Way back when, January of 1996 to be precise, I did a short phone interview with George Carlin for the Anchorage Press to preview one of his shows at the Atwood Concert Hall. It’s a nothing piece and now, after twelve years and a dead comic, I realize that I didn’t put the one true George Carlin personality detail I gleaned into the article.
The Jan 25-31 issue was my first as Managing Editor of the Press and I was making a one hour commute from Wasilla (some things haven’t changed). I was late, can’t remember why, and I missed Carlin’s call to the office.
I’m still embarrassed about it but the guy called me back (I did grovel to his publicist). So either he was a great guy, willing to give a not-at-all-together reporter/editor a second chance, or he really need to sell some more tickets.
Either way he was classy about it.
The spoken word as weapon
George Carlin has spent a lifetime in the stand-up comedy business. Since his radio days nearly 40 years ago, Carlin has evolved into one of the premier comics in the business with his combination of spoken word performance and social commentary.
Now, at age 59, the devilish comedian has claimed a new title, that of artist.
“It’s a reinterpretation of the world. It’s not high art, it’s not fine art. But I believe an artist needs to go from here to there,” Carlin said in a phone interview last week.
“I don’t know that all [comics] qualify. I am trying to set myself apart. Some people are entertainers. I have entered into another level. It qualifies more as art than entertainment.”
Initially Carlin didn’t plan on being a comic for very long. At age 11 he had his plan laid out: first disk jockey, then move to sit-coms, before graduating to movies in the tradition of Danny Kaye and Bob Hope.
“But fate in various forms conspired against that,” he said. “I had no technique for acting. I was forced to be a stand-up comic for far longer than I thought I would.”
Now Carlin has a new game plan, one that keeps the focus on his spoken word work. He still finds time for acting however, regularly playing the character Mister Conductor on “Shining Time Station,” a children’s show on PBS for which he was earned two Emmy Award nominations, as well as appearing in several films, including Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel.
“My main line is stand-up comedy. Acting, of any kind, is an important sub-set,” he said.
Carlin discovered that his routine was shifting direction after his 1990 HBO special. By 1992 he had found a new voice to express his disassociation.
“I’m not doing jokes about my relationships, the mall, the guy at the 7-11.” Instead, Carlin said, he is doing more trenchant observation about the world. “Not having a stake in the outcome emotionally I can cut all this stuff loose and drift out by Jupiter” and provide a more coherent commentary on the circus Earth.
Though his Fox television show disturbed his cable-special-every-two-years schedule, Carlin has another HBO concert planned for March 30, his ninth broadcast special.
“I’m going to continue to do an HBO show as long as they’ll have me,” he said.
Carlin still enjoys taking his act on the road, determined to reach as many people as possible through touring and television. Live performance is still his main thing, he said. HBO merely takes the pictures and allows a larger audience to enter Carlin’s head.
“I’m in here. My filter is different. All I know is that I’m free of the society’s and the species’ ties. Ties that make you feel part of the local group. I never have identified with the local group,” said Carlin.
“I’m kind of a floating free agent. That aspect of my personality has been accentuated in the last eight to ten years. I don’t care what happens to this country or the species.”
Stephen Nowers, Anchorage Press, Vol 5 Ed 4 (January 25-31, 1996)
