I've vacillated all day as to whether I'd go with my gut or my head as it regards the late, great George Carlin, who died of heart failure late Sunday.
But I'll tell you like it is in the %&$^# spirit of the man who made the seven words you can't say on television famous. In honor of a man who was a master wordsmith, I'll not mince any syllables.
George Carlin was an important humorist and a vital First Amendment advocate. However, he also came off as preachy and miserable. Carlin's rants against religion, pro-lifers and Republicans were supremely well thought out but generally unfunny.
Sorry, but the biggest comedic turnoff for me is for the performer to offend the audience. It's one thing to pay $50 for a Dice show, knowing full well what happens when the nursery rhymes spew forth.
It's another to take your family to see one of the five most famous comedians of a generation and listen to a rant about how religion is "bull****." The major inconsistency with Carlin's career is that sometimes you'd get the "seven words" bit, sometimes you'd get the routine about the differences between baseball and football and then others, you'd get Carlin's beef with God.
Carlin has about as many conservative fans as Kathy Griffin or Rosie O'Donnell, and I'm not a conservative. So, I'm not coming from that place. However, it's not my idea of entertainment to hear a guy blabber on about there being no God. Why would I pay $100 for that?
Why would a reasonable person laugh at somebody calling him or her an idiot?
Yes, I know Carlin's work was supposed to be humorous and thoughtful, inciteful and insightful. Carlin was a provocateur, and there is nothing wrong with being remembered as a brilliant provocateur.
I DO think George Carlin was a brilliant provocateur and satirist and even humorist, generally. His relevance to an entire generation is unquestionable, and to a class of folks, he's a counterculture hero.
All I ask from my comedians, really though, is that they be funny.
That a few endorphins get released.
And while Carlin would always make you stop and watch, and stop and think, he never made me stop and laugh. I actually found the guy to be kind of a downer.
A brilliant dude perhaps, just not my bag.
Labels: comedy, george carlin
To each his own. I found Carlin to be incredibly funny. He had brilliant insight into the human condition. He mercilessly poked at our failings and inconsistencies. He simply made me laugh. He offended me occasionally but he still was entertaining even then.
Now Dane Cook is not funny in the slightest. How could he have a gold selling disc and his own series ?
Dude, I never found Richard Pryor to be funny, and he's considered to be the "funniest comic ever" ... so Carlin is not alone in garnering my disdain. But understand: It's not that I didn't find Carlin funny; it's that the hype-to-funny ratio is way out of whack. I've watched every Carlin special in existence. Some twice.
And, Carlin was also more "humorous" than ha-ha hilarious. Will Rogers wasn't that funny either, but he was clever. I respect it.
But in Carlin's case, again, I question the sanity of people who pay money to listen to a guy rant about what idiots they are. For me, it would be like going to an Ann Coulter speech. Why would I do that?
What Carlin wasn't was subtle, and I actually think it was a shortcoming.
As for Dane Cook, there hasn't been a comic the last half century who was less funny. Agreed.
But Bill Cosby is brilliant. Robin Williams is brilliant. Dave Chappelle is high-larious. Denis Leary -- love this guy, and he's twice as funny as Lewis Black (to whom he is compared and who is not funny IMHO).
Dave Attell -- massively, massively underrated. Bernie Mac. Lisa Lampanelli. Norm McDonald. Love 'em.
And have you ever watched Robert Schimmel? I could not stop laughing at his Comedy Central special from a few years back.
But I agree with you on Dane Cook. And I didn't hate Carlin. Just saying he was significantly overrated and not THAT funny.
BTW, I erred. I did not mean Lisa Lampanelli. I meant Lisa Ann Walter, who was in Farm Sluts with Chris Parnell. I've never seen Lampanelli in my life.
I completely think it depends on your type of humor. As far as I am concerned, Carlin was by no means funny. I don't like intellectual humor... or humor related to politics. Simply boring. Give me Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker or even Martin Lawrence... any day of the week. Those guys are funny.
Few days behind here but as they say, "Better late than never".
I totally agree with you that Carlin was not that funny. When he died I thought I'd put one of his YouTube videos on the front page of my humor website as a tribute. Went through about ten, couldn't find even one that made me laugh, and gave up.
P.S. Get well soon!
"Why would a reasonable person laugh at somebody calling him or her an idiot?"
Well, since reasonable people don't believe there's "an invisible man in the sky," they wouldn't be the ones being called an idiot.