So sad, but glad he was around for so long. All of us hippy-dippy weathermen and wannabes miss you already.
By the way - can anyone explain how he got involved with Thomas the Tank Engine?
Carlin’s daughter Kelly, a blogger with a modest following, is writing a memoir that could well be a major bestseller. Here’s part of an autobiographical piece she wrote entitled The Day the Sun Exploded:
This interview was done by a friend of a coworker of mine. It may have been Carlin’s last interview, and he says at the end that it’s the most complete one he ever did. So I’m thinking the author did us a real service - as did Carlin, who was willing to talk about himself for such a long time, even though he wasn’t hawking a special or a movie.
He struck me as a man who had long since decided that he wasn’t going to take shit, or if he did then he sure as hell wasn’t going to take it quietly. I admire that. I laughed at his jokes and respected his ideas; he will be missed.
Word. Comedy geniuses have a tendency to die young. Andy Kaufman, Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, Phil Hartman… George Carlin lived a decently long and successful life.
Sam Kinnison, Mitch Hedwig . . . Why is that, man? Sometimes it’s attributable to substance abuse, but not always.
Marley, thanks for posting that amazing interview, it really shows how sharp George Carlin was to the end.
I’m pissed and sad that he left too soon, he really helped open my mind via humor. Was so glad to see that he recieved the Mark Twain Humor Award, just last week. To be given at the Kennedy Center in November. Well, fuck it that he can’t be there, and I hope it will then be a fitting tribute with no holds barred.
Like Twain, Carlin had a period of despondency and depression/ rage after his wife’s death. That speaks of a sweet heart, when you think about it. Brilliance coupled with grief throws intense sparks. And, heart attacks at the end, too.
If I could fathom a place beyond body where individual’s reality tunnels intersect, would love to see those gadflys Carlin, Twain, and the equally brilliant Robert Anton Wilson comparing afterlife notes. Dunno if that happens at all, but grateful for all they’ve given us, in seeing more clearly this crazy ass world.
As far as great comedians dying young, that’s a phenomenon that should be called tragedy sample bias. 
Most of the people on that list just died of bad luck - drugs got Hedberg and Bruce, the rest just were in the wrong place at the wrong time or had the wrong genes. Richard Pryor somehow managed to live a pretty long life even though he was suffering from MS at the end, and he tried really hard to die much younger.
I was going to list more people who are still around, but I decided I’d just feel crappy about it. I don’t think any of them are going to hit me harder than this did, though. Carlin was my first comedy hero, and if you want to be funny as badly as I always have, that’s an irreplaceable thing.
Yes, RAW and now Carlin… it’s been kind of a crummy stretch for my personal heroes. I hope the others stick around a while longer.
I’ve been away from the news all day, we just saw this on CNN.
I’ll miss you George, hopefully Buddy Christ* will help you to where ever you are headed.
Jim
- Warning second link is to YouTube Video.
So now that George Carlin is gone, who is left to claim the title of greatest living comedian?
Good question, but I don’t think anyone is particularly close. I think, for sheer goofiness, Steven Wright is the funniest standup I can think of. But it’s almost apples and oranges to compare the two. I think Jon Stewart is as sharp on social and political wit, but he’s in this contrained formatted box of the Daily Show.
Anyway, enough highjacking, your question really should be the basis of another thread.
His last words were actually “Carrot Top survives”.
Does it count if he is alive but has not been funny in nearly 20 years?
If so, Bill Cosby was so damn funny for 20+ years, that I think he deserves the title despite having retired from being funny sometime in the late 80s.
No, but thanks for playing. 
I don’t think he’s constrained by the Daily Show format at all. He’s made that show what he wants it to be.
As far as best living standups go, Chris Rock comes to mind. I’m not sure who I’d say is The Greatest with some of the biggest legends gone.
Greatest living would have to come down to Eddie Murphy, even though he hasn’t been funny in a generation either.
The network news all played Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television,” with the words bleeped out. I know he would have loved that.
While reading his “baseball vs. football” bit is funny, watching Carlin do it is hysterical. The way he reads the football things like a macho man, and the baseball things like a druggie. It’s just so funny.
As for the best standup comedian since Carlin died, I’ll go with Robin Williams.
Eddie Izzard.
One of Carlin’s funniest observations was, why do we say “fuck you” to somebody we’re pissed off at? Fucking is a pleasant experience. If we want to use it as a epithet, we should say “unfuck you,” indicating we hope the person we are cursing would never enjoy the pleasure of sex again.
I always liked his observation about “stuff” vs. “shit.” Everybody else’s stuff is shit, but your shit is stuff. Sometimes there’s nowhere to put your stuff because someone else has their shit all over the place.