WWTBAM Bored

I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the greats in his field. I once saw him perform in Las Vegas, and he far exceeded my expectations. It was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. He courted controversy, but I think he was generally a good guy.

Wow - this one threw me a bit, but I'm not sure why. A lot of his stuff was hysterical, and a lot of it struck me like a little kid trying to get attention by seeing how bad he could be in public before dad blew his top.

I saw him get arrested at Summerfest in Milwaukee in 1972 for performing 7 Words . . . As he being was escorted away by the boys in blue, he said, "Evidently you can't say those words on stage in Milwaukee, either!"

Wow! I am shocked as well. I thought that he was in his early sixties.

*sigh* Another one of my comedy heroes is gone.

I read just last week that he was gonna be this year's recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for humor. Now we won't get to watch him accept it.

Sorry to hear this. I still remember his "Hippie Dippie Weatherman" routines way back when.

But, recently, he has struck me more as being just an angry old man. Not that I can blame him. There's lots in this country to be angry about.

I saw one of his shows in Vegas years ago and it was one of the funniest routines I had seen - right up there with Bill Cosby's. I remember Cosby's story-telling to be so funny as I had tears of laughter streaming down my face to the point that I missed some of the stories. Carlin wasn't quite that funny but his humor was funny nonetheless.

Sir_Galahad wrote: But, recently, he has struck me more as being just an angry old man. Not that I can blame him. There's lots in this country to be angry about.

It wasn't just this country. He said that he had given up on the entire human race, and said that it was amazingly freeing. I love his early stuff, until sometime in the mid- or late-'90's when he adopted this attitude. After that, as you said, it sounds like an angry old man yelling at us, and somehow we should think that it was funny. I can't listen to very much of his later work.

Still and all, very much a groundbreaking comedian. A shame that he got the Twain award a bit too late.

I had to do a double take when I passed the TV in Electronics after last break and the early news was reporting Carlin's death. I watched about all of the specials he had on HBO back in the 80's and 90's and laughed my ass off at them. He was certainly one of the best....

lb13

I would not have put him at over 70, I was thinking more middle to late 60's.

He was the warm up act to Paul Revere and The Raiders at a college concert my freshmen year in 1969 right here in river city. His 7 word routine has been in my head ever since.

I found him non funny the last several years.

RadioDude just played a hilarious old routine, "The difference between football and baseball." Darn it, he had to cut it short.

The obit I just read said Carlin was 86ed from The Tonight Show for a while because of drug abuse. I remember a Tonight Show visit in the 80s where he talked about it -- said he would be up all night doing cocaine, then rush over to the dealer's place as soon as he ran out to get more, but the dealer wouldn't have any more -- he finished it all himself.

I'm glad Carlin got clean after a 1978 heart attack, or he would never have made it to 71.

SportsFan68 wrote:RadioDude just played a hilarious old routine, "The difference between football and baseball." Darn it, he had to cut it short.

Probably my favorite Carlin routine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YphEUa5LPjM

I loved Carlin, although, like many here, I found much of his stuff lately to be very angry.

I still found nuggets of hilarious stuff in his later work -- there always was -- but, increasingly, there was way too much HBO Special to sit through to get to it.

I still have a close-to-worn-out cassette tape of Class Clown. I'll see if I can listen to it tonight.

TLAF was a huge fan of Carlin's early stuff, even though the 1970s and early 1980s, about the time of "A Place for My Stuff."

She enjoyed Wonderful WINO and Hippy Dippy Weatherman and Baseball/Football. "In baseball, you go home."

I always found it funny that she appreciated someone who always stayed on the "counterculture side of things because TLAF is as straight arrow as they come on many many subjects.

With the demise of the TV variety show, she didn't see him much in later years, which is for the best.

Boonie & I were contemplating getting tickets for Carlin at The Borgata on July 26 for my birthday. It had been years and years since either of us saw him live.

One of my favorite Carlin moments:

Reminds me of something my grandfather would say. He'd say "George, I'm going upstairs to f**k your grandmother." He was an honest man, and he wasn't going to bullshit a four-year-old."



The Snow White and the Seven Dwarves routine from Toledo Windowbox nearly made me piss my pants the first time I heard it.

All those years ago, piss made the Seven Dirty Words list. Go figure.

'Bye, George...

A

I think of George each time I am sent a chain email full of quotes wrongly attributed to a famous person.

And one of his distinctions was as the first host of Saturday Night Live in 1975. Although Carlin did some of his comedy routines, he didn't participate in any of the skits, as the show was more of an old-style variety format.

Trivia question: Who were the musical guests on the first show?

Spoiler

Billy Preston and Janis Ian. Andy Kaufman also appeared doing his Mighty Mouse routine.

I originally posted without additional comment because I thought my GC experiences/feelings were unique. Now, I see they're not.

I had always loved the classic routines that I'd either seen clips of, or saw done on Carson, etc. I saw George at the Universal Amphitheatre in November, 2004, and was deeply disappointed. I was expecting the legend, the genius, and I got 90 minutes of scatological "humor." I don't necessarily mind that, and even expect it in certain movies or at other comedy shows, but it just seemed so beneath him that it saddened me. I prefer to believe that was a result of his declining health and choose to remember the classic routines rather than what I witnessed live on a single occasion.

I'm sorry to hear this. One of the all-time greats. He broke a lot of ground. Some random thoughts:

Always enjoyed the word-play. Hot water heater (hot water doesn't need to be heated); plastic glass; [from a version of seven words:] you can prick your finger, but don't finger your prick.

He could cut through hypocrisy and call bullshit with the best of them.

Some years back I bought "Brain Droppings" at an airport, and I was literally laughing out loud on that flight. Some of the crazy, off-the-wall, stupid stuff wouldn't be everybody's cup of tea, I know. Here's an example: [Warning: It's skippy-ish]

Spoiler

[making fun of tattoos] "... the thing never comes off, but it hurts to put it on, and you gotta pay the guy. Plus if you do wanna take it off, it hurts again, and you gotta pay the guy again.

So, I never got a tattoo, but I got some good ideas. ...

... I guess the most popular tattoo of all times is MOM. A lot of guys get MOM. No one ever gets POP. You know why? Cause you can't read POP in the mirror. MOM comes out MOM. POP comes out "909." What the fuck is that?

If you guys want to get a MOM tattoo and save a little money, just get two letters done. Get about a one inch capital "m" tattooed on each cheek of your ass in pink and brown ink. Then when you bend over it says "Mom." Also, later on if you're having sex with your girlfriend, and her parents are in the next room, when you finish up you can just lie on your back, draw your legs up to your chest and silently say, "Wow!

I guess I'm one of the few here who also enjoyed his cynical stuff. I think he was close to genius in coming up with unique perspectives on things.

He worked hard.

I'll miss him a lot.

Interesting that his idol was Lenny Bruce in that his routines in the last few years were somewhat Bruce-like (less actual humor, more ranting and raving). He was still capable of making me laugh when he decided to lay off the preaching and bitching, but those moments were becoming fewer and fewer. He seemed to be quite bitter in his last few years.

I remember the first time I heard the "Seven Words" routine. I had just bought "Class Clown". My friend and I went into my room and popped it on my stereo. When Carlin let those words fly the first time I literally, LITERALLY fell off my bed laughing. When he went through the different varieties of "New Nabisco T*ts", I stopped breathing I was laughing so hard. Don't even get me started on the variety of uses of the word sh*t, such as the possible origin of the term "sh*t-faced".

But he was VERY capable of inducing laughter without using any of those seven words. The "Wonderful WINO" radio station routine, for instance. And his delightful examinations of words ("if you have 47 odds and ends on a table and 46 fall off, whaddya have left, an odd or an end"?). And how to mess with people's minds (go to a place where they monogram handkerchiefs and when they ask you what initials you would like, say "oh..I dunno, I hadn't thought about it really, gimme a q or a z..whatever's not selling").

As he said, "I get paid to think of sh*t that you don't have the time to".

THAT'S when he was at his best.

Thanks for the laughs, George.

This news is sad. Carlin's work has bookended my son's cultural life thus far. When he was little, we watched Thomas the Tank Engine together. Just last week we watched The Aristocrats and F*ck [thanks to Nelly].

Vandal wrote: All those years ago, piss made the Seven Dirty Words list. Go figure.

'Bye, George...

When I first hear the reports of his passing, I tried to remember the 7 words, I could only come up with 6, omitting piss.

Fortunately this is unlikely to ever be a BAM or J! question

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:

Vandal wrote: All those years ago, piss made the Seven Dirty Words list. Go figure.

'Bye, George...

When I first hear the reports of his passing, I tried to remember the 7 words, I could only come up with 6, omitting piss.

I think piss is the second one on the list.

s, p, f, c, cs, mf & t.

T_Bone0806 wrote:

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:

Vandal wrote: All those years ago, piss made the Seven Dirty Words list. Go figure.

'Bye, George...

When I first hear the reports of his passing, I tried to remember the 7 words, I could only come up with 6, omitting piss.

I think piss is the second one on the list.

s, p, f, c, cs, mf & t.

Looks like Donald Duck was a Carlin fan.

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:

T_Bone0806 wrote:

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote: When I first hear the reports of his passing, I tried to remember the 7 words, I could only come up with 6, omitting piss.

I think piss is the second one on the list.

s, p, f, c, cs, mf & t.

Looks like Donald Duck was a Carlin fan.

I think the Duck was an early influence.

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote:

T_Bone0806 wrote:

themanintheseersuckersuit wrote: When I first hear the reports of his passing, I tried to remember the 7 words, I could only come up with 6, omitting piss.

I think piss is the second one on the list.

s, p, f, c, cs, mf & t.

Looks like Donald Duck was a Carlin fan.

So was I.

I always liked that I got top billing....