One of the greats died yesterday. George Carlin. I say great, because he has been an icon for me for most of my life. And, there have been George Carlin quotes lingering for years. How could I go on a trip to Hawaii without thinking about bringing some of "my stuff"?
The news articles talk about how he was famous for the seven dirty words, but that was not what I remember him for. He was crude and crass and offensive, but I liked how he could challenge things. He did not seem to stand for anything, but comedy. He took potshots at most everything. And, even if I did not agree with him, it was a lesson in thought. I think about his delivery and how he could just list things off. It was as if he memorized stuff, but it was really how his mind worked.
He ripped on Baby on Board signs, euphemisms, and white guys wearing their baseball caps backwards. Golf courses, golf, cemeteries, stupid sayings, the three questions at the airport, the smug greedy people of the world, people who are namby-pamby. People suddenly carrying their water around with them all the time. "Can't they take a drink of water before leaving the house?"
As someone who grew up observing the strange behaviour of people all over the place and writing it down in my notebook, I liked seeing someone who could verbalize it so well. Sometimes, the arguments aren't even rational, but I enjoy it. I agreed. While I did have to filter through the obscenities to get the great insights, I came away with "I'm not handicapped. I'm handicapable!" or "Toilet paper became running shoes. Partly cloudy became partly sunny. The dump became the landfill."
And, he is so right about this euphemistic crap out there. People constantly come up with terms to soften things up. It's the politically correct stuff that gets so old.
He definitely spiced things up with his obscenity, so I can't really recommend anyone to watch or listen to his stuff, but he did have a very fun, challenging, unique perspective that made one think.
3 comments:
Obscenities are just words and unfortunately I do not think you would think his stuff was even half as funny watching it without it. I know that many will argue that point with me but it really threw it over the top and added the exclamation points to his abhorrence to those things like euphemisms. It was the emotion it brought to the bits. Having heard it, oh dear, am I going to walk away tainted for life...hell no...I am grounded.
RIP George, you have been with me since the days of Dr. Demento on KMET in LA listening on Sunday nights with huge earphones plugged into the family stereo complete with built-in 8-track. You have finally "expired" man...too cool.
Someday I suspect someone will get a hold of your "Notebook" and turn it into a great comedic skit. Maybe you should, I think it would/could be hilarious.
I had a George Carlin daily calendar. It was a little strange, but had some good lines here or there. I enjoyed listening to him much more than reading him. All that said, I generally liked him although I probably didn't see or hear most of his classic stuff.
RIP Georgy boy
Post a Comment