George Carlin

So the great George Carlin died this week. I know I'm a bit late but here is what I have to say about that.

I loved comedians when I was a kid. It wasn't until I was in 6th grade or so that I discovered George Carlin. When I heard him and got what he was saying, I feel like that is the point in time when my sense of humor grew up. Prior to that I was listening to a lot of Bill Cosby, who I really respect as a comedian, but his stuff was geared to kids and people who have them. Kids got Cosby because they were still doing the things that he was talking about. Parents got him because they saw their kids doing that stuff. It was all about the kids.

Carlin was different. He was my gateway drug into the world of comedy for grown ups. It wasn't just the language. I had heard plenty of comics that used profanity in their acts before, Carlin was just different. He didn't say fuck and shit and goddammit just for the sake of those words being funny, he used that language because that is they way grown ups talk. There was no beating around the bush with Carlin. He had strong opinions and he was going to let you know what they were. If something made him angry he was going to let you know that it was some kind of motherfucking bullshit.

Carlin was my launching pad into the humor that I still love today. In all of the current comedians that I follow, his influence is incredibly evident. Every time I hear Patton Oswalt, or Lewis Black, or David Cross, I think of how they probably spent hours upon hours listening to George Carlin albums which were probably the inspiration for them getting into comedy in the first place.

Thanks to Carlin I was able to discover other comics like Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks. Guys who were pioneers in the world of observational humor. I don't mean bullshit did you ever notice blah blah blah Seinfeld style observational humor. No sir. I mean in your face what the fuck is wrong with the world we're all going straight to hell and that's the way it is observational humor.

So thank you Mr. Carlin. Thank you for helping me grow up. Thank you for helping my sense of humor mature. Thank you for all of the hours of entertainment. George Carlin will be missed, but at least he helped create a generation of genuinely funny comedians to follow in his footsteps.