One of my father’s favorite memories from his college years is seeing Carlin live. My father has a routine or two on vinyl, I believe. I know he’ll be pretty upset when he hears this.
My reaction? “Oh fuck no.” I hope it was fitting.
7.
PeakVT
One of the greats. Thanks for all the laughs and insights, George. We’ll miss ya.
When I was about 12, I though Carlin was the funniest man in the world. Now I think that I wasn’t too far off.
We’ll miss you, George.
12.
Studly Pantload
Mike says:
When I was about 12, I though Carlin was the funniest man in the world.
Me, too. Yes, his routine was very adult, even what you might call crude, but still so very accessible, even to a kid. He was able to present cynical themes in an engaging, warm manner, and – like, I think, the rest of the best of comedians – with a genuine sense of wonder about ourselves.
13.
gsp
Fuck, he sure made me laugh. Really sucks.
14.
PeakVT
Just for the record, it was:
Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
and…
Tits
I think the most enlightened parenting my folks ever did was to take me and my sister to the Troubadour to hear Carlin perform his “words you can’t say” bit.
It just diffuses everything on the subject, and renders it meaningless.
He truly performed good works.
17.
Ravi J
Who’s Carlin?
shouldda checked wiki first.
18.
Third Eye Open
He was the man who convinced me that my father actually had a sense of humor…
I hope he’s having a great time with John Belushi, Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce…along with Pryor and Robin Williams, he introduced me and a whole lot of Seventies kids to the joys of live comedy.
20.
Mr. Tactful
I thank George for bringing me to the divine religion of Frisbeetarianism.
21.
Mac from Oregon
Aw, Crap.
Genius, funny man. The real Straight Talker.
RIP George, wherever you end up. Drop us a line if you get the chance.
One of the funniest guys of all time.
22.
Desert Hussein Rat
There were two comic geniuses of the 1970’s: Richard Pryor and George Carlin.
Every comedian who came since owes these two big time. There have been funny men (and women) since…but you can trace a lot of their acts back spiritually to Richard Pryor and George Carlin.
They were in a league of their own.
23.
Brachiator
NPR’s Fresh Air, with Terry Gross, will probably repeat her interview with Carlin sometime this week. Not to be missed. A class clown, an indifferent student. But his mother loved language and wordplay, and imprinted her son with a gift for playing with words.
Lenny Bruce. Richard Pryor. Bill Hicks. George Carlin. Maximum wit, minimum bullshit.
Not many famous people deaths could hurt more than Carlin for my brother and I. Years of listening/reading/watching/etc.
Damn. Not a way to start Monday.
36.
joe in oklahoma
he passed?
o you mean he died.
and yes, he passed….with an A+
Well fuck. God’s taking all the good ones and leaving the arseholes. I was really looking forward to his speech when he received the Mark Twain prize.
Damn.
38.
Nicole
Fuckin’ meow, man. Fuckin’ meow.
39.
Napoleon
I thank George for bringing me to the divine religion of Frisbeetarianism.
I am sure George’s soul is now on some roof somewhere where it will spend eternity.
40.
PaulW
My first response was HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
Which is entirely appropriate IMHO.
Nobody punctured hypocrisy the way Carlin did. There was Twain of course long ago, but he wasn’t renown for his cocksucking jokes. Ah well.
Given Carlin’s religious ranting, he’s probably in Hell, right alongside Sam Kinison running the place.
41.
Napoleon
There was Twain of course long ago, but he wasn’t renown for his cocksucking jokes.
Just in the last few weeks it had been announced that Carlin was going to get the Twain award. It actually kind of surprised me that he had not won it yet and I know Billy Crystal had won it (not to take anything away from Crystal, but that is like putting Aerosmith in the Rock and Roll Museum before the Stones or Who).
42.
rob!
“I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms, or euphemistic language.
And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation.
For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I’ll give you an example of that. There’s a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s absolute peak and maximum. Can’t take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap.
In the first world war, that condition was called Shell Shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, Shell Shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago.
Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called Battle Fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell Shock! Battle Fatigue.
Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called Operational Exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It’s totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.
Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it’s no surprise that the very same condition was called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Still eight syllables, but we’ve added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I’ll bet you if we’d of still been calling it Shell Shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I’ll betcha. I’ll betcha.”
43.
Napoleon
PS to my last post now that I have done a Google search and it appears they just anounced he would get the Twain award last week. Well at least he lived to see he would get it.
Also in reviewing past winners (it has only be given since 98) its hard to argue with the others who have won (see below) with maybe the exception that you would think he would have won before Billy Chrystal (although Chrystal almost certainly was more popular star then Carlin).
Recipients of The Mark Twain Prize
1998 – Richard Pryor
1999 – Jonathan Winters
2000 – Carl Reiner
2001 – Whoopi Goldberg
2002 – Bob Newhart
2003 – Lily Tomlin
2004 – Lorne Michaels
2005 – Steve Martin
2006 – Neil Simon
2007 – Billy Crystal
2008 – George Carlin (posthumously)
44.
Throwin Stones
Godspeed
“Once you leave the womb, conservatives don’t care about you until you reach military age. Then you’re just what they’re looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers.”
45.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
In the past couple of years, we’ve lost Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, and now George Carlin. Fuck, man. Fuck.
Did you know George Carlin is now a liberal? I didn’t realize that. Back in the 1990s the right-wing nuts used to send emails around attributing the comments to George Carlin.
But apparently he had criticized the Bush administration, and so now he will be forever immortalized as a Liberal.
The rant about religion from “You Are All Diseased” is an all-time masterpiece:
“And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever ’til the end of time…but he loves you.”
That turn at the end–“but he loves you”–still kills me.
In 1970, Mr. Carlin discarded his suit, tie, and clean-cut image as well as the relatively conventional material that had catapulted him to the top. Mr. Carlin reinvented himself, emerging with a beard, long hair, jeans and a routine that, according to one critic, was steeped in “drugs and bawdy language.” There was an immediate backlash. The Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas terminated his three-year contract, and, months later, he was advised to leave town when an angry mob threatened him at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club. Afterward, he temporarily abandoned the nightclub circuit and began appearing at coffee houses, folk clubs and colleges where he found a younger, hipper audience that was more attuned to both his new image and his material.
And while some of the more stupid stories about Carlin have described him as “controversial,” the NYT gets it right:
By the mid-’70s, like his comic predecessor Lenny Bruce and the fast-rising Richard Pryor, Mr. Carlin had emerged as a cultural renegade.
59.
nogo war
For about the past 4 years my wife and I would see Carlin when he came to Denver each Spring..this year we didn’t but gave the usual..”Well next year for sure”…sigh..
In 2006, the son of close friends was in the H.S. classroom in Bailey CO where a life long friend was horribly abused then shot by someone who took over the AP History room.(We also knew the girl through them)After her funeral I gave him a CD I had burned for him with nothing but Carlin and Pryor on it..starting out with “The History of the Word Fuck”..After his graduation this year he gave it back with an amazing note of thanks…..
Heading over to Pirate bay etc…and download everything they have……
….
60.
nogo war
Perhaps one of the most interesting words
in the English language today, is the word FUCK.
Out of all of the English words which begin with the letter F, FUCK is the only word referred to as the “F” word, it’s the one magical word.
FUCK as most words in the english language,
is derived from German,
the word “fricken[?]”, which means to strike.
In English, FUCK falls into many grammatical categories.
As a transitive verb, for instance.
John FUCK-ed Shirley.
As an intransitive verb, Shirley FUCKS.
It’s meaning’s not always sexual;
it can be used as an adjective, such as
John’s doing all the FUCK-ing work.
As part of an adverb,
Shirley talks too FUCK-ing much.
As an adverb enhancing an adjective,
Shirley is FUCK-ing beautiful.
As a noun, I don’t give a FUCK.
As part of a word abso-FUCKING-lutely,
or in-FUCKING-credible.
And, as almost every word in the sentence,
FUCK the FUCK-ing FUCK-ers.
As you must realize,
there aren’t too many words
with the versatility of FUCK.
As in these examples describing situations
such as fraud,
I got FUCK-ed at the used car lot.
Dismay, Aw FUCK it.
Trouble, I guess I’m really FUCK-ed now.
Agression, Don’t FUCK with me buddy.
Difficulty, I don’t understand this FUCK-ing question.
Inquiry, Who the FUCK was that?
Dissatisfaction, I don’t like what the FUCK is going on here.
Incompetence, He’s a FUCK-off.
Dismissal, Why don’t you go outside and play hide-and-go-FUCK yourself?
I’m sure you can think of many more examples.
With all these multi purpose applications,
how can anyone be offended when you use the word?
We say, use this unique, flexible word more often in your daily speech.
It will identify the quality of your character immediately.
Say it loudly, and proudly!
FUCK you!
Ah, the “Fuck” skit. Thank you, nogo war, I needed that.
Here’s one to live by:
“You can’t argue with a good blow job.”
62.
Spitting Image
I was watching a movie channel one night some years back and they were showing one a heavily edited version of one of those movies that had lots of shooting and lots of explosions.
I don’t remember the lead actor. Might have been Steven Seagal. Anyway, they came up to a scene with lots of shooting and lots of cars exploding. Nearly every other word being said was “Motherfucker”, which the censor had tried to edit out.
Only problem was, the *beep* that the censor was using only blocked the “mother” part of the word, so practically everything came out “*beep*fucker” “*beep*fucker”.
That was how I learned to appreciate George Carlin.
“And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever ‘til the end of time…but he loves you.”
Back in the 1990s the right-wing nuts used to send emails around attributing the comments to George Carlin.
It’s hilarious (in the way that makes you hold your head in your hands) the way conservatives endlessly want to claim Carlin. He was a curmudgeon who called bullshit on bullshit, and his political pronouncements were likely to please conservatives and liberals in roughly equal proportions. (Some things he said would please both, and many would please neither.)
The Libertarians want him because he profoundly distrusted government, but he distrusted private business just as much. His hatred of hypocrisy makes him sound like a Humanist, but he rejected faith in humanity, openly professing his certainty that the species is hopelessly doomed.
I suspect that people want to project their personal philosophies onto George Carlin (one YouTube commenter called him a “true Patriot;” another fantasized that he would be Ron Paul’s running mate) because he could see through our culture’s sacred illusions. But most of us reject one set of illusions only to cling to another; so while you’re quoting Carlin to puncture your opponent’s beliefs, they can do the same thing to yours.
[I]f you read something in this book that sounds like advocacy of a particular political point of view, please reject the notion. My interest in “issues” is merely to point out how badly we’re doing, not to suggest a way we might do better.
65.
The Other Steve
The Libertarians want him because he profoundly distrusted government, but he distrusted private business just as much. His hatred of hypocrisy makes him sound like a Humanist, but he rejected faith in humanity, openly professing his certainty that the species is hopelessly doomed.
It is funny how the political types try to claim him. If I remember correctly, he did not vote and he viewed our elections as “an illusion of choice.”
I’ve always quoted him when it comes to matters of security. He had a bit that talked about the “illusion of safety” that was especially poignant after 9/11.
My full thoughts/tribute is here but to echo something said upthread about MSNBC…
He’ll be a footnote on the news tonite, and they’ll *chuckle* over his famous “edgy language”, etc. but it won’t be the fucking days-long vigil granted to The Great Tim Russert, who did less for his fellow citizen in his whole “distinguished career” than George Carlin did in one night of stand-up.
68.
Mr. AV
I suspect that people want to project their personal philosophies onto George Carlin (one YouTube commenter called him a “true Patriot;” another fantasized that he would be Ron Paul’s running mate) because he could see through our culture’s sacred illusions. But most of us reject one set of illusions only to cling to another; so while you’re quoting Carlin to puncture your opponent’s beliefs, they can do the same thing to yours.
Couldn’t say that better.
I remember Carlin saying (this is on memory so I may be off on some words), “If truth was ever brought in to politics, the entire system would collapse.”
He’ll be a footnote on the news tonite, and they’ll chuckle over his famous “edgy language”, etc. but it won’t be the fucking days-long vigil granted to The Great Tim Russert, who did less for his fellow citizen in his whole “distinguished career” than George Carlin did in one night of stand-up.
Amen.
70.
Tony J
Believe it or not, I’d never even heard of George Carlin before today.
But that fucking fuck was fucking funny as fuck.
RIP. With fucking bells on.
71.
binzinerator
“When you’re born into the world, you’re given a ticket to the freak show, and when you’re born in the United States, you’re given a front-row seat.”
Damn, the man was a genius. I always thought of him not so much as a comedian, but more as an astute observer of the screwed up stuff in American culture, whose cultural observations just happened to be funny as hell.
72.
Tax Analyst
Sad…he leaves a wonderful legacy, however.
We should all leave as much, the world would be a much better place.
It’s worth posting Carlin’s take on celebrity death.
“SUPER-CELEB KICKS BUCKET”
I dread the deaths of certain super-celebrities. Not because I care about them, but because of all the shit I have to endure on television when one of them dies. All those tributes and retrospectives. And the bigger the personality, the worse it is.
For instance, imagine the crap we’ll have to endure on TV when Bob Hope dies. First of all, they’ll show clips from all of his old road movies with Bing Crosby, and you can bet that some news anchor asshole will turn to the pile of clothing next to him and say, “Well, Tami, I imagine Bob’s on the Road to Heaven now.”
Then there’ll be clips of all those funny costumes he wore on his TV specials, including the hippie sketch, where they’ll show him saying “Far out, man, far out!” They’ll show him golfing with dead presidents, kissing blonde bombshells, and entertaining troops in every war since we beat the shit out of the Peloponnesians. And at some point, a seventy-year-old veteran will choke up, and say, “I just missed seein’ him at two, ’cause I got my legs blowed off. He’s quite a guy.”
Ex-presidents (including the dead ones) will line up four abreast to tell us what a great American he was; show-business perenials will desert golf courses from Palm Springs to O.J.’s lawn to lament sadly as how this time, “Bob hooked one into the woods”; and, regarding his talent, a short comedian in a check-ered hat will speak reverently about “Hope’s incredible timing.”
And this stuff will be on every single newscast day and night for a week. There’ll be special one-hour salutes on “Good Morning America,” the “Today” show, and “CBS This Morning.” Ted Koppel will ask Henry Kissinger if it’s true Bob Hope actually shortened some of our wars by telling jokes close to the frontlines. CNN will do a series of expanded “Show Biz Todays.” One of the cable channels will do a one-week marathon of his movies. And it goes without saying that NBC will put together a three-hour, prime-time special called “Thanks for the Memories,” but at the last minute they’ll realize Bob Hope’s audience skews older, and sell it to CBS.
Then there’ll be the funeral, carried life on the Dead Celebrity Channel, with thousands of grotesque acne-ridden fans seeking autographs from all the show-business clowns who dug out their best black golfing outfits to attend “one of the hottest burials to hit this town in decades” — Variety. And all this shit will go on for weeks and weeks and weeks. Until Milton Berle dies. And then it will start all over again. I dare not even contemplate Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan.
RIP, George. You’ll be missed.
74.
Jay in Oregon
Believe it or not, I’d never even heard of George Carlin before today.
Your poor bastard.
75.
AnneLaurie
I miss him already. He is not allowed to go—we still need him, dammit!
Channelling George Carlin: “*Your* turn to carry the load, kids.”
The media is memorializing him as “that guy who did the hilarious routine with the Seven Dirty Words”… just as an earlier media memorialized Mark Twain as “the man who wrote that humorous story about the Jumping Frog”. A hundred years from now, assuming humanity survives that long, these memorials will be cited in support of the thesis that 21st century Americans had about as much sense of Teh Funny as your average labrador retriever.
76.
Rome Again
I’m sure you can think of many more examples.
With all these multi purpose applications,
how can anyone be offended when you use the word?
We say, use this unique, flexible word more often in your daily speech.
It will identify the quality of your character immediately.
Say it loudly, and proudly!
FUCK you!
I’m waiting for the day when we all meet that supposed God of ours, and when someone asks his name, he says “why, my name is FUCK of course!”
77.
Baron Elmo
Mark Twain on the art of humor:
…ours is a useful trade, a worthy calling; that with all its lightness and frivolity it has one serious purpose, one aim, one specialty, and it is constant to it—the deriding of shams, the exposure of pretentious falsities, the laughing of stupid superstitions out of existence; and that who so is by instinct engaged in this sort of warfare is the natural enemy of royalties, nobilities, privileges and all kindred swindles, and the natural friend of human rights and human liberties.
I envision a Wits’ Paradise out there in the cosmic ether, where Mark Twain, George Carlin and H.L. Mencken kick back with tall cool ones and laugh themselves giddy at the infinite follies of the human animal.
RIP, old friend.
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Noah
This breaks my heart. He was a genius. RIP.
mantis
“Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.”
RIP George. You will be missed.
MarkusB
OMG. No.
Goodbye, George. Enjoy the “Big Electron.”
bago
As they say… Shit. And 6 other choice words.
SP
fuck
shit
piss
cunt
cock
pussy
motherfucker
everyone, altogether, really fast
fuckshitpisscuntcockpussymotherfucker
YellowJournalism
One of my father’s favorite memories from his college years is seeing Carlin live. My father has a routine or two on vinyl, I believe. I know he’ll be pretty upset when he hears this.
My reaction? “Oh fuck no.” I hope it was fitting.
PeakVT
One of the greats. Thanks for all the laughs and insights, George. We’ll miss ya.
isit2009yet
THIS deserves a week on MSNBC…
Studly Pantload
Aw, damn.
Sirkowski
Good night, sweet prince.
Mike
When I was about 12, I though Carlin was the funniest man in the world. Now I think that I wasn’t too far off.
We’ll miss you, George.
Studly Pantload
Mike says:
Me, too. Yes, his routine was very adult, even what you might call crude, but still so very accessible, even to a kid. He was able to present cynical themes in an engaging, warm manner, and – like, I think, the rest of the best of comedians – with a genuine sense of wonder about ourselves.
gsp
Fuck, he sure made me laugh. Really sucks.
PeakVT
Just for the record, it was:
Zuzu's Petals
Nobody did it better:
Catholicism Wow!
Tim (The Other One)
I think the most enlightened parenting my folks ever did was to take me and my sister to the Troubadour to hear Carlin perform his “words you can’t say” bit.
It just diffuses everything on the subject, and renders it meaningless.
He truly performed good works.
Ravi J
Who’s Carlin?
shouldda checked wiki first.
Third Eye Open
He was the man who convinced me that my father actually had a sense of humor…
West Virginia Rebel
I hope he’s having a great time with John Belushi, Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce…along with Pryor and Robin Williams, he introduced me and a whole lot of Seventies kids to the joys of live comedy.
Mr. Tactful
I thank George for bringing me to the divine religion of Frisbeetarianism.
Mac from Oregon
Aw, Crap.
Genius, funny man. The real Straight Talker.
RIP George, wherever you end up. Drop us a line if you get the chance.
One of the funniest guys of all time.
Desert Hussein Rat
There were two comic geniuses of the 1970’s: Richard Pryor and George Carlin.
Every comedian who came since owes these two big time. There have been funny men (and women) since…but you can trace a lot of their acts back spiritually to Richard Pryor and George Carlin.
They were in a league of their own.
Brachiator
NPR’s Fresh Air, with Terry Gross, will probably repeat her interview with Carlin sometime this week. Not to be missed. A class clown, an indifferent student. But his mother loved language and wordplay, and imprinted her son with a gift for playing with words.
Lenny Bruce. Richard Pryor. Bill Hicks. George Carlin. Maximum wit, minimum bullshit.
Tits.
montysano
George Carlin on Saving the Planet.
Shit
Piss
Fuck
Cunt
Cocksucker
Motherfucker
Tits
A Different JC
Great line, great sentiment. Carlin was a genius, and this is very sad.
I read that he went to the hospital following a performance. So, he went out with his boots on.
chiggins
From the addendum to the 7 words:
What a kick in the guts. The world feels a little colder and the corners are a little sharper this morning.
cleek
I Am Fuck! Fuck Of The Mountain!
rob!
“…and now they’re thinking of banning toy guns…AND THEY’RE GONNA KEEP THE FUCKING REAL ONES!”
r.i.p. george.
DrDave
George was the master of the English language and its bastardization.
RIP, George. You brought me to tears (of laughter) literally for decades.
DrDave
Did you ever notice that your shit is stuff and everyone else’s stuff is shit?
TheFountainHead
Jeebus, first thing I see when I get in the office. What a way to start a Monday. I always hoped I would get to see him live…
4tehlulz
…and tits doesn’t belong on the list!
Xenos
I miss him already. He is not allowed to go — we still need him, dammit!
D-Chance.
Eh. Whatever.
Neal
Not many famous people deaths could hurt more than Carlin for my brother and I. Years of listening/reading/watching/etc.
Damn. Not a way to start Monday.
joe in oklahoma
he passed?
o you mean he died.
and yes, he passed….with an A+
jake
Well fuck. God’s taking all the good ones and leaving the arseholes. I was really looking forward to his speech when he received the Mark Twain prize.
Damn.
Nicole
Fuckin’ meow, man. Fuckin’ meow.
Napoleon
I am sure George’s soul is now on some roof somewhere where it will spend eternity.
PaulW
My first response was HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
Which is entirely appropriate IMHO.
Nobody punctured hypocrisy the way Carlin did. There was Twain of course long ago, but he wasn’t renown for his cocksucking jokes. Ah well.
Given Carlin’s religious ranting, he’s probably in Hell, right alongside Sam Kinison running the place.
Napoleon
Just in the last few weeks it had been announced that Carlin was going to get the Twain award. It actually kind of surprised me that he had not won it yet and I know Billy Crystal had won it (not to take anything away from Crystal, but that is like putting Aerosmith in the Rock and Roll Museum before the Stones or Who).
rob!
“I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms, or euphemistic language.
And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation.
For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I’ll give you an example of that. There’s a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s absolute peak and maximum. Can’t take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap.
In the first world war, that condition was called Shell Shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, Shell Shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago.
Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called Battle Fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell Shock! Battle Fatigue.
Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called Operational Exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It’s totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.
Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it’s no surprise that the very same condition was called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Still eight syllables, but we’ve added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I’ll bet you if we’d of still been calling it Shell Shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I’ll betcha. I’ll betcha.”
Napoleon
PS to my last post now that I have done a Google search and it appears they just anounced he would get the Twain award last week. Well at least he lived to see he would get it.
Also in reviewing past winners (it has only be given since 98) its hard to argue with the others who have won (see below) with maybe the exception that you would think he would have won before Billy Chrystal (although Chrystal almost certainly was more popular star then Carlin).
Recipients of The Mark Twain Prize
1998 – Richard Pryor
1999 – Jonathan Winters
2000 – Carl Reiner
2001 – Whoopi Goldberg
2002 – Bob Newhart
2003 – Lily Tomlin
2004 – Lorne Michaels
2005 – Steve Martin
2006 – Neil Simon
2007 – Billy Crystal
2008 – George Carlin (posthumously)
Throwin Stones
Godspeed
“Once you leave the womb, conservatives don’t care about you until you reach military age. Then you’re just what they’re looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers.”
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
In the past couple of years, we’ve lost Richard Pryor, Rodney Dangerfield, and now George Carlin. Fuck, man. Fuck.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Fark sums up our feelings.
Genine
This is very sad. George Carlin was a fantastic wit and a bright soul. He will be missed.
I know that wherever he is now, he is in a good place.
But, instead of “Rest in Peace”, I’ll say “Live in Peace, Carl”. Because he’s living on somewhere.
jnfr
Tits is such a friendly word.
Notorious P.A.T.
That sucks.
cleek
Tits, meet Toots. Toots, Tits; Tits, Toots.
The Moar You Know
FUCK
Neal
Fuck Hope!
b. hussein canuckistani
So long George. I’ll be praying to Joe Pesci for you.
Dreggas
My first reaction was “Shit, motherfucker”
May buddy christ welcome him with open arms.
The Other Steve
Did you know George Carlin is now a liberal? I didn’t realize that. Back in the 1990s the right-wing nuts used to send emails around attributing the comments to George Carlin.
But apparently he had criticized the Bush administration, and so now he will be forever immortalized as a Liberal.
Cris
Fuck hope.
mike
The rant about religion from “You Are All Diseased” is an all-time masterpiece:
“And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish where he will send to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever ’til the end of time…but he loves you.”
That turn at the end–“but he loves you”–still kills me.
Hail and farewell, Maestro!
Brachiator
Carlin’s NYT obit points out that he wasn’t just funny, he was a brave motherfucker (George Carlin, 71, Irreverent Standup Comedian):
And while some of the more stupid stories about Carlin have described him as “controversial,” the NYT gets it right:
nogo war
For about the past 4 years my wife and I would see Carlin when he came to Denver each Spring..this year we didn’t but gave the usual..”Well next year for sure”…sigh..
In 2006, the son of close friends was in the H.S. classroom in Bailey CO where a life long friend was horribly abused then shot by someone who took over the AP History room.(We also knew the girl through them)After her funeral I gave him a CD I had burned for him with nothing but Carlin and Pryor on it..starting out with “The History of the Word Fuck”..After his graduation this year he gave it back with an amazing note of thanks…..
Heading over to Pirate bay etc…and download everything they have……
….
nogo war
Perhaps one of the most interesting words
in the English language today, is the word FUCK.
Out of all of the English words which begin with the letter F, FUCK is the only word referred to as the “F” word, it’s the one magical word.
FUCK as most words in the english language,
is derived from German,
the word “fricken[?]”, which means to strike.
In English, FUCK falls into many grammatical categories.
As a transitive verb, for instance.
John FUCK-ed Shirley.
As an intransitive verb, Shirley FUCKS.
It’s meaning’s not always sexual;
it can be used as an adjective, such as
John’s doing all the FUCK-ing work.
As part of an adverb,
Shirley talks too FUCK-ing much.
As an adverb enhancing an adjective,
Shirley is FUCK-ing beautiful.
As a noun, I don’t give a FUCK.
As part of a word abso-FUCKING-lutely,
or in-FUCKING-credible.
And, as almost every word in the sentence,
FUCK the FUCK-ing FUCK-ers.
As you must realize,
there aren’t too many words
with the versatility of FUCK.
As in these examples describing situations
such as fraud,
I got FUCK-ed at the used car lot.
Dismay, Aw FUCK it.
Trouble, I guess I’m really FUCK-ed now.
Agression, Don’t FUCK with me buddy.
Difficulty, I don’t understand this FUCK-ing question.
Inquiry, Who the FUCK was that?
Dissatisfaction, I don’t like what the FUCK is going on here.
Incompetence, He’s a FUCK-off.
Dismissal, Why don’t you go outside and play hide-and-go-FUCK yourself?
I’m sure you can think of many more examples.
With all these multi purpose applications,
how can anyone be offended when you use the word?
We say, use this unique, flexible word more often in your daily speech.
It will identify the quality of your character immediately.
Say it loudly, and proudly!
FUCK you!
Neal
Ah, the “Fuck” skit. Thank you, nogo war, I needed that.
Here’s one to live by:
“You can’t argue with a good blow job.”
Spitting Image
I was watching a movie channel one night some years back and they were showing one a heavily edited version of one of those movies that had lots of shooting and lots of explosions.
I don’t remember the lead actor. Might have been Steven Seagal. Anyway, they came up to a scene with lots of shooting and lots of cars exploding. Nearly every other word being said was “Motherfucker”, which the censor had tried to edit out.
Only problem was, the *beep* that the censor was using only blocked the “mother” part of the word, so practically everything came out “*beep*fucker” “*beep*fucker”.
That was how I learned to appreciate George Carlin.
Neal
Don’t forget, he always needs money!
Cris
It’s hilarious (in the way that makes you hold your head in your hands) the way conservatives endlessly want to claim Carlin. He was a curmudgeon who called bullshit on bullshit, and his political pronouncements were likely to please conservatives and liberals in roughly equal proportions. (Some things he said would please both, and many would please neither.)
The Libertarians want him because he profoundly distrusted government, but he distrusted private business just as much. His hatred of hypocrisy makes him sound like a Humanist, but he rejected faith in humanity, openly professing his certainty that the species is hopelessly doomed.
I suspect that people want to project their personal philosophies onto George Carlin (one YouTube commenter called him a “true Patriot;” another fantasized that he would be Ron Paul’s running mate) because he could see through our culture’s sacred illusions. But most of us reject one set of illusions only to cling to another; so while you’re quoting Carlin to puncture your opponent’s beliefs, they can do the same thing to yours.
From Brain Droppings:
The Other Steve
Perhaps Carlin was the only true Libertarian. :-)
Neal
It is funny how the political types try to claim him. If I remember correctly, he did not vote and he viewed our elections as “an illusion of choice.”
I’ve always quoted him when it comes to matters of security. He had a bit that talked about the “illusion of safety” that was especially poignant after 9/11.
Mr Furious
My full thoughts/tribute is here but to echo something said upthread about MSNBC…
He’ll be a footnote on the news tonite, and they’ll *chuckle* over his famous “edgy language”, etc. but it won’t be the fucking days-long vigil granted to The Great Tim Russert, who did less for his fellow citizen in his whole “distinguished career” than George Carlin did in one night of stand-up.
Mr. AV
Couldn’t say that better.
I remember Carlin saying (this is on memory so I may be off on some words), “If truth was ever brought in to politics, the entire system would collapse.”
I’m gonna miss him.
Neal
Amen.
Tony J
Believe it or not, I’d never even heard of George Carlin before today.
But that fucking fuck was fucking funny as fuck.
RIP. With fucking bells on.
binzinerator
“When you’re born into the world, you’re given a ticket to the freak show, and when you’re born in the United States, you’re given a front-row seat.”
Damn, the man was a genius. I always thought of him not so much as a comedian, but more as an astute observer of the screwed up stuff in American culture, whose cultural observations just happened to be funny as hell.
Tax Analyst
Sad…he leaves a wonderful legacy, however.
We should all leave as much, the world would be a much better place.
Joe Max
It’s worth posting Carlin’s take on celebrity death.
RIP, George. You’ll be missed.
Jay in Oregon
Believe it or not, I’d never even heard of George Carlin before today.
Your poor bastard.
AnneLaurie
I miss him already. He is not allowed to go—we still need him, dammit!
Channelling George Carlin: “*Your* turn to carry the load, kids.”
The media is memorializing him as “that guy who did the hilarious routine with the Seven Dirty Words”… just as an earlier media memorialized Mark Twain as “the man who wrote that humorous story about the Jumping Frog”. A hundred years from now, assuming humanity survives that long, these memorials will be cited in support of the thesis that 21st century Americans had about as much sense of Teh Funny as your average labrador retriever.
Rome Again
I’m waiting for the day when we all meet that supposed God of ours, and when someone asks his name, he says “why, my name is FUCK of course!”
Baron Elmo
Mark Twain on the art of humor:
I envision a Wits’ Paradise out there in the cosmic ether, where Mark Twain, George Carlin and H.L. Mencken kick back with tall cool ones and laugh themselves giddy at the infinite follies of the human animal.
RIP, old friend.