[Erin] Talkin' bout their generation

Interesting write-up. Rod should give you a weekly feature.

However, this Gen X'er will always fondly remember Carlin, having seen him live on his honeymoon 5 years ago.

I think that Carlin rose above the level of being a comedian to the level of social satirist. I found him amusing, intelligent, and thought-provoking. Did I agree with the positions he espoused in his act? No. Of course, many people didn't find Swift particularly amusing in his time. I guess my enjoying him could be a function of my age, but I don't find such reductive thinking very profound. I am reminded of Emerson when I think of Carlin and other people who's opinions I appreciate but don't agree with: "Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can receive from another soul."

What I find sadly ironic is that many of the same people lionizing Carlin for his fighting for the right to be publicly obscene would push through the Fairness Doctrine solely for the sake of shutting up their political opposition.

...Carlin's act was anti=religion, mean, and in later years a bit misanthropic. And yet...

And yet he became Mr. Conductor on the "Shining Time Station" series around 1994 or so. A series which featured wholesome preachy "Thomas The Tank Engine" animated stories that were based on books written by a British minister(Auden, I think his name was). Carlin was Mr. Conductor just after Ringo Starr and just before Alec Baldwin, leading me to queation just what it was the people in charge of casting were smoking.

And yet my then toddler age son loved him. He was the first in our family to hear that George had died. He had to wake his Dad out of a sound sleep to get a little company for his misery. He and his dad bonded that night over shared, albeit vastly different, memories of George Carlin.

Carlin is recently famous for some diatribes which he didn't write, which were attributed to him on the Internet. www.snopes.com has at least seven separate references. www.georgecarlin.com has disclaimers.

Really hated to see Carlin die; he was an original. I'm proudly part of Generation Jones, and one could argue that it was actually Jonesers (born '54-'65), rather than the real Boomers (born '42-'53) who were more influenced by Carlin, because we were younger and more impressionable. I was wondering earlier today whether Barack Obama felt a loss about Carlin---Obama, born in 1961, is a classic GenJoneser, and I'd guess he was familiar with Cralin's work as a kid or teen.

Easy, Gary; I, along with many others in my generation, am wasting way too much time on the Internet. Time will tell if that's a virtue or a fault. :)

Seriously, though, I think that the way people choose to spend their time, the values and virtues they embrace and the ones they reject, the vices and evils they accept, and the ones they fight against, the ideas they articulate, and the ones they disparage or dismantle, are all things that impact a generation and the effect it leaves behind. Not every individual will share the group's outlook in these areas, but when enough of them do, you have a force that can be powerful enough to shape a culture, for good or for ill.

I thought Carlin was an extremely funny satirist. His stage shows were hilarious. Given the impact of his work on later comics and writers, I think the attention given Carlin is perfectly appropriate.

Carlin's early albums- Class Clown, A Place for My Stuff- are classics. Only in the last ten years did he turn into Mr. Crotchety Old Man.Posted by: Zach |

Carlin's early albums- Class Clown, A Place for My Stuff- are classics. Only in the last ten years did he turn into Mr. Crotchety Old Man.Posted by: Zach |

You've got that right, Zach. A friend of mine shared George Carlin's comedy albums with me back during the 70's. I loved routines such as the indian sergeant and Wonderful WINO. He didn't only use the seven words you can't say on television. He scrutinized all sort of terms. "Why is it flamable, inflamable or non-inflamable? Either it flams or it doesn't". I only wish he had been given a bigger part in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

The media will make a fuss over just about anything that does not matter.

Edgy, daring, risk-taking comedians aren't re-invited to appear on the Tonight Show 100+ times. Carlin was the perfect entertainer for a comfortable, self-regarding generation that adores to think of itself as unconventional. The first time most of these smug narcissists dosing in front of their TVs will encounter anything unconventional will be when they meet their Maker.

They think Carlin doing his bad-boy routine was shocking? They have no idea.

The Tonight Show, for pete's sake. Sheesh.