GEORGE CARLIN'S AMERICAN DREAM (2022)

 (Note, the first part got more write up because I just had a lot more to say on it than part 2, but I loved the whole documentary very much)

(Part 1)

"George Carlin had these dog whistles for hippies." (Re interview on Carlin in the mid 60s and the Al Sleet character)

"I hates doing those variety shows. Fuck those people, fuck that shit!" That's our George!

"'How do you want to be funny and who do you want to be funny for?'"- W Kamau Bell on Carlin's story early in his career

"I want to be an optimist, but I'd have to be a pessimistic by looking at the book.

George Carlin's story is one of the most inspirational tales of an artist in the mid 20th century - and this being against the odds of society and, at times (ie drugs), his demons.

The power of how he *became* George Carlin as *practically all of the public knows him is that he was hiding behind the suit and persona because it was what he thought he had to do to succeed - following that path he wrote for himself when he was in 5th grade to become a "Star" or whatever that means - and it took seeing what an ocean-sized gap there was in the generation ten years older than him laughing at his vaguely safe/conservative-acceptable comedy and those ten years younger who were fighting for... something else.

 It was a time for revolution, but revolution has to come from within. It was already all there though, so it was not a phony switch to make. It's like if Gregor Samsa changed into a Cockroach, but the Cockroach was fucking awesome.

This documentary (at least part 1) does a sensational job of telling this story which I knew somewhat - have I mentioned he's one of my heroes because good god watching You Are All Diseased at 15 changed my life and expanded me to understand all the bullshit that I knew was there and couldn't admit because kids aren't supposed to and fuck that - but with plenty of personal details that are initially inspiring but eventually not flattering (ie his wife Brenda left by the wayside for long stretches).

It finds a balance where it doesnt bog down on these to the point of becoming too much, but it is what it was which was a family in disarray, and that it wasnt changing once Carlin got into the 70s. It's balanced out to show him as a fiercly intelligent human being with real faults, plus everything with Brenda (she has a fall and rise here too), not to mention how cocaine changes all. It's harrowing as well as inspiring.

Aside from this, once Apatow and his co director and editors really get into what Carlin talked about in the 70s (as Jon Stewart says, going after side farts like he would the pope, and rightfully so side farts are hilarious), it is totally engrossing.

 What I think is good to see for me and I'm sure will be such a delight and wholly compelling trip is not necessarily a revelation but a reminder, as I hadn't seen or heard this material in a number of years, that Carlin was the same high-minded intellect (but with some brilliantly lowbrow taste and interests) that people think of him as from his material in the late 80s, 90s and 00s, just that he was attacking other political points at the time, ie Nixon, war on drugs, religion and other hypocrisies.

It's really all there from FM&AM on, just that one can see him honing a lot of his material, on the big subjects like going after power structures and his way of punching up, and the Little Things observational material that would create like 193829293 different comedians (not least of which Seinfeld). So... that's good too. 

But the gut punch is that near the end of part 1, his material and style started to (for some) get repetitive. He was down again... where could he go from here? I just love the man and this is a swell, exhilarating and at times revelatory tribute and biography (fun facts for me: Jack Burns really did a lot to influence Carlin in their team to liberal politics and he did a JFK imitation!)

(*would you want to meet the guy or gal who prefers his early 60s work? Maybe one exists out there! Or half a dozen!)

(PS: Hindsight and all, but kind of rich for Cheech Marin to say Carlin was "over" by the end of the 70s when I saw him and Chong in concert in 2008, the year Carlin died and left one last masterpiece with It's Bad For Ya, doing the same shtick and bits he was doing decades earlier only now very... old. But hey who knows anything)

(Part 2)

"I never fucked a Ten, but one night I fucked five Two's!"

"If you scratch a cynic, you find a disappointed idealist."

Yeah, this has fewer down-hill parts than part 1, but that's because he finally hit his stride, starting with Carnegie Hall and snowballing into his Imperial period of the 1990s.

I think really getting a deeper overview that he was writing and crafting You Are All Diseased, his 1999 landmark, in the aftermath of Brenda's death, it really makes a lot of sense where it was coming from - not to mention seeing that one acceptance speech where he talks so deeply and affectionately about her (did i tear up? I'm not made of stone, people). 

He was already bitter about humanity and Religion, but his complete scorced-earth take on that and God (aside from already being there for years as a Catholic "until I reached the age of reason") was definitely heightened by that.... and thank goodness for me and I'm sure for countless others who were so deeply affected by that special.

Knowing the personal context of that and a lot of other things makes this documentary special and important, but even if you don't have all of that prior experience with Carlin it reveals a human being who had a lot of complexity but a lot of heart, too (the key thing is how much he liked individuals, but abhorred groups), and how he was someone who liked to be alone but needed someone alone (ie Sally, his girlfriend for the last decade of his life).

PS: Did anyone else catch the one saved note that he took (or "culled") a page from JURASSIC PARK for one of his bits? Fucking icon.