carlin

there are few great ones. george carlin was one of the great ones. as a comedian, he had few, if any, equals. the thing about carlin was that he satisfied on two levels. first of all, he was a damn funny man. his timing was great, his voices and mannerisms superb. and then, there was his intellect. george carlin was one smart dude, and that seperated him from the others. at the end of the day, for stand up, there is bruce, carlin, and pryor, and that is really where it's at.

the thing about losing someone of carlin's stature is that there is no one to replace him. sinatra once said that he wished someone would pick up on his art before it died right where it was, and that is where we are at this moment. the great ones are leaving this earth, and they are not being replaced. for a guy like carlin comes from a particular scene. born in depression new york, getting his start in the cold war 50's, and hitting his stride in the happening 60's, carlin was like the great jazz musicians, actors, and singers who came from a similar background. there is something there that we don't have, a tender toughness if you will, a deep sense of humor, an iconoclastic individualism, a fearlessness. of course, just about everybody sucked then too, but still, at least there were a few great ones.

and carlin was one of them. of course, they will tell us he was known for his 7 dirty words, but man, that's just the beginning. he told us so much. he reminded us that "all a house is a place to put your stuff, while you go out and get more stuff." he observed "that isn't it ironic that the people who are against abortion are the ones you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?" he told us "that we can bomb the shit out of your country! especially if you got some brown people." and he loved to pick apart our silly sayings, such as "lock him up and throw away the key." "where? outside the jail? his friends will find it!" he reminded us that in baseball, the object of the game is "to go home!" he told white people "to stick to those faggy ass polkas and that disgusting country line dancing you do" and "to be white, be proud, and get the fuck off the dance floor!" he also insisted that white guys not wear their hats backward, but since blacks started it, they could wear them that way until they turned 65. and no matter your race, "you go girl should probably go." also, "if white people are gonna bomb black churches, i think black people should start bombing the house of blues. house of blues? it's really the house of lame, white motherfuckers. time to start bombing these locations." he stated "we came up with the sanctity of life and the death penalty. aren't we flexible?"

man, the man said so much. the only thing to do is to dig him. luckily, there is a ton of his shit available, as he rarely flushed. seriously, dig the hbo shows for a start, all of which are on youtube in their entirety.

and remember to fuck lance armstrong, tiger woods, and dr. phil. not all at once, and certainly not with the same condom. i'm with you george, i too am tired of the media telling me who to like and what to care about. man, right till the end, george was warning us about how they can take our rights from us anytime they choose. he even remembered the interned japanese americans.

damn george, you were the shit.

george carlin
1937-2008