Monday, February 08, 2010

"Last Words" by George Carlin

Finished reading "Last Words" by George Carlin and found it to be fairly interesting.



Reminded me of Steve Martin's autobiography (which I reviewed here) for a few different reasons. The obvious one would be them both being stand-up comedians, but beyond that, they both knew what they wanted to do from an early age and went through periods of pretty big internal struggle around their careers. Another connection between the two is Carlin's mention of his respect for both the work of Martin and the apparent niceness of the guy himself during their sporadic interactions.

What I really liked about Carlin's book (and I guess the guy by extension) was his focus on and fascination with the power of words (as evidence, he titled one of the chapters "I do love words". What they are, what they mean... all of this fodder for examination given the weight they can hold in the world.

-----

Two other things from the book...

- I liked his concept of children... basically "leave them alone, they're going to be alright, they're smarter than you are."

- I found interesting his time spent on the children's shows "Shining Time Station" and "Thomas the Tank Engine", both with Britt Allcroft.

After reading his book, I now find myself wanting to see one of Carlin's HBO Specials. In particular, "Jammin' in New York" sounded to be his favorite.