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Seinfeld on Carlin
"You could certainly say that George Carlin downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways," writes Jerry Seinfeld has written in today's 6.24 N.Y. Times. "Every comedian does a little George. I couldn't even count the number of times I've been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, 'Carlin does it.' I've heard it my whole career: 'Carlin does it,' 'Carlin already did it,' 'Carlin did it eight years ago.'
"And he didn't just 'do' it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.
"I became obsessed with him in the '60s. As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story. Everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality.
"I know George didn't believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I'm spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, 'Carlin already did it.'"
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 24, 2008 at 11:27 AM
comment #1
Edward
says ...
Well written Jerry, thanks.
Posted by Edward
at June 24, 2008 11:48 AM
comment #2
Aladdin Sane
says ...
"Simpsons did it!"
Posted by Aladdin Sane
at June 24, 2008 12:02 PM
comment #3
Cinexcellence
says ...
Well written.
Posted by Cinexcellence
at June 24, 2008 12:38 PM
comment #4
Jay T.
says ...
Well said...
Posted by Jay T.
at June 24, 2008 1:44 PM
comment #5
BurmaShave
says ...
Occasionally Jerry Seinfeld is a really classy guy
Posted by BurmaShave
at June 24, 2008 2:06 PM
comment #6
Gaydos
says ...
No disrespect to George and Jerry, a genius and a talented guy in that order, but consider Woody Allen's (genius) vote for the breakthrough stand-up:
“I’d always admired standup comics -- guys like Benny, Berle, Henny Youngman, Bob Hope. They were tremendous talents, well developed. I still believe that being a standup comic is the best education you can get. Mine came largely from watching Mort Sahl. He made the country listen to jokes that required them to think. Watching him made me want to be a standup comedian.
“He was the best thing I ever saw. He was like Charlie Parker in jazz. There was a need for a revolution, everybody was ready for a revolution, but some guy had to come along who could perform the revolution and be great. Mort was the one. He was like the tip of the iceberg. Underneath were all the other people who came along: Lenny Bruce, Nichols and May, all the Second City players. I'm not saying that these people wouldn't have happened anyway, but Mort was the vanguard of the group that had an enormous renaissance of nightclub comedy that ended not long after Bill Cosby and I came along. He totally restructured comedy. His jokes are laid down with such guile. He changed the rhythm of jokes. He had different content, surely, but the revolution was in the way he laid the jokes down."
Posted by Gaydos
at June 24, 2008 2:51 PM
comment #7
Aris P
says ...
Um are you all reading the same thing I am??
Excuse me, but why does Mr. Classy need to mention that he didnt much care for the 7 Words or AM FM bit? Good for you, thanks for pointing that out. And I get the hobo and bone reference but really, he can't think of a less disgusting metaphor? And really, i guess the only way to end a tribute to the greatest comedian of this generation, is to hear how Jerry will be "really sad" when HE , himself, dies and thinks that Carlin did it all before him.
Yeah Jerry, i'm glad that's what makes you the saddest about all this... that he was better than you. He died, dick-head - no one really cares about your death right now.
Pompous prick.
Posted by Aris P
at June 24, 2008 3:10 PM
comment #8
SaveFarris
says ...
Going by the Russert timeline (Wells was saying "Enough already" 60 hours after Russert's death), Carlin only has about 12 more hours of memorial time before we all need to STFU.
Posted by SaveFarris
at June 24, 2008 4:23 PM
comment #9
Richardson
says ...
"But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians. I personally never cared about “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,†or “FM & AM.†To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality."
This reads as if it was edited; I'm pretty sure he's not saying "I didn't like these bits", he's saying, "I didn't care about the specific bits that made him famous, because everything he did was gold."
"Yeah Jerry, i'm glad that's what makes you the saddest about all this"
Actually, he said "sadder".
You seem really bitter towards Seinfeld. It's not Seinfeld's fault that he's the most famous comedian in the country (if not the world), and lives in NYC, and, therefore, is the most logical person to write a semi-personalized obituary for the great stand-up comedian who just died.
Posted by Richardson
at June 24, 2008 5:13 PM
comment #10
Movie Watcher
says ...
Pretty good commentary, Jerry. This almost makes up for Bee Movie. Almost.
Posted by Movie Watcher
at June 25, 2008 4:49 AM
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