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TechnoratiFunny Man in an Unfunny World
The world lost one of its great comedians this week with the death at age 71 of George Carlin. Carlin had a career as a stand-up comic that spanned a half-century, in which he continually broke new ground, targeting those in power with his wit and genius. He impacted our culture, our media and our nation with a stream of material that skewered institutions of the left and right, from government to business and the church. He released 22 comedy albums, earning him five Emmy nominations and winning four Grammys. He was the first guest host of "Saturday Night Live," in 1975, and appeared on "The Tonight Show" 130 times. He starred in 14 HBO specials and authored three best-selling books. He also left an indelible mark on the radio station where I got my start in broadcast journalism, Pacifica station WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City.
On Oct. 30, 1973, WBAI broadcast Carlin's "Filthy Words" routine. Carlin wrote on his Web site, georgecarlin.com: "Lone professional moralist complains to FCC which issues a Declaratory Order against station. Station goes to court." That court battle would last five years, end at the U.S. Supreme Court and set the standard for broadcast indecency laws that are hotly debated to this day. It was neither accident nor coincidence that this iconoclastic comic would have some of his most controversial material broadcast over Pacifica Radio's WBAI. The Pacifica Network was founded in Berkeley, Calif., in 1949, with KPFA as the first truly listener-sponsored radio station.
Back then, radio was so overwhelmingly commercial that Pacifica founder Lew Hill and others found it worthless. As Hill wrote in his "Theory of Listener Sponsored Radio," "If we want an improvement in radio, the basic situation of broadcasting must be such that artists and thinkers have a place to work -- with freedom."
On July 3, 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Communications Commission could punish WBAI for its broadcast of Carlin's routine, arguing that words relating to sex or excretion (i.e., piss) when children might be listening were prohibited. Supreme Court Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall dissented, noting the court's "depressing inability to appreciate that in our land of cultural pluralism, there are many who think, act, and talk differently from the Members of this Court, and who do not share their fragile sensibilities." Remarkably, 30 years later, the same issues are before a decidedly more conservative Supreme Court.
Recent episodes of "fleeting expletives" from the mouths of celebrities like Bono, Cher and Nicole Richie have prompted the FCC to seek enhanced power to punish broadcasters. George Carlin pointed out what in our society was truly indecent: the behavior of the powerful.
Yes, he spiced his delivery with expletives. He was angry. He, like Pacifica, gave voice to essential, dissident perspectives that have been almost entirely blocked from mainstream media. He said: "We were founded on a very basic double standard. This country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free. Am I right? A group of slave owners who wanted to be free, so they killed a lot of white English people in order to continue owning their black African people, so they could wipe out the rest of the red Indian people and move west and steal the rest of the land from the brown Mexican people, giving them a place to take off and drop their nuclear weapons on the yellow Japanese people. You know what the motto of this country ought to be? You give us a color, we'll wipe it out."
His prolific output will continue to inspire for generations to come.
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 700 stations in North America.
© 2008 Amy Goodman
13 Comments so far
Show AllMostly I liked George Carlin. You had to be there at the prudish time to see how funny the WORDS routine was. He had the courage to punch holes in all kinds of hypocrisy, illusions, pretensions and twisted morality.
Not to be a spoiler, but he sometimes let his loner bitterness blind him to issues like the environment. He mocked environmentalists with the same venom he used for Dick Cheney.
Hey...what about Tim Russert? He was petty funny too! ...especially when trying to get his lips around Cheney's sphincter.
Mr. Carlin's later political comments were spot-on, and I admire that. I only wish that his choice of expletives had allowed more people to hear and think about what he said - like, for example, Joan Baez.
I don't see why a person should be considered "bitter" if they dare to criticize the government. I've heard right-wingers accuse people of being "bitter" for doing so.
Be sweet, docile, uncritical sheeple. After all, wasn't it Britney Spears that said we should just support President Bush in all he does without question?
George Carlin was courageous and spot on.
Carlin's talent was to see what all of us see but to play it back for us so profoundly and so simply that we could not help but be amazed at our own blindness.
I loved George too, and have cried a little bit for the last three days now because I have no one to speak my truth like he did.
Words: they're what we have, he says. "No bad words; bad thoughts; bad intentions; and words.....
Well, if the big dick Cheney can utter "go fuck yourself" on the Congressional floor, then why can't we say it on TV/radio?
George Carlin (may he rest in peace and his loved ones be comforted in their time of sorrow and loss) was bitter, angry, and immature in most of the material I have heard him do. In this sense he was not that different from many others of his profession--just more blatant in his execution.
His career, on-stage attitude, and professional popularity are a monument to that bitter and immature anger. His professional life was an unpleasent mirror reflecting our own society's dysfunction and like the evil queen in Snow White, many of us were disturbed by what he reflected back to us.
The world lost a ---is just hyperbole. Humor is a funny thing--its not necessarily universal.
Humor is really strange. Its almost like pressure release valve for the human brain. It shows that humans are insane. They laugh at things that really dont make sense to be amusing--when you state the truth, why is that funny?
When someone slips on a banana peel, why is it funny?
it cant be explained.
It just is.
But depending on where you are in the world, it may not be.
Seems like all the big names are dying under Bush. What a disaster he is.
Throughout all of the irony and the bad words (to some) George always 'hit the nail on the head!' Truth be told, George had a way of making his points right square between the eyes, and you had to laugh out loud. There will be others who will try to follow in his footsteps, but his shoes will be hard to fit into. However, I hope they keep trying, especially in adressing issues with humor that simply can't be discussed in the public forum any other way.
I loved this man, who spoke for me in so many ways, from the beginning of his career to the end of it. He left us too soon, just like my other hero, Molly Ivans. I hope they're having a good time - they are well out of this mess.
"Uncle George"
A "Social Genius", to be named with the other genius influences, DaVinchi,Capernicus, Newton, Einstein,---and all the others and the one's yet born-------could and should learn from him.
One of the Great ironies of the universe, should be that Human beings, capable of so much, both positive and negative----while being the most dangerous and destructive force on the planet---can when they choose to be---the most potentially positive force on the planet------are always the funniest, most absurd, and often ridiculous---------
He saw it, commented on it, and made his own way in doing so.
A true "hero"............................
I always have time for Ms Goodman's commentary.
However, let me nitpick the assumption in the first sentence of this article. I think that in today's world, the people of very few nations would say this: "The world lost one of its great comedians this week..." when referring ot the loss of their own nation's jester.
Ms Goodman may be right, that Carlin is a world figure.
But I do wonder...to what extent do the peoples of Asia, Africa, South and Central America regard this fellow as one of the great comedians.
It seems to me that Carlin's comedy, so rooted in language and culture would be effective for people also rooted in that same language and culture, but difficult for others outside of that culture (aside from we non Americans trying to pick up some bash-the-USA-fodder).
I suspect that Carlin is not a world comedian.
He is a great North American comedian.
I figure that Ms Goodman is slipping into an assumption that what is good for America is good for all the rest of us.
(Over three decades ago a fellow from the Ukraine, a university teacher of Ukrainian Literature and History ran away from his homeland to live in a city near where I live. He said that in his homeland he would not be allowed to teach his specialties without including it in the context of a more world aware point of view. But then, he said, that world aware point of view that he had to include turned out to be the Russian point of view.
Funny how we try so hard to find our own voices; if free, we find them, but then we go further, and then twist our own points of view to assume that they are the world point of view.)
The rest of the article, well said.
Next, I would like to talk about whether or not the World Series is really a world...heh, heh, heh!
I wish Bill Hicks was still alive as well!