I like smart people. I like people who can form a thought and then vocalize it well. I also like funny people. To get an idea on my view on how this all breaks down, please refer to the venn diagram below.
George Carlin though is one of my favorite comedians of all time. His wit, charm, eloquence, and sense of humor made him one of the most successful comedians of all time. My introduction to Carlin was when I was on a trip with my dad and we were staying overnight in a hotel room. As we were flipping through the TV channels we came across one of his old standup routines. I was hooked.
After that I had to find more of his work. Since I was coming in so lat in his career I really got to see his evolution as a comedian, which was really interesting to see. His early material included things like Al Sleet: the hippy-dippy weatherman (tonight’s forecast...dark), Wonderful WINO, and other lighthearted things, but as he grew as a comedian, his topics changed as well.
As his career went on though he started to talk about one of his favorite topics: words. To be more specific the meanings that different words had. He had his famous bit “the seven words you cannot say on television” which then became the “incomplete list of inappropriate words” (incomplete because after every show some jerkoff would come up and tell him “you forgot $*#@#%&!”). To Carlin though the words weren’t bad. The words weren’t what were causing problems. The words were innocent. Its the person who puts the meanings and intentions behind the word that makes them bad.
He also loved to dissect phrases and brought to light some of the sillier phrases in the english language. Things like “You may now get on the plane” and “Please pre-heat the oven” drove him crazy. He wanted to get in the plane not on it, and knew that the oven only existed in two states: heated and unheated.
Along with being a very controversial comedian, Carlin also had another side to him. He also played the role of “Mr. Conductor” on Thomas the Train (a role that was held originally by former Beatle Ringo Starr and later held by Alec Baldwin). It was Carlin’s role to be the storyteller on the children’s show, and was a large departure from his normal routine. It was such a change that until I was told later on in life that it was the same man who did those edgy stand-up routines that also was on one of the best known children’s show of all time.
Carlin was a brilliant mind, a caring man, and just one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever heard. He is missed.
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