George Carlin has been a huge influence on my life. While I'd never consider myself a comedian, Carlin, serving as a comedian/philosopher, showed me (and everyone else) not only that language can express thoughts, but that it can express the absurdities that exist in everyday life as well. He helped us see things for what they are (or at least closer to it) than we usually do.
Carlin's death in June 2008 was a huge blow to comedy around the world. Carlin used free speech to his (and everybody else with a funny bone or love of language's) advantage. I won’t repeat his seven words you can’t say on television here, but all these years later it's still one his most thought provoking routines. It's not the words that are bad, it's the intention or thoughts behind their use that's the problem. What a concept.
I actually got to see him once in concert in Denver a few years ago with my wife. He was hilarious, vibrant, and bigger than life. I’m sure he’ll wow them wherever his spirit ended up, but we’ll have to content ourselves here with his old albums and TV specials. And it's great for those of us left behind that he filmed another HBO special before he passed away.
It's Bad For Ya was Carlin's 14th and final HBO special and was filmed in March 2008. George has another amazing hour plus of observations about the digital life, getting old, dying, the government, and raising children among other things. And as per usual, George's vision of what makes the world go around is slightly different from those of everyone else. The title of the special comes from the end of a sentence her repeats in the special -- "It's all bullshit folks, and it's bad for ya." It's the theme of the entire performance.
A great quote from his routine is "Bullshit is the glue that binds us as a nation." I have to admit, he's right. After all witnessing the political processes used to elect our next President, we've probably seen enough BS on television and radio to glue us together for another few years at least.
George also has an entertaining notion about crossing out dead people in an address book. There's power there. But it's changed now that everything's online. When you delete a contact from your online address book, it goes into the desktop trash can — a "digital purgatory" if you will. If you really disliked the person, you can empty the trash right away. Or if you want to wait a while out of respect, you can do that too.
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