Friday, September 14, 2007

You never see a big tall fat Chinese guy with red hair


George Carlin's support from HBO has been long-standing since the channel's origins in the mid '70s, dutifully airing each stand-up special Carlin produces. Recorded in 1990 and entitled Doin' It Again, the material on this special is Carlin's 7th with HBO, and later evolved into material for his album "Parental Advisory." Carlin provides the audience with the boundaries of speech he will be using during the show, followed by a hilarious diatribe on the common intelligence level of man ("Just think that of all the stupid people; half of them are stupider than that!"). What follows next is a series of jokes that leaves political correctness in the dust. When a fifty-three year old comic can makes jokes about rape and feminism and gets away with it like Carlin does, it's a testament to his genius. He then touches on things you never see ("You never see a big tall fat Chinese guy with red hair.") or hear ("Do what you want to the girl, but leave me alone!"). He even touches on things you don't want to hear ("I'm pregnant, you're the father, and I'm going to kill all three of us!"). He wraps up the hour long concert with a perfect illustration of what society has done with the language. While words are just words (in Carlin's opinion), they are still powerful things. When war veterans go from being "shell-shocked" to experiencing "post-traumatic stress disorder," doesn't it give you the perception that the illness isn't as bad? The performance is a reminder of just how remarkable Carlin is.

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