How do you say goodbye to your hero? Well, I have no idea. George Carlin died at 5:55Pm yesterday and the only thing I am sure of is the world is now a lot less funny. There will be lots of articles in the coming days that will chronicle his life and explain what a comedic genius he was. And while he was a comedic genius, that title does not do him justice.To me he was so much more.
George Carlin was more of a philosopher than a comedian. His comedy made me examine my own life and laugh at things that I might not have. He made me realize what an idiot I could be for worrying about petty bullshit that in the long term was going to mean nothing. He had an ability to make me realize that I need to laugh more, live more and cry a lot less.
Carlin was a wordsmith and was able to show us the humor of certain phrases and words. More often he would point out the absurdity of such phrases. He famously examined the ‘seven dirty words’ and was arrested for saying them at a live performance. That started a nationwide discussion on free speech and in the end you still cannot say those words on radio or TV but the discussion he started continues to this day.
Anyway, it’s hard to be funny today so I will let George be funny for you. Here he is talking about death.
Rest in peace George. You will be sorely missed and never replaced.