You may have already found out, but I just heard that George Carlin died this evening. He was one of my heroes. He did things his way. He thought about life in a way that I admire. Sure, sometimes he was a little too abrasive, a little too brash, maybe went too far sometimes, but most of the time the guy was directly on target. He scored bulls eyes against hypocrisy where ever it lay: religion, politicians, authority figures, the rich, war makers, and the powerful. Even though his ideals made him a hero of the "counterculture" and the left, progressives were sometimes the target of his searing jibes, directed at some of those whose ideas seemed well-intentioned at the time, but when Carlin put his magnifying glass of bullshitism on them, seemed hypocritical, snotty and dumb. To me, that made him all the more persuasive as a person who wanted to do the "right thing," but in his own way.
We lost a guy who was one of the greatest comedians, an author and a spokesman for those who did not want to just follow the rules and go away quietly. He saw through the BS, and gave us stuff to think about in the process. Sometimes I would be listening to one of his gigs and he would say something that would just blow me away-like "hey yeah-that is so true!" Who could forget the 7 Dirty Words controversy? He was fired from a headlining Las Vegas Nev. gig because the people couldn't handle his kind of humor. (I guess he was getting pretty dark for this gig though!) saying, that "People who go to Las Vegas, you've got to question their fucking intellect to start with. Traveling hundreds and thousands of miles to essentially give your money to a large corporation is kind of fucking moronic." Hmmm that's just pretty much how I feel! (sorry if you like to do that!)
Just a few days ago it was noted that he had earned the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor that was to be awarded to him this November. I think he deserved the prize, don't you?
Hey George-we're really gonna miss you! Here are some great George clips and an mp3 you can download!
This clip epitomizes what George was about! (I think)
Those Seven Notorious Words!
Ever the equal opportunity insulter:
George Carlin on religion (mp3 you can download-(leftclick and then listen or DL):
http://www.box.net/shared/avf70vhgk4
Related Tags: George Carlin comedians
