Why, then, does this nihilistic, cynical comic set the bar for morality in comedy fourteen years after his passing? It’s because he lived an ethos throughout his entire career that defines the role of a comic in an unjust society. As Chris Rock said in George Carlin’s American Dream, “Man used to love philosophers. We don’t really have philosophers anymore. We have comedians.”
When George appeared on Chris’ show in 1997, he spoke about this spirit of comedy that he sought to embody, saying, “I like to bother people. I like to find out where their line may be and deliberately cross it, then make them glad they came.” But George was never one to cross the line just for the sake of crossing it. Too many comedians and comedy fans think that crossing the line is a merit unto itself – George did it to make statements about what he believed to be the rights of every individual in a society that was constantly preying on the vulnerable and disenfranchised. George attacked the powerful and selfish, not the suffering and marginalized. In George’s eyes, comedy should only punch up.
George was fired, arrested, banned, and blacklisted for staying true to his point of view. He was fully devoted to both his craft and his morals – he challenged himself to get better, more focused, and more effective as a comedian until the day he died while always fighting for what he believed to be right. For that reason, the moral compass of comedy can be defined by the question. “What would George Carlin do?”
Top Image: Apatow Productions
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