Today the beard is an ordinary and unusual bush. Conservative like sports senator Ted Cruz.
But 50 years ago a bearded man chose a political message. This indicated participation in the counterculture, the rejection of orthodoxy. George Carlin captured the action of a bearded menace in his 1972 comic album. FM and AM.
“Here’s my beard. Strange isn’t it? “Don’t complain, this is just advice,” she said, continuing, “this is the case.” The word “beard” has shocked many people. ᲬᲕᲔᲠᲘ! This is not an American sound. ᲬᲕᲔᲠᲘ! Lenin had a beard! “
Carlin told the audience that in 1971 he grew a beard and lengthened his hair. It was a transgressive action that marked a turning point in his life and career, moving from pure comics to a derisive observer who defines his culture. If he hadn’t made this fundamental change, we wouldn’t be talking about Carlin today, nor would Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfillo make a two-part biographical documentary about him for HBO. George Carlin’s American Dream.
“He figured out how to be successful by selling himself a little, trying to go on TV and trying to be safe,” says Apatov, referring to a reminiscence of Carlin from the early 1960s: well-shaved, neatly combed hair, a straightening. . down filled comforter. ᲒAdareuli– Elegant suit and tight tie. “Then in the end she decided, no, it has to be me. And she decided to go against the grain. And that’s when he discovered that his greatest achievement was being true to himself. “
The rival Emmy film depicts Carlin’s less-than-idyllic childhood in central New York (Carlin notes that she and her friends called her neighbor “White Harlem” because it “seemed tougher” than its colder nomenclature, Morningside. Heights). She perhaps she intended to become a comedian because her father bore a striking resemblance to WC Fields. Her native Irish father was an alcoholic and Carlin’s mother divorced him when George was a child, raising George and his older brother Patrick independently.
“His journey is the story of a classic comedian,” says Apatow, a well-known director. Beaten up Y 40-year-old virgin. “She comes from a toxic family, from her childhood, where her brother was mistreated by her father and mother had to flee. I’m sure you’ve wondered how the world works. “
The filmmakers interviewed Carlin’s older brother Patrick, who died earlier this year at the age of 90.
“Yes, he was tall”, recalls Bonfilio seated. “Patrick was a daily smoker. He’s a lovely guy, absolutely funny and a real muse for George … They’ve been very, very close all their lives. It was a real privilege to get his opinion, especially on topics like their shared childhood. And Patrick knew his father and George never knew.
Even before she was a teenager, Carlin made fake radio news and pretended to play baseball. Carlin’s daughter Kelly handed over the keys to Apatow and Bonfillo’s father’s voluminous dossier.
“I had a tape recorder when I was a kid in my 40s. “He recorded little routines and objects and saved them all,” Bonfilio said. “George was a very obsessive collector. He saved everything … As a documentary director, this is a dream come true. We really had George to tell the story of him. “
After serving in the Air Force (Carlin was “invited” to leave the US Army), he became a disc jockey and later formed a comedy team with fellow DJ Jack Burns. They dated for a relatively short period of time, but the documentary highlights the important role Burns played in Carlin’s political vision.
“Jack Burns was a very progressive man,” says Appathou. “I guess Carlin thought for the first time in his life, ‘Oh, maybe when you’re funny, that should be what he matters to you.’ You have to try to say something. “He started experimenting with Jack, not only with stupid sketches, but also with political satire.”
Carlin became a very successful solo artist, but did not thrive creatively until the LSD loss experience followed.
“I started taking acid and mescaline and suddenly I could see everything differently,” says Carlin in the documentary. “What he really was was an outlaw and a rebel who swam against the currents the system wants from us. And that person was oppressed ”.
Carlin always displayed a surprising verbal command (he was called a “general semantics comedian” in a fan letter), but in the era of social upheaval in the late 1960s and 1970s, it was further transformed. – A comprehensive commentary on the basic structure of American society.
Carlin’s appearance in San Diego in 1972 is included in a film that targets Muhammad Ali’s renewed boxing career, after the sport was banned for several years for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War.
“For three years, the cat could not function: Muhammad Ali,” he said. “And of course he had an unusual job: beating people. But the government wanted him to change jobs. The government wanted to kill people … The government was disgusted. They said, “Look, if you don’t kill them, we won’t give you permission to hit them.”
“For the most part, I wasn’t joking about what happened in politics that day… I was trying to talk about the big picture. I think that’s why the material can hold up, “Apatov said.” It talks about what is wrong with the country and what is wrong with people’s behavior. It talked about the environment in the late 1960s, so the people are starting to do it now. “He was very aware of the dangers of choosing women … I think that’s why his material is enduring, unlike a lot of comedians whose material is outdated.”
Appathou points out that when the US Supreme Court’s draft report violated Roe v. Wade, recently leaked, was immediately reviewed by commentators on Carlin’s article years ago. In an HBO comedy, Carlin remarked, “Wow, these conservatives are really something, right? They are for all the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn child. But as soon as you are born, you are alone. Pro-life life jackets are obsessed with fetuses from birth to nine months. “After that, they don’t want to hear from you anymore.”
“Everyone turned to George Carlin for what he said,” Apatov said in surprise. “I was shocked that it wasn’t another comedian’s routine. It wasn’t just that George Carlin had an article that summed up a lot of what we all think. It was that no one else has a competitive piece. It was just on a completely different level. “
Apatov received the Emmy for Best Documentary or Non-Feature Film for the 2018 film Gary Shandling’s Zen diaries. She was very close to Shandling and worked with him. Larry Sanders show. Apatov didn’t know Carlin on this level, but she was in a relationship with him decades ago.
“I interviewed him on Canadian television in the early 1990s and I remember that he was very thoughtful and kind,” Apatow recalls. “He was not a person who tried to be funny in this environment. He kept him on stage … he was just kind, deeply caring.
A few years earlier, Apatov had helped comics produce relief, a comic-led attempt to fund the fight against poverty. Carlin performed specifically for Comic Relief in the mid-1980s.
“I was really surprised that he performed this wonderful, insightful and fun routine in this telethon,” recalls Apatov. Golf course for the homeless. And it was very exciting to witness it ”.
Bonfillo, who shared Apatowe Amy for Gary Shandling’s documentary, appreciates one of Carlin’s environment-related routines. Quote from him: “The planet is fine. People are crazy. For me, this is extraordinary writing, vision and interpretation. when you look at it [George Carlin’s American Dream] And listen to the audience, they’re not entirely sure where it’s going because it’s going to take you on such a journey … it’s very deep and insightful. This is probably my favorite work. “
There are so many options. They are “Seven Words You Never Say on TV”, “My Stuff Against Your Shame” or his remark in the 1992 sitcom Comedy Special that America no longer produces much but still excels at war: “We can bomb your country, it’s well”. Especially if your country is full of black people. Oh, we like it, right? This is our hobby … Iraq, Panama, Grenada, Libya. In your country there are dark people, tell them to look at debauchery. “
Carlin has suffered three heart attacks over the years and died of heart failure in 2008 at the age of 71. Some say she was angry with America at her age. It is a matter of opinion, but there is no doubt that you have upset our species.
“He was shocked by the decisions he saw his teammates make,” Bonfilio said. “And you see the evolution of that frustration in the film… it hasn’t seen progress. He continued to see people as he himself said, he chose to compete for cooperation and he saw his peers being treated badly. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer… he Knew his own mortality for quite some time after a heart attack and realized he wouldn’t live long enough to see a better world. I wasn’t going to live in a way that he made people behave better. And I think he was angry about it. “
Source: Deadline
