When Carrot Top explained to Carlin that he was playing two shows in a weekend because, “I figured, if I f— up the first show, I’ll get a second shot at it,” Carlin unleashed some of his signature furious wisdom upon the reviled redhead, telling him, “Never give the audience the upper hand, never cut yourself short. You do your s—, and you f—ing do it the way you do it. If they don’t like it, f— em!”
As the story goes, Carlin invited Carrot Top back to his dressing room and told Carrot Top all of the jokes from his act that Carlin liked — a gag about string telephones with caller ID and call waiting stuck out the most to him. Though their meeting was brief, Carrot Top still remembers Carlin’s words whenever he reads one of the millions of internet comments calling him a hack. Or as he puts it, “Some guy in his attic in Nebraska is saying I f—ing suck, but then I got George Carlin saying ‘You’re a funny f—er.’ That’s how I stay sane.”
Until the attic-dweller in Nebraska comes up with a story about Richard Pryor liking his angry tweets, Carrot Top will keep the upper hand.