  Comedy
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What if there were no hypothetical questions?
-George Carlin
May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008 |
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ICONS and ICONOCLASM
icon, noun. 1: a usually pictorial representation : image 2 [Late Greek eikōn, from Greek] : a conventional religious image typically painted on a small wooden panel and used in the devotions of Eastern Christians 3: an object of uncritical devotion : idol ...
"icon." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/icon>
The Comedy world lost an icon last month - George Carlin, who died suddenly of heart failure (not, as some people were expecting, a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky).
I did call him an "icon" above, but Carlin was an iconoclast.
iconoclast, noun 1: a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration 2: a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions
"iconoclast." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/icon>
Like magnets and the Earth, comedy has two poles: the sacred and the taboo; or, as I like to contrast them, the profound and the profane.
The profound is what people venerate: God, Country, Television, The Free Market and all those other "objects of uncritical devotion." Comedians - the best comedians, of which Carlin could certainly be counted - deconstruct the icons, give us a new perspective on them, make us question our beliefs in a healthy way.
The profane is what we hide from the world: bodily functions, sex, that one night at the biker club you wish you could forget. It, too, is a target for comedy; the comedian can force us to look into the toilet and make us realize how funny it really is to be the human animal.
Both the profound and the profane are things we don't like to examine in ourselves, or talk about with others; but comedians have to be fearless about them - and Carlin was the most fearless of them all. He excelled in bringing the two poles together: his most famous routine, the "Seven Words" that can't be uttered on television (or typed in a writing.com newsletter) was a perfect example of this, reveling in the profane while illustrating that the medium of television is considered so profound that you can't include the profane. Those words are "the heavy seven... the ones that'll curve your spine, warp your mind, and keep the country from winning the war."
From the profound to the profane and all the turnpike exits in between, Carlin, like all the best comedians, gave us new perspective on life and the world. He did it by taking apart our taboos and making hamburger of sacred cows. The world's a little less funny without him around - so it's up to the rest of us to fill the void.
Get out there and shake things up. |
Let's see what other WDC members have to say about George:
And some writings inspired by Carlin:
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My newsletter last month ("Comedy Newsletter (June 4, 2008)" ) was about how some people just aren't going to think you're funny.
katherine76 replied to the comments about physical disabilities being unfunny:
 What do you call a lady with one leg?
Eileen.
What do you call a lady with no legs?
Eileen Moore.
Why did the girl fall of the swings?
She had no arms.
Why did the Koala fall out of the tree?
Because it was dead.
OK now that's enough! I can't believe you didn't find the 40YO Virgin funny! I thought it was a crack up!
She forgot, "What do you call an Asian lady with one leg? Irene."
Thomas  noted, referencing the D&D pun:
I understood the EOB/DnD joke. I'm not sure where that puts me on the Whammo(R) Cool-o-meter, but at least I had the opportunity to grab an additional chuckle from your piece than other, non-nerds were afforded.
Some comedy is even more effective among an in-group; perhaps I'll do a newsletter on this one day.
Bernie Thomas had some comments about my comedic use of waterfowl:
Robert... You use a duck. Personally, I prefer a chicken. There is something inherently funny about them. That's why you see so many that are made of rubber, landing on the ice at a hockey game. I tried to point this out to my girlfriend's fifteen-year-old, no-sense-of-humor, daughter, but now all she does is fake a mocking laugh whenever the word comes up in my presence.
"Chicken! HA-HA-HA! I get it!"
Of course, therein lies the humor, because that always gets a laugh ... mostly at my expense.
She'll get the joke, eventually... like when SHE has a 15 year old.
And that's it for this week - until next time, stay cool and
LAUGH ON! |
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Comedy: July 02, 2008 Issue [#2478]
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