Carlin

Kid Various has had a day to reflect on the passing of George Carlin and realizes that he owes much of his own sense of humour to him. The Kid can remember being introduced to Carlin via his dad's copies of Class Clown, Take Offs and Put Ons and Toledo Windowbox. (Remember vinyl???) Spending hours laughing his ass off at Carlin's observations concerning bodily functions and, of course, the 7 words you can never say on television.

Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cock-sucker, mother-fucker and tits...

AND TITS DOESN'T EVEN BELONG ON THE LIST!

But as he grew older, the Kid began to appreciate the beauty of Carlin's word-smithing and the understanding that humour most often comes from dark places. Human suffering is the basis of most forms of comedy (as another great comedian, Charles Schulz, once responded when asked why he never let Charlie Brown kick the football - "There's nothing funny about the guy who doesn't slip on the banana peel.")

Lewis Black said yesterday on NPR that Lenny Bruce blazed the trail, and Carlin and Richard Pryor turned it into a superhighway. Very true. The Kid's very personality was in some measure formed in those countless hours listening to those old vinyl albums. He learned that somebody could actually say those things! And more so - that that was someone's job! (Occupation: Foole!)

And as a very amateur stand up, and just general all around wise ass, he owes a whole lot to the the man who passed on the day before yesterday.