George Carlin - don't you miss him?

[spiderpig]

Last edited Thu Nov 8, 2012, 05:46 PM - Edit history (1)

He died June 22, 2008. Can you imagine his commentary on the last 2 elections?

Mr. pig and I quote him all the time. While it may not be his funniest observation, the one we use most often is when cleaning out the refrigerator - "Is it meat, or is it cake?"

Dinner at my house!

[easychoice]

1. I miss him a lot,this is still true today,sad but true.

[MotorCityMan]

2. Hell, yes

Watch any of George's comedy specials, he understood what was going on and damn well was going to tell you about it.

He would have had a field day with the last two elections.

[MrSlayer]

3. One of the greatest ever.

Logic. Get some.

[Graybeard]

4. Oh my yes. So much.

No person in this world has made me laugh as much as George Carlin did. To this day his meticulously crafted routines produce gales of laughter to the point of tears actually running down my face.

Thanks for bringing back memories of a great talent and one of our National Treasures.

[spiderpig]

12. I knew you and I connected on a serious level from the Malloy thread, Graybeard!

Carlin covered everything from politics to sports (football vs. baseball), dirty words, and one of my favorites - driving. (Rule: Never drive behind anyone wearing A Hat&quot

I go back far enough to remember his Hippy-Dippy Weatherman on The Smothers Brothers Show. And how he'd read the sports scores as just a series of numbers.

A lot of his classics are on youtube, and when Mr. pig gets home from work at 1:30am, we'll run a couple of routines and marvel at the fact that they're just as fresh as when we first heard them.

And for all the drugs he admittedly did, his ability to rattle off his iconic staccato lists at age 70+ still blows our minds.

[Graybeard]

14. And his books.

Brain Droppings and When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops and so many others.

He is as funny in print because you can hear his voice as you read. I couldn't bring myself to read "Last Words" (too painful so close to his death). Maybe some day.

Hi and regards to Mr. pig.

[spiderpig]

31. Is When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? the funniest title ever?

Are there any Republican comics anyway? Other than KKKarl Rove?

[hifiguy]

19. Everyone driving slower than you is an IDIOT

and everyone driving faster than you is a MANIAC!

Jeezus, look out for that idiot!

Yeah, I know, but I was trying to stay out of the way of that maniac!

[spiderpig]

22. Good thing this isn't a drinking game, or we'd all be under the table.

There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past.

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

Weather forecast for tonight: dark.

[In_The_Wind]

5. YES, I miss him.

I saw him preform in Kingston, NY.
We were talking about him earlier this week. He was right-on about so many things.

[HopeHoops]

6. "And tits doesn't even belong on the list. It sounds like a nickname. Tits, Toots. Toots, Tits."

[ohiosmith]

8. Or a snack food "tater tits"!

[HopeHoops]

11. Of COURSE they're a snack food!!! DUH!

[OrwellwasRight]

7. It's meatcake!

Tomatoes: it's like God's not finished with them yet.

The Rice Krispies at the top of the bowl are closer to the sun.

I used to have all those bits on a cassette tape and listen to them on long drives from San Diego to Santa Barbara.

[spiderpig]

15. I subscribe to audible.com and have a lot of his books that he reads himself.

He's hilarious. Always.

The last book was "Last Words", his autobiography, and was assembled post-mortem by a co-author and read by George's brother, Patrick.

In a way it's a bit hard to listen to, because while the co-author and Patrick do fine, you're constantly aware that George is gone. Phfft. We'll never know what we missed.

I so wanted to hear his take on Sarah Palin & Mittens.

[pokerfan]

9. Some people are all three

Some people are really fucking stupid. Did you ever notice that? How many really stupid people you run into during the day? God damn there's a lot of stupid bastards walking around. Carry a little pad and pencil with you. You'll wind up with thirty or forty names by the end of the day.

Look at it this way: Think of how stupid the average person is and then realize that half of them are stupider than that. And it doesn't take you very long to spot one of them does it? Take you about eight seconds. You'll be listening to some guy... you say... "this guy is fucking stupid!"

Then... then there are some people, they're not stupid... they're full of shit. Huh? That doesn't take very long to spot either, does it? Take you about the same amount of time. You'll be listening to some guy.. and saying, "well, he's fairly intelligent...... ahh, he's full of shit!"

Then there are some people, they're not stupid, they're not full of shit... they're fucking nuts! Dan Quayle is all three! All three! Stupid, full of shit, and fucking nuts! And where did he get that wife of his? Have you taken a good look at that Marilyn Quayle? Where did he get her, at a Halloween party or something? She looks like Prince Charles for Christ sake! Let me ask you something, does he actually have to fuck that women! Huh? God help him, I wouldn't fuck her with a stolen dick! That's my political humor. People like it when you're topical.


George Carlin - Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics
Recorded January 12-13, 1990

[Graybeard]

10. Wiping tears from cheeks.

Thanks for that.

[spiderpig]

16. Dying (laughing) here.

I wish I had 1% of his intellect and boldness. He said what he wanted and didn't give a rat's ass who might be offended.

[hifiguy]

18. Nobody told it like it is the way George did.

[sakabatou]

13. I miss him. My favorite commedian

[hifiguy]

17. George Carlin and Molly Ivins.

Two people I dearly miss. Two unabashed tellers of the truth and nothing but.

[spiderpig]

20. Oh, Molly!

I've always admired people with beautiful voices, and Molly could lull you into a peaceful state with that sultry drawl.

Then you'd realize she was dealing out a good ole ass-whooping on Shrub or Governor Goodhair.

Too young. Too soon. Miss her to pieces!

[hifiguy]

26. George used the billy club on stupidity.

Molly slid the shiv in so gracefully you didn't know it was there until you were already dead.

[Initech]

21. "All you have to do is remember the names of the two men in charge of that war:"

"Dick Cheney and Colin Powell. Somebody got fucked in the ass!!!!"

[alarimer]

23. He remains the only comedian whose show I've seen.

It was when I was in college and he performed in the school gym, of all places. He was less than thrilled to be there (or maybe he was always kind of grumpy). He got some heckles (this was in deep red Alabama, so some stuff didn't go over too well),

There were two little old ladies sitting next to me who were shocked at some of his language. Obviously they knew nothing about him, or they would not have been shocked.

I loved it, though.

[spiderpig]

25. I so wish I'd gotten to see him.

I understand he was crotchety, but that's what we loved about him.

And a number of years ago he managed to piss off a very self-important local radio talk-show host. Made me love him even more.

[Graybeard]

32. I saw him at the City Center.

NY City Center is an old theater with a very steep balcony and my girlfriend and I were in the nose-bleed seats. It was the mid 1970s and the place was packed.

We wanted to be closer to him so we went downstairs and watched him while standing for the rest of the show. Great memory.

[spiderpig]

33. EnvyEnvyEnvy.

I've been chuckling all day over this thread. So many memories. So many great DUers with observations & memories to contribute.

[A HERETIC I AM]

36. I've seen him twice, both times in Ft. Myers, Fl. The last, about 6 months before he died.

The reason I am responding to your post and not the OP is to agree with the 'crotchety' remark.

The last time I saw him, he really looked old, and seemed to have grown a real contempt for the audience.

He would spit.

Sort of like one might unconsciously get rid of just a little too much saliva, but he would spit.

From the front of the stage.

On the people in the front row.

I had front row, but stage right seats and could clearly see it. It was ......remarkable, for lack of a better term.

I think in his last years he had lost a lot of his edge, but I will never forget the first time I heard "Class Clown" from start to finish. I can recite "The 7 words you can't say on Television" ( "And tits, man....sounds like a snack!) from memory.

He was indeed brilliant and left us too soon.

[spiderpig]

37. Ew. Doesn't dull his genius. Let me tell you what I think is a funny story about him.

The self-important radio host I referred to elsewhere was mortified that Carlin didn't wash his hands in the men's room and The Host refused to shake hands with him. The Host went on and on about it on subsequent shows.

With anyone else, I'd say "Well, OK", but at the time I thought "You're a big blowhard and he's George Carlin. Get over yourself."

The Host used to be somewhat OK back in the day, about 30 years ago, but did he ever turn around 2000. From a progressive to a Bush apologist in a nanosecond. He's the only survivor of a once-great radio station because he had an iron-clad contract. Not that I listen to him anymore. Yuk.

That said - yeah, we all lose our edge. Didn't Carlin have a heart attack or two? And he didn't have the most benevolent attitude to begin with.

Made me laugh more than any other philosopher, though.

[pokerfan]

28. I got to see him three times

Always brilliant.

[spiderpig]

30. I am so enjoying this thread. It makes me feel good to know how many share the George love.

Also like Steven Wright, but I don't know where he's been lately.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/steven_wright.html

Nobody will ever match George, though. He's the gold standard.

[spiderpig]

34. You're probably not old enough to remember Norman Cousins, editor of The Saturday Review

Here's text from Wiki, which may or may not be factual. But he was supposed to be terminally ill, and here goes:

Told that he had little chance of surviving, Cousins developed a recovery program incorporating megadoses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope, and laughter induced by Marx Brothers films. "I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep," he reported. "When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval."

Take it as you will, DUers. But laughter never hurts. This story has stuck with me for decades.

[Initech]

24. "Ever notice how the people who don't believe in abortion..."

"Are the people you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?"

[edbermac]

27. I miss George and Rodney Dangerfield.

They never failed to make me laugh.

GC:
“Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fuck Hope.”

[spiderpig]

29. LOL! Not to get on my soapbox (she said, getting on her soapbox), but if we can't laugh

how is life worth living?

If you've ever met an utterly humorless person, you'll know what I mean.

I worked in customer service for 40 years, so I know whereof I speak.

[codjh9]

35. Yes! His pieces on death, religion, and so many others...