MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SCREENING SERIES, THE: FROM CLASS CLOWN TO SOCIAL CRITIC: THE TELEVISION COMEDY OF GEORGE CARLIN {SCREENING PACKAGE}
Summary
George Carlin is one of America's keenest social critics, using razor-sharp humor to point out hypocrisy in our actions and our words. For over three decades, he has been honing his craft on television, always on the cutting edge and regularly integrating taboo subjects into his performances. This ninety-minute screening package features highlights of Carlin's television career, interspersed with commentary by Carlin himself.
The screening begins with Carlin's early appearances on variety shows of the Sixties, where, first with his partner Jack Burns and later on his own, Carlin did "straight" comedy such as impersonations of celebrities and spoofs of television commercials. In the Seventies Carlin began to adopt a more rebellious stance with characters such as "Al Sleet the Hippy Dippy Weatherman" and his appearances on such programs as "The Flip Wilson Show" and as a host of the premiere episode of "Saturday Night Live" (then called "NBC's Saturday Night"). It was during this time that Carlin performed his most infamous and controversial routine, "Seven Words You Can Never Use on Television." Through the Eighties and the Nineties, Carlin has taken advantage of cable television to push the envelope even further in his popular HBO comedy specials, where he has voiced his opinions on everything from the environment to the Gulf War to the need to store one's "stuff."
What distinguishes Carlin is not only his choice of subject matter but also his unique viewpoints and effective in-your-face delivery. After he discarded the controlled suit-and-tie demeanor of his Sixties work, a new Carlin materialized, resembling, in the words of John J. O'Connor of The New York Times, "a modern-day combination of Jeremiah and Diogenes." He unashamedly drives home his points -- whether about everyday life or life-and-death issues -- enjoying his ability to be provocative and entertaining at the same time. He describes his routines as "exaggerated prose ... done to make a point usually in a very, I hope, funny way."
This tape contains adult language and content.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 1999
- RUNNING TIME: 1:32:21
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:61571
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- George Carlin
- Jack Burns