Stand up recs

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 12:04pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 9:40am
https://www.avclub.com/trailer-hbos-geo ... 1848870600

Omigod, a Carlin documentary is imminent. The man is vital to shaping so much of my life, even if I've moved away from many of his positions. As close to a hero as I've got.
I wouldn't be as knowledgeable as most here, but would have these weird experiences listening to him, thinking, fuck, how is this guy so brilliant, and then he starts unmercifully riffing on someone or something i actually like and it's just, oh fuck! Thats probably not such a bad thing, i guess.
He had a fascinating career evolution. He started doing pretty standard stand-up for the time in the early to mid 60s, with Jack Burns and then alone, doing Sullivan and Vegas, then embraced the counterculture and turned his back on the safe middle-class audience in favour of the people he identified with, the freaks, in 1970s. Then gradually into the 80s he settled into middle age as a solid observational comic, but nowhere near edgy anymore. And then in the 90s he tossed that and embraced a kind of angry Old Testament prophet meets barfly, raging against his time and place. A restless mind and spirit. At his best, he made you uncomfortable, both that laughter from "I shouldn't laugh at this but can't help myself" and "hey, fucker, that's not funny!"
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Flex »

like a few others, i'm really glad he died before he could become an anti-"woke" reactionary which i'm 100% positive he'd have done.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
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Low Down Low
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 12:49pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 12:04pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 9:40am
https://www.avclub.com/trailer-hbos-geo ... 1848870600

Omigod, a Carlin documentary is imminent. The man is vital to shaping so much of my life, even if I've moved away from many of his positions. As close to a hero as I've got.
I wouldn't be as knowledgeable as most here, but would have these weird experiences listening to him, thinking, fuck, how is this guy so brilliant, and then he starts unmercifully riffing on someone or something i actually like and it's just, oh fuck! Thats probably not such a bad thing, i guess.
He had a fascinating career evolution. He started doing pretty standard stand-up for the time in the early to mid 60s, with Jack Burns and then alone, doing Sullivan and Vegas, then embraced the counterculture and turned his back on the safe middle-class audience in favour of the people he identified with, the freaks, in 1970s. Then gradually into the 80s he settled into middle age as a solid observational comic, but nowhere near edgy anymore. And then in the 90s he tossed that and embraced a kind of angry Old Testament prophet meets barfly, raging against his time and place. A restless mind and spirit. At his best, he made you uncomfortable, both that laughter from "I shouldn't laugh at this but can't help myself" and "hey, fucker, that's not funny!"
Tough gig to remain edgy AND funny over such a long career span, I'd say. Think he did a pretty good job of it overall. Need to go back and do a deep dive there, been saying that for years so just need to go Do It Now!

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Flex wrote:
03 May 2022, 12:51pm
like a few others, i'm really glad he died before he could become an anti-"woke" reactionary which i'm 100% positive he'd have done.
Alas, I have to concede you're right that that'd probably would have happened. There was a nihilistic individualism in him, a hostility to institutions and manners, which he believed strangled people. Which is great when you agree on his targets, but his principles would probably have led him to rage against social consciousness raising on the left.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Low Down Low
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Low Down Low »

I thought his big thing, like first principle, was that you always punched up, never down, so to become an anti woke voice would have been an abandonment of that which would have been very sad indeed.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 12:55pm
Tough gig to remain edgy AND funny over such a long career span, I'd say. Think he did a pretty good job of it overall. Need to go back and do a deep dive there, been saying that for years so just need to go Do It Now!
My quick and dirty list for getting into him:
Countercultural Carlin
Class Clown
Occupation: Foole

Observational Carlin
Playin' with Your Head

Jeremiad Carlin
What Am I Doing in New Jersey?
Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics
Jammin' in New York
 Back in Town
Life Is Worth Losing

I skew heavily to the last period. Countercultural Carlin quickly became drug comedy stuff that hasn't aged well, and a lot of the observational stuff seems a bit dry because so many others were doing it. Jeremiad Carlin was satirized by the Simpsons quite well:
Image
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 12:57pm
I thought his big thing, like first principle, was that you always punched up, never down, so to become an anti woke voice would have been an abandonment of that which would have been very sad indeed.
I suspect his libertarian attitude towards speech would have trumped that. He fear he would have seen in woke critics the same Catholic scolds he hated growing up—people saying, "You can't say that!"
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Low Down Low
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:03pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 12:55pm
Tough gig to remain edgy AND funny over such a long career span, I'd say. Think he did a pretty good job of it overall. Need to go back and do a deep dive there, been saying that for years so just need to go Do It Now!
My quick and dirty list for getting into him:
Countercultural Carlin
Class Clown
Occupation: Foole

Observational Carlin
Playin' with Your Head

Jeremiad Carlin
What Am I Doing in New Jersey?
Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics
Jammin' in New York
 Back in Town
Life Is Worth Losing

I skew heavily to the last period. Countercultural Carlin quickly became drug comedy stuff that hasn't aged well, and a lot of the observational stuff seems a bit dry because so many others were doing it. Jeremiad Carlin was satirized by the Simpsons quite well:
Image
Great stuff doc, cheers. Have gotten very jaded with tv/streaming shows of late so this looks like something I will really relish at this time. Just gonna start from top and take it away from there!

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:15pm
Great stuff doc, cheers. Have gotten very jaded with tv/streaming shows of late so this looks like something I will really relish at this time. Just gonna start from top and take it away from there!
I think most if not all his HBO specials are freely available, too. One thing I appreciated about him, especially once he hit his jeremiad phase, was that he was a craftsman. He didn't riff much, if any, because he was honing material that he'd written. So, sure, he wasn't especially spontaneous, but he was always figuring out how best to phrase and deliver his stuff for maximum impact.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Low Down Low
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:22pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:15pm
Great stuff doc, cheers. Have gotten very jaded with tv/streaming shows of late so this looks like something I will really relish at this time. Just gonna start from top and take it away from there!
I think most if not all his HBO specials are freely available, too. One thing I appreciated about him, especially once he hit his jeremiad phase, was that he was a craftsman. He didn't riff much, if any, because he was honing material that he'd written. So, sure, he wasn't especially spontaneous, but he was always figuring out how best to phrase and deliver his stuff for maximum impact.
I'm going to hazard a wild guess and suggest he was a huge fan of Willie Butler Yeats:

We sat together at one summer’s end,
That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,
And you and I, and talked of poetry.
I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:34pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:22pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:15pm
Great stuff doc, cheers. Have gotten very jaded with tv/streaming shows of late so this looks like something I will really relish at this time. Just gonna start from top and take it away from there!
I think most if not all his HBO specials are freely available, too. One thing I appreciated about him, especially once he hit his jeremiad phase, was that he was a craftsman. He didn't riff much, if any, because he was honing material that he'd written. So, sure, he wasn't especially spontaneous, but he was always figuring out how best to phrase and deliver his stuff for maximum impact.
I'm going to hazard a wild guess and suggest he was a huge fan of Willie Butler Yeats:

We sat together at one summer’s end,
That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,
And you and I, and talked of poetry.
I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
I don't doubt for an instant that he was an obsessive reader of poetry, appraising and understanding the technique.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Low Down Low
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:58pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:34pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:22pm
Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 1:15pm
Great stuff doc, cheers. Have gotten very jaded with tv/streaming shows of late so this looks like something I will really relish at this time. Just gonna start from top and take it away from there!
I think most if not all his HBO specials are freely available, too. One thing I appreciated about him, especially once he hit his jeremiad phase, was that he was a craftsman. He didn't riff much, if any, because he was honing material that he'd written. So, sure, he wasn't especially spontaneous, but he was always figuring out how best to phrase and deliver his stuff for maximum impact.
I'm going to hazard a wild guess and suggest he was a huge fan of Willie Butler Yeats:

We sat together at one summer’s end,
That beautiful mild woman, your close friend,
And you and I, and talked of poetry.
I said, ‘A line will take us hours maybe;
Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.
I don't doubt for an instant that he was an obsessive reader of poetry, appraising and understanding the technique.
Well i just snuck in 10 minutes of class clown and on campus and he had me snorting with laughter at least 5 times and that isn't often an easy thing to do. But more than that, it's the rhythm and cadence of his voice, the way he is using it to shape and control the output. I mean, i guess all comics do this to a certain extent, but his powers seem extraordinary. Definitely looking forward to getting stuck in.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
03 May 2022, 2:34pm
Well i just snuck in 10 minutes of class clown and on campus and he had me snorting with laughter at least 5 times and that isn't often an easy thing to do. But more than that, it's the rhythm and cadence of his voice, the way he is using it to shape and control the output. I mean, i guess all comics do this to a certain extent, but his powers seem extraordinary. Definitely looking forward to getting stuck in.
That's something else that suffers on those mid-70s drug albums, beyond the material. Being stoned compromised his delivery. I saw him on the tour for his second-last album, I think (the one with "I'm a Modern Man"). He told the crowd that he was still rewriting his pieces, and was explicit in saying he was trying to get his rhythm down, figuring out his beats and what words fit the pace. So some of those newer bits he was literally reading from his notes. My sister and brother-in-law were at the show with the Boss and I, and they were annoyed at the fact that they weren't getting the polished delivery, but I appreciated his honesty and watching him shape his ideas into a final form.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

JennyB
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by JennyB »

I only got to see Carlin live once, but it will always stick with me. He started the night with "Did you ever find that people who are against abortion are the people you'd least likely wanna fuck?" and that sealed it for me forever.

Look forward to the documentary.
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Re: Stand up recs

Post by Sparky »

JennyB wrote:
06 May 2022, 12:08pm
I only got to see Carlin live once, but it will always stick with me. He started the night with "Did you ever find that people who are against abortion are the people you'd least likely wanna fuck?" and that sealed it for me forever.

Look forward to the documentary.
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