Nothing against the guy, but I was listening to his early stuff (like “Wonderful WINO”) on YOUTUBE, and I didn’t find his material all that funny. Kinds stupid, and meh.
His later stuff was OK-if you can take the obscene language.
So, was he a great comedian?
I’m not sure.
One of the greatest ever. Of course, that’s entirely subjective, and a matter of individual taste. Usually. In this case, it’s your taste that’s mistaken.
A lot of humor from that era aged quite badly, because it was very much a product of the time. Go back and watch early Robin Williams or Steve Martin - some of the stuff I laughed uproariously at back then looks pretty bad today.
Carlin’s humor was very much rooted in the culture - observational humor. Also, a lot of its power came from its edginess - he said things that were shocking, but then wrapped them around a funny observation or a joke, and the contrast was what really triggered the laughs. But what was edgy in 1975 is mundane today, so his early humor lost a lot of its effect.
Also, the best comedians of the time also suffer from endless copycats and repetition. Now if you watch a lot of those old routines the jokes seem rather obvious - but they weren’t then. They’re only obvious now because they were so popular they became part of the zeitgeist.
In my opinion, Carlin became a caricature of himself in his later years. His edginess turned into misanthropy, and his need to shock the audience led him down some paths that just weren’t funny. He was at his absolute best in the 70’s and 80’s, and yes I think he was a comedic genius. But like I said, I can understand people not getting him - his early stuff is dated, and his later stuff not as good.
When I think of my ex-husband fondly, it’s because I’m remembering that he introduced me to George Carlin’s comedy records. Imagine how funny that would have to be.
You write this as if you are unaware that different people find different things funny.
He was probably the smartest popular stand up of all time. At least that I know of. I’m not sure what his educational background was, but the guy, for all practical purposes, was a linguist.
He was also easily a top 5 funniest/best stand up of all time.
This reminds me of the recent “were the Beatles a good band?” thread. Carlin’s influence is incredibly far reaching among stand up comedians. If you started enjoying stand-up in the last 30 years you were hearing people influenced by Carlin, so Carlin’s earlier material wouldn’t sound as original to you as it did when it was brand new, and different from anything anyone else was doing.
Milton Berle and Bob Hope were what US TV audiences were used to in comedy then. Carlin was edgy, but not so controversial that he couldn’t appear on network TV.
I don’t really enjoy the films of Stanley Kibrick, but many people who know far more about it than I do consider him a genius. I can recognize that he was important and influential without liking what he did.
ralph? Something tells me you are not all that old.
Yes, he was that funny. As has been stated, humor changes over time and excellent stand up tends to breed imitation. He not only did just plain funny stuff (much like Robin Williams) but he also did word play(like Tom Lehrer and Eddie Izzard) and political (like the Smothers Brothers)–he did it all. Yeah, the language was fairly foul, but no more so than Chris Rock or Richard Pryor.
All comedy dates (which is why we don’t roll in the aisle for Shakespeare anymore), but GC had the goods.
Another comedy genius from way back is Flip Wilson. I’m sure he’s on YouTube–he was funny as hell in the time he was performing. He died, sadly, but Geraldine lives on…
PS-a friend of mine, waaay back (1987) got to see Bob Hope live. He used some foul language (not fuck, but other stuff) and had some sexual content that never saw the light of day on TV. She said he was hysterical. I believe her–his time was impeccable and he could deliver just about any joke.
Now I’m all nostalgic for these guys. There really isn’t anyone to compare, today–Izzard and Rock are great, though, too…
In his prime, Carlin was hilarious and utterly original.
He was also hugely influential- the kind of observational humor EVERYBODY from Seinfeld to Andy Rooney specializes in was largely pioneered by Carlin.
And as a kid who went to Catholic schools in the Sixties and Seventies, I LOVED “Class Clown” and “Occupation: Fool.” Truth to tell, most devout Catholics my age have a soft spot for that material, not least because Carlin still clearly had some affection for the people and institutions he was mocking.
And THAT is what’s been largely missing the past 20 years. Carlin no longer held any residual affection for anyone or anything. All that was left was the mockery. That’s why even those of us who’d once loved him were inclined to sigh and say he’d become nothing but a bitter old man.
Yes. He was. One of the greatest of all time.
Back in the mid 1960’s, stand-up comedy was more likely to be Bob Newhart’s Button Down Mind or the married-couple comedy banter of someone like Nichols & May. George Carlin’s “Fabulous WINO” was way out there, slightly subversive, something us kids could giggle at & our parents would turn red at (& secretly laugh to). In the later 1960’s, Carlin’s Hippy-Dippy Weatherman routine on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=D1uaw3WIOlc sorry, I couldn’t find an actual cut from the series) was hilarious.
My favorite 8-track tape at that time was George Carlin’s Occupation Foole: (Carlin: "I spell it with an ‘e’, (to) piss people off!). Wonderfully subversive stuff! I do remember that Richard Prior claimed at one time he was influenced by Carlin’s routines (no cite, sorry)
Fast track, 30-some years. A few years ago I read George Carlin’s book, Napalm & Silly Putty. My reaction was a few giggles, but mostly, meh…
I guess you had to have been there.
Love, Phil
I dont think he was funny at all.He was one comedian I could sit through an entire routine and not even smile.
I got more than a few giggles from it, but the relentless bitterness and misanthropy tended to spoil the laughter. (Plus you don’t get to hear his delivery.) He was a lot more fun when he was whimsical.
You seem to be humor impaired. You probably wouldn’t even find Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd funny.
Well, his humor appeals to those of us who appreciate not just jokes, but the language of comedy. His choice of words, his rhythm, his pacing, all made him great.
George could do everything from funny voices to deeply scathing comentaries on our culture.
And they were all hilarious!
Adjusting for taste and all, yes, he was that funny. His older stuff can seem tame by comparison - tame compared to what he did later and what everybody’s doing now. But his best stuff is still funny, and it’s smart, too.
I was watching Letterman about 20 years ago and Fran Lebowitz, an author, was on. IIRC she said of Mark Twain, “The problem that comedians face is that people don’t take them seriously enough.”
The same might be said of George Carlin. I think there’s often a truth buried in the humor, a sense of irony that’s more worthwhile than an easy pun or comic situation. I may not laugh out loud at some things, but that doesn’t mean the humor isn’t well done because for me, it resonates more deeply (YMMV). I haven’t heard all of his stuff but what I did know usually had some real intelligence behind it.
Well, he was around and in the bigtime for almost 40 years so he released a LOT of 'not his best" material, and he went through an angry phase where he got annoying in recent years (and there’s the “millionaire socialist/limousine liberal” irritation) but at his best he was one-of-a-kind, brilliant and hysterical. Here’s one linked to in the other thread- his Why I Worship Joe Pesci spiel. To me it’s hysterical.
Of course this is from a guy who’d rather lick a Golden Girl for 12 minutes than spend an hour in VIP seating at a living-legend Bob Dylan concert but would pay $80 if a bootleg of Brian Stokes Mitchell and Loreena McKennitt singing the best of the Brady Bunch was released, so I totally understand taste being subjective.
I enjoy a good laugh as much as anybody…except for Captain Johnson.
I have watched 1000’s of stand up routines and find many of them funny,Steven Wright especially.I watch Mad TV,Saturday Night Live,several sitcoms…funny.Love Monty Python,Kids in the Hall and Upright Citizens Brigade…funny.
I have a comic strip book collection that most people would envy, which includes Calvin and Hobbes,Get Fuzzy,The Far Side,Overboard,Shermans Lagoon,One Big Happy,Frazz,old school stuff like Peanuts,Beetle Bailey,Hagar and many,many others,most of which I find very funny,not to mention dozens of joke books.
I read various on line comic strips like Order of the Stick,Questionable Content,Irregular Web Comic,and xkcd…funny. The Simpsons,Family Guy,Futurama,Beavis and Butthead,Ren and Stimpy and King of the Hill are some of the antimated shows I watch,I find them funny as well.
I read The Onion daily…funny.
Most people IRL consider me very funny and tell me so.
So no… I am not humor impaired.
I have never thought Carlin funny and have even said so in a thread here before.
You are right about one thing tho,Porky raping Elmer would not be funny, IMO.
I’ve got that album and the audience laughs at that bit. If the audience laughs, it’s funny, isn’t it?