George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing

Extremely few comedians are successful, even fewer for more than a year or two and the majority of those few that are still working the large venues, who prove themselves to be other than just some flash-in-the-pan dressed up in an ill-fitting suit of success by an aggressive publicity team and a gullible, entertainment starved audience; usually build their careers on one or two jokes that they've turned into their shtick: they have a quirky personality that is charming or, at least, familiar. Essentially they're one-trick-ponies with long legs. This isn't something I was really thinking about in much detail until I watched the exception to all these rules: George Carlin in Life Is Worth Losing. Here is a man who is nearing seventy years old (as of this writing), his fiftieth year in show business and he presents us with his finest, most polished work of all. He is one of those exceptionally rare breeds, in any given professional field, who not only improves with time, but substantially so to an extent that you clearly see all of his work until now has been the foundation for the masterpiece he offers us now. Not one to be particularly impressed by the vast majority of so-called "great" things, it took me a while after my first viewing of Life Is Worth Losing to absorb what I had seen and several repeated viewings shortly thereafter to understand I was witnessing a truly great comedian, a genius, THE master of his craft. In a world where the vast majority of "great entertainment" is hyped up bullsh*t and mediocrity, a passing fad at best that sours on your second taste if not turning bitterly toxic, George Carlin is a man who shows us what real, adult comedy should be: a mixture of cleverly constructed fun and intelligent material that makes you think about our comically tragic existence. This is George's best performance and material so far, his most thoughtful, thought out, thought provoking and heartfelt.

I really expected to see and hear universal applause and praise for this great work. Instead, I was surprised to hear and read so many negative reviews about this masterpiece. Surely these can't be the same George Carlin fans who loved his work before. Especially those who said this work was "bitter". If anything I found his latest offering to be a lot less angry than most of his previous work and more thoughtful. Then I realized what all the fuss was about: in this performance George is holding up the biggest mirror he's held up so far. He's forcing more Americans to look (and laugh if they have the courage) at themselves than he ever has before. He leaves very few stones unturned in his satirical offering. For a start he talks about a lot of Americans right off the bat when he discusses obesity, as a third of Americans are classified as medically obese and about half of those as morbidly obese, according to the latest American Medical Association studies. He also talks about mindless consumerism. Between these two subjects he's covered the vast majority of Americans. And since Americans are becoming more dimwitted and righteous, the bulk of them will not laugh at themselves, the purpose of intelligent humor but prefer the sadistic, mean spirited "humor" they see on television (which George satirizes in "The All-Suicide TV Channel") or read in those idiotic emails too many people forward to everyone in their address book with titles like "10 jokes about rag-heads" or "Stop complaining you homeless person". (Some of these atrocious emails that preach intolerance are erroneously attributed to George Carlin but in fact are written by other people, none of whom have the courage to take credit for these awful, embarrassingly written pieces. Sources: see www.snopes.com or www.georgecarlin.com)

If you watch "Life is WorthLosing" for just the opening and closing segments, you will see pure brilliance. The opening segment "A Modern Man" is a work of genius and you will be awestruck by George's mastery of the English language as well as his selection of timely material. The closing segment "Coast to Coast Emergency" is actually a very hopeful piece but I think too many people get confused by it because he's discussing the bitterness of the average person and is revealing that the solution to most people's unhappiness is to rid themselves of their own bitterness. Don't listen to the critics of this work, it's a fantastic piece. Typical of the vast majority of naysayers, they are really talking about themselves when they describe George as "bitter". It's why it is always a risk to tell the truth because most people want to kill the messenger that brings them bad news, especially when that "news" (intentional ignorance actually) is about themselves.

This is George Carlin at his polished, intellectual best. It is a masterpiece of comic genius that you will want to add to your library and watch again and again; especially after one of those too frequently increasing moments of realizing the dumbing-down of your fellow countrymen and women is an alarming reality.

Brilliant. Edgier than ever. I hope someone has taken down his opening monologue and posts it in the Memorable Quotes area. Truly one of the supreme comic geniuses of our time. I particularly enjoyed the hypothesizing about "Suicide TV," and the skewering of America's obsession with all things sensationalized. Nobody is ever safe from Carlin's wit and command of the English language, and he wouldn't have it any other way. Interesting to see how he has elaborated on elements of his live stage act from two years ago. I also appreciated how there was much, much less time devoted to non sequiturs and more ramblings that were all connected, often in a very twisted and disturbing way. Here's hoping for more Carlin specials to come.

Two things here.

You can tell that you're in the presence of a master here; master of the spoken word, master of the whole art of presenting self, master of how to glare, when, how to pause, how to circle and grip and snarl and move back from a prey you've left bleeding but only really teased. When you watch him here, what you're really going to see is a shape- shifting shaman; changing from incredulous doofus, to wily old pervert, to Diogenes the Cynic barking aphorisms at the Athenians, to hunched Svengali seducing our inner Trilby.

But to take so much knowledge of stagecraft and apply it to mere cynicism? To know how to take from wasteful surplus but not how to put back where it's needing? To be able to have been a teacher of the blackest, most cantankerous dharma and only be black and cantankerous?

This is like sharing a crack pipe with a genius. You're going to get hammered but none the wiser.

I can't say i like all of his subject matter, but George Carlin, as a Comedian, is the Best, and a breath of fresh air.

On my first viewing, I stopped after he started talking about "pussy farts" (which i thought was very juvenile)... but afterward, I skipped past that and he was the old George Carlin we all know and love. I think there are many hidden metaphors in what he says that we can all relate to.

George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing (2005)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

George Carlin's thirteenth special for HBO ranks as one of his best but, then again, was he ever not great? This time out he tackles humans and how ugly and stupid they really are. This includes suicide, torture, sleeping with dead things and in one of the funniest bits he goes off on seeing obese people together.

It's funny watching this eleven years after it was released and seeing just how brilliant Carlin was. The legend would die three years after this was released so he didn't get to see the current human nature and there's a priceless joke here about PC liberals that is just so more truer today then when he said it. Not to mention the obesity rates in America.

Carlin comes out on fire with one of the fastest monologues that you're ever going to hear. It's amazing to see how rapid-fire Carlin is saying this stuff yet he is never off note or missing a step. The show itself is full of one great joke after another. I've always thought Carlin's humor worked so best because it was a thinking man's show. In other words, Carlin gets humor out of his deep thoughts on his subjects and he fully exploits that here.

I'm not going to ruin any of the jokes because you should go into the show not knowing them but there are many classics here.