George Carlin's American Dream

It was nice to walk through the decades with Carlin, Brenda and Kelly. Its beautiful to see the "cynical/realist" have a life off the stage. The archival footage is amazing and crisp. The personal recordings, voicemails and letters put a personal touch on this documentary I think George himself would've approved of.

This two part documentary chronicles the life, comedy and turbuletions of the one and only George Carlin in his life long quest to finding and making his voice heard. With interviews with his family and close friends as well as a number of comedians who were influenced heavely by his work, this documentary portrays the comedy legend in all of his ups and downs in his personal as well as his professional life in an entertaining and enlightening way. It seems that even years after his death his views and takes on society are still fresh snd poignant as ever, and this is brilliantly showed in the documentary. A must watch!

Great documentary! George Carlin was one of my favorite thinkers, and no one has or probably will replace him. He was great at pointing out hypocrisy, and putting things into perspective. I love that they incorporated things he talked about 30 years ago, that are still true today. Even more now than when he talked about them. This is an important documentary for anyone that is a fan, or has yet to see his work. I've been a fan most of my life, have seen all of his HBO specials, saw him perform live, twice, have seen a bunch of biographical specials about him, and own all of his books including Last Words which was released posthumously, and written by Tony Hendra (who worked with Carlin on it until his death). Even this documentary had things I didn't know. ...and those saying that this documentary is liberal propaganda, don't realize that his work always pointed out what the documentary covered. They probably didn't flinch when he pointed out the hypocrisy of some environmentalists, but can't get past his stance on pro-lifers, gun control, police brutality, racism, capitalism, and religion. It's the old double standard, "I was enjoying when he was making fun of the things I don't like, but he went too far when he made fun of the things I stand behind." This is a great documentary for George Carlin fans, and anyone with an open mind.

Always was a George Carlin fan loved his "HBO" specials, and listened to his C. D.'s, and even went to Vegas once to see one of his stand up acts. George was down right funny as his comedy attacked authority and challenged the yes men, and this "HBO" two part doc special "George Carlin's American Dream" was long, in depth and informative looking at his whole life and work with vintage footage, interviews with family(including daughter Kelly and first late wife Brenda) and friends as other now famous comedians really admired Carlin as his work rubbed off on them. Shown was his early humble start in New York in which his father left, and how he went away to service, and started out in radio by telling jokes, then it was on to his duo acts and variety shows, yet this really didn't fit George's image.

Now try a new Carlin with long hair and a beard would helped change his comic style as the jokes got tougher as they challenged culture and society, and his biggest funs was in front of college crowds, and doing stand up specials as his clubs days took a pause due to censorship. However with fame and money came the battle of addiction still George became a comedy legend for his blunt, brash, go against the grain tell it like it is style as Carlin felt all in society was diseased! It was more than the seven dirty words that you can't say on television with this man, as George became a PHD on word use and a friend to many, this doc was fun, revealing, and informative, a must watch for any Carlin fan and a must for any historical comedy buff.

My favorite comedian is given a proper tribute by HBO, which made George Carlin a household name. Jon Stewart compared him with Bach and Beethoven, a completely accurate assessment. Stephen Colbert calls him the Beatles of comedy, and again, a perfect comparison. The early to late clips show an artist evolving from a safe performer to a no holds barred angry old man with a message. We have no one out there now with Carlin's balls. Oh boy do I miss him now. Watch this great film.