One of the many inexplicable contradictions of my childhood was that while I was not allowed to buy Beatles records because I would be feeding their drug habits, I was allowed to buy George Carlin albums. Although I suspected it at the time - based on the long hair, explicit language and drug references - after reading this book I now know for sure that I was feeding his George's drug habit.
For those who don't know, and I can't imagine who you might be, George Carlin was a famous counter-culture comedian most noted for his routine, "Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say on Televison." This autobigraphy, assembled with the help of Tony Hendra and published posthumously, chronicles almost every aspect of George's life: his nearly aborted birth, his days growing up in New York City, his troubled stint in the Air Force, and the ups and downs of his comedy career.
The book covers Carlin's early days of radio, and how parlayed his radio career into a stand-up comedy routine, first with a partner, and then on his own. It talks about the television appearances of the sixties: Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, and of course The Tonight Show, where he appeared so frequently that he became one of the guest hosts for Johnny's frequent days off. It tells of his dissatisfaction with his career and the period of self-sabotage that preceded his emergence as the counter-culture comedian of Class Clown. His routines of this period, in which he pointed out absurdities in language, sports, and the Viet Nam war, made him one of the founders of the brand of observational comedy that seems so commonplace today. Like Lenny Bruce, who George admired, he blazed new trails in what was being said on stage. His "Filthy Words" routine, a sequel to the "Seven Dirty Words" bit, was the foundation of the U.S. Supreme Court's "Federal Communications Commision vs. Pacifica Foundation" decision which officially established the FCC's authority to regulate indecent material on the airwaves.
George is riding high (in more ways than one), but success brings problems to his life. There are problems with drugs, taxes, and his heart. His wife suffers drinking problems, and after winning the battle with the bottle, she loses a battle with cancer. Things are looking bleak once again.
But once again Carlin emerges from the ashes. He embraces new management and capitalizes on a relationship with HBO. He starts to become more politicized. He also comes to an important realization: "laughter is not the only proof of success." This liberating thought allows him to engage the audience without worrying about getting a laugh with every sentence, and would shape his comedy until the end of his career.
I hate to say it, but unless you are really a fan of Carlin's, you probably don't have a reason to read this book. Yes, there are some revelations, but nothing earth-shattering, unless it would surprise you to hear that Carlin had a drug problem, or couldn't keep his finances straight. He dishes a little dirt here and there when it involves a direct interaction between him and a celebrity, but he doesn't seem to have a ton of celebrity friends, and he's not really one to tell tales out of school. I'm also not the biggest fan of comedians analyzing their comedy, although Carlin's brand of humor was so bound up with who he was that it's not nearly as painful here.
I'm not sorry I took the time to read it, though. As a fan, it allowed me to relive some memories, to fill in some gaps in what I knew about him, and to better understand the reasons his comedy took the directions that it did. If you are really a fan it might do that for you as well.
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