How would people react to George Carlin today?

[Tsun Tzu]

Not liking or generally caring for/respecting Mr. Carlin is something of a cardinal sin for anybody into comedy.

Some people would be 'upset' by his material, just like they are about Louis C.K. and Jim Norton, et al.

And George/et al. would use that 'outrage' to obliterate them and build more/better comedic material on their rotting, desecrated corpses.

...I miss you, George. Was a fucking depressing day in 2008, I'll tell ya that much.

 

[Erttheking]

Everyone would be scrambling over themselves to say how he represents everything that they believe in and blasting other people for trying to do the same thing.

You know, like they already do.

We live in an age where whenever someone says something, the only thing people care about is "Can I use this to confirm by beliefs."

I think less "this guy totally represents me" and more "this guy has a fucking good point".

I'd love for him to take the absolute piss out of the people who get genuinely upset by "sexism" (and I use that term very, very loosely in regards to this) in videogames. Maybe Jim Jeffries too, he's super offensive in the most hilarious way.

Different methods, similar results.

People would just scour his material for anything that they could use to parrot their views while selectively ignoring anything else.

 

[Albino Boo]

George Carlin was of his time, a liberal in the tradition of Lenny Bruce. That time has passed in the same way that Bob Hope wouldn't have started his career as a comedian in the 60s. Taste changes with time and always has done.

 

[Thaluikhain]

People would freak the hell out, him being dead and all.

But, meh. People always complain that comedy has been taken over by the PC police, but in practice this is not much of a thing, excepting that people can substitute being un-PC for talent, and people will say they are edgy and "saying what we are all secretly thinking" or whatever, no matter how many people are also saying the same stuff.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I'm sure Carlin would be pleased that he was used for an SJW debate. Respect the man, don't taint him with this rubbish. The world has been sadder without him. Why must all the great comedians die? We need you guys back! I still make sense probably.

 

[omega 616]

As with all things relating to people, there is a pendulum and most people live close to the middle of that pendulum ... then you get people who live on the very peek of the swing on the pendulum, the people who live there, should be ignored!

They are irrational and it is absolutely impossible to talk with these people, without hearing stupid back from them.

So can I pose the question, why do we keep talking about them?

Because they define the middle of the pendulum and they give meaning to each side. Regardless of what someone believes, there's always a reason for it, and learning that reason helps you understand not just them but the entire pendulum.

Curiosity is wonderful, and an end to curiosity based on scorn or fear is the end of intellectual inquiry.

I don't think the extreme define the rest of us or give us meaning. All the do is give us something to gossip about, "this crazy person said this crazy thing! Is this crazy!" and the rest of us circle jerk it, lets pick the WBC .... the only supporters of them are in the WBC!

Ok, there are people like Anita, who largely get hate but has a few supporters but even then, people are that entrenched in their position that they wont have a discussion, it just turns into a flame war.

I am sometimes like that, so entrenched in my opinion that you can't get through to me. I try not to, like with the whole gun policy in America, I started off very against it but then I can now see how in some circumstances, they are a good thing.

 

[Zhukov]

Mate, you've got some pretty severe redundancy going on in those videos dude. The 'Male Disease' is the second half of the 'On Patriarchy' one and the 'Feminists' one is the final joke in the 'On Rape' one.

As for the question, he'd do fine. He was very, very good at his chosen trade and people loved him for it. Many still do. You only have to look at this thread full of both "SJWs" and whatever-the-fuck-we're-calling-you-other-lot all saying they liked him and trying to "claim" him.

Personally, well y'know, it's odd, I loved the guy but I never actually found him all that funny.

Very interesting and often a delight to listen to, but wasn't all that good at making me laugh. Prefer his commentary over his comedy.

EDIT: Errgh. Redundant word in my first sentence about redundancy. I'm leaving it there because it's kinda funny.

 

[AT God]

Carlin would have been hated by some and loved by others, just like he was back then. The only thing that has changed in recent years is how much more vocally people are able to express their like/dislike of him. He basically joked about all of the things we fight over now twenty years ago. This doesn't make him some prophet, it just means people were whining and fighting over the same things back then too. My only thought on the issue is I fear Carlin might have held back if he were alive today because of how much more damaging people can be to people's careers, although that is entirely speculative and I maintain he never compromised, his changes in opinion were entirely his own.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think he would be appreciated now more than ever.

 

[FPLOON]

They would want him to host his own roast... because he would be the only one who can host his roast the only way he knows how: with fire burning down the whole cook-out with no filters and/or apologies...

Other than that, Comedy Central would be reaping the opportunities to showcase all of his stand-up shows uncut and uncensored on Saturday nights...

 

[Johnny Impact]

I went to see Carlin once when I was but a lad. A few minutes into the routine, several people got up to leave. George stopped and said

"Hey! Are you people walkin' out? .... You are? Just a sec. Just a sec. Don't leave. Give me thirty seconds. Naw, don't sit back down, it won't take that long and you're still gonna leave. Just stand there for thirty seconds. I got something I want to say to you:

FUCK. YOU.

I been doin' standup for decades. I have a reputation for colorful material and I haven't even gotten to the REALLY bad bits yet. If you didn't know what I was gonna do here, if your head's so deep in a hole you can't stand the idea of a man getting on stage and telling the truth, even if it happens to be a truth you don't like very much, if you think that everything has to be safe and wholesome and mother-approved, if you're ALREADY so offended you're gonna walk out, then GET THE FUCK OUT. And FUCK YOU. Now back to the show."

I don't have that verbatim, I'm pretty sure George said it better.

The point is several of the hundreds of people who went to see him, presumably on purpose, walked out of his show in the first few minutes. Maybe they were simply confused about who George was. I choose to believe they were offended. This was before most of you on the forum were even alive. Getting offended is not new. Stopping up our ears to the things that bother us is not new. The ability of each of us to make our unhappiness known to the entire world -- that's still fairly new.

 

[LetalisK]

Absolutely, without a doubt. There are numerous acerbic, foul-mouthed comics leading successful careers; if anything, more than ever before. Frankie Boyle and Charlie Brooker come immediately to mind, among others.

The "internet PC force" is some people moaning on the internet. George Carlin would not be under any significant threat from them whatsoever.

I think sometimes we greatly exaggerate the power and reach of social media, especially Twitter. Perhaps that exaggeration itself gives it power, but I think even if there was a great smothering PC force, that would only fuel the careers of comics like George Carlin further as they would become almost like a taboo delight for the public.

 

[Halla Burrica]

Eeeeh... I guess some people would react to him, and he would be the same guy today he was in 2008. I doubt I would have found him funny, though.

 

[ZeroFarks]

What made Carlin so great is that he *****-slapped political correctness (and all hypocrisy in general) as moral duty. He had no patience for the lies & baka that are the foundation of "polite society" and drove home his contempt with an unyielding wit that may never be matched again.

I wish he was around today because he would draw fire from all the outragists & attention whores of the world - and he would, in response, destroy them. He'd call them out on all their self-serving agendas, their lies, and their double standards. He'd humiliate them, turn them into laughing stocks. And once that was done they'd be so ashamed that they'd finally just shrivel up and die at last.

And there would be much rejoicing.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I could see Carlin working ... he'd have plenty of material to work with. And he seems to evenly distribute the vitriol. That being said, political commentary seems to be all the rage, as opposed to social observational humour. So he might even seem fresh for a bit. That being said, I think political comedy is still likely, as always, going to be the royalty of mass media comedy culture. As nobody likes politicians, and there's always going to be more than a few politicians out there producing comedy gold just waiting to be mined on a weekly basis ala James Oliver style.

That being said, it's not like George Carlin was innately George Carlin ... I think there's a market there. So somebody will eventually tap it. Arguably they already are ... before Carlin and after. So it's more a point about who becomes the bigger name. I think Dylan Moran did it better than most, and I sure as shit prefer him over Carlin. Moran's stuff also had a way darker edge to it, without losing the humour. Carlin merely said what we were sort of thinking (and other comedians saying, anyways), Moran said what we felt, each day, dragging ourselves out of bed, trying to reconcile self with other. Which actually sort of made him refreshing.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I think sometimes we greatly exaggerate the power and reach of social media, especially Twitter. Perhaps that exaggeration itself gives it power, but I think even if there was a great smothering PC force, that would only fuel the careers of comics like George Carlin further as they would become almost like a taboo delight for the public.

That and the infinite power of charisma.

Which people here seem to forget. Comedians can say stuff because they have charisma. So I don't understand this idea of the supposed 'PC crowd' panopticon.