I agree. Carlin was a truely great American whose words, too me, are right up there with Samuel Clemmons, Frederick Douglas, Benjamin Franklin, George Carlin. Just look at those names together. I think they all fit. Of course, I don't think that Douglas had a humorous bone in his body; still, all of these Americans thought outside of the establishment, where they lived in the gray world of nationalism and patriotism, nothing so black and white, because therein lies danger. What's more, all of these great Americans were celebrities, yet not shackled by star status.
Just watched Pt. 2 (so, out of order - wonder what George would say, or think about that...I'm a rebel?! Hahah, yeah, right! ) Judd Appatow did a great service & terrific job! I thought the selections chosen from George's career & time-lengths interspersed w/interviews of George, along with interview clips/ thoughts from other comedians & others, for me, it flowed together very well. I was immersed in it & tears flowed during an acceptance speech where he spoke in appreciation & love of his wife. What a touching true love story; it went beyond the normal thank-you, addressing particular cherished details; I won't post particulars out of courtesy for those who may not have viewed the entire documentary yet. I know that I saw that first HBO special, in addition to numerous spots on tv. I don't recall if I'd viewed specials beyond that - But, watching the documentary gave me a fresh nibble, so am now determining which special on DVD to purchase. - I remember getting a box set for a friend (who's very witty & sardonic himself) for a decade-turning birthday gift, but never picked it up for our household. Anytime I'm discussing comedy, particularly classic, for me, it's Carlin all-the-way!! I'm thinking to go with You Are All Diseased. Particular admiration & appreciation b/c Geroge had such a sharp mind, along with his biting, while simultaneously chummy, delivery. I'd say droll, but I reserve that adjective for Steven Wright & Tig Nataro. - I will be catching Pt. 1 at another time. R.I.P.
In all seriousness, equating George Carlin with Mark Twain is akin to equating Whoopi Goldberg with Zora Neale Hurston. He was, at best, a reliably funny iconoclast comic in the 1970s who never outgrew his Boomer nihilism as time progressed.
Robert Ingersoll—from that era—would be a much better comparison to Carlin, if anything... especially being that Ingersoll would go on the road and basically do "stand-up" a century before stand-up became an art form. Unfortunately, few today know who Ingersoll is, but everyone should.
yep. stones can play whatever they want. comedians can say whatever they want. however, there may be consequences. maybe rebrand it "consequence culture" and i'll get on board. but "cancel culture" is just dumb.
Go watch part 1 ASAP. Although I had heard some of the story before, I have a whole new appreciation for his early career. And I know a whole lot more about how important Brenda Carlin was to it, and how much the two of them went through together. Plus, there is lots of great archival footage, including a scene of young George Carlin and Richard Pryor together when they were both in the clean-cut phases of their careers.
Consequences aren't new either. Blasphemy has been probably around singe Ringo's caveman grunted his first syllable.
I'm surprised none of these made it on the doc: I remember seeing this as a kid...I guess it must've been on HBO....
This was in the HBO special Carlin on Campus - I just happened to be watching that last night after seeing all of the doc. Carlin at Carnegie and Carlin on Campus both had material from the Place for My Stuff album, which had audio content like this. I think they just added animation over it to use in the special. These were my intro to Carlin when I was a young teenager, and it is still my favorite period of his (I know a lot of fans disagree with me on this).
When, in the doc, they were talking about "The Illustrated Carlin", I thought they meant this 'stuff'!
Huge Carlin fan. Excellent documentary that puts him in his proper perspective. Doesn't avoid the bad, doesn't dwell too much on the good. It DOES feel about 45-60 minutes too long for my taste, even in it's more manageable double shot.
Very thorough doc. My only gripe was he started doing HBO specials in 1977 so it made it seem like he wasn't doing these specials until the mid 80's. I feel like they changed the timeline on his "lean" years a bit and made it more of a thing than it really was. Maybe he was considered "lame" by other comedians but I believe he was pretty popular when the HBO specials started airing especially the Carnegie and Campus specials. Weird that they didn't talk about his first heart attack aside from him mentioning after he had his second.
But they did make mention that "Carlin At Carnegie" was a "comeback" for him and reignited his career. And, yes, the heart attack stuff was weirdly laid out.
I enjoyed the program very much. His brother was quite the character. Those recordings of George screaming in an apparent drug frenzy were pretty wild.
This is a treasure trove and an absolute bargain. I have a few minor issues with it. The disc authoring isn't great (menus, etc.). It is missing the Unmasked With George Carlin XM Radio interview included in the All My Stuff set. Some of what is included is inessential. Nevertheless, the majority of it is just classic stuff. Well worth it.
I've been following Kelly Carlin for a while. This doc is a really great love letter to her family. I have a new admiration for both Brenda and Patrick. You really get a sense of what Kelly has lost. I would have liked to have seen Kelly discuss more about George's relationship with Sally, but I can understand why she didn't. I'm sure it was weird for her. I'm sure she feels like those were the years that Brenda should have had.
Sally published that book of personal stuff after George died, notes and things. I wasn't really interested in it, but I saw it at Goodwill for $2 so I bought it. I immediately wished I hadn't. It was way too personal. I felt wrong looking at these things. I gave it back to Goodwill pretty quickly.
Yeah. I've avoided that one, too. The doc tells me all that I need to know about their relationship. I'm glad that they were happy, but I always feel for the one left behind in those May-December relationships. Falling in love with someone only to see them decline and die can't be easy. At least they didn't have children. Neil Peart's daughter was only ten when he died. BTW, I highly recommend the audiobook of Last Words if you don't already have it. It is narrated by Patrick Carlin.
Loved it! Talking heads were kept to a minimum which I appreciated. Amazing audio tapes and love the outtakes from the HBO promo stuff for LIWL. The ending montage worked as GC's words can be applied to any horrible situation of the world today. Prescient and hilarious all at once.
I would say they were pandering for the networks and doing their best to stay on the good side of FCC and network execs, despite their real lives in stand up clubs, indulging in curse words, and developing serious cocaine habits. But what I respect most about Carlin is that he and his daughter eventually put their problems behind them and made peace before he died. And maybe I should respect his daughter more than him for that.
It was pretty good as far as these recent docs go. All the archival footage was great to see, especially since they had so much of it. And it presented him as a human, with flaws. I disagree with Colbert calling him the Beatles. Actually, I think it's just foolish when anybody says that. "Oh, CSN were the American Beatles." "The original SNL cast, we were the Beatles of Comedy." Why does Carlin have to be "The Beatles". He's just Carlin, and he was a great comedian, that's enough. I also liked that part where Chris Rock said something that he and Seinfeld were agreeing about or something, and then it cuts to Seinfeld and he basically says the opposite of what Rock said. Ha! Also, "Carlin is obsolete, he's talking about peas now" Lots of funny stuff in there, I'd never heard about. I saw Carlin once, in Las Vegas. He had an opener. I don't remember the guys name, though I wish I could find out. Anyway, the opener does 20 or 30 minutes. He's okay. Not mind-blowingly great, but decent. People laughed, the room was having a good time. And then, Carlin comes on. First thing out of his mouth: "If you guys thought that guy was funny, you're all a bunch of f@#&ing idiots!!" The room went silent. Seconds passed. Silence. In my mind, I'm thinking, "Wow, I actually feel insulted. I almost want to just get up and walk out of here. I didn't come here to be insulted..." My next thought was, if I get up, is he going to call me out for leaving? No one said anything. I think myself and everyone there were waiting for a punchline, an explanation, a joke, anything. And he said nothing. Instead, after what must've been a good 10 seconds of silence, he just went into his act. We all laughed and the rest of the night was funny. And after long, I bet most people there weren't even thinking about that part at the beginning, but, my god, that was one of the most awkward things I've ever seen. I get that Carlin didn't pull any punches, he said whatever he was going to say. But was it really necessary to call the entire audience ''f@#&ing idiots'' for laughing at the opening act? Anyone else experience anything like this at a Carlin performance?
That line would've KILLED in NYC. Carlin even grew to hate the Vegas crowds, for reasons like you've described.
