A few (clean) words on George Carlin

Yesterday, the comedy world lost a titan. Well, the shadow of a titan, at the very least.

George Carlin passed away at 71 from heart failure, enrapturing his poor, pessimistic soul to the "heavenly CNN" he sought to view when he died. What saddens me about Carlin's death, however, is a matter of aesthetics.

Granted, I'm not surprised the guy died, just that it took this long. Forever a child of reckless endangerment, Carlin passed through drug addiction and debt like clothing, effortlessly moving from high-paid Vegas entertainer to $4 million in debt tax payer, and, my personal fave, from cocaine addiction (his daughter asked him on one of their vacations together to stop snorting) to sobriety. See? The guy had a 'truth and dare' session with death, and it's a mystery that guys like Carlin, Keith Richards, and Robert Plant can still get out of bed every morning, Father's ashes 'n all.

But what saddens me about the Carlin today is what a shadow he was of his previous self. The Carlin of today was just angry. Brilliant, but one-dimensional, angry in the old man, grumpy kind of way (for proof, consult his one of his last HBO specials, "Life is Worth Wasting").

Now, I understand the brilliance of old Carlin was all but impossible to sustain. Simultaneously intelligent and daring, Carlin could pull off skits musing on the appropriateness of the word "shit" (famously remarking that he was fired for saying "shit" in a place where the game of choice is "craps"), the many eccentricities and contradictions of the Catholic faith, and, of course, the seven dirt words that would "curve your spine and stop the allies from winning the war."*

The old Carlin observed the society around him and commented on his surroundings, talking with his audience in a perverse form of discussion. You laughed at your own faults that Carlin fearlessly pointed out, but you walked away from the act a sadder, wiser man. Contradict this with the many stand-up "comedians" of today, where shouting and obnoxious screaming creates an act, and you see how far down stand-up comedy has fallen on the pedestal (yes, I'm talking to you Dane Cook).

I guess what Carlin really represented was how hard stand-up comedy is. A famous actor--the name changes based on who you ask--remarked "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." And from the number of eulogies that are springing up around the web, from Richard Belzer to Jerry Seinfeld, we can see that Carlin--old Carlin--had it down.

*My personal favorite is still his skit on Muhammad Ali, where Carlin remarked that Ali's profession, beating people up, was forbidden because he would not accept the government's new occupation for him: killing people. "(Ali) said, 'Nah, I'll beat them up but I don't wanna kill them. And they said, 'Well, if you won't kill them we won't let you beat them up! HA HA HA!'"