I’m not sure what to say about the loss of George Carlin. “Tragic Loss” seems rather trite and anything else feels like almost an insult to a man who found great importance in the meaning and usage of words, especially the naughty ones. I never knew him personally, so I can’t speak to the person he was, only the persona he presented on stage and screen, but that would just sound stupid. But, boy did he shock the shit out me and make me laugh my ass off, in that order. And if the language in that last sentence shocked any of you, I’d like to think that would make George grin just a little.
“Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they? ” – George Carlin
I discovered George Carlin around the same time I discovered the stand up work of Richard Pryor. Talk about a comedic awakening. This was probably in my very early teens, a point in time where I mostly listened to Van Halen, Prince, George Carlin and Richard Pryor. I think this may explain a lot about how I turned out as an adult. The biggest thing that impressed me about Carlin was that once you got past the shock and funny he was really talking about some major social issues, things that you just didn’t talk about. This, in turn, really made you think and question and wonder.
But I never really knew him personally, so, really, anything else I could blather on about would just not sound right. The only thing I can think of is something he taught us more definitions of than we ever thought possible and what immediately sprang to mind when I first read that he died. Fuck.
