Carlin's "Comedy"
George Carlin died today, and the world moves another microstep forward towards an even more dismal uniformity.Carlin was a small hero of mine, not like say Bill Murray, but he was a comic’s comic and as ready with a bon mot (or a string of them) as he was with an exaggerated expression. I loved hearing him tear apart the language of today’s commerce and showing the futility of acting like sheep blithely consuming objects while disregarding knowledge.
His most recent HBO special proved that Carlin was more interested in opening the eyes of his audience than he was about getting a laugh. The puns were the byproduct, information was the draw. As a semi-observant Jew, I recoiled slightly when he railed against G-d, but that was Carlin- the guy who thought nothing was real unless he could prove it to himself.
For me, Carlin remains a legend up in the pantheon of funny with the likes of Richard Pryor and others like him. However Carlin went for a more subversive take; he knew a lot of his audience disagreed with him on certain things, but he didn’t care. It was that his words were heard and they made an impact that mattered to him most- in that way, he transcended comedy and social satire and became more of a commentator who was funnier than most men have a right to be.
Saying he will be missed is not enough- listening and heeding his words are a far more important legacy. Inevitably it will result in our country being more aware and less likely to become all that Carlin railed against for so many decades.
posted by UpperWestSideGuy @ 4:15 PM
0 comments
