# George Carlin is not funny any more. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005 "2006-09-25T01:48:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/1 "2006-09-25T01:48:33Z")
I caught a recent (not sure HOW recent) HBO special on Carlin, and I couldn’t believe how far apart the performance was from the guy’s rep. Hey, I know he’s supposed to be a witty commentator on modern America, but from where I sat, it looked like he just harangued the audience ad nauseum for an hour-plus. And it really wasn’t funny. Occasionally he would draw some laughs from the crowd, but nothing too huge, and I think even what he got was a bit of a favor. Objectively speaking, his observations were correct, and more amusing than a speech on the same material delivered by my high school principal, but that’s about it. After a while I actually found him annoying. Anyone else have the same reaction? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/2 "2006-09-25T02:07:09Z")
He was the funniest, now he is just angry, old and bitter. I understand the first two, but not the last. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/3 "2006-09-25T02:09:48Z")
Hasn’t been funny since August 18, 1985. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/4 "2006-09-25T02:12:08Z")
I could understand if he _used_ his humor to tear up the stupidity of the culture. But maybe he feels it’s gone past the point where it can be made fun of. In other words, he appears to be taking it _seriously._ Fine, go ahead, George, but _for fuck’s sake don’t sell it as comedy!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/5 "2006-09-25T02:15:12Z")
[QUOTE=Gatopescado] Hasn’t been funny since August 18, 1985. [/QUOTE] Curious, why the exact date? BTW: I strongly disagree. in 1988 his HBO special \*\*George Carlin: What Am I Doing in New Jersey? \*\* was extremely funny. Well worth watching. He also did a good turn as a comedic actor in Dogma. That means he was funny as recently as 1999, though with someone else’s writing. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/6 "2006-09-25T02:19:26Z")
Was it “Life is Worth Losing”? That was his most recent and somewhere in it he talks about masturbating while choking yourself. If that is the one you saw then I agree with you. It was mostly worthless except for the masturbation part, in which Carlin does what he does best; give an amusingly vivid description of a certain (usually dreadful) event. My favorite George Carlin special is “You Are All Diseased” in which he explains exactly why religion is [bullshit.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzHlMs2rSIM) It does not matter much that “Life is Worth Losing” sucked so much, Carlin is usually hit or miss with the HBO specials. He writes so much new stuff that it would be really hard for one person to find him funny all the time. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/7 "2006-09-25T02:20:17Z")
I agree, for what it’s worth. Carlin has turned bitter, and in so doing has lost his edge. Now he’s just the old coot on the corner, howling about the Aliens and applesauce. Sad, really. He used to actually mean something. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/8 "2006-09-25T02:22:17Z")
Ironically, he lost meaning when he started _trying_ for it. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/9 "2006-09-25T02:26:36Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] I agree, for what it’s worth. Carlin has turned bitter, and in so doing has lost his edge. Now he’s just the old coot on the corner, howling about the Aliens and applesauce. Sad, really. He used to actually mean something. [/QUOTE] What is your guess at why he is bitter? I have a WAG. He always came across as a social liberal but a Republican at heart. I think he might be so disgusted at where the party has headed with all the Religious Right Wingers, that this made him bitter. I know he come across as a hawk, my politics have always seemed similar to his. It seems like he has had a good life, so from the way he seems to care about America, I think he might be bitter about where we have gone. Ah, probably a poor WAG. Jim ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/10 "2006-09-25T02:36:29Z")
I think George lost it when the Absurd was no longer unusual. It’s hard to keep an edge when the World has gone over one. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/11 "2006-09-25T02:39:43Z")
It’s like the older he gets, the more frustrated he gets with the things that are “wrong” with life. He used to laugh at them, and make us laugh too, but it’s almos like since those things didn’t change, and are still wrong, has made him frustrated and bitter. He’s disturbing to watch nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/12 "2006-09-25T03:12:29Z")
When did his wife die? I thought I heard somewhere that that was around the time when he started to get really bitter and resentful. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/13 "2006-09-25T03:16:43Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] I have a WAG. He always came across as a social liberal but a Republican at heart. [/QUOTE] Say wha’? I’ve been following him for almost 40 years and the thought of him being a Republican at heart has never entered my head. A hawk? Are you kidding me? As to the OP: you’re just now noticing? Carlin stopped being funny at least a decade ago. At least. He wasn’t funny at the time of The George Carlin Show (either on the show or off) and that was in 1994. Old comedians seemingly can’t be angry, because it just comes across as sour and mean. Imagine an old Lenny Bruce as opposed to an old George Burns. Groucho Marx had a reputation for insulting people, so people liked getting insulted by him but even so he had the smarts to play his formal act as nostalgia and leave his nasty comments for private groups. I can’t think of a truly old angry comic who’s ever been successful. Most have almost fortunately died when young or middle-aged. The rest fade into oblivion as their audiences abandon them. Carlin still has an audience, though it can only be a fraction of what it once was. I don’t think he can go on much longer, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/14 "2006-09-25T05:07:02Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Curious, why the exact date? Jim [/QUOTE] PIOOMA ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/15 "2006-09-25T05:39:05Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] When did his wife die? I thought I heard somewhere that that was around the time when he started to get really bitter and resentful. [/QUOTE] She died in '97. The new one wasn’t great, which pains me because I was there when it was recorded. 😛 But despite the bitterness I don’t think you can throw out all of his recent work. I always manage to laugh hard at at least a few things in each of his specials. _You Are All Diseased_ is solid, the [del]Ten[/del] Two Commandments bit from _Complaints and Grievances_ is very good, and there were a lot of quality one-liners in that one. (Like “Here’s another group of mutants with missing chromosomes who ought to be thrown screaming from a helicopter: Gun enthusiasts.”) **What Exit?** … sorry, but you’re projecting. You’re talking about the guy who said "Once you leave the womb, conservatives don’t care about you until you reach military age. Then you’re just what they’re looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. " Like most comedians, he’ll ridicule any effort to protect people and any new trends in society - they say comedy is conservative - but he’s not an actual conservative. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > PIOOMA I searched through about three different version of George Carlin’s discography before I did a Web search and found that this means “pulled it out of my ass.” If Carlin were here, I’m sure he’d suggest that we all try talking in English. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/16 "2006-09-25T06:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Say wha’? I’ve been following him for almost 40 years and the thought of him being a Republican at heart has never entered my head. A hawk? Are you kidding me? [/QUOTE] Well, he started his career as a recently-discharged army vet making fun of hippies (“The Hippy Dippy Weatherman”). And while his doping was legendary, well, so was PJ O’Rourke’s. There were, in fact, comics in the 60s advocating revolution, redistribution of wealth, the whole Communist Party line, and Carlin was never one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/17 "2006-09-25T11:17:23Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] \he is just angry, old and bitter. \ [/QUOTE] That is nearly verbatim what I was going to say. I haven’t seen him in a while, but the last time I did he seemed like a bitter old man. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/18 "2006-09-25T11:18:24Z")
I find him to be an arrogant little turd. He was funny in the 1970s, but now there’s an anger to his routine that I really find uncomfortable to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/19 "2006-09-25T11:38:20Z")
FWIW, he did a funny bit in Penn Jillette’s recent movie “The Aristocrats.” It was about 30 seconds long though. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2006, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005/20 "2006-09-25T11:44:37Z")
I saw him sometime in the mid-90s, and he killed. _Life is Worth Losing_ was just amazingly unfunny. If you didn’t know he was a comedian, you might not even realize he was trying to be funny for a lot of it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-carlin-is-not-funny-any-more/374005.md?page=2)