George Carlin's American Dream

[kestrell]

Right off the bat, I need to tell you, this isn't a review. I could have reviewed the first three/quarters of this two-part film, the part where George Carlin hones his persona--because we get to hear, through George Carlin's own words, that this isn't just an act, it's his own transformation we're being witness to--as a standup comic, where he's cracking jokes, making the audience laugh, playing with words.

And Carlin didn't just play with words: he frolicked, he capered, he staged a three-ring semiotic circus.


But along about the mid-eighties, and definitely by the '90s, George Carlin stopped playing, and his words turned deadly.

While watching the recordings of Carlin's live shows in the 1990s, I kept thinking of those Celtic bards who could curse a king with their song.

But it gets darker than that, much darker, because at one point near the end of the movie there is a montage of all the things George Carlin raged against and his words play over a visual montage of our recent news stories, and you realize this is a man who was seventy-one when he died, and he knew he was dying, and he spent the final decade of his life yelling at us to stop fucking up, because he wanted to warn us that we don't have that many chances left to stop fucking up.

You can read more about the film at this link, and also catch some sound clips. I'm also not surprised at NPR actually censoring and refusing to utter the dirty words, even now, and doesn't the "On Air" show air at night anyway?

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/20/1100342905/american-dream-documentary-examines-george-carlins-triumphs-and-demons