GEORGE CARLIN – LIFE
IS WORTH LOSING (EARDRUM/ATLANTIC)
This is one of the
hardest comedy records in existence.
Carlin is quite frankly on fire nailing so many issues with a classy
ferocity that so few inhabit. Recorded
in 2005 and released in 2006 this was his eighteenth album and his thirteenth
live special broadcast on HBO which is an incredible body of work from a
comedian that is unlikely to be matched.
Carlin survived so many greats as his topical stance coupled with a
strategy for the long game.
Recorded at Beacon Theater in New York his gravely
voiced address is awesome from the off as his introduction as “A Modern Man” is
a rapid dose of poetry contrasting current tongue twisting jargon often
rendering it as nonsense and contradiction.
In just under four minutes Carlin highlights how the human condition has
been conveniently tucked into little boxes in the most reductive fashion.
“I got 341 days sober
and next year is my 50th anniversary in show business, let’s do a
fucking show.”
Carlin was always a
most tight and professional act. There
isn’t the looseness in this performance that comes with so many comedy heroes
but there is a sharp and focused execution.
The bits here are more like essays, well crafted and thoroughly nailed
by the point of presentation. This
performance is watertight.
Life Is Worth Losing
is a dark exploration into contemporary life and appraisal of the awful. The album features Carlin at his grizzly and
gruff best, taking aim and hitting many targets in execution.
The show title is born
of a ferocious drive for live. Soon
Carlin is addressing suicide with the rational perspective “where do you find
the time?” On that note he goes through
the working process of “The Suicide Guy” and the exhausting amount of effort it
takes to plan such a deed and act. He
highlights the fact that men are four times more likely to commit suicide even
though women attempt it more. In other
words (his words): men are better at it.
If you have ever been pushed to such a point in your life this material
is golden as you can’t help but associate with it and appreciate the dark
humour tied to such times. The manner
with which he enters the mindset is uniquely insightful, realistic and very
funny.
As the set continues
Carlin keeps things light reviewing human behaviour and stating how it would
take little more than the removal of electricity to turn society upside
down. If nothing else, his message is
that life is fragile and cannot afford to be wasted on nonsense, especially
reality TV. And bearing this was
recorded in 2005 he prediction of “The All-Suicide Channel” feels even less
exaggerated in this climate.
“Dumb Americans” is
his rally call, a cool word in the ear of the listener advising precaution and
promoting personal empowerment in the face of so much corporate and government
control. He refers to the USA
With his “Pyramid Of
The Hopeless” bit, Carlin heavily reminds me of Bill Hicks
and his terminally ill stunt people concept but taken to the extreme. Surely these two are not the only people to
have noticed how cheap the value life has become. Still, the idea of rebranding suicide as
“extreme living” might have something going for it before long especially if
coupled with the popularity of “scarfing” (also known as autoerotic asphyxia).
In many ways he
appears to become crankier the more the set continues as by the end he paints
his greatest disaster scenario. As he
predicts another dangerous fate it feels good to be in on the joke, prepared
and modestly protected. The
“Coast-To-Coast Emergency” that closes the set is a broken down nightmare born
from a sharp imagination. And his point
being: don’t fuck with nature.
George Carlin was a
master of picking apart his surroundings and lending a fresh perspective and
vision to the subtle beauty and horror that stands beside us everyday. In dark and enthusiastic fashion there was
always the intention to lay convention to waste, to illuminate and change
minds. Life Is Worth Losing was the
final show released/broadcast during his lifetime, a life that was full of
victory.
Thesaurus moment:
perspicacity.
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