I loved George Carlin. Even when I didn’t agree with what he was saying, he could make me double over and laugh my head off. A lot of things he pointed out tickled my funny bone.
Politics especially got his juices flowing. Some of his famous political one liners include:
“In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem.”
“Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.”
And this silly one – “George Washington brother, Lawrence, was the Uncle of Our Country.”
But George had a much more serious side when it came to politics and government. On lobbyists from The Nation
“The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they’re an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They’ve got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They’ve got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying – lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else,” ranted the comedian whose routines were studied in graduate schools.
On Obama from salon.com
And I’m very excited, for the sake of itself, for this Obama story. It’s very wonderful to watch and to follow and to read, because it is so different from what America has allowed itself to do. And I don’t know that it goes anywhere, and I’m not investing in it, but I do enjoy witnessing it. I think it’s a very exciting story.
Asked about the right and the left in comedy–A.V.Club
Do you think it’s possible to be truly funny from a position of power? For instance, Dennis Miller, who’s always been a smart, funny comedian, has undergone a political conversion over the past decade, and now his comedy is rooted in his support of the Bush administration. And he seems less funny.GC:
For some reason, there aren’t as many right-wing comedians as there are left or center or non-political. I read something about this recently that made sense, and I’ve forgotten what it said, of course. I have great respect for Dennis Miller’s mind and ability as a comedian, but I agree that I am not as personally entertained by his new material, which you describe as “coming from a position of power.” Of course, he always did come from a position of presumed superiority, and I don’t necessarily say that pejoratively. He did come from what appeared to be a smartass, superior platform. That’s part of what made him work as a stand-up.
As an all around comedian, George is up there with the greats. Local 6.com reports that Carlin will be awarded the Mark Twain Comedy Prize this November.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said that Carlin will be honored for his 50-year career as a Grammy-winning standup comedian, writer and actor.
The chairman of the Kennedy Center, Stephen Schwarzman, complimented Carlin as a comedian who can make people laugh and also make them think.
In reading the various articles that have been written about George since his death, I was surprised that the last vote he cast was for George McGovern. He never voted again after that election. I suppose he didn’t think one vote counted for much. That’s a pity. I consider my vote one of the greatest freedoms America offers. Even on my most cynical days, I am grateful for it.
I will miss George. Not too many people have the ability to make me laugh till tears stream down my face. Now there will be one less.
