Are any of you fans of George Carlin, who died Sunday of heart problems? I didn’t follow his career or act much. He is best known for his “Seven words you can never say on television” bit, which led to a 1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the government’s authority to sanction stations. But he also won four Grammy Awards for his comedy albums, was nominated for five Emmys, was a best-selling author and was to receive the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor this fall. Actor Ben Stiller said of Carlin: “He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining.”
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Daniel on Open thread 11/8
- Boxlock20 on Open thread 11/8
- Daniel on Open thread 11/8
- Boxlock20 on Open thread 11/8
- Monkeyhawk on Open thread 11/8
- Daniel on Open thread 11/8
- Boxlock20 on Open thread 11/8
- Boxlock20 on Open thread 11/8
- Daniel on Open thread 11/8
- sursum on Open thread 11/8
32 Comments
Crap. I didn’t know.
The man was a comic genius. He had a skewed way of looking at things, particularly language, that showed the absurd was often in front of our faces.
Get comfortable, George–it’s a non-stop flight, even if you insist that your flight stops!
I knew he had heart problems for years, but he was, what, 70? Still too young. Sigh. . .
“I didn’t following his career or act much.”
You, sir, are an idiot.
Seven words – still some of the funniest stuff you’ll ever hear – 35 years later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Nrp7cj_tM
Some of you will delicate sensibilities may want to pass on this on.
Fleettwood again shows how it’s impossible to be reich-wing and cool at the same time.
It’s like his co-opting 60’s music–what made it and Carlin great was that they rejected utterly the smug, self-satisfied CON world-view.
My favorite routine of Carlin’s: build low cost housing for the homeless on golf courses.
Farewell, Hippy Dippy Weather, Man.
I LOVED GEORGE CARLIN!
I’d sneak down to watch his shows on HBO when my parents were asleep. And DUDE, his Bill and Ted movies were EXCELLENT (well, of course that was during my using days lol).
That was fantastic to see that again WS, thanks for posting it. Man he was so funny.
Phillip,
I can’t imagine a newsman that didn’t listen to Carlin. He had the finest-tuned bullshit detector around!
Genius.
Poignant.
Delivered painful truths.
Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks and now him???
Soon all of the ones who mean anything will be gone…unless you consider Jim Carrey a comic genius, he’ll be here a while…yawn.
I love George, saw him last in Parsons, Ks a year ago. I went with my boyfriend’s 78 year old mother. : ) At intermission I asked her if I needed to ‘explain any of the colorful words’ and she said no, she’d heard all of them before, to which I replied, WHERE??? (she lives in a very small SE Ks. town)..it was a hoot! And like Capn I agreed with his golf course plan. He had monologues about ’stuff’, cats, and stupid words…he was a true comic genius. He made you realize how asinine we can be.
You’ll be missed George.
I saw him at Century II a loooong time ago and still have two of his earliest albums. (Yes, vinyl. Does Randy remember those?)
NPR has had two interviews with him and both are still available. They’re running parts of them again today, I think. You can listen to the tribute at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91802870
Seven things eh…
1. Cynical
2. Observational
3. Permanently Strung out on Anger
4. Witty with strings of brilliance
5. Got less funny as he or (we) got older
6. Avoided the moniker of shock comic successfully.
7. Profane
I have loved Carlin since the first time I ever heard him. Unfortunately, when I saw him live in Fargo about 5 years ago, he was only funny for the first part of his act. The rest degenerated into a political rant. I was so disappointed. I don’t think he got less funny because we got older; he got less funny as he became a political lecturer without the sarcasm that he was so good at. I will always remember the Carlin of the early HBO specials! I don’t mean to upset you George, but Goddess speed on your new journey . I’m sure you’ll find alot to comment on!
Comedy great George Carlin died Sunday of heart failure at the age of 71. This is a reprint of his classic bit “The Difference Between Baseball and Football.” Excerpted from Brain Droppings by George Carlin, Copyright 1997, Comedy Concepts Inc. Published by Hyperion. All rights reserved.
Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he’s out; sometimes unintentionally, he’s out.
Also: in football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and all sports played with a ball, you score with the ball and in baseball the ball prevents you from scoring.
In most sports the team is run by a coach; in baseball the team is run by a manager. And only in baseball does the manager or coach wear the same clothing the players do. If you’d ever seen John Madden in his Oakland Raiders uniform, you’d know the reason for this custom.
Now, I’ve mentioned football. Baseball & football are the two most popular spectator sports in this country. And as such, it seems they ought to be able to tell us something about ourselves and our values.
I enjoy comparing baseball and football:
Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.
Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park. The baseball park!
Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium.
Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life.
Football begins in the fall, when everything’s dying.
In football you wear a helmet.
In baseball you wear a cap.
Football is concerned with downs — what down is it?
Baseball is concerned with ups — who’s up?
In football you receive a penalty.
In baseball you make an error.
In football the specialist comes in to kick.
In baseball the specialist comes in to relieve somebody.
Football has hitting, clipping, spearing, piling on, personal fouls, late hitting and unnecessary roughness.
Baseball has the sacrifice.
Football is played in any kind of weather: rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog…
In baseball, if it rains, we don’t go out to play.
Baseball has the seventh inning stretch.
Football has the two minute warning.
Baseball has no time limit: we don’t know when it’s gonna end — might have extra innings.
Football is rigidly timed, and it will end even if we’ve got to go to sudden death.
In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there’s kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there’s not too much unpleasantness.
In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you’re capable of taking the life of a fellow human being.
And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:
In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.
In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe!
My favorite routine of Carlin’s: build low cost housing for the homeless on golf courses.
A real life take on that in Wichita is to take those free complimentary Genesis memberships that the Stevens’ hand out for “tips” and give them to homeless people.
Free showers, big screen TVs, coffee, and plenty of nice benches to sleep on!!
Well, Regular, that’s your opinion.
The brilliance of Carlin was to find humor in the ways we use the English language without thinking about it.
He will be missed, and of all people, he is most deserving of a prize named for Mark Twain.
I agree with Regular..I used to love Carlin, but as he got older he was less funny and much more cynical and angry. I got bored and just quit watching.
I did love his ranting on the different meanings of sh*t!
“Mary_Caruso
Posted June 23, 2008 at 8:56 pm | Permalink
I agree with Regular..I used to love Carlin, but as he got older he was less funny and much more cynical and angry.”
You never loved Carlin Mary. And from his post, neither did “Regular”
Carlin was ALWAYS cynical and angry.
And if you find yourself agreeing with “Regular”?
I’ll just let that stand. And I’ll stand a little further away from you.
Favorite Carlin schtick?
Golf.
What is golf? Hitting a ball with a crooked stick, following it, and then….hitting it again! I say you’re lucky finding the thing! Pick it up and go the f*(^ home!
RIP George
The only reason “he got less funny as you/he got older” is that he started holding up a mirror to you and that didn’t bode too well, did it?
George Carlin you were a funny, funny man. Rest in peace.
Less funny as he got old? I disagree. From 2008, and, poignantly appropriate, George Carlin on death (not work-friendly):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvImP6P_czc&feature=related
Ever fond of crossing lines of decency and human dignity, Mr. Carlin will now face the Maker he so frequently and rudely ridiculed.
George Carlin thought that Enviromentalists were elitist, alarmist snobs.
I was around when he first started, JR…probably long before you were even born.
He WAS a lot funnier in the early days…and more creative. The last time I saw him I had to turn him off because he was just putting me in a bad mood.
“The only reason “he got less funny as you/he got older” is that he started holding up a mirror to you and that didn’t bode too well, did it?”
Phuck you, Phleefer!
“Ever fond of crossing lines of decency and human dignity, Mr. Carlin will now face the Maker he so frequently and rudely ridiculed.”
Um, dumbass, Carlin is dead. I suggest you actually know what the thread is about before making yourself look foolish even more.
He WAS a lot funnier in the early days…and more creative.
I dunno, Mary: I don’t think Wonderful WINO compares with, say, the seven-words spiel or some of his more biting stuff. And he certainly got better at chronicling the open absurdities of language that we use every day.
Not all of the newer stuff was great, but I found some of the earlier stuff fairly ho-hum.
To each their own, I guess.
Now that is one thing he said that I do agree with. “Someday the earth will awake and wonder “What was it that bothered me for a moment?”
I liked George in the 80’s…that’s when he was at his best.
ucohvtl twaiuryj okdeiba qnkuhwray kwfdebnt oyri ghvwcued
otbkjfwz urthegy dilpe epqsw ctvlgmpe wucnafzt sduoclx
uodmqt tzeonux cpsjdgbz pvkqugaom ruiwz mqrn udarvc
3 Trackbacks
[...] blogs.kansas.com [...]
[...] the government??s authority to …Editorial: George Carlin, 1937 – 2008 Philadelphia Inquirerhttp://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2008/06/seven-things-you-can-say-about-george-carlin/Baby Boomers Remember George Carlin I just heard that George Carlin died over the weekend. That??s [...]
Diabetes…
nice post about this…..