I woke up this morning to find out that George Carlin died last night of a heart attack. This hits me harder than I thought it would.
As Jon Stewart once said, listening to Class Clown was a right of passage. Stewart's about my age, and for boys growing up in the 70's Carlin was a god, a grownup who actually said all the things you'd said among your friends but were told never to say by your parents and certainly never heard anywhere else. What's more, he did it with an intelligence and wit that was absent from other current and later comedians who had the cursing without the intelligence. I think that's why my mom didn't mind that I listened to them. I could practically recite verbatim whole routines at 9 or 10, in fact it's not a stretch to say that my early fascination with language was greatly influenced by equal parts of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and Carlin's albums.
I had all of Carlin's early albums and played them till they were scratched and crackly. AM/FM, Occupation Foole, Class Clown, Toledo Window Box, An Evening With Wally Londo, and On the Road. I lost a bit of interest in the 80's partly because financial constraints no longer allowed me to purchase his albums, but also I think in hindsight because his career slipped a bit then. His albums started to seem a bit formulaic -a few rants about "the man", a few drug references, and a few bizarre non-sequiturs, but without the soul or wit that his earlier material had. His television specials also diminished and at times seemed a bit awkward because it appeared that he felt that he had to guild his punchlines with mugging. In later interviews he referred to a period where he "lost himself" as a comedian and one surmises that that's what he meant. I believe that this period was also when the drugs took over his life both physically and financially. This would have been from about the mid to late '80's through the early '90's and included the albums "Playin' With Your Head", and "What Am I Doing In New Jersey"?
He came back with a vengeance in the 90s sparked in part by the Tipper Gore PMRC debacle with the aptly named "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" and never slipped again (IMO).
In 2000 my Constitutional Law professor played the "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" to my class and I have to say that (beside the fact that it seemed so tame after all the years of controversy) it was a sheer delight to watch and hear the reactions of kids (by kids I mean early 20's ;-) ) who had actually never heard the routine before. They couldn't quite grasp what the fuss had been all about. Carlin would have been proud.
I can't begin to explain the profound sadness I feel at his passing -particularly at such a young age. 71 is barely retirement age now. He leaves behind a body of work that is unsurpassed in its scope, prolificness, wit and laughing out loud humor as well as its quintessential example of linguistic balance -in that sense it's no exaggeration to place Carlin as one of the modern Shakespearean torch bearers.
Wonder if he got his "two minute warning"?
"Now, you might be wondering why I would even suggest that someone can affect the manner and style of his death. Well, it's because of a mysterious and little-known stage of dying, the two-minute warning. Most people are not aware of it, but it does exist. Just as in football, two minutes before you die you receive an audible warning: "Two minutes! Get your shit together!" And the reason most people don't know about it is because the only ones who hear it are dead two minutes later. They never get a chance to tell us.
But such a warning does exist, and I suggest that when it comes, you use your two minutes to entertain and go out big. If nothing else, deliver a two-minute speech. Pick a subject you feel passionate about, and just start talking. Begin low-key, but, with mounting passion, build to a rousing climax. Finally, in the last few seconds, scream at those around you, "If these words are not the truth, may God strike me dead!" He will. Then simply slump forward and fall to the floor. Believe me, from that moment on, people will pay more attention to you."
-From "Napalm and Silly Putty" (though orignially featured on "On the Road")
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