RIP: George Carlin

I thought this guy would be around for a while longer.

Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital Sunday, a spokesman said. He was was 71.

Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PT after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

I disagree with Carlin on som ethings, but here’s one we really agreed on.

I wish I could honestly say Mr. Carlin made things better, but I don’t think so.

Has anybody honestly taken a look at this guy?  He was a bitter old man and just got worse as he got older!

He was a cynic of the highest degree, believing in nobody and nothing.

I know Hud said he believed that Richard Pryor coarsened society, but there are some fundamental differences between the two men.  I don’t believe Mr. Pryor put people and their beliefs down.  (Pryor expressed belief in God at least once and seemed sincere about it.)  I also don’t genuinely believe that Pryor hated children, either, even if he wasn’t going to win husband or father of the year any time soon.

I think Pryor went to his ultimate reward and hopefully is in a better place.  Mr. Carlin, I’m not so sure, since he didn’t believe in anything…  He just believed he was going to become wormfood when all was said and done.  Not much to look forward to there.  I’d say that’s sad for him, but people like Carlin don’t want our sympathy.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/23  at  07:29 AM

Carlin was one of the few comedians to truly have the guts to speak his mind. Seventy one is far too young.  Enjoy your rest.

What the hell does it matter whether he believed in God or not?  Someone once said, if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, then don’t say anything.  Maybe you can heed these words, GeorgeC.  Especially when it concerns the recently departed.  If you don’t want to give sympathy, don’t, but at least show some respect.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/23  at  07:46 AM

George,

I don’t believe I said anything like that about Pryor. You must be confusing me with someone else.

As for Carlin, I thought he was too ornery to die so soon. Oh, well…

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/23  at  08:08 AM

Hud,

I tried to check for that old Pryor post you put up around the time Pryor died but I couldn’t find it.  Must be part of the posting database that was lost a while back.  I don’t think I was off on what I said vis a vis your comments, but I didn’t think what you said was nasty, either.  I agreed with you at the time and still do.

Jeremy, I’ve been around enough aetheists and bigots to know how they think about religious people and religion in general.  Carlin fit into the former category and was at least borderline in the second respect to the Catholic Church.  He may have said things people agree with, but he was fanatically hateful towards the Church (which I’m NOT part of, either).

Don’t know what was going on with Carlin the last few years of his life, but it wasn’t pretty.  He was in rehab for seemingly the millionth time recently for alcoholism—which very likely was the reason for his heart problems—and from his most recent appearances, he was not a happy person.  It was very, very difficult to listen to his ranting and raving.  Negativity had definitely replaced the subtler and intelligent wordplays that characterized the earlier parts of his career.

It’s truly sad when someone dies like that.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/23  at  07:36 PM

George,

I may have said something like Pryor popularized coarse humor and made it mainstream, but people like Red Foxx did it before him. I don’t think Pryor deserves all the blame for the fact that so many comedians can’t seem to tell a clean joke anymore. That’s part of the way the culture has changed due to movies also popularizing profanity.


People always cussed, but not as much as they do now. Though I notice less people cuss as much as they did in the 70s-90s.

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/23  at  08:21 PM

Bingo!

That’s exactly what you said, Hud.

And ditto on the curse joke-telling.  It gets old really quick.

Well, maybe not Carrot Top-old, but you know what I mean!

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/24  at  09:36 AM

HBO tells me that people have been cussing since Ancient Rome! :D

Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  06/24  at  01:57 PM
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