Does that title sound familiar? Here is the whole sentence: "The forecast for tonight, dark. Continued dark tonight, turning to partly light in the morning.” The line is from Al Sleet, the hippy dippy weatherman, a bit and character created and performed by the legendary comedian, author and free-speech advocate George Carlin.
Carlin died yesterday at the relatively young age of 71. He wasn’t a Boomer but his humor was central to Boomer life from the 1960s and 70s right up to this day. He was outspoken and painfully, brutally honest in his observational humor. He made you laugh and he made you think. He was funny!
Here are a few of his one-liners:
Electricity is really just organized lightning.
Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
“I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
George Washington’s brother, Lawrence, was the Uncle of Our Country.
If there is a heaven and he’s doing a show there tonight, he might have to rewrite this one: I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.
George Carlin was also famous for the “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.” And those words are … not going to be said on this blog. Amazingly, at least five of those words are regularly heard on cable television now, so maybe he opened the door for that to happen.
Here is a clip of one of his best observational pieces. This is actually a 1990 performance of one of his older routines. It is funny because it is so universal.
Sadly, the forecast for his brand of comedy is dark; and I don’t think we’ll see his kind of light shining any time soon.
A Little Ditty
3 weeks ago
2 comments:
Ha! These were funny, Bernie! thanks for this post! I know that when I was watching the news the other morning and first heard about his death, I was like, wait, he wasn't that old! During my day job at the bank I see people older and older and see how young they actually appear and act, and when they tell me their ages, I'm continually shocked. I can only hope to be doing as well at the age of 71.
George Carlin was my introduction to stand-up comedy. I never laughed so hard when the "Seven Words" played. If I remember right, wasn't he arrested here in Milwaukee for that act? His passing is too soon and his comedic schtick will be sorely missed. He was one of a kind.
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