BOOK
REVIEW: Last Words, A Memoir by George Carlin with Tony Hendra.
THE SELF-DESCRIBED “FOOLE”, George Carlin, one of
the great comedians of late Twentieth Century America, died in 2008, in
California, at the age of 71. He left behind a legacy of humour that was
personal, political and philosophical, much of which still resonates and makes
us laugh today. Born in New York, he came from an Irish Catholic family and
neighbourhood, and much of his humour is derived from those years, from his
school days, the people he met and the friends he made. Naturally enough for
Carlin, he begins his autobiography
(actually a series of discussions recorded over the years with his good friend
and fellow comedian Tony Hendra) at conception, describing his later ‘near
miss’ at non-existence when his mother decides at the last minute not to
terminate her pregnancy, something that might not typically be seen as grist
for the humour mill, but for Carlin it’s all part of the raw material that made
his comedy some of the sharpest and innovative of modern times. The book is
written mostly chronologically, beginning with his childhood in the early 1940s
and continuing until the early 2000s.
I think
anyone reading his autobiography will be struck by the amount of detail he
recalls from his childhood, and the way in which he, I won’t say analyzes, but observes his younger, street-wise self
and sees there elements of the future comic artist he would become. From an
early age, Carlin learned the rewards (and pains!) of being a class clown and
the power he felt in making others laugh. He recalls how proud he was when he
made his mother laugh for the first time at a joke he’d made up entirely on his
own, from preamble to punchline. As a youth, he was articulate and gifted, and
had an innate love of language that lasted a lifetime. Anyone hearing his
monologues will sense the joy and reverence he holds for the spoken word.
Besides
descriptions of his near-delinquent childhood, his time in the air force, his
decades-long struggle to ‘make it’ as a comic on TV and in live performance, I
found the portraits of his parents compelling, as well as frank and touching. I
don’t think he’d object with my saying that we are where we came from. And
Carlin came from New York, and was a New Yorker born and bred. He traveled all
over the country, and as his career expanded, performed hundreds of shows a
year. He was on television; he made Grammy-award winning comedy albums and
achieved much success in his life. The flip side, of course—the drugs,
alcoholism and family discord are also written with the same honesty that
characterizes his humour.
But I
found most interesting his discussions on how he grew as an artist. Throughout
the book, he would analyze the various phases of his comic growth; he would
examine what his goals were and whether he’d achieved them. Success and failure
are part and parcel of his maturing as an artist. He describes milestones in
his life—meeting the legendary Lenny Bruce, for example, or getting fired in
Las Vegas, meeting his wife or acquiring his new manager who helped him to get
back on track. And Carlin admits that he went through periods where he felt his
humour, his outlook on life, society and politics, etc. needed ‘an overhaul’. Most
fascinating for me was his discovery, in his late fifties, of his “authentic”
voice. He gradually drew away from character sketches, impressions and so on,
and began to address the audience directly, as George Carlin, pulling from
himself the memories, quirky observations, the proscriptions and condemnations
of our modern world, we’d come to expect from him in his later career. His
growth as a comic genius (I’ll use that word) with the realization that he
could harness so much material and channel it through this new, personal format
is interesting to anyone wanting to better understand the artistic process
(i.e. struggle).
Carlin
once said he was most proud creating something holus bolus—out of thin air, by himself and that could only be
performed by him. He said he felt on stage, at those times when the audience
listened and laughed, that he was alone at the center of the universe; a
powerful, compelling, if lonely, image.
Interestingly, sometime before his death, Carlin once again began thinking
of all the characters and voices he had created over the years, many of which
had their basis in his childhood, as material he could use for a one-man play
on Broadway. It was on his ‘bucket-list’ to return to New York and perform
before his home town in such a venue. Sadly, he died before he could bring this
vision to life.
In the second to last chapter he says:
My affection for people as individuals and the fact that I identify with them doesn’t extend to the structures they’ve built, the terrible job they’ve done of organizing themselves. The fake values that supposedly hold society together. Bullshit is the glue of our society.
Yeah. What he said.
George Carlin
Born: May 12, 1937
Died: June 22, 2008
R.I.P.
Carlin once said he’d like his remains to be
rocketed into space. In lieu of that, he wanted his body to be “blown up.” So
resting for an eternity might not be his cup of tea.
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