I remember when George Carlin's album "Class Clown" was the ultimate hoodlum accessory. If your parents owned a copy, you snuck it out of the cabinet and took it downstairs to the basement when no one was looking. You played it on your portable record player with the volume turned way down, and snickered a quietly as you could. Then you recited the parts you could remember to your friends on the playground, solidifying your bad boy street cred.
At least, that's what I did. I was only 7 or so when "Class Clown" hit the streets, but even at that tender age I knew about it. My step-father was a big fan of stand-up, and I cut my teeth on his collection of Bill Cosby albums. The Cos was funny, but nothing prepared me for the scathing political content and blasphemous profanity of George Carlin. I had never laughed so hard.
He stood on the shoulders of Lenny Bruce, and pushed the envelope to a new, funnier, more honest place. George Carlin didn't invent profanity - he just made us own up to our daily use of it. I, for one, am fucking glad he did. He'll be missed at the Black Vatican.
Class Clown finally Graduates
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2 comments:
He truly was a genius. simple as that. i posted on his leaving us too.
He was the first comedian I ever knew, he was my gold standard. All other comedians were gauged on how close to George level funny they were. His misanthropy was pure and his profanity well placed, I will miss him greatly.
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