I just hope the family respects his wishes.
“I don’t want to be buried . . . I don’t want to be cremated, either! I want to be blown up! BOOOM! 'There he goes, God love ‘im!’”
Lost a legend, that’s for sure.
Oddly, I was going to add a Carlin video to my Netflix queue this week. So, looking for recommendations. TIA.
Today, in memory of Mr. Carlin, I shall be the hippy-dippy retired guy. Wake-n-bake!
For those who are interested, KIHT FM 96.3 in St. Louis will dedicate four hours to George Carlin from 6 to 10 AM CDT tomorrow, June 24th. Just from being a listener of the station, I’d expect lots of clips of his best performances, interviews with him (and perhaps with other people,* about* him), and who knows what else. The station streams on the internet, for those outside the range of their broadcast.
Carlin was only ten years older than I am, so I remember him almost from the outset of his shtick, from the Hippy Dippy Weatherman to his ascerbic, bitter screeds at the end. Through it all, his impact on the lexicon, his ability to manipulate the language, and his exposure of the world’s absurdities were priceless contributions.
One of my favorite pro-life comments: Why is it that when it’s us, it’s abortion, but when it’s a chicken, it’s an omelette?
Fuck you for dying, you prick.
George Carlin was one of those rarest of comedians: someone who’s material anyone could crib and still make the shit sound funny. With Carlin it was always what he said, not how he said it. The ability to rip that stuff off launched the comedy careers of tens of thousands of guys who came after him, because if a 15 year old can kill with that stuff at the lunch table it was truly genius comedy.
First I had to live in a world with no more Richard Prior. Now I have to live in one with no George Carlin? Fuck. 
Carlin was the first “adult” comic I discovered as a kid, I believe it was his “Place for my stuff” routine. I haven’t laughed so hard at someone’s observations of life as I did his.
RIP, and thanks for making us laugh and cringe at the same time.
I first encountered him in the 1960s. He looked “respectable” back then, dressing in a suit, and all. This was pre-“Hair Poem” (does anyone remember that? At one time it was seen as his “signature” act) and pre-seven words. I thought he was hilarious. We memorized his routines.
he got funnier. I loved his stuff (though I never bought any of his albums).
In recent years, I have to admit that I hated his act. It’s not that he’s angry – lots of folks do angry and funny. Anger is a great catalyst for humor. But Carlin was being angry and unfunny. His HBO specials seem humor-free. I hated his books (except for an occasional insight). His turn on the Aristocrats left me unmoved, exscept maybe grossed out. He really did start to seem like an old guy who’d yell at kids for being on his lawn. and about as funny.
Still, there was plenty before that to admire. I’ll still miss him. Maybe it’s a mark of my advancing age, but 71 still seems too young to go.
Farewell George, you will be missed
And to think, we’ll never have a lightbulb that shines on things worth looking at now…
I think I’ll go check the icebox for something to eat…
Mother strapalonian.
Well, I suppose it’s gotta be done, but my own selfishness is still kicking in. What a great loss. What shoes to fill.
When you consider all the views that you hold personally, you know that they are based on where you’re from, what you’ve read, your parents, who you know, TV, etc. I’m sure that if I could make a pie chart of “influences”, shit that I’ve heard from George Carlin would form a good-sized slice.
I thought Eddie Murphy was funny as shit when I was 14, but he wasn’t ripping apart people who were in power, or rules that we all live by, or insincere shit that we all say to each, or behaviors that we accept as normal. That’s the stuff that sticks with you.
I hated it when I’d be watching Carlin with someone and Carlin would start ripping on something I did (whether it was golfing, or saying “have a nice day” or whatever).
So, he died. . .he wasn’t getting any funnier, so it’s not that sad. But, he was definitely my favorite comic ever.
EXCELLENT obit in the New York Times
It’s probably no coincidence that his most bitter and nihilistic period came after her death.
I’m sure it’s on the web somewhere- I haven’t looked- but the first thing I thought of after hearing he’d died was a routine he once did on expressions of condolence (“It was God’s will… speaking of God’s will, I ran over your kids in the driveway outside, but it was God’s will so what can you do?”) and his hatred of the phrase “passed away” (“it sounds like something from a Dracula movie- he just became a fine mist and passsssed awayyyy…”).
My dad saw him in Las Vegas a couple years ago, and said that his act was terrible - it was nothing but suicide and vagina jokes. I told him that he HAD to be exaggerating…but then 6 months later he had an HBO special, and sure enough - the entire thing was all suicide and vagina jokes, some of which killed (pardon the pun) but most which didn’t. I think this was his second most recent special. I’ve been holding onto It’s Bad For You (which aired earlier this year) for a while, and I think now is a perfect time to finally put it on…since it sounds like this is the last recorded concert he’ll leave us with, I really hope it does kill (again, pardon the pun…I know George would appreciate it).
(missed the edit window) One more thing I can say about him though - I’m not a sports fan at all. But his Baseball vs Football (IN FOOTBALL YOU WEAR A HARD HELMET…in baseball you wear a cap!)…and his It’s Not a Sport (Hockey? That’s three separate activities… ice-skating, chasing a toilet cleaner around and beating people up. Cross country? Why not make Riding the Bus a sport too?) routines were some of my favorites. A couple years ago I even tried to expand it to some sports he didn’t cover.
I did that, too, although his list was pretty expansive. I think he overlooked NASCAR, and I got a lot of mileage out of that one.
The sports station was playing that bit this morning. It still makes me laugh.
Carlin once said “They put the Luge into the Olympics. It’s the only sport where you don’t have to be alive to play it.”
Wasn’t there also a routine about football positions and the names of guys who played those positions (Quarterbacks have names like Doug Flutie; linebakers have names like DICK BUTKUS) or was that my imagination?