George Carlin, again.

On our second (or third?, maybe even fourth) viewing of George Carlin, I noticed many of the same things and even some new aspects to his humor.

I think a lot of Carlin's humor or appeal comes from the recitation which makes up a big part of his stand up routine. For example, in his "I'm a Modern Man" routine, there may not be a lot of jokes that are particularly laugh-out-loud hilarious. On the other hand, it is incredibly impressive that he not only wrote such a string of high-impact lines but also memorized and recited it well. I think it would be hard enough to memorize a comedian's routine of setups and punchlines not to mention such a dense and intricately worded speech as Carlin's. In fact, I think this applies to most of his stand up. Many of his bits, or rather speeches, seem as if they could be read by a man off of a sheet of paper at a lectern facing an audience. This is not only because of their length and basis on exact memorization but also because many of these speeches feel as if they are meant to lecture a crowd. Yes, they are for the purpose of humor as well but also to teach and harangue.

Also, it seems to fit into a common theme that Carlin, the anti-establishment/government/society comic would maybe tone it down a little bit as his career went on. I am not saying he cleaned up his act or made it cheerful and bright, but he did probably do less chaotic acts which resulted in arrests. Also, he played the conductor on the children's show "Shining Time Station" on PBS which is certainly not an venue for his "Seven Dirty Words" routine or anything or the sort. However, similarly raunchy comedians have been known to calm down as their careers progressed. Eddie Murphy, the man who came out in a red jumpsuit and dropped n-words and grabbed his crotch can now be seen in such family-fun movies like "Daddy Day Care" or "Doctor Dolittle". Steve Martin, the man whose routine used to involve spitting out his water onstage and mentioning drugs, etc. can now be seen in "The Pink Panther 2" and "Cheaper By The Dozen". Maybe humorists and comedians have some revelation as they age that they are maybe growing out of the profanities and crudeness and may need to refocus some of their material. Maybe it is because they have families. Maybe their priorities are rearranged. I will say though that for as old as Carlin was while remaining comedically active, his act didn't clean up all too much. At least not when compared to the aforementioned comics. So, in that sense, I guess he should be commended for keeping it relatively crude into old age.