The passing of a Legend…
Today is a very sad day I learned this morning that George Carlin died this morning.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_en_tv/obit_george_carlin
If you don’t know Carlin was a Grammy winning actor, author, and most of all a Comedian. He is most known for his political, religeous, and black humor. Although he started out somewhat less controversial his observations in language, psychology, polotics, and religion made a lot of people think about important subjects and became very controversial. His most notiable piece was arguably “Seven Dirty Words that you can’t say on television”.
When I heard the news this morning I immediately plugged in my Sirius radio and turned it to the Comedy station. They are doing an all day tribute to the Comdiean by playing snippets of his all day long. They are also asking callers to tell stories and Carlin experiences. I will use this forum to express my feelings and experiences with George.
The first time I heard Carlin was when I was 9 or 10 years old. My older sister had a copy of Class Clown. I was young and impressionable at the time but I remembering that while I was laughing I would be thinking about what he was saying while lying on my bed listing to my Boombox. The memories that come to mind are the sounds he made especially sharing a swallow, The “SPECIAL DISPENSATION” spot and doing eternity in hell for a hot dog on friday, The voices of dusty and buddy, and of course the 7 Words.
After hearing this album I was hooked. I remember seeing him in Bill and Teds excellent adventure. I remember seeing him on Tomas the Tank enginee as the conductor. I remember the first time I saw him live with my sister at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. This is when I really started to think about what he was saying as I heard his Jokes about the 10 Commandments and Religion. This really started me thinking about religion and my upbringing as a Catholic. Honestly if I really thought about it Carlin started me questioning my religious beliefs and taught me to keep my religion to myself. He had a way of making you laugh till your cheeks hurt. However, when you left the show you felt like you had learned something. This always amazed me since I felt this way everytime I’ve listening to him.
The second time I saw him I brought The Red Head with me. We saw him at Protor’s theater in Schenectady New York. I remember The Red Head had a wardrobe malfunction that night which I won’t go into. Again I left the show feeling like I was changed somehow.
Carlin was a more than an edgy comedian he was a , philosopher, social commentator, and linguist. He had a nack for using his words to talk about things people don’t normally talk about because they are considered taboo. The thing was he just didn’t care. He felt someone needed to talk about these things, calling out religions, politicians, and society in general, and he did. The time you spent listening to his standup you wheren’t think about deep stuff but when you left you would think to yourself “Wow that was so true”.
Okay I think I’m done and I’m going to leave it with some of his most memorable quotes for me:
“There are no bad words. There are bad thoughts, bad intentions, and words”
“You never see a really tall, fat, asian guy with red hair.”
“Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.”
“If God had intended us not to masturbate he would’ve made our arms shorter”
“In case of a sudden lose of cabin presure. ie the roof flies off”
“Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?”
“I’ll beat them up but I won’t kill’em. Thats where I draw the line. The government said if you won’t kill’em we won’t let you beat them up.”
“I’d rather see two people making love than killing one another.
George you will be missed and thank you for opening my eyes, making me think, and changing my life
Carlin
Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits.
