Damn. Last year we lost Kurt Vonnegut, and now we’ve lost George Carlin. Two darkly hilarious guys who despite their cynicism still made us (or, at least, me) laugh out loud at the human condition.
I never subscribed to the growing bitterness that Carlin showed as he aged (I agree with Terry Heaton that his best work was earlier in his career), but I still loved his insightful, biting humor. You can count me among those who will miss the dirty old bastard.
PS: Check out Mashable’s video obituary for a smattering of Carlin’s humor.
Didn’t Carlin joke that when a person dies, his soul gets flung on to a roof and just stays there. So he’s on the roof, not in heaven ;)
Jani is right. He’s definitely not in heaven. For as he himself so eloquently and accurately put it, “heaven is bullshit.”
Lest anyone think I believe Carlin actually made it to (and through) the pearly gates, the title of this post was a reference to Vonnegut’s statement at a memorial service for Isaac Asimov:
http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2007/04/17/Opinion/Kurt-Vonnegut.Is.Up.In.Heaven.Now-2845856.shtml