Professor Carlin’s Legacy

On Sunday, June 22nd, 2008, the public received the horrible news about the death of a comedic pioneer. Now when I think of humor, many things come to my mind; one being that the Latin root word for humor is moisture. So with that, I might testify that many comedians are a breath of fresh air when it comes to their stand ups, but if there is one man who reminds me of a breath of fresh moisture, it was Mr. George Carlin.

Listening to him rant philosophically was like hearing Martin Luther King Jr. preach after a couple shots of Moonshine. Honestly, if laughter were a degree program in a university, Mr. Carlin would act as its professor. A course director eventually who would know with perfection what funny was and what funny wasn’t. A course director who could predict a student’s future based on the dynamics of his or her sense of humor. His class wouldn’t be at all difficult either. The grading rubric would simply be; you’re either the real deal, or your just another joke. No double standards, as he finely put it. Those that were the real deal would pass the class with flying colors and be left alone. All other pranksters who failed miserably would be used time and time again in Professor Carlin’s comedic skits at his shows suffering from embarrassment after embarrassment.

You see, because Professor Carlin lived with a straightforward concept. This concept not only motivated aspiring comedians to step up to the challenge, but also challenged society’s obligation to stay true to reality. He preaches, “I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.” By expressing his reflections of wisdom and mocking the popularity of stupidity, cross the line he did and he did it rather well. From tackling issues of the English language to identifying America as one gigantic shopping mall, it never took much critical thinking to decipher the conveyance of his skits. As he once put it, I love this country and all the freedoms I used to have, he saw the route politicians and big business were taking this country and figured one way to make a point of this is to laugh it off. Pointing out that we can’t continue to wag the finger towards another, but rather to look in the mirror and realize we are the entire problem as a whole.

The problems with health care, disease, pollution, job security, education, substance abuse, religious affiliations, lack of financial discipline, poverty, marriage, and the whole nine yards. This list could go on, but what should stop is the reliance on other people, he would stress. We’ve become so fixed into technology we forgot about civil duties and the spiritual remedies of the ancient. Professor Carlin, like many resounding public figures, continued to have a voice in the entertainment industry. Even after the 1978 U.S. Supreme court case, acknowledging the government’s right to regulate “indecent” material on the public airwaves. This being the result of the airing of one of his most famous skits “Seven Dirty Words (which he actually got arrested for). Feel free to search for the video on Youtube if you’re at work and your feeling a little disobedient. With respect to his everlasting practical jokes, I’ll leave you with some of his classic quotes. Rest in peace you old fart.

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
“Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.”
“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”
“Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?”

– George Carlin