bandwagon: rpw weighs in on Carlin

It saddens me deeply that the last (and best) member of what Jon Stewart has aptly called "the Holy Trinity of Comedy" is gone. This is the type of cultural sorrow that will only come again when Paul and Ringo die. George Carlin, along with Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor, turned the entertainment business on its ear by proving that you could be simultaneously funny and poignant, raunchy and smart, irreverent and graceful. They took comedy out of the suburbs, away from the uptight quasi-Cleaver types and out into the streets, into parliament, into the front lines. Carlin was to comedy what Brando was to movies, what Dylan was to rock and roll. He forced an entire profession to grow up merely by being who he was, dragged stand-up kicking and screaming from the tired yuks of G-rated drollery out into the social consciousness of the masses, where he crucified it and burned it alive. There is no way to overstate this man's significance in the canon. I can't believe I never got to see him live and in person.

I'm ashamed that I didn't post this link before now; then I could've avoided looking like a Johnny-Come-Lately tool who only likes Carlin now that he's dead (a la Mitch Hedberg "fans"). The fact is my old man had George's "Class Clown" on vinyl, and I remember sneaking it on a few times while the folks were away so I could listen to the shock and awe that is "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television." Dad and I even watched every episode of his short-lived sitcom The George Carlin Show when it was actually on. The only thing I really remember about it was one episode in which he actually cut off his ponytail, much to the consternation of the studio audience, who apparently figured he would be a hippie forever.

Anyway.

I watched this on YouTube last year and nearly died of an awesomeness overdose. I'm pretty sure it's in one of his books, too.

Enjoy.

The Modern Man