Wednesday, June 25, 2008
James Taylor
I haven't cried for two days, I honestly thought I was getting through this famously, Water works have begun and here I sit, barely seeing out of my eyes. typing so I can capture my present mood. I have to remember it. It's cold, raining, I'm tired and I am very very lonely. I miss my man that doesn't deserve me. Then George Carlin died, such a funny poignant man. I need to see JT before he goes, I have to hear and see him sing in person. In the mean time I am sucking up every tidbit I can find on George and laughing at his brilliance. These men from my younger years left impressions on me that will be in my mind for years. Their spoken words, the words accompanied with music, were all created for. me
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Still reverberating from the stunning loss of the beloved Tim Russert along comes Mr. Death to twist the knife of unanticipated loss and drown us once again in grief.
George Carlin is in the rarefied pantheon of the few, too few, truly great stand-up comedians. Along with Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory and Richard Pryor, George Carlin embodied the Swiftian, Twainish culturally astute rapier wit and wisdom that every era needs. The love of language the horror, ecstasy and sublime ridiculousness of human behavior along with the sensibility to synthesize psychology and sociology into the unique poetry of joke-telling is the very recipe for comic greatness.
And now immortality...
Good night sweet Prince.
Richard Belzer
I came to know George Carlin only in 2001, when he read my book, Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of History (McGraw-Hill) and wrote to me to say how much he liked it. He was especially taken with my analysis of the deep, misogynistic meaning of most vulgar language.
"Men are terrified that their pricks are inadequate," George went on, "and so they have to compete with one another to feel better about themselves. And, since war is the ultimate competition, basically men are killing each other in order to improve their self-esteem. You don't have to be a historian or political scientist to see the 'bigger dick foreign policy theory' shows.
The first Carlin gig I attended, at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. I was struck by what a calm, deep-thinking person George was off-stage.
George Carlin was a thinking person's comic. Suddenly, in the midst of listening to his nonstop vulgarity, one would realize that he was making a very serious point about society, war, and human failings.
It's about time someone put men in their proper place: on the bottom."
When I had a new book Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America, George again came through with his trademark generosity and humor by providing this blurb: "If Robert McElvaine had been Jesus' lawyer, Pontius Pilate would have released him on his own recognizance."
George, you misunderstood the Mark Twain Prize. Receiving a lifetime achievement award doesn't mean your life is at an end!
I closed my message to George last week with the following words, which now, much to my sorrow, must be my epitaph for this wonderful man: "You have enriched the life of the nation and the world--and that's no joke."
Rest in the peace you tried to promote, George Carlin. The world is definitely a better place because of the time you spent in it.
Robert S. McElvaine
You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways. Every comedian does a little George. I couldn't even count the number of times I've been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, "Carlin does it." I've heard it my whole career: "Carlin does it," "Carlin already did it," "Carlin did it eight years ago."
And he didn't just "do" it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.
But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians.
Jerry Seinfeld
"If there was ever a comedian who was a voice of their generation it was George Carlin," said Leno, who frequently had Carlin on the Tonight Show (a venue on which Carlin started appearing in the 1960s).
"Before George, comedians aspired to put on nice suits and perform in Las Vegas. George rebelled against that life. His comedy took on privilege and elitism, even railing against the game of golf."
Despite the passage of years, said Leno, 58, "He never lost that fire. May he continue to inspire young people never to accept the status quo."
Jay Leno
{George hosts SNL (1st show from Sep '75) this Sat 6-28-08}
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