George Carlin: The Last Laugh

June 22, 2008 was a sad day for the western world, because a small but very loud part of it died. I was only a boy in high school when I first heard this man tell his jokes about airline incompetence and love for twisting the English language to make you laugh. I have written about George Carlin once before, but really I don't know if I could ever give the man the justice he deserves. This is a man that has making people laugh and ponder their own existence for over fifty years. Unfortunately, due to the complications of his third heart attack, his body finally gave out at the age of 71. I'm certain not only the comedy world, but also the writer's, filmmakers, and anyone else in entertainment will mourn his loss.

George Carlin is the last of a Comedian holy trinity of men that cut a path for the use of shock humour and the striving of allowing their freedom to express themselves any way they wanted on stage. The other two members are Lenny Bruce, and Richard Prior whom we lost a few years ago as well. These men enjoyed using shock and bad language the make us laugh. Lenny sadly was barred to practice his art as a comedian, but Richard and George fortunately had better luck are carried on. George in particular would get arrested on a continual basis for performing a certain one of his joke routines which involved, at the time, heavy use of bad language. The FCC's case against him each time would always get thrown out and so George continued to push the envelope. Eventually he won the right to practice his craft undisturbed by the FCC. This wasn't a victory for only George, but all those that would follow after him. It told the FCC they were not going to bully creative men and women into a corner anymore. Even though these days language and content does pull the boundaries of what is acceptable, what we must always remember is the Lenny, Richard and George were the ones that broke the ice.

The one thing I've always noticed about George Carlin is the way he taps my funny bone that a lot of comedians have only ever managed to brush. I spend half my time laughing at his jokes, but then the other half I spend thinking and realizing that a lot of stuff he says is true. George has never had a shortage of material because he simply points out the problems with the human condition that most of us are after to admit. To quote him "My job is thinking up goofy stuff, coming around and letting you know what it is, or making you laugh at things you forgot to laugh at the first time they happen". The statement could not be any more real. Although we may laugh at his jokes they each contained an individual truth. He caused me to look at the world in a different way and find some much wrong with what we just accept. He didn't so much as encourage us to be better but instead shout at the top of his lungs, asking us why we put up with how badly we've allowed the world to get. He wanted us to change, but sadly, we only laughed.

Maybe with the death of George Carlin we may stop taking what he has been saying all along in simple stride and actually change. The reality is though that we will stay the same as George was certain would happen and continue giving him more material to work with. The injustice is that there is no longer a person to spin those truths into laughter. George Carlin, we will all miss you and only hope to do your legacy proud in the years to come.