George Carlin: Talks Government, Language, Race, and a bit about himself

ladies and gentlemen let's have a warm National Press Club welcome for mr. George Carlin I'm not here to advance any political social or environmental cause I am in fact blessedly agenda free I don't want to save the river I don't want to save the bay I don't want to save the canyon the whale the wetlands the rainforests or the flying spotted dwarfs something or other I don't want to save the children above all frankly [Music] frankly I don't care about many of those things and beats them between you and me those battles were lost a long time ago I'm not interested in freeing someone boycotting something or preventing anything I am interested in keeping my lunch inside my mouth if I can and I don't want to make something optional I refuse to wear ribbons of any color you might say I'm just here to help define deviancy down to be honest there aren't many things I do believe in but high among them would be friendship family ties and romantic love I think those things can take you a long way for the record the only worthy cause I have devoted time to is a little-known place that does wonderful work Saint Anthony's home for the visually unpleasant it's it's run by the little sisters of the heinous and in fact they operate a number of facilities the Rochester home for the permanently disheveled the New England Haven for the occasionally coherent and the Catholic shelter for those who up until a year ago seemed to be doing just fine I thought it might be nice today for me to come to you with some of my language complaints certainly not to blame them on you although of course you are implicated and not that you can help it I mean the problem is really with the people you cover the politicians the celebrities and the lawyers and although their level of insincerity is astonishing it's still kind of fun to hear them talk in particular it's fun to listen to Washington talk whenever the issue of term limits comes up I always tell people the only term limits I'm interested in would be to limit some of the terms used by politicians they speak of course with great caution because they must take care not to actually say anything proof of this according to their own words is that they don't actually say things they indicate them as I indicated yesterday and as the president indicated to me but sometimes they don't indicate they suggest let me suggest that as I indicated yesterday I haven't determined that yet see they don't decide they determine if it's a really serious matter they make a judgement I haven't made a judgment on that yet when the hearings are concluded I will make a judgement or I might make an assessment I'm not sure I haven't determined that yet but when I do I will advise you they don't tell they advise I advised him that I had made a judgement thus far he hasn't responded they don't answer they respond he hasn't responded to my initiative an initiative is an idea that isn't going anywhere when he responds to my initiative I will review his response take a position and make a recommendation see they don't read they review they don't have opinions they take positions and they don't give advice they make recommendations and so at long last after each has responded to the others initiatives and each has reviewed the other's responses and everyone has taken a position made a judgment and offered a recommendation now they have to do something but that would be much too direct so instead they address the problem we're addressing the problem and will soon be proceeding that's a big activity here in Washington proceeding they're always proceeding or moving forward while that goes on senator have you solved that problem well we're moving forward on that and when they're not moving forward they're moving something else forward such as the process we have to move the process forward so we can implement the provisions of the initiative in order to meet these challenges no one has problems anymore challenges that's why we need people who can make the tough decisions tough decisions like how much soft money can I expect to collect in exchange for my core values so that so that I can continue my work in government of course no politician would admit to such a lowly station as working in government serving the nation I'm serving the nation another favorite distortion is public service I'm in public service I like America don't you the food is great but the public service is terrible now folks a question for you do you think it's possible that one of these politicians whose judgment is so poor that he honestly thinks of himself as serving the nation might occasionally be expected to indulge in a little patriotism what do you think well of course not only is it possible it's inevitable and that's when he's at his very best that's when he trots out the really good stuff all across this great land of ours the greatest nation on earth the greatest nation in the history of the world and in times of military crisis you can be sure that someone in a suit in this town will eventually plant himself in front of a camera and carry on a great deal about the most powerful nation on the face of the earth now normally during peacetime the politicians will refer to people in the military as our young men and women stationed around the world but in wartime they quickly become our brave young fighting men and women stationed halfway around the world in places whose names they can't pronounce wondering if they'll ever see their loved ones again for added emotional impact sons and daughters can always be substituted for men and women and so I think we can sum this up by saying that where the military is concerned the extent of a politician's insincerity can be measured by how far around the world our station our soldiers are stationed and whether or not any of them can pronounce it incidentally another way of expressing this sentiment is to say we're sending our young men and women to places the average American can't find on a map I've always thought it was kind of funny and somewhat out of character for a politician to go out of his way to point out the low level of American intelligence when indeed his very job depends upon it it would seem to fly in the face of that other rhetorical standby of theirs the American people are a lot smarter than they're given credit for this is said with a straight face although it is obvious of course that the proposition is being stated precisely backwards but but the politicians god bless them or something like that they're at their most entertaining when they're in trouble when they're in trouble their explanations usually begin simply with words like miscommunication what did you do wrong and senator well it was a miscommunication or I was quoted out of context better yet and more ironic they twisted my words such a nice touch a person who routinely spends his days torturing the language complains they twisted my words then as the controversy continues to heat up he moves to his next level of complaint the whole thing has been blown out of proportion the whole that's always the whole thing apparently no one has ever claimed that only a small portion of something was blown out of proportion has to be the whole thing that's because now he's feeling the heat and so as time passes and more evidence comes in he suddenly changes directions and tells us we're trying to get to the bottom of this now he's on the side of law and order's Jujitsu really where we're trying to get to the bottom of this so he can get the facts out to the American people that's always a nice touch American people in fact at this point he might even say I'm willing to trust in the fairness of the American people clearly he's preparing us for something and so when finally all the facts come out and our subject seems quite guilty he employs that sublime use of the passive voice mistakes were made mistakes were made don't look at me probably someone in my office things are moving faster now mistakes were made is rapidly overtaken by there is no evidence no one has proven anything eventually I will be exonerated I have faith in the American judicial system and that certain sign that things are closing in whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty well he's about to find out and we know this must be true because the next thing we hear from him is I just want to put this thing behind me and get on with my life I just want to put this behind me that's an expression we hear a lot these days in all walks of life from people in all walks of life usually the person in question has committed someone speakable Act yes it's true I strangled my wife shot the triplets set fire to the house and sold my young son to an old man on the train but now I just want to put this that that's the problem in this country too many people getting on with their lives I think what we really need more of his ritual suicide you know never mind the press conferences get the big knife out of the drawer personally what I want to do is to put this I want to put this thing behind me and get on with my life thing behind me and get on with my life I'll repeat that for you personally I want to put I want to put this I want to put this thing behind me and get on with my life thing behind me and get on with my life and just to round out this section let's hope there's a special place in hell reserved for those who have recently decided to take responsibility for their actions that's the big thing now taking responsibility for your actions like it's a recent discovery he's taking responsibility for his actions well isn't that wonderful ask him if he's willing to take responsibility for my actions along with my alimony my car payments and my gambling debts now continuing with more of these more general language complaints than forgetting the Washington angle for the moment I'd like to mention America's love affair with euphemisms and euphemistic language I think Americans have some difficulty dealing with reality and have invented a kind of soft language to protect themselves and his tendency to euphemized if that's a verb increases it seems with every generation here's an example there's a well-known condition in combat when a fighting man's nervous system has been stressed to the breaking point means either snapped or is ready to snap in the First World War that condition was known as shell-shocked simple honest direct language to syllables shell-shocked almost sounds like the guns themselves that was over 80 years ago then an entire generation passed and in the Second World War the very same combat condition was called battle fatigue four syllables now takes a little longer to say doesn't seem to hurt as much fatigue is a nicer word than shock shell shock battle fatigue then we had Korea 1950 Madison Avenue was riding high and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion we're up to eight syllables now and the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase it's absolutely sterile operational exhaustion sounds like something that might happen to your car finally of course there was Vietnam and given the lies surrounding that war I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder still eight syllables but we've had it - and the pain is now completely buried under jargon post-traumatic stress disorder I'd be willing to bet that if we'd still been calling it shell shock some of those Vietnam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time they needed it but it didn't happen and one of the reasons I'm sure is because of that soft language the language that takes the life out of life and it does keep getting worse over time I'll give you a few less a few more but Lessing a dramatic example sometimes during my life toilet paper became bathroom tissue I I was not consulted on this it just happened sneakers became running shoes loafers became slip-ons motels became motor lodges trailers became mobile homes travel travel plazas on-site truck stops became travel plazas and used cars became previously owned transportation manicurists evolved into nail technicians at about the same time store clerks became product specialists and sales associates employees became staff uniforms became career apparel maids became room attendants and room service became guest room dining information turned into directory assistance medicine turned into medication the dump turned into the landfill gambling joints turned into gaming resorts shacking up living together reruns encores encore presentations forgive me monkey bars pipe frame exercise units wife-beating became intermittent explosive disorder and constipation became occasional irregularity rain forests and wetlands came into existence because the environmentalists discovered people were not willing to give money to save jungles and swamps and all of this happened in the last 30 years when I was a young man if someone got sick they went to the hospital they went to the doctor now the health maintenance organization sends them to a wellness center where they consult a healthcare delivery professional poor people used to live in slums now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities and we can't really discuss euphemisms if we don't mention that final taboo death used to be the one an old person died the Undertaker put him in a coffin and we sent flowers to the funeral home where they held awake then after the funeral they drove the dead person in a hearse to the cemetery and his body was buried in a grave now when a senior citizen passes away the mortician places him in a burial container and we send floral tributes to the slumber room where the grief coordinator supervises the viewing after the memorial service the funeral coach transports the department to the Garden of Remembrance where his remains are interred in his final resting place some of this language can make you want to throw up well perhaps engage in an involuntary proteins bill now if all of this begins to put you in mind of so-called politically correct language or a critic politically clerk correct speech excuse me then you and I are on the same track so let's visit that playground of guilty white liberals the land of the politically correct in recent years the PC folks have found some new ways of shading the truth in order to make people feel better especially minorities one of the newer phrases making the rounds is happens to be he happens to be black I have a friend who happens to be black oh I see yes yes like it's an accident you know happens to be black yes he happened this to be black I see I see I see he had two black parents yes that's right two black parents yes I see and they had sex Oh indeed they did I see so where does the surprise part kamila I should think it would be more unusual if he just happened to be Scandinavian another favorite term recently favourite term is openly openly gay I have a friend who's openly gay but that's the only minority they used that for you know you wouldn't say someone was openly black well maybe James Brown yes or or Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan is openly black : Powell is not openly black Colin Powell is openly white he just happens to be black and while we're at it when did the word urban become synonymous with the word black did I sleep through this perhaps bourbon Styles urban trends urban music I was not consulted on this at all again didn't get an email didn't get a fax didn't get a postcard that's fine let them go so I would like to tell you how I handle some of these speech issues concerning minorities first of all I say black I say black because most black people prefer a black I don't say people of color because it's dishonest it means precisely the same thing as colored people which is an insult so if you're not willing to say colored people you shouldn't be willing to say people of color and besides to me the whole idea of color seems a bit specious really I mean what should we call white people people of no color this isn't pink a color and in fact white people are not really white at all they're different shades of pink and olive in beige in other words they're colored and and black people are rarely black I see mostly various shades of brown and ten and in fact some light-skinned black people are a little darker than the darkest white B bunts are lighter than the darkest white people look how dark the people in India are they're dark brown but they're considered white may I see the color chart please people of color is an awkward phrase that obscures meaning rather than enhancing it what should we call fat people people of size I also don't say African Americans I find it cumbersome and confusing which part of Africa are we talking about Egypt Egypt is in Africa but Egyptians aren't black they're like the people in India they're dark brown white people but they're Africans so why wouldn't an Egyptian citizen to become Z I'm sorry an Egyptian who becomes a US citizen be called an African American the same would apply to South Africa suppose a white racist from South Africa becomes an American citizen couldn't he call himself an African American if for no other reason than just to bother black people and what about a black person born in South Africa who becomes an American citizen is he an African American or is he a South African American or is he simply a South African American African American you know it's just so much more tedious liberal labeling liberals should be taught that labels divide people and I think we could probably do with fewer labels not more now one more group the Indians I call them Indians because that's what they are they're the Indians nothing wrong with the word first of all it's important to know that Indian that word probably does not derive from Columbia believe Columbus believing he had reached India in 1492 India was called Hindustan more likely the word derives from Columbus's description of the people he found here he was an Italian who spoke very poor Spanish and in his written accounts he called the Indians una gente en Dios of people in God in God in Dios Indians it's a perfectly noble thing and I simply can't justify this awkward phrase Native Americans first of all they're not natives they came here from Asia over the Bering Land Bridge in fact there are no natives anywhere in the world everyone is from somewhere else all people are refugees immigrants or aliens if there are natives anywhere it would have to be people still living in the Great Rift Valley in Africa so everyone is just visiting so much for native as far as calling them Americans is concerned well how can I say this we steal their hemisphere destroyed 500 cultures killed 20 million stick the rest of them on the worst land we can find and then as a special bonus we named them after ourselves it's it's embarrassing it's just embarrassing the truth is most Indians are insulted by the term Native American the American Indian Movement will tell you that if you wish to please Indians try calling them by their traditional names pawnee mohawk Navajo Seminole and so on now just rounding out this theme and to make you a little more uncomfortable here are a few further further examples of tortured modern language designed to soften reality make people feel good and in general dress things up a little somewhere over the years the word crippled has been lost we don't have cripples anymore turns out we never did all this time they were physically challenged it's an attempt to make people feel better physically challenged and how's this one differently abled and if you insist on using differently abled then you must include all of us we're all differently abled each of us can do things the other can't differently-abled the word crippled is not a dishonorable word there's no shame in it jesus healed the cripples he didn't engage in rehabilitative strategies for the physically disadvantaged and we have then this continuing problem with the word fat I use that term because that's what fat people are they're fat that's why we call them fat people they're not large they're not stout they're not chunky hefty or plump and they're not big-boned dinosaurs are big-boned and they're not necessarily obese obese is a medical term and they're not overweight overweight implies there is some correct weight there is no correct weight heavy is also a misleading term an aircraft carrier is heavy it's not fat only people are fat and that's what fat people are they're fat they're not exempt they're not for example gravitationally disadvantaged I offer no apology for this by the way it's not intended as criticism or in solve it's simply descriptive language I'm not comfortable with euphemisms I prefer seeing things the way they are not the way some people wish they were midgets and dwarfs are midgets and Dwarfs they're not little people it infants are little people leprechauns are little people midgets and Dwarfs are midgets and Dwarfs they don't get any taller by calling them little people I wish their lives were different I wish they didn't have to walk around staring at crotches all day but I cannot fix that and I'm not gonna lie about what they are there are some people who playfully refer to them as vertically challenged and not vertically challenged the Flying Wallendas were vertically challenged people who built the Empire State Building were vertically challenged no shame in midgets and Dwarfs I'm a man for the millenium digital and smoke free I've been inputted out sourced uplinked and downloaded I have software on my harddrive and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond I'm factory authorized returnable fully equipped built to last and I'm definitely biodegradable my output is down but my incomes up I'm tanned rested and market tested user-friendly and lactose intolerant a diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist I'm a cutting-edge state-of-the-art high-concept rageaholic and have a love child who sends me hate mail I'm an alpha male on beta blockers a bottom feeder and the top gun a Bigfoot Rainmaker I give soft money with hard cash and my revenue stream has a cash flow of its own I'm ahead of the curve riding the wave and pushing the envelope I'm on board on point on message but off drugs I take power naps I take victory laps I've got a personal trainer a personal shopper and a personal agenda I'm a totally ongoing slam-dunk no-brainer with an outreach that's proactive I eat junk food I get junk mail I buy junk bonds i watch trash sports I've been dumbed down with smart bombs I'm in denial I'm in recovery but I'm out of the loop I'm also on the bubble a high-tech lowlife anatomically ecologically and politically incorrect an entry-level man with no exit strategy low rent but high-maintenance upscale but down-home I got a minivan with a microwave from a mega store in the mini mall I've been to outer space I've been to outer space on the internet I'm a non-believer and an overachiever emotionally deprived and market-oriented I have hard core software because I use the f-word and my email a new wave from the old school and if I'm not at ground zero you can reach me at square one on gender specific voice-activated capital-intensive heat-seeking faith-based and work-related but I'm definitely not group oriented I'm online I'm in line for most the time I'm out of line I'm cocked locked and ready to rock rough tough and hard to I put the pedal to the metal party hearty and to me lunch time is crunch time thank you are there really seven dirty words anymore that are unacceptable since so many of the original lists are now commonplace in the media and what would you say are tipper gore seven dirty words yeah those seven words of mine are still that still holds up pretty well they're pretty hardcore one of them the one begins with the letter P and is four letters long is usable now depending if you use the preposition off after it it's alright it's alright to be pissed off they say that all the time just don't use it with the preposition on following it and and I would imagine sorry I would imagine tipper Gore's seven dirty words well they might number more than more than my own there might be seven to the seventh power I really don't know I'm sorry would you comment in seven words or so on the Internet Communications Decency Act yeah here we go again the the original case that I was involved in only peripherally really it wasn't my case it was the FCC versus Pacifica broadcasting that was when this word indecency as far as I know first came into the legal lexicon that prior to that it was a problem of something being obscene or not obscene and then they found indecent another little area to to restrict strictly for broadcast I I think the internet might be powerful enough and have qualities to it that are sufficiently vast and elusive that that they'll never really pin it down I don't think I don't think they'll they'll pin it down to well as a wordsmith and the author of seven dirty words do you feel that losing restrictions on speech is cheapened our cultural discourse no I I don't know that I could say that I think euphemisms are probably euphemistic language is more harmful there will always be language taboos in any culture there are aspects of our bodies that certain religions have sort of put beyond the pale and those parts of the body that deal with those functions that will always be somewhat I think a little bit of this if not how right band I don't think cheapened our discourse I think it limits people I always said I enjoy using all the language with human beings invented through all of this language and when I was a little boy I was told to look up two policemen and look up two sports stars and to look up to the military and we all know how they speak we all know the language they use apparently it hasn't corrupted them morally so I think these these words are overrated for their power you mentioned the military we have several questions on Kosovo let me ask them all together and see what you can come up with is what we're doing in Kosovo a war or something else what advice would you give President Clinton for solving the Kosovo problem and what's your reaction to a draft-dodging president leading our UN forces in Kosovo especially pictures of him shaking hands with the troops well first I must tell you that I take I take most public events and and things that occur that I read avidly I take them rather not seriously it is nice to see they were up to that humanitarian bombing again and I used to complain that all we ever bombed were brown people and and now I've had to revise that although I I would imagine that we've justified the Serbians as being far enough East from Western Europe to classify some semi Brown group I I really don't have much of an opinion on this I I watched I see that I see this culture is circling the drain and ever faster and tighter circles and I just observe it and enjoy observing I root for that demise of this culture I root for the demise of this species it's just happens to be my hobby to kind of root for all this stuff to go away and give another species a chance perhaps I root for the big comet I root for the big asteroid I honestly do and I did that before those movies came out I honestly do I think I think we've had a turn let someone else have it it's all it is now is is the search for dollars in the search for the things that dollars buy and there's very little of a core humanity left it happens that it works on the individual level and on the small scale on the large scale it's all a human comedy it's all a joke and I try to treat it as that I don't do much political I don't do current events in any of my shows I just don't I think it's trivia so I I just I kind of roll along and root for everything to go away you do you have subjects that are taboo and are therefore not Joker material for example for example John Cleese has commented that he would never joke about cancer well my belief is that in the proper context if the humorist or the writer or comedian prepares the context sufficiently for the audience they will go with him into it depending on you know you can say that the most horrendous of things as long as they're just not said cold long as you prepare people and bring them along I don't have any subjects like that I think these recent shootings in Littleton I was very proud of myself because I had an existing piece about this need to send all of these psychologists in and after all of these school shootings the first thing we hear is that psychologists and psychiatrists in grief counselors and trauma therapists have rushed in to help the children cope and I made the observation that we're told also in the same breath that these children are killing each other because they're desensitized to violence they've been desensitized well if the desensitized what do they need all this counseling for and I was just very happy to make that observation on the night of the shooting and the next night because I enjoy having the audience a little bit on edge and so I have no taboos I don't I don't I talk about things that I care about so I'm usually prepare them in the context where they're acceptable to folks who aren't expecting them and I what I always do is I meet people individually who might castigate it as a group I always just tell them well I'll give you special dispensation because I honestly in love and enjoy people one by one and I see the universe in their eyes when I when I look at each person I can see something that I've never seen before it's when they begin to clot into groups that I begin to take offense you've had some spirit some experience with substance abuse but sober now what advice would you give policymakers in this regard well I'm one of those who feels that taking the premium out of out of narcotics and and various other drugs that are illegal would you know if there were no profit in it I think some of that problem would disappear and I think I think nature has a way of weeding out those who are kind of not going to make it ultimately and I think it should be up to the each individual whether or not he's going to make it ultimately my own the quitting drugs and I was a cocaine freak that was my weakness at that time I saw it as a strength I guess the way I quit was just to stop but didn't go to a program I didn't join a thing with steps in it or anything I was lucky in that respect that I was able to just cut down my use slowly same with alcohol just cut it down slowly less and less less frequently and less frequently and for shorter and shorter durations until one day just wasn't there at all I have a feeling that that there's too much reliance on on people holding hands and wishing for things I think you have to kind of look and see the the the relationship of pain to pleasure these things are always pleasurable when you begin to do them and as the time goes on the ratio of pain to pleasure changes and pretty soon it's mostly pain and very little pleasure left in it and that's when the intellect should take over and say you know this is kind of stupid and it's costing an awful lot that that's what happened to me and I have no prescription public policy is not my area I'd say perhaps legalizing these things would help us it would help the Darwinian side of things sort us all out where are the future George Carlin's or Henny Youngman siding where that would you know this is an odd thing there this is a career that it's that it's not chosen for itself most people choose to get into comedy too now especially to get their sitcom where to set themselves up for another step to sitcom or the movies or whatever I came into it hoping to be an actor and hoping to be perhaps something like Danny Kaye or a Jack Lemmon and I found I couldn't act at all and was forced to remain on the road and figure my life out and as I remained on the road I got better and better at what I did I found that it was an honest craft and in fact that art was involved it said well art was a friend for many years so why not but I without sounding pretentious I do like to point out that that there is an artistic process involved with observing the world interpreting it and then writing something about it and performing it it's the low end of the scale perhaps in art it's not fine art but it is art and I found that out and it gave me purpose and it gave me some strength and a nice stay with my comedy because I found out I was much better than I ever expected I do a little acting but I love writing comedy and I'm delivering it so I don't know where the new ones are because they don't choose to do this for a lifetime beforehand it either happens that way or not and I I'm happy to happen that way to me what should Al Gore do to lighten up I only want observation about Al Gore I think he will never be president because he pronounces the indefinite article as a he says there is a plan we have a plan with a provision in the plan and there there is a person you know it's just very it's very off-putting I don't think the American people will tolerate that can a candidate for president of the United States be funny and presidential at the same time well dole didn't make it and Stevenson didn't make it and they had genuine humor I mean they had humor that came from inside John Kennedy was as close as we got to it to the perfect match of a little bit of wit and style and and then the great power of the White House I I don't know I I think they're all afraid of that Bob Orban wouldn't it would know a little more about that having written things for for many presidents and politicians and aspiring presidents and politicians I think they're funny enough they don't need to add anything to it you've often talked to Larry ously about your Catholic education on a more serious note have you found any lasting value from attending Catholic schools I attended a rather odd school in the 1940s I attended a school it's still in existence Corpus Christi in New York City and it was not a typical Catholic Grammar School education it was not a typical experience for one thing we had boys and girls together we did not wear uniforms the the desks were all moveable and there were no report cards there were no grades or report cards of any kind we we were right across the street from Teachers College in Columbia University where John Dewey had promulgated most of his theory and our past it was a fan of the John Dewey approach to education and insisted that the nuns who taught us have master's degrees from secular institutions he didn't want them from Catholic universities he wanted the ones who had been out seemingly at least in the world for a while and they were wonderful there was no corporal punishment and it was a garden it was a place of that let me flower I don't know what I might have done or how I might have been had I had that rigid discipline and in fact when I got to high school and was faced with the Irish Christian Brothers after leaving these wonderful gentle Dominican nuns to the Irish Christian Brothers and they were I think instrumental in my leaving school I I quit school after night or Agnon in the sentimental of ninth grade so I think the brothers and and the Stern discipline are what helped helped abort my formal education you have any good behind-the-scenes stories about filming TV series that girl with Marlo Thomas that was when I found out I couldn't act it was it was amazing to me I just thought it was a birthright I thought well I do that's what I do this now and I'll just be that I'll just go and be that and I found all these extra things you had to do I had memorized my lines but now they're saying things to me like as you come down the stairs remember the divorce is in progress and the phone rings it might be the lawyer it might be your wife keep that in mind and by the way stay to the left side of the staircase and don't stand in her light when you get to the bottom and try taking some of those lines a little bit slower and if you could take your hand out of your pocket and then put it back in there and turn once it was just you know I was a nervous wreck I just I did poorly I deserve to and it's it's one of the things that propelled me nothing behind the scenes that I can recall I'm lucky to recall it at all what do you regret most about the sixties well the 60s are somewhat missed named because it lasted well into the early 70s and didn't really get going to the middle of the 60s but what do I regret most about the 60s not very much I must tell you I've had a lucky life and I've had a very good good life in terms of being able to live out my dream as my childhood dream and the 60s were just one more good decade for me I've had a lot of good decades and that was the one where I went through my own transformation I was a kind of a what I think of as a mainstream comedian for about 5 years with some fair success on variety shows and first line nightclubs and and I found out I wasn't really content I was kind of entertaining people who didn't care and I had a lot of other things I wanted to say so it was the 60s that created that that turn around for me it was because there was a counterculture that I said well there's another audience there are people who are a bit rebellious as I feel I am and maybe I should be entertaining them that's what changed my life that's when the four gold records happened and that's when everything took off so a very little negative I can say about the 60s a certificate of appreciation here for you suitable for framing and right next to the National Rifle Association wonderful the much-coveted National Press Club mug okay and for our final question quick where's Christina she's be ready for this we're just really your birthday yes okay tell us how old you were sixty - thank you - we have a surprise for you [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter]

Channel: Gio

Views: 102,712

Keywords: Comedy, George Carlin, Politics, Life, Drugs, America, Language, Freedom of speech, Political Correctness

Id: Q7L4t1UiCmY

Length: 40min 12sec (2412 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 25 2019