RIP George Carlin
George Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008).
He’s pissed off most people and made the rest of us laugh for over 40 years. Most known (in history) for the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” (1972) - shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksuker, motherfucker, and tits.
He’s been the influence of some of my favourite American comedians including: Jon Stewart, Lewis Black, Stephen Colbert, and Bill Maher. He was the first person to host Saturday Night Live, has done 13 HBO specials (1977-2008), frequently on The Tonight Show as a preformer and guest host, plus was in many different comedy films including: Both Bill and Ted films, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
People in general either love or hate him. Which happens to anyone who is that upfront with their views on the extreme topics of politics, religion and society especially when those views are different from the societal norm. Few people can find the humour in things that they are passionate about. I can get that. I enjoy Reel Time With Bill Maher and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart partly because in most cases I agree with them. Even laughed when Jon Stewart made quite a few jokes about SL a few weeks back, but it was more about the congresional hearings on SL harboring terriorists. Yet I don’t usually find pro-conservative spin jokes all that funny, but I haven’t heard that many so I can’t be all that sure about it.
Actually the more that I think of it, maybe that’s the reason why most republicans have their pants in a twist, they don’t have enough comedians to reduce their anger on the big topics.
Now I haven’t always agreed with everything George Carlin has said, but its all pretty much funny all the time. Why I do really like is that he could find something funny in just about anything. Also that he could agree with certain aspect of issues but not others. And most importantly for me, that he could joke about anything no matter what society figured were appropriate topics.
Most of you who know me or have been reading this blog long enough can easily figure out that he’s a long time favourite. I’m pretty angsty now, but it was considerbly worse when I was younger. I first caught Carlin’s HBO show “Doin’ It Again” (1990) when I was 13. Of course I didn’t understand a good deal about some of the political issues he joked about, but it still was highly influential. See, no matter which of his shows you are watching the base theme is: question everything. Question politics, religion, society, everything. Most of his jokes are about “normal” things looked at a bit more closely or in a different angle then most people think about them. That’s some pretty heavy shit for a midwestern teenage girl who was constantly surrounded by people who expect everyone to conform to their version of normality.
Think about it… I was this girl with genius level intelligence and a base instinct of questioning everything, yet I was living in a society where not only were girls not supposed to be intelligent you weren’t to question anything. English teachers expecting you to understand a book their way and you’d fail if you saw other things in it. I had many fights with teachers over the years because they could never answer my questions on many topics outside the scope of the lesson plan. Most specifically in English and History. Now, I used the word “intelligent” instead of “smart” because there is a bit of difference. Being able to regurgitate information and memorize dates (history), themes (english), and theories (maths & science) is different then being able to understand it and come up with your own ideas. While most of the girls I knew growing up held themselves back on school work for fear of being a nerd or whatever other societial pressure, there was far more pressure against the logical use of your brain to think for yourself. Now, thats also not to say that boys were encouraged to think for themselves, but from my point of view of my history girls were pushed a little bit harder for the “normal” ways girls are supposed to be in order to attract boys, which is our primary role in life, right?
So prior to the age of 13 I had heard the quiet voice out there to question everything before. Or that I haven’t wavered and thought life would just be easier if I “fit in.” Hell, my SL business would more then likely be far better off if I kept my trap shut. I don’t know what it was that night that cemented my belief in questioning everything, but it did.
So.. Rest in Peace George Carlin. Thank you for the many years of constant laughs.
The following are NSFW and will make you angry if you don’t find the humour. The 2nd one espeically if you don’t see the humour in religion. The first one was from 1978 and the 2nd was from 2001.
