Current Events > Is George Carlin considered "smart" humor?

(+) Yeah! (+)

My co-worker thought my comedy sketches were stupid. I asked him what he liked, and he responded "smart stuff" like George Carlin.
I remember some funny stuff from Carlin, but I also remember he was just a grouchy old man.
So I looked up his youtube material, and it seems like he wasn't really that funny. Just really grouchy.

He was like...common sense, complaining, "woke" in some regards I'm sure some would say.

You want dumb Dennis Miller jokes with obscure references?

Grouchy old man is also an awful take. He did it a few times in his youth, a few final times in old age, but his hobbling old man bit was just a bit. Even if you watch interviews near his death he was very soft spoken, polite and kind.

He started his early years of comedy just by being the censorship envelope pusher, making fun of banned words or media. Then he switched to a little bit of absurdism, starting his "scenarios" he'd keep until the end. Pocket dimension all your stuff got lost in, banned words skit, etc. His 70s-80s stuff was very pro-stoner and safe but contrarian.

He became politically jaded in the 90s and never, ever looked back. There's a long list of reasons for this and they're actually pretty sad/well reasoned. He had an abusive family, hated fame, and struggled with detaching from a very draconian catholic schooling system in his teens and youth. The beatings kind, not the finger wagging kind nowadays. His last string of specials eventually just became tedtalks/one sided philosophy debates we see people watching more regularly in this era, arguably veiled as moderate politics. I agree with some of his takes, disagree with most of them, even if they're colored in absurdism we should not have gladiatorial arenas for inmates.

His very last tour was a glimpse into philosophical nihilism/pessimism that, luckily, we didn't see a lot more from. Very, very sad and bitter takes on literally all walks/aspects of life. Calling everyone stupid, the system broke, kids pointless, votes didn't matter. It got scary. Poor dude was broken down to oblivion by the end.

Edit: as is frequent in modern culture and the amalgamation of political spectrums into 1s or 0s, he was actually very far left and progressive even for his time up until his death. Hated corruption from either party, which is why I briefly mentioned moderate coded above which is where he'd fit today just left leaning. Not surprised, but hate, that misguided fans of him use him as a conservative bugle. And left leaning younger generation from today dismiss him as a codgy old man when he's more similar to Sanders than Trump.

coolcono posted...

and it seems like he wasn't really that funny. Just really grouchy.

That was the schtick for some of his later performances, yeah.

Even in his earlier stuff, some of the jokes are simply on him being crass. But, he's got an above average vocabulary and a decent understanding of the english language. If this (NSFW: Language) clip doesn't tickle something, maybe Carlin isn't for you. Also, aside, he was (temporarily) canceled because of his expressed views on the Vietnam war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ssJtD08vCc

philsov posted...

That was the schtick for some of his later performances, yeah.

Even in his earlier stuff, some of the jokes are simply on him being crass. But, he's got an above average vocabulary and a decent understanding of the english language. If this (NSFW: Language) clip doesn't tickle something, maybe Carlin isn't for you. Also, aside, he was (temporarily) canceled because of his expressed views on the Vietnam war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ssJtD08vCc

That is better than what I saw, but I don't really like profanity based humor as it kills creativity.

Carlin wasn't always an old man. I mean he died in the late 00s in his early 70s. He had already been a mega star comedian for nearly 40 years by that point.

What made Carlin so great was that he was able to adapt to the times. He was clean cut when he started, then started doing counter culture, then transitioned repeatedly until he sadly died.

He was almost always able to reinvent himself.

coolcono posted...

That is better than what I saw, but I don't really like profanity based humor as it kills creativity.

WuT

Carlin wanted to fill the Lenny Bruce void, but couldnt

Euripides posted...

WuT

yeah so what if they swear? wut

coolcono posted...

That is better than what I saw, but I don't really like profanity based humor as it kills creativity.

You shouldn't be calling anyone an old man while clutching your pearls.

Yeah, the humorless rants were more of a thing in his last 10-15 years. He was more into giving takes for "clapture" than actually doing comedy routines. He had mentioned before that he wanted to move into acting and away from comedy, so that coupled with post-9/11 likely added to that. Good satire needs to tie into humor, but if there's no punchline, you're just standing on a soapbox.

But his contributions to comedy prior to that still can't be understated.

Pseudo intellectual