Let George Do It!

I have to say goodbye to a good friend today. Comedian George Carlin died yesterday at the age of 71. George wasn’t a personal friend of mine. In fact I never got the chance to meet him in person or even see him perform live. He was, however, my comedy idol.

In high school while all my friends were listening to disco tunes or the latest albums by KISS, Journey or Van Halen I was studying Carlin records. Yes, there was the excitement of listening to an album I wasn’t supposed to be listening to (my mother would have killed me had she found out) but my true enjoyment went far beyond that. I was captivated by Carlin’s comic timing. Even though I knew nothing about comedy technique or structure, I could tell on an intuitive level that I was listening to brilliance.

Carlin could make me laugh just by putting the right pause before a word or by giving the perfect inflection on a pronunciation. His deep, distinguished disc jockey voice served not only as a contrast to his zany, irreverent observations but also as the proper adult permission I needed to listen in. The real joy for me was not just in listening to him say words I dared not utter, but that he was saying them in a way that made it sound like uttering those words was no big deal. He stripped the words of their “giggle” factor and injected them with true meaning. In doing so, he made those words at the same time silly and monumentally important.

Maybe the most unintentional result of listening to George Carlin was that he served as my introduction to the Catholic faith. Even though I knew he was making fun of it all, I still discovered a great deal of love and respect for Catholicism from George’s material. Growing up Southern Baptist in East Tennessee, I probably would have had very little exposure to that religion from any other source.

During the 1980s when I was working as a stand-up comic, I always threw some “Carlinisms” into my act. They were never stolen jokes, but I would always try to deliver one of my own the way I imagined George would have done it. I doubt the audience was ever aware of it, but it would always make me laugh and I was happy to do it as a tribute to the master comic.

As George aged and his comedy persona evolved from the wiser-than-thou hippy to the pissed-off-at-the-world old man, I lost some interest in his act. I found enjoyment in his short-lived TV series and I’d tune him in occasionally when he had a cable special but he alienated me a bit when the little sparkle in his eye turned to anger. Still, I knew it was all an act and whenever I saw him on interview shows he just seemed like someone I’d like to hang out with. I only wish I’d gotten the chance.

Bye George.

Tags: Comedy, George Carlin, tribute