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‘He was making fun of these motherf***ers’: Why George Carlin’s radical underdog comedy is still so relevant
May 18, 2022 3 mins, 15 secs
Kevin E G Perry talks to Carlin’s daughter Kelly, his manager Jerry Hamza and director Judd Apatow about new documentary ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’ and why the taboo-busting stand-up is still having the last laugh.

George Carlin is the subject of the new HBO documentary ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’.

When news broke of a leaked proposal to overturn Roe v Wade – the landmark ruling that enshrines abortion rights in the US – it didn’t take long for George Carlin’s name to start trending.

“What’s really interesting is that no one else’s routine went viral,” says Judd Apatow, who has directed the eagerly awaited two-part documentary George Carlin’s American Dream.

“Even though there have been hundreds of comedians since George Carlin, no one had a bit that you would even put up to say: ‘Here’s another great bit that discusses this.’ He was the best.”?

“Comedy is not like fine wine,” says Apatow.

Apatow says it takes a “soup of influences and experiences” to make a great comedian, and to concoct a Carlin you first have to start with a childhood dream of becoming an all-round entertainer, like Carlin did with his idol, White Christmas star Danny Kaye.

Born in Manhattan in 1937, Carlin began his career as a radio DJ before honing his skills as a physical performer on television variety shows in the Sixties.

Another crucial ingredient was Carlin’s phenomenal dedication as a writer, which long-time manager Jerry Hamza witnessed first-hand.

“It was ridiculous,” says Hamza.

Hamza was with Carlin in May 1982 when he suffered his second life-threatening heart attack while watching a baseball game in Los Angeles.

“It was horrible,” says Hamza, “Don’t ever have a heart attack in a stadium.” The near-death experience was something of a wake-up call.

“It scared the hell out of him, and George was a fearful guy to begin with,” says Hamza.

You’ll never hear: ‘George Carlin was at this Hollywood party…’ because he wouldn’t go.

By that point in his career, Carlin was at a crossroads.

Five months after his heart attack, Carlin booked himself a date at New York’s Carnegie Hall for a show that would be filmed for an HBO special, Carlin at Carnegie.

“Of course he didn’t like politically correct language, but at the same time he taught me from day one that the n-word is the worst word and you can never say it,” she says.

“I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realise, something is f***ed up.” That same year he played Cardinal Glick in Kevin Smith’s subversive religious satire Dogma, although Hamza says that despite the popularity of that role, and his performances as time-travelling mentor Rufus in the first two Bill & Ted movies, he never enjoyed acting as much as stand-up?

“On a movie set they put you in a little trailer and you just sit there,” says Hamza.

By the end of his career, Carlin had adopted a dark comic persona that ostensibly revelled in human misery, especially if Americans were involved

“He used to say: ‘I read in the paper that 600,000 people died in Peru or someplace’ and he’d be quite disappointed because he wanted it to be right here,” says Hamza, who recalls having to change the name of Carlin’s 2001 comedy special Complaints and Grievances at the last minute

“It’s funny, George never displayed his patriotic feelings, but he was still a kid from New York City,” says Hamza

For Apatow, the bleakness and cynicism of Carlin’s later work was a deliberate provocation from a comedian who was at heart a disappointed idealist

‘George Carlin’s American Dream’ is on HBO Max 20 and 21 May

George Carlin is the subject of the new HBO documentary ‘George Carlin’s American Dream’

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