How would people react to George Carlin today?

[bartholen_v1legacy]

(For the uninitiated, George Carlin was a legendary, and legendarily foul-mouthed stand-up comedian and social critic who died in 2008 after a career of over 50 years in show business)

Man, that George Carlin fella sure was one helluva SJW, am I right? I mean, just listen to this crap:

Spoiler: Trigger warning: patriarchy, white privilege, sexism.

I mean christ, I'm sure glad he's gone. Otherwise the feminists and SJWs would sure have gotten him on their side.

OH WAIT!

Spoiler: Things George Carlin also said

In all seriousness, how do you think George Carlin, provided that he still lived and was doing performances, could continue to have as successful a career as he did, and how would people view his material nowadays? A fuckton of the language he used and things he said would send modern moral guardians screamingly ablaze and would no doubt waste time bombing his Twitter feed (assuming he'd have one). Who would prove stronger? The collective might of the Internet's PC police, or the (in)famously foul-mouthed and verbally armed to the teeth stand-up comedian?

Edit: renamed the thread

 

[FalloutJack]

Yes, of course. As long as there are things to complain about in the world, he would have never-ending fuel to work with.

 

[Zontar]

Yes, of course. As long as there are things to complain about in the world, he would have never-ending fuel to work with.

I have to agree, he was a man who did cause some controversy in his time, and people getting pissed off because of the crowd Seinfeld complained about would only be ammunition for his work, not a danger to it.

 

[Silvanus]

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.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

You do know people got offended back then too right? and comedians like this Are still around (double toasted comes to mind) and knowing the person he was he probably wouldn't give a shit anyway.

 

[Phasmal]

He'd have a job of it, being dead and all.

But in all seriousness, yeah, he could still have a career.
George Carlin was one of the few `offensive` comedians I enjoyed, it's not to everyone's taste- because it's usually very easy to think of offensive things to say. He didn't always rely on the shock `look at what I just said` thing, so I enjoyed his stand-up occasionally.

I think perhaps you're being a teeny bit doom-n-gloom OP. Things aint so bad.

 

[Random Argument Man]

I'm pretty sure that George Carlin would call the bullshit from everyone. That was his thing. He made a point of out how ridiculous people sounded. I'm pretty sure that he would be even more popular.


Side-note* Here's to hoping that the next thread I see doesn't have the term "SJW".

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

He'd have a job of it, being dead and all.

But in all seriousness, yeah, he could still have a career.
George Carlin was one of the few `offensive` comedians I enjoyed, it's not to everyone's taste- because it's usually very easy to think of offensive things to say. He didn't always rely on the shock `look at what I just said` thing, so I enjoyed his stand-up occasionally.

I think perhaps you're being a teeny bit doom-n-gloom OP. Things aint so bad.

Eh, you're right. Reworked the thread title. I just made this based on a conversation with my sister (who has an SJW streak a mile wide), where she said she wouldn't want to listen to material where fat people are made fun of. In that bit I linked Carlin does use very harsh language about obese people and definitely uses them as part of the joke, but they're not the main point of it, just used as an example about the harmfulness of American obsessive consumerism.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

People would complain. Carlin would heckle them. It would pretty much be business as usual.

As others have pointed out, there are plenty of comedians working today who would make Carlin blush.

 

[Panthera]

He'd be hugely popular, given that his politically themed humour was basically just screaming "Republicans are evil" over and over with no actual jokes. Modern audiences would eat that up. He'd probably get some flack for the more obvious shock value routines though, less for being too offensive and more because I think people have reached the point where just saying "I bet black people would murder you if you yelled racial slurs at them like this" is no longer seen as funny.

 

[WhiteNachos]

How can you have a post about George Carlin and being PC without having these words to live by


As for your question, the tumblr feminists would be super pissed off. Because that's what they enjoy doing (finding ways to be super pissed off and calling everything problematic). They will go after their own for any minor mistake so of course they'll hate Carlin.

I can see it now

*someone posts a Carlin video about men

"How could you post something by the racist, misogynist, shitlord."

 

[AgedGrunt]

If you have charisma and character, you can say and joke about almost anything. If you listen to enough of Carlin's work or others from past eras, you'll often find when they're not joking, they have enough of the right stuff to just say what they think, because that's what people want to hear from them.

The key is being able to light up a room, not half of it. Too much comedy today appeals to one kind of mind, and filling a theater with that is neither saying much about them nor the comedy.

 

[Dizchu]

George Carlin would probably be well-received. His material was targeted towards institutions, not innocent people. Like many legendary comedians, his comedy involved challenging authorities. Monty Python did it, Bill Hicks did it, Chris Morris did it. I don't see why this will change any time soon. As long as there's a target to "punch up" against, there will always be comedians like Carlin.

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.

What I find interesting is that Frankie Boyle and Charlie Brooker both have views that many "political correctness has gone mad" types would call them "SJW"s for. Actually the same goes for a lot of the more aggressive comedians these days.

 

[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?

 

[Ihateregistering1]

With the possible exception of that he would likely avoid college campuses, I can't imagine it'd be all that different. If he had gotten put in the crosshairs with rape jokes like Daniel Tosh did, I can't imagine he would have apologized (though I'd bet dollars to dougnuts Tosh's apology was BS, and he just did it because he was concerned about his Comedy Central contract).

What I'd be way more intrigued about is comedians who used words that are now considered such heinous slurs that saying them is basically career suicide. For example, this is the first 5 minutes of Eddie Murphy's "Delirious", which many consider to be one of the greatest stand up routines of all time. I'd be curious what would happen if a comic tried this today:

 

[babinro]

There are always niche audiences for personalities like that.

I'd imagine the online backlash against such people make it more difficult to break into comedy now than it would have 5-10 years ago but that's just how our society has changed with time.

I imagine it helps when you play to societal expectations as well. If you were a 25 year old doing a routine that makes light of religion, race and non-straight relationships than I'd imagine you'd have an even greater barrier against you then the typical 'elderly' doing the same thing. We simply have that stigma that someone whose old and racist/sexist or whatever gets more a pass because of their upbringing where a young adult making the same jokes should know better even if the goal is just to encourage laughter.

 

[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."

 

[briankoontz]

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.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

He'd thrive for the simple fact that he's funny. He's not some random guy on the internet making stale bigotry/misogynistic/racist jokes and getting butthurt when people don't think he's funny.

He'd know his audience, play to them, and probably adjust his act to deal with today's society.

He targets humanity, and crap in general, not just certain groups, which helps.

 

[Something Amyss]

People always whine that things are more "PC" than they used to be. It's about as true as the notion that murder is up and video games are responsible for it.

The PC/censorship bogeyman has been around under some name for longer than Carlin existed.

I remember when I was laid up in the hospital I was watching All In The Family, and one of the nurses commented that they "couldn't get away with this today." And I'm thinking "are you kidding? We see more risque stuff from cartoons these days!" But what I actually said was something noncommittal, as I'd just had 40 square inches of flesh removed and she had my pain medication.

This sort of revisionism is nothing but a variation on the "kids these days" rant, and the "good old days" rant as well. We always have reationaries screaming society's going down the tubes and reactionaries screaming that society's becoming too "PC." Don't be either group, folks.

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."

Hmm...can I use this post to confirm my beliefs?

Yes.

ERT SPEAKS THE TRUTH!

Seriously, though, while I enjoy Geroge Carlin, I'm amazed at how many people have adopted whole philosophies based on his jokes. Not DIRECTLY related to what you said, but it's a thing. That I was reminded of.