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Monday, June 23, 2008
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5 comments:
A very appropriate gesture. He was the greatest and inspired us all.
They call it Stormy Monday, and that adage could not be truer than it has been in the past two weeks. Last week I was saddened by the loss of Tim Russert but as awful as that was I had no idea that it would be the tremor before the 9.5 earthquake.
As I awoke this morning and turned on the news I was devastated to find that last night George Carlin died of heart failure at an LA hospital. A terrible way to start of the week. The news sent shivers down my spine. I have lost a mentor and the country has lost a great voice. I have gone through all the major news channels hoping to get a more complete story on this major loss but I have found close to nothing except a blurb on a stock ticker. Due to this upsetting and unexplainable indifference the media has shown towards this giant I feel that it is up to me to say something.
I, as well as the rest of the comedy world is crushed. The knowledge of having lost our King is something that has left me empty inside. His albums and his performances were nothing short of amazing. As someone who studies comedy as an art form I could never watch him without being in awe at his seemingly endless array of material and sharp wit. But the thing that I will always associate with him was the way he could string out a slew of adjectives to describe something that not only left me rolling on the floor but thoroughly impressed.
The most important thing to remember about George was that he was not only hysterical but was a major social voice when we needed it the most. When discussing the social changes that happened during the 60’s most people will automatically think of the civil rights and anti-war movements. The name George Carlin isn’t even an afterthought, but he had more of an impact than one would think. In a career where success is both rare and fleeting saying something that might offend your audience was the nail in the coffin. George didn’t care. He realized that he had the opportunity to influence social values and took that chance, career suicide be damned. His views on touchy subjects from racism to poverty were both stunning and revolutionary. He, Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor were two of the first people to tell jokes that would not only make you laugh but make you say to yourself, “wow, I never thought of it that way.” This is what comedy should be and what I try to portray in my act, and it all began with George. He opened up those doors and made it so everyone from Bill Hicks to Bill Mahr can do what they do.
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson must have been thinking of him when he wrote the words, “You better take car of me Lord, or else your gonna have me on your hands.” The world of comedy has lost some great ones in the past number of years. Mitch Hedberg, Richard Jeni, Bill Hicks, Jonny Carson and Richard Pryor. We have now seen the last, and greatest, of the original Jedi go. George Carlin is gone, and I believe way too soon. It’s not that 71 is such a young age but more because of the fact the I don’t feel heaven is quite ready to deal with him.
Give em’ hell George,
Eddie Murphy
America's grandpa finally dies.
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