Seems like there has been a rash of celebrity deaths in these last couple of weeks. Tim Russert, Cyd Charisse, Stan Winston…. and now George Carlin has taken his last bow, succumbing to heart failure at the age of 71.
I’ll admit: I was never too great a fan of Carlin, as by the time I came around to him he’d settled into a (in my mind) depressing nihilism that seemed less funny with each passing year, but listening to his work from the early to late 70′s and it’s easy to see just how massive an influence he had on stand-up.
So g’night, George…
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Never was a fan of his later stuff either. There’s a fine line between being funny and just simply complaining.
Still – a figurehead of comedy. He will be missed.
I always thought he was a genious. Mainly because he was always speaking from his heart. Whether I agreed or disagreed it was always true to him. Remove the humor and it was still a fascinating discussion.
Check out min 1:45 and on. From the words of George Carlin himself… he does have optomism. Abeit a strange form of optimism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSgeC6CnKaY&feature=related