George Carlin’s Terminal Episode

It appears that George Carlin 'passed away' yesterday. I can't say I was especially a fan, partly because I know little about him. I was apprised of his existence only last year, but found him interesting enough to remember his name.

I think the clip that interested me was this one, and for a while I meant to write a blog entry about the things I agreed and disagreed with in it. I haven't done it yet. Oh, and I also like this clip, about 'stuff'. There are probably bits I haven't seen that would interest me in the ways these two do, as well.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of 'observational humour'. A friend of mine has said that he doesn't find Bill Hicks funny because his humour depends upon you having the same political beliefs; Bill Hicks is therefore a kind of 'anti-Bernard Manning'. I have to say that in the case of Bill Hicks I would largely disagree, but I think this is the weakness of a lot of 'observational humour'. So, I've watched quite a few George Carlin clips stony-faced, wondering when he's going to get to the funny bits. Same is true of Doug Stanhope (have I spelt that right?).

Having written all that (with nothing planned), I'm wondering if this is a pretty poor excuse for an obituary. I suppose it is. But then it should be obvious I'm not best qualified to write George Carlin's obituary. I feel like I'm searching for some kind of platitude with which to end this.