# Why is George Carlin rapping? This is not funny. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774 "2006-06-15T04:15:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/1 "2006-06-15T04:15:21Z")
On Jay Leno tonight. He has really lost his edge. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/2 "2006-06-15T04:16:27Z")
Where have you been? He’s been doing bits like that for years. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/3 "2006-06-15T04:18:42Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > On Jay Leno tonight. He has really lost his edge. I just asked the same question in chat. I can only imagine that he’s either phoning it in tonight, or he’s saving his fury for a confrontation with Coulter. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/4 "2006-06-15T04:18:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Where have you been? He’s been doing bits like that for years. Yeah, bits. I was under the impression he did other stuff too. Guess XM filters out the crap for me even more than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/5 "2006-06-15T04:18:52Z")
Although his being in “Cars” is kind of a bummer, even with the phone commercials and Mr. Conductor and some of the other crap he’s done. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/6 "2006-06-15T04:20:56Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > Yeah, bits. I was under the impression he did other stuff too. When you’ve got three minutes or whatever that was, you have to pick a bit that’s self-contained, and he was probably not going to do something that would be excessively bleeped. It’s from his last special, which was not his best. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/7 "2006-06-15T04:23:45Z")
It wasn’t a horrible riff, but it wasn’t good either. Came across as canned. He went through the motions, hit his mark, and got his spots in. Maybe trying to rush it to fit the time alloted. Then again, it’s not like the network censors are really gonna let him do an unscripted rant on a live mic… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/8 "2006-06-15T04:28:19Z")
Great job on the couch, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/9 "2006-06-15T18:56:09Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Although his being in “Cars” is kind of a bummer, even with the phone commercials and Mr. Conductor and some of the other crap he’s done. Who better to do a “Tommy Chong” riff? Pixar couldn’t have the real Chong because Cheech won’t work with him anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/10 "2006-06-15T19:46:12Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Who better to do a “Tommy Chong” riff? Pixar couldn’t have the real Chong because Cheech won’t work with him anymore. Weird. But yes, it actually does harken back to his days as Al Sleet and that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/11 "2006-06-15T19:49:13Z")
I watched about 15 minutes of Carlin the other night (on HBO I think - the referred-to special?). I’ve generally liked his stuff in the past, but his material this time was marginally funny or even creepily unfunny (i.e. the transplant-related bit about certain anatomical parts of dead young women going to waste when they could be utilized by deserving old (male) geezers). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/12 "2006-06-15T20:19:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I watched about 15 minutes of Carlin the other night (on HBO I think - the referred-to special?). Yeah, it’s from the one that aired in November, _Life is Worth Losing_. I was there for the taping, which was pretty cool, but it was definitely not his best work. Nothing as enduring as his reduction of the 10 commandments, for example. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/13 "2006-06-15T20:33:05Z")
George Carlin hasn’t been funny _in general_ in dog years. His act is now 95% preaching to 5% comedy. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/14 "2006-06-15T22:33:55Z")
Mild and media-related. Off to **Cafe Society**. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/15 "2006-06-15T22:59:06Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > George Carlin hasn’t been funny _in general_ in dog years. His act is now 95% preaching to 5% comedy. I’d agree with that. He’s a much better actor now than comedian. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/16 "2006-06-15T23:08:31Z")
Like Elvis, Carlin has not aged well. (Still love his earlier material, though) ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/17 "2006-06-16T04:46:45Z")
With Carlin, the bitter is drowning out the funny. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/18 "2006-06-16T04:49:40Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > With Carlin, the bitter is drowning out the funny. ☹ Hey, _you_ try not being bitter in a world where people lap up Ann Coulter’s bullshit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-george-carlin-rapping-this-is-not-funny/360774/19 "2006-06-16T05:19:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Hey, _you_ try not being bitter in a world where people lap up Ann Coulter’s bullshit. 😃 I’d bet most people who take many of her words seriously are either very conservative or of sub-average intelligence. I may not disagree with everything she says, but her polemic style kinda puts me off. :smack: