Posted: 05/23/2003

George Carlin: You Are All Diseased

(1999)

by John Kessler

America’s inheritor of Lenny Bruce’s distinct comic legacy, Mr. Carlin has long been the dangerous comic it’s “safe to love.” But as American society grows towards out-of-hand rejection of the “free expression” Carlin holds dear, he stands as the lone foot soldier without a battlefield. Newly released by MPI Home Video.

Having recently reviewed (and enjoyed) a couple of George Carlin DVDs, I was eager to give it another go with 1999’s HBO concert film You Are All Diseased. Eager until the DVD started spinning what looked to me to be more of the same old tired passe observations that this guy has been making for most of the past century.

“Maybe I’m tired,” I thought. “Give it a chance.” Then it happened. The light came on. CARLIN is tired. Hackneyed. Shtick worn. Take these few gems:

Carlin on Religion: “Here’s another question I’ve been pondering. What is all this shit about Angels? Have you heard this? 3 out of 4 people believe in Angels. Are you F****** STUPID? Has everybody lost their mind? You know what I think it is? I think it’s a massive, collective, psychotic chemical flashback for all the drugs smoked, swallowed, shot, and absorbed rectally by all Americans from 1960 to 1990. 30 years of street drugs will get you some f****** Angels my friend!”

Carlin on Race: “If white people are gonna burn down black churches, then black people oughta burn down the House of Blues.”

Carlin on Children: “And what’s with all this talk about children? Save the children, help the children, what about the children…well, you know what I say? F*** the children! F*** ‘em, they’re getting entirely too much attention already!”

In a 1999 interview, Salon.com asked whom he was talking about with You Are All Diseased. Carlin had this to say.

“Everybody but me. The whole country. I never like to say, “They’re doing this to us. We this, We that. Why don’t we have more freedom?” Rather than this we’re all under siege thing, I say, “Look what they’re doing to you. First, they ‘focus group’ and find out what it is you’re thinking. Then they take what you’re thinking and they change it and then they have an advertising campaign and they re-teach it to you a different way. And then they take another focus group to find out whether it sank in.”
Huh?
Carlin on his audience:
“My purpose is not to change anything. I don’t give a shit about this country. This country could explode tomorrow and I’d just move to Ireland. I don’t care about America, I don’t care about democracy, I don’t care about the human race. And I don’t care about religion or God or any of those things. I care about friendship, family ties and romantic love. Those are the things I believe in. And I love my writing.”
Not surprisingly HE LOVES HIS WRITING. As for not caring about democracy and America, I need not remind him of the fortunes they have provided him.

Carlin can still be a very funny guy. More so, I think, in his books. But I, for one, wonder how can anyone possibly be this angry and still function? Or cash their paychecks?

I have loved George Carlin’s irreverence from first viewing him as a teenager many years ago. There is brilliance and creativity, as can be seen in his other comedy specials. Perhaps it is a sign of my own personal perspective; I’m just not angry enough to tune in to this particular aspect of the comic’s work. When you have been doing comedy as long as George Carlin has, and you become as revered as a professional of the highest level, who knows what dark corridors you might wander down? He has certainly touched upon some sacred ground here, and time will tell whether or not this is an act of courage or simply a mistake of choice.

John Kessler is a writer and professional procrastinator stalking the nightlife in San Francisco.

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