George Carlin: Seven Words Ain't Enough

George Carlin's passing is getting a lot of well-deserved media attention.

Surprised me, because as a kid of the 70s, I think of him as the anti-establishment comedian, the type whose passing might only get a brief mention on the mainstream nightly news. But Carlin had a long career and the clips I saw of his early stuff is funny too. The early stuff is funny; the later stuff, great.

Despite my narrow scope of who's who in the world, Carlin is a fixture in the minds of several generations. The anti-establishment audience he began speaking to in the 70s is running the media now.

I don't know who this thought is attributed to, but I've heard good comedians are all angry inside. Carlin was crazy, funny and very angry.

In recent years, George put his anger in front of the humor rather than behind it. Anger behind humor is what makes us able to laugh at absurdities and stupidities. Anger is front of the humor pisses people off. (Thanks to George, I can say "piss.")

G and I saw Carlin in Las Vegas in 2001. He told the audience at the outset of the show that they were not the type of audience to appreciate his humor. He was there testing material for an HBO Special. Granted, I could see a lot of blue-haireds in the red velvet seats, but give them a chance, George I thought. But George Carlin still had it.

G reminds me of the bit Carlin did that culminated in "fuck the police!; fuck the police!; FUCK the police." Now that was funny and very angry.

Goodbye, George. We'll miss you.

Always an Usher, Never a Groom

I am only writing about the Usher wedding to use the above headline.

I have not seen any play on the "always a bridesmaid" adage in any of the accounts I read about Usher's "its-off!" , "no-its-done" wedding. Maybe the wordplay is too obvious, even for the rags that always use the obvious pun. (I'd better check the New York Post before I post.)

But since I mentioned the Usher wedding, I'll mention the other obvious point: the deck is stacked against them. If they're flip-flopping on the eve of their wedding when a couple should be the most in love, they don't stand a chance of success.

I hate to be so negative, but which "D" will be first? Delivery? or Divorce?

Tina & Diana: Separated at Birth?

With the publication of Tina Brown's book, The Diana Chronicles, the media is talking about how Princess Diana's rise and fall paralleled Tina's career.

As editor of Tatler, Tina emerges in the public's consciousness as Diana rises in popularity; Tina even gets married three weeks after Diana does in 1981. Tina reigns as editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker as Diana grows sophisticated and media-savvy.

And then in 1997, Diana dies in a Paris car crash. I won't Talk about any specific similarities, but what happened to Tina's career shortly after? What what about the more obvious parallel? Just how much did these blonde Brits look alike? A certain amount of the physical resemblance is genetic but the hairstyle they shared was no accident.