(click the picture above for
the high definition
video - but also click
YouTube
for me!)
2:02 PM, Monday,
June 23rd, 2008:
"Nooooo."
All I could
muster. Last night I spoke with Paddy after all day
working on the house only to have him tell me of
Carlin's passing and just... bum, me, out. He's on the
list...
...the list of
performers I adore that have every right to die in
their 70s, but we all believe they will literally be
around until 100. Morgan Freeman is on this list. Life
is just a little bit better while they're around. And
don't even get me started on McCartney.
My
step-father Dan first introduced me to
George Carlin. Sweet Criminey have I
really gone 774 entries without ever
mentioning him? Wow. That's mind-boggling.
What a profound influence he had. Have
barely spoken to him in nearly 15 years
but basically anything that was
"anti-establishment" originated from him.
And my love for sports...go figure. Anyway
I remember as a kid loving him in the same
way I loved Gallagher (the parts of the
show before the waremelon). They were
fiercely intelligent symbols of the 60s
revolution and they used common sense and
twisted humor to make you think. Even as a
kid I loved it.
As I got older
however, Carlin became something more. When I saw his
early stand-up stuff in the early 60s it finally
occurred to me just how risky he was now (this is
early 90s mind you) in comparison to then. Forget the
"7 words you can't say on TV", that's too obvious.
It's introducing people to a completely
anti-establishment way of thinking... and making it
ridiculously common sense. It's propaganda... the
other way. At the end of a Carlin show, you basically
laughed and agreed with thoughts/ideas that in "good"
company would make you the most perverse,
anti-American, commie, hippie outcast alive. And most
probably had no idea. His mind was so quick and so
open to every angle that there was hardly an audience
that he couldn't grab and manipulate. He was by all
accounts a genius.
Now please
understand that when I use the terms "propaganda" or
"manipulate" there are absolutely no negative
connotations. Not in the least. Like it or not -
that's the job of a performer. Your audience is a
blank canvas and it's your job to paint them, to
effect them. It's why Kauffman was so mind-numbingly
brilliant because he had the most uncanny power to do
just that. Even if he was painting your canvas BLACK
and you HATED him... he did that to you. Carlin was
much different of course, but the result was the same.
He introduced you to his rhythm and you rode with him.
I always felt like I was inside someone else's body
hearing or watching him. I just don't know of any
performer that changed you after the show ended. He
deeply effected me.
And of course...
the longevity. His last special in March was as quick,
witty, dead-on, inspiring as literally anything he had
done. In his freaking 70s I mean REALLY. The only
difference was that his appearence was actually
starting to change and I actually thought he was sick
in March. For a guy who was bone skinny his whole
life, you could tell something was up and it was very
consistent with a heart problem. Somethin' wasn't
regulating right - but I quickly shook it off and
figured this was just a new phase and he'd look like
this the next 20 years. It's just so difficult to
fathom a guy as "with-it" as Carlin was... ever dying.
And man how happy would he be with how it played out.
Working nearly up to your dying day? Producing a
special months before you die? And how 'bout
this:
Seinfeld
said he had talked with Carlin a few days ago, not
long after the death of "Meet the Press" host Tim
Russert.
"We were
actually joking about death," he said. "We were
kidding about how, you know, they kind of come in
groups. It was like Bo Diddley and Tim Russert. And
he was saying how I feel safe now for a little
while because, you know, there should be a lull
before they come after the next
person."
The irony of him
being the third would have made him quite happy. So it
really is bittersweet because as much as I'll miss
hearing what he has to say about current events I look
at his life and all he packed into it and all I can do
is aspire. Aspire to be half of what he was and it
makes me more determined than ever to keep writing,
singing, producing, editing, creating until I've given
absolutely every single thing that I have to the
world. Just like Carlin. Wish I could've met
him.