Is it like playing the violin? Is it just practice? Is it getting good feedback? Is it-you know, what is it that allows you to hone your craft? So I'm wondering what you think has enabled you to do that. You’ve been doing this for, as you said, over 50 years, and it seems like you've only gotten better with time. You made an analogy to playing the violin. “Ain't I smart, ain't I cute, ain't I clever.” “Listen to me, listen to what I got to say.” So, those things are important elements in the drive behind all of this. The fact that I didn’t finish school left me with a lifelong need to prove that I’m smart, prove it to myself, maybe to the world. And so, those things were all important in this. Then it became funny the things I would say, and I became more of a wit than simply a mimic and a clown. I needed to be-not the center of attention-but I needed to be able to attract attention when I wanted it, through my stunts and my fooling around physically with faces or postures or voices I would do. And the observations have more resonance, they’re richer. Observations made by a 60-year-old are compared against a much richer data set. So, observations made by a 20-year-old are compared against a data set that is incomplete. At 70 it’s a much richer storage area, the matrix inside is more textured, and has more contours to it. A 20-year-old has a limited amount of data they’ve experienced, either seeing or listening to the world. I’ve often described the way a 20-year-old versus, say, a 60- or a 70-year-old, the way it works. It’s all a machine that works a certain way: the observations, the immediate evaluation of the observation, and then the mental filing of it, or writing it down on a piece of paper. I’m 71, and I’ve been doing this for a little over 50 years, doing it at a fairly visible level for 40.
I think self-expression is present at all times, and whether or not you’re talking about the outside world or your responses to it depends on the moment and the subject.ĭo you go around observing and trying to collect funny things? Or do you just live your life and then say how you feel about what you happen to have seen? But I don’t think these things are mutually exclusive. Woody Allen taps into a lot of self-analysis in his comedy. Comedy can also be based on describing one’s inner self-doing anecdotes, talking about your own fears. So self-expression is the key to even standing up and saying, "Hey, listen to me." Self-expression can be based on looking at the world and making observations about it or not. And comedy, although it is not one of the fine arts-it’s a vulgar art, it’s one of the people’s arts, it’s the spoken word, the writing that goes into it is an art form-it’s certainly artistry. Self-expression is a hallmark of an artist, of art, to get something off one’s chest, to sing one’s song. looking at the outside world and making observations? How do you think about comedy and self-expression? Expressing what’s within vs. They represent a little over half of the interview. Jim Windolf of the New York Times described Carlin as a "secular preacher," adding that he was "blessed or else just overloaded with opinions on subjects ranging from the ridiculous (belly button lint) to the sublime (the existence of God)." Matthew Love of Rolling Stone went further, naming Carlin as the second greatest comedian and writing a glowing summary, "Carlin was the ultimate thinking man's comic, demanding that his audiences fight from underneath the mountain of bulls*** heaped upon them by clergymen, politicians and advertisers.What follows are edited highlights. Time noted how Carlin's 40-year career built upon Lenny Bruce's transgressive work and aided in making stand up comedy a hallmark of American culture. Many journalists and magazine editorials have recognized and celebrated Carlin's influence on comedy. I don't believe in this country, I don't believe in religion, or a god, and I don't believe in all these man-made institutional ideas."
Irreverent and misanthropic, Carlin told Reuters, "I don't have any beliefs or allegiances. Described by Cleveland as "the dean of counterculture comedians," George Carlin was a stand-up comic known for his acerbic rants on religion and American culture.
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