You’ll be missed, ya Old Fuck

I spent most of my workday watching and listening to George Carlin clips on YouTube. They even had his new HBO special up in seven separate parts, and it only debuted in March.

It’s weird to mourn over someone you didn’t know personally. Ryan (the one who gave me the sad news via text message this morning) and I had the privilege to see him live almost exactly 17 months ago in Ithaca. It was kind of a spontaneous thing — we ordered the tickets the day after hearing about the show in late December, then spent the last half of a Sunday in January driving the five-hour round-trip and watching the show.

I think I maybe sensed something when that opportunity to see him in person presented itself. Carlin, as he is for many, is one of my favorite comedians of all time. Probably my favorite. I can quote more George Carlin monologues than any other comedian’s. He was, I believe, the pre-eminent social commentator of our time. It’s weird to say that, since he had 50 years on me, but just listening to the things he had to say in the HBO special (taped just a couple months ago), I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with many of his societal critiques.

I think one important thing that will stick with me about George Carlin is that he truly cared about his subject matter and the people that paid to see his routines. And those people cared about what he had to say. He said things other people couldn’t — or wouldn’t. The true genius of his style was his ability to make us realize the certain absurd things about everyday life and laugh over them.

Perhaps what will most resonate with me about him is that he was truly a student of the English and language pointed out some of the more stupid ways people use it. And that memory! How did he ever make it through 10 minute monologues of listing stupid phrase after stupid phrase? I’ll never know.

One of the things George touched on in the video clips I watched today was death. He even talked about his own death. He talked about being an Old Fuck. I get the feeling that he saw the world going to shit (a subject that filled his later routines) and thought, Well, it’s about time I jump ship.

My favorite type of comedy is intelligent comedy — the kind that makes you laugh but also think. George Carlin was the best at that.