As Carlin closes the show, he gets slightly more serious but is still humorous as he talks about the power of government and the delusion people have about their rights. He explains what Americans really have is a Bill of Temporary Privileges, and if we disagree, his proof is the Japanese Americans who were interred in 1942 because their parents were born in another country. He bids farewell to a loud round of applause.
Unfortunately, this is the last collection of new material Carlin will give us. Thankfully, much of his material is available in some form because his keen gift to skewer Life’s big stuff and its little stuff is needed. When they build the Mount Rushmore of stand-up comedians, he will be on it.
Although this was certainly no test of the format’s capabilities, the high definition video looks great. It looks consistent throughout and there were no flaws as if Carlin were performing in the same room with you. The audio is 2.0 PCM lossless and mainly uses the front speakers. The surround picks up the audience. There’s not much work for a subwoofer.
The Blu-ray has two extras. “Too Hip for The Room” was recorded on 12/17/2007 and it’s a 30-minute featurette where Carlin interviewed in 2007 for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation’s “Archive of American Television.” Carlin provides an autobiography of his life and career. It was interesting to hear him say he hadn’t found his “voice” until in 1992, which was at least 20 years after he had given up the straight life and became a counterculture comedian.
His previous stand-up persona is captured on the other feature from an appearance on The Jackie Gleason Show from 1/25/69. Carlin has no beard, wears a suit, and his material is more traditional as he does a bit about the FBI having their own version of The Tonight Show. It ran for eight minutes and sounded like the audience laughter was canned because of how abruptly it stopped. The video shows its age. This is not yet the man who would inform the world of the “Seven Words You Cannot Say On TV.”
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