carlin does it,” “Carlin already did it,” “Carlin did it eight years ago.”

And he didn’t just “do” it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.

But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians. I personally never cared about “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” or “FM & AM.” To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality.

I became obsessed with him in the ’60s. As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.

I know George didn’t believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I’m spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, “Carlin already did it.”

Jerry Seinfeld is a writer and a comedian.

George ate guys like Seinfeld for lunch. It amazes me that Jerry was so successful. His standup is OK, and he managed to surround himself with great character actors and the genius of Larry David. When I think of the great comedians, he doesn't rank on my list. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[cbcbd]

...dude was a genius. Will be missed but I'm glad we had him for the time that we did.

 

[JimG.]

Smothers Brothers... Another great show... Too politically relevant for the times.. too bad...

True true.

 

[BeanoNYC]

http://www.hbo.com/events/george-carlin/tribute.html?ntrack_para1=feat_main_image

 

[bill2ski]

Has I have always said " The beauty about being dead is that you don't know it"

And you get plenty of time to sleep.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

He will be missed i saw him once at the warner theater in Torrington Ct about 15yrs ago, great show.

 

[severine]

He will be missed i saw him once at the warner theater in Torrington Ct about 15yrs ago, great show.

I meant to see him when he was there in Oct 2007. Forgot about it. Lost my chance for good now...

 

[severine]

It's all on DVD's...

Not the same.

 

[BeanoNYC]

His last words:

 

[wa-loaf]

NBC re-ran the first SNL episode last night with George hosting. It was funny seeing him with dark hair and all. Good show though.

 

[Beetlenut]

GEORGE CARLIN'S NEW RULES FOR 2008

Some of his last work:

New Rule:No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab.
Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule:Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com <http://classmates.com/> ! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days --- mowing my lawn. <>
New Ruleon't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Lobster?

New Rule:Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged . I have a better description for these
kids: 'Lucky bastards.'

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Good, we're done.

New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but, without that watery taste.
Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water?
Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a 'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread capp uccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,'
ooooh, you're a huge asshole.

New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Mars Bar.

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to 'beef with broccoli.' The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't go od enough to be a movie.

New Rule: And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell If he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, Dude. I just want to wash my hands.

New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, 'Do you want fries with that?'

 

[severine]

Really his or just attributed to him? Because there was an email going out at one time that was attributed to him but he didn't write it (though it was in his style).
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/paradox.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/carlin.asp


I did smile reading that, though.

ETA: Looks like it was NOT written by Carlin. Clever, though.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/newrules.asp

 

[Beetlenut]

Oh well, got an email from a friend who said that they were Carlin's. Will have to fact-check that guy in the future!