• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

George Carlin recorded a special the day before 9/11 - goes on sale 9/16

Status
Not open for further replies.
Kadin

Kadin

Member
Saw this on reddit. What an insane coincidence for him to record a special titled, "I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die" the day before 9/11/2001. I'd never heard of this and I'm glad to see we'll be able to hear it soon. I guess it's on Sirus XM right now.

Anyways, here's a small excerpt of the article.

On Sept. 10, 2001, George Carlin, the greatest political comic in history if measured only by stand-up specials, recorded a bracing hour of social commentary for his new HBO special. The next day, he shelved it.

It wasn’t only the title, “I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die,” that seemed in bad taste after nearly 3,000 people were killed a day later in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Mr. Carlin also told a joke about a fart so potent it blew up an airplane. “You know who gets blamed? Osama bin Laden,” Mr. Carlin joked. “The F.B.I. is looking for explosives. They should be looking for minute traces of rice and bok choy.”
Click to expand...

Source
 
N

Not

Banned
Wow, I can't wait to hear this. He's my favorite comedian of all time. Makes sense of course that it was shelved.
 
Kadin

Kadin

Member
Not said:
Wow, I can't wait to hear this. He's my favorite comedian of all time. Makes sense of course that it was shelved.
Click to expand...
His comedy was unlike anyone else's. His ability to always take something so literal and make it insanely funny was (and still is) something no one else has been able to do. Always to the point and never afraid to tell it like it is. I really miss his genius mind.

Jarrod38 said:
Some clips from the special.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H6MWDI6/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Click to expand...
Nice find, thanks!
 
A

adamsappel

Member
This era of Carlin is odd. I didn't love some of it at the time (funny, but a lot felt like cranky-old-manism and too mean-spirited), but now seems oddly prescient. I don't know if I could handle what would piss him off about today's society. Can you imagine the shitstorm if this had been released on September 10? There's an argument against cell-phone recording of comedians.
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
This is awesome news for me. George is one of my all time favorites. To know there's a whole new special from him so many years after his death is amazing.
 
R

RaidenZR

Member
They did the right thing by not releasing this at the time they intended. And I'm not sure what the right amount of time would be, but 15 years is a crazy long time to shelve something... so wow. Cool surprise after all this time.

Side note - I saw Louis CK perform in Austin a day after one of our many school shooting incidents in this country. It came to light a day or so later that he decided to withhold some jokes about wanting unruly kids to die- for whatever context he was going to paint them in. In light of that tragic national news, he felt that it would be an insensitive time to do that material. His set felt seamless and stuffed with jokes, so I don't think anyone was the wiser. Made me feel like good comedians probably have a certain amount of modular material for contextual situations like that.
 
E

echoshifting

Banned
adamsappel said:
This era of Carlin is odd. I didn't love some of it at the time (funny, but a lot felt like cranky-old-manism and too mean-spirited), but now seems oddly prescient. I don't know if I could handle what would piss him off about today's society. Can you imagine the shitstorm if this had been released on September 10? There's an argument against cell-phone recording of comedians.
Click to expand...

Yup. If a recording of this had leaked out in those early, delicate days...man I don't even want to think of the damage that would have done to his legacy. Nobody would have cared that he pulled it.
 
K

KHarvey16

Member
I really don't see how or why many would have cared if this was released before 9/11. Any outrage would be fixed by pointing to the date. I know it's fun to imagine all the silly things that people would hypothetically be offended by, but this just doesn't work here.

The only potential controversy would be a decision made to release it on its original schedule or anytime too soon after 9/11.
 
H

hodayathink

Member
KHarvey16 said:
I really don't see how or why many would have cared if this was released before 9/11. Any outrage would be fixed by pointing to the date. I know it's fun to imagine all the silly things that people would hypothetically be offended by, but this just doesn't work here.

The only potential controversy would be a decision made to release it on its original schedule or anytime too soon after 9/11.
Click to expand...

It couldn't have been released before 9/11 as it didn't exist until probably the night before. And I imagine that part of the reason it got shelved outside of the subject matter was that by the time it wouldn't have been "too soon", he probably had already developed another set of material to put out and decided to release that instead of going back and releasing this.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Wow the PC safe space parade didn't want to listen to truth bombs on September 12th? Cry me a river millennials, there's no participation award for being the most triggered
 
R

RJT

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Wow the PC safe space parade didn't want to listen to truth bombs on September 12th? Cry me a river millennials, there's no participation award for being the most triggered
Click to expand...

Using Carlin to defend PC. That's definitely a new one (pretty sure you know that).

BTW: Here's a full quote by Carlin on the subject:

Political correctness is America’s newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people’s language with strict codes and rigid rules. I’m not sure that’s the way to fight discrimination. I’m not sure silencing people or forcing them to alter their speech is the best method for solving problems that go much deeper than speech.
Click to expand...
 
W

whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
RaidenZR said:
They did the right thing by not releasing this at the time they intended. And I'm not sure what the right amount of time would be, but 15 years is a crazy long time to shelve something... so wow. Cool surprise after all this time.

Side note - I saw Louis CK perform in Austin a day after one of our many school shooting incidents in this country. It came to light a day or so later that he decided to withhold some jokes about wanting unruly kids to die- for whatever context he was going to paint them in. In light of that tragic national news, he felt that it would be an insensitive time to do that material. His set felt seamless and stuffed with jokes, so I don't think anyone was the wiser. Made me feel like good comedians probably have a certain amount of modular material for contextual situations like that.
Click to expand...
I say this as a huge fan of Louis, but he's also far less willing to take chances on material these days than Carlin ever was. Granted, a lot of that has to do with how much he stands to lose if he starts alienating people. But I also think George was just a grumpy old man by the end and had the benefit of really not giving a shit if people liked what he had to say or not.
 
Z

Zen_Arcade

Banned
I miss Carlin more than any other celebrity. He would still have so much to add to the world if he was alive today. I can't wait to hear this.
 
S

sammyCYBORG

Member
I wish he was still alive to rip apart the things that have changed since his death. So many more topics he could have approached.
 
A

Autumn Wind

Member
December 3rd or 4th, 2007 I saw George Carlin at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ and Vance Gilbert opened for him. We were kind of a test audience for what would be his final HBO special and what was great in comparison to the HBO special is he wasn't caked in make-up. I loved the anger he spewed on stage because it's what I grew up on since I was 13.
 
B

BobTheFork

Member
I heard about this right after 9/11
At the time I heard they were changing the name of the special and still showing it.

I guess that didn't happen?
 
S

siddx

Magnificent Eager Mighty Brilliantly Erect Registereduser
I saw Carlin in deep red Indiana and he pissed off so many people with his anti religion and anti rightwing jokes, people were streaming out of the theater in a huff. It was glorious.
 
Ron Mexico

Ron Mexico

Member
One of my biggest regrets was I only got the chance to see him live once. Think it was like '97 in Atlantic City. Still remember the show.

For as brash as he was, there were absolutely shreds of insight and commentary that are still valid today. Sad part is, no comedian has really taken that baton. It's like John Oliver mixed with...something. I don't know.
 
L

Lord Frieza

Member
I'll give it a watch at some point, but I came to dislike the overall cyncialness of late Carlin. I don't mean to say I dislike cynical humor per say, but like a lot of art, I feel that it needs to find some degree of hope somewhere, and I think Carlin lost all of his in his later years, if he had much to begin with. I'm sure I'll still get a good laugh out of it, though.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
Lord Frieza said:
I'll give it a watch at some point, but I came to dislike the overall cyncialness of late Carlin. I don't mean to say I dislike cynical humor per say, but like a lot of art, I feel that it needs to find some degree of hope somewhere, and I think Carlin lost all of his in his later years, if he had much to begin with. I'm sure I'll still get a good laugh out of it, though.
Click to expand...

I felt the same.
 
Elitist1945

Elitist1945

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Wow the PC safe space parade didn't want to listen to truth bombs on September 12th? Cry me a river millennials, there's no participation award for being the most triggered
Click to expand...

2dvmo8P.png


I had to.
 
T

The Kree

Banned
The more misanthropic he became, the less I liked him. His last specials, Life is Worth Losing and It's Bad For Ya, was probably some of his worst material. I like him better when he's just dissecting language and doing social commentary.

This sounds like more of the same "I hate people" bullshit he was on so heavily in his later years.
 
stuminus3

stuminus3

Member
That was some super unfortunate timing.

Slayer's album "God Hates Us All" was released on 9/11, by sheer coincidence.
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
He certainly did become darker, more cynical and nihilistic as he got older.

I preferred the darker stuff, but sometimes it was pretty startling to see just how far he had moved in that direction.

In interviews he describes the shift in a few ways:
1) To some extent (although not a great one) it's exaggerated for comedic effect
2) Primarily, it was his dashed optimism about people and their potential that made him an extreme pessimist later in life.

Here are some interviews where he touches on that tonal shift, for those that want to learn more about why he became much more cynical over the years.
http://progressive.org/mag_intv0701
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/200806/george-carlins-last-interview
http://www.avclub.com/article/george-carlin-13629
 
EdwardTivrusky

EdwardTivrusky

Member
kmfdmpig said:
He certainly did become darker, more cynical and nihilistic as he got older....
Click to expand...

Thanks, i'll read those articles later as i'm very interested and have found myself becoming increasingly cynical and pessimistic about humanity and the near future over the last 5 years.

No preview available on Amazon UK and Amazon US says preview unavailable, pah :(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
A George Carlin Special Too Raw After Sept. 11 Resurfaces Now
4
2K
UrokeJoe replied
  • Locked
NYT: Comedian Steve Rannazzisi (The League) lied about 9/11 escape
2 3 4
176
18K
Gattsu25 replied
COMICS!!! |OT| September 2017 | 25 Years of wearing a smile to work!
64 65 66 67 68
3K
210K
Einchy replied
  • Locked
Scientists still working to ID victims from 9/11
0
470
Blablurn replied
  • Locked
"Kill" most common word googled together with "muslims" after San Bernardino attack
16
3K
DragonSworne replied
Top Bottom