I don’t know if George Carlin is still around and making jokes. My first awareness came from long ago when Johnny Carson was king of The Tonight Show and I was young enough to stay up and watch it. I always enjoyed Carlin’s humor. It was good stuff; creative and original.
At the same time I heard that in his non-TV gigs he really had a filthy mouth. Since I didn’t go to night clubs and we didn’t have You Tube in those days, I had to take their word for it. Recently I picked up a book for 50 cents that he had written and for the first time I experienced the gamut of his work. I was right: He is a great comedian. Sometimes. You see, they were also right, and he has an incredibly filthy mouth. Or typewriter. Either way it gets old really quick.
The nature of humor is pointing out the unusual or seeing things an a startling way. The first time you throw in a four letter word it has an impact. It could even be funny. However, with the degeneration of standards on TV and in our culture, the vulgarity and obscenity of the past has become the boring passe of today.
There are places where he offers real philosophical insight such as, “If they don’t like the way you dance it could be because they can’t hear the music.” When I went to look for the page number I could not find the line again, but I could still remember it.
Pulling the jury into the cesspool of language selection were repeated one liners like, “F*** Al Jolson.” on page 74. You could substitute many different targets for the “Al Jolson”. I am mystified why this is supposed to be funny.
Clean humor is hard to produce. Filthy mouths can be found in any locker room or bar. It was a sad discovery. I am not sure I want to hear him again.
Carlin, George. Brain Droppings. New York: Hyperion, 1997.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.