Durrr

Rather sadly, the wonderful George Carlin died at the weekend. In America, he’s somewhat of a national treasure, but never really gained that much popularity outside the U.S. - You’ll know him as Rufus in the Bill & Ted films, or maybe recognize him from his cameo in Dogma, but probably don’t realize that he was one of the funniest, brightest, most influential and genuinely inspiring comedians of our age. His subject material was wide and varied but mostly revolved around language and it’s uses and misuses. His infamous sketch ‘Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television’ became the focus of a Supreme Court hearing in the 1970’s, the outcome of which was a landmark decision in favour of the right to free speech, and in a later connected case, after the sketch was broadcast on radio, led to the instigation of the ‘watershed’ in broadcasting (as opposed to a ban on what artists, comedians, or anyone else could say on public media).
He was the first host of Saturday Night Live, recorded an unequalled 14 HBO specials, released classic comedy albums such as ‘Occupation: Foole’ as well as penning several books and being on hand to puncture the balloon of bullshit and dispense sanity on various panel shows and news programmes .
He was that seemingly rare creature - a literate and expressive American, whose sizeable audience reflected the fact that there were many more people in this bracket than the cultural hegemony of the mainstream media would have us believe….!
Anyway, if you’re a fan of Bill Hicks (and its obvious from his material and style that Hicks was a fan of Carlin) , Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor or their ilk, check him out, there’s loads of his stuff on Youtube, and he makes for a rewarding google…. George, you were absolutely hilarious, and will be missed….

By Our Man Fred