Infinite MonkeysGeorge Carlin, comedian and pillar of the Counterculture, died on Sunday. You didn't have to share his politics or his atheism to enjoy his peculiar brand of humor -- although it probably helped. He was 71.
(Check out the mainstream media coverage: WaPo obit here, NYT obit here, LAT obit here.)
Carlin's latter-day act was certainly more misanthropic than the work he did in his heyday of the 1970s, which is saying something. His last HBO special, "It's Bad for Ya," was a long riff on aging, and its attendant effects and hypocrisies. I winced more than laughed, although it wasn't always so.
Americans will remember Carlin as a footnote in the ongoing battle over free speech and indecency. The great thing about the Supreme Court's 1978 decision in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation is the appendix, which is a transcript of Carlin's act. Listening to the "Seven Dirty Words" bit today, however, one would necessarily conclude that indecency won. As for free speech, the jury's still out.
When I was at UC San Diego, Comedy Central held a contest in which the grand prize was to spend the day with Carlin. There was a cash prize involved, too. My apartment-mates and I entered and we were devastated when another student on campus won. Since we were all staffers on the student newspaper, we got to follow Carlin around anyway.
I can't remember the winner's name -- he was a terribly earnest fellow devoted to Democratic politics -- but I vividly recall Carlin's parting advice on what to do with his prize money: "Spend it with somebody interesting." That was such a nice line, I don't think the guy ever realized Carlin had just sliced his guts out. May he roast in peace.