The first Carlin piece I saw was “flying on the airplane” in which he challenged some conventional use of words, which, if you think about it, doesn’t really make much sense. Examples include “pre-boarding process”, “non-stop flight”, “check the vicinity of your seating area for any personal properties you might have brought on-board”, etc. A language teacher myself, I was much inspired thereby and did discover that our daily communications were often overwhelmed by hackneyed clichés and true meanings often were lost in the process.
Many comedians do such routines in which they challenge conventional wisdom, but nobody has been more direct, poignant, and precise than Carlin. He never hesitated in spitting out the naked truth about religion, ugly facts in politics, shameless abuse of language, capricious trends in society, and the list goes on. Walking away from lucrative contracts doing clean, safe and brownnosing Vegas shows, Carlin reinvented himself, or went back to his true roots. His life long anti-establishment motif is utterly absent in the cautious Seinfeld or the hilarious Williams, yet the influence is apparent in the neurotic Black and the slightly gay Maher. He could fire more rapidly than the obnoxious Miller yet still sound more eloquent than the witty Letterman. Carlin was really among the very few who were able to stun, challenge and entertain his audience at the same time.
Carlin, thank you for all the grievances and complaints. I will miss you...
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