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Hear the George Carlin Routine Deemed Too Dark for Release

Art Vandelay

Art Vandelay

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I've never really understood whether this aspect of his material was intended as an honest exploration of human psychology or as satirical.

Hear George Carlin Routine Deemed Too Dark for Release
Material, recorded the day before 9/11, will feature on posthumous release 'I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die'

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A never-before-released George Carlin bit, recorded the day before 9/11, found the observational comic casually joking about mass fatalities. The comedian decided to shelve the controversial material after the tragedy and held onto it until his death in 2008. Now a new Carlin LP, I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die (MPI), will feature the dark routine for the first time when it comes out digitally and on CD and LP on September 16th.

Part of the routine, streaming above, features jokes about famine, natural disasters and even a sky-is-falling situation. "You know what my favorite disaster would be, and gee, I pray for one of these? An asteroid." he says. "I'm talking about a big hunk of rock the size of Minnesota ... screaming through the atmosphere and smashing right into," he pauses, "Minnesota. What the fuck. You can never have too many dead people."

The routine was originally set for his Complaints and Grievances HBO special, which aired that November, but he pulled or refigured most of the material.

In addition to the dark subject matter, the album will feature a home recording of the comic from 1957, as well as interviews with Hamza and the director of 10 of Carlin's specials, Rocco Urbisci.

"George was a bit of a disaster-chaser," his longtime manager Jerry Hamza tells Rolling Stone. "And in turn, he had crafted this piece called 'I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die.' And then 9/11 happened, and, once those towers went down, George knew right away he couldn't use that material in his next special. He said then to himself, 'I'll put it on the back burner. Sooner or later, I'll get to it and put it back in the act.'"

SiriusXM will premiere the special on September 1st on its comedy channels Comedy Greats and Carlin’s Corner before later airing it on Raw Dog Comedy Hits. The network also announced the premiere of George Carlin: A Life in Comedy, a documentary on the comedian featuring Penn Jillette, Kevin Hart, and Seth Rogen set to air at 3 PM EST.
 
Art Vandelay

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This segment from the 2001 special about destructive self-involvement seems like obvious satire and is very light-hearted compared to the excluded material now being released:

I drive kind of recklessly, I take a lot of chances, I never maintain my vehicles and I don’t believe in traffic laws. And so, because of these practices, I tend to have what a picky person would probably refer to as a lot of traffic accidents. And wouldn’t you know, last week I ran over a sheep. Or, possibly, I ran over a small man wearing a sheepskin coat. I’m not sure, really, because I didn’t stop. That’s another rule of mine: I never stop when I have a traffic accident. Do you? No. You can’t. Who has time? Not me. If I hit something, or I run somebody over, I keep moving! Especially if I’ve injured someone. I refuse to involve myself in other people’s injuries. I’m not a doctor, I’ve had no medical training; I’m just another guy, out, driving around looking for a little fun. And I can’t be stopping for everything. Listen, folks. Let’s be logical about it. If you stop at the scene of the accident, all you do is add to the confusion. These people you ran over have enough troubles of their own without you stopping and making things worse. Think about it-- they’ve just been involved in a major traffic accident! The last thing they need is for you to stop, get out of your car, go over to the wreckage and start bothering them with stupid questions: “Are you hurt?”​

"Let's do the show that I was planning on right until September 10th."-- ​


But this earlier 1992 piece that touches on the subject of enjoying human suffering is very similar and seems like a deeper commentary on human nature-- The way people rush to see accidents and fires, "and the closer the explosion is to your house, the more fun it is." Tragedy as entertainment is a major element of local news. I don't think Carlin actually liked watching "graves being filled, parents weeping" but there is an element to human nature that does seem to venture in that direction, which is why I agree that while "Most people won't admit to those thoughts," it is an exaggerated representation of how people's minds really work.

In this country, the social structure, just beginning to collapse. You watch. Just beginning now to come apart at the edges and the seams. And the thing I like about that is that it makes the news on television more interesting. Makes it more exciting. Makes the TV news more fun. I watch TV news for one thing and one thing only, entertainment. That's all I want from the news, entertainment. You know my favorite thing on television? Bad news. Bad news and disasters and accidents and catastrophes. I'm looking for some explosions and fires. I want to see shit blown up and bodies flying around. I don't care about the budget. I'm not interested in the labor negotiations. I don't want to know what country the fuckin' Pope is in. But you show me a hospital that's on fire and people on crutches are jumping off the roof, and I'm a happy guy. I want to see an oil refinery explode. I want to see a paint factory blowing up. I want to see a tornado hit a church on Sunday. I want to know there's some guy running through the K-Mart with an automatic weapon firing at the clerks. I want to see thousands of people in the street killing policemen. I want to hear about a nuclear meltdown. I want to know the stock market dropped 2,000 points in one day. I want to see people under pressure. Sirens, flames, smoke, bodies, shit blowing up. My kind of TV. Graves being filled, parents weeping. My kind of television. I just want some entertainment. It's just the kind of guy I am. It's the kind of guy I am. You know what I love the most? When big chunks of concrete and fiery wood are falling out of the sky and people are running around trying to get out of the way. Exciting shit. That's why I watch auto racing. It's the only reason I watch auto racing. I'm waiting for some accidents, man. I want to see some cars on fire. I'm not interested in a bunch of redneck jackoffs driving 500 miles in a circle. 500 miles in a circle? Doesn't impress me. Children can do that. I want to see some schmuck with his hair on fire running around punching his own head trying to put it out. I want to see the pits explode. I want to see cars doing 200 mile an hour cartwheels. Hey, where else besides auto racing am I going to see a 23-car collision and not be in the son of a bitch? And if a couple of cars fly off the track and land in the stands and kill 50 or 60 spectators, fine. Fuck 'em. Serves them right. They paid to get in. Let them take their chances with everybody else. Just means more fun for me. More fun for me. Hey, at least I admit it. At least I admit it. Most people won't admit to those thoughts. Most people, you know, see something like that on television, they'll say, oh, isn't that awful, isn't that too bad. (Fart sound). Lying asshole. Lying asshole, you love it and you know it. Explosions are fun. And the closer the explosion is to your house, the more fun it is. Did you ever notice that? Sometimes you have the TV on and you're working around the house, some guy comes on and he says 6,000 people were killed in an explosion today. You say "Where, where?" He says in Pakistan. You say, oh, "Fuck Pakistan!" Too far away to be any fun. But if he says it happened in your hometown, you'll say, "Whoa, hot shit. Come on, Dave, let's go look at the bodies. Let's go look at the bodies." I love bad news. I love bad news.
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KA$H

KA$H

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I find that the older I get; the funnier I find his shit. My inner grumpy old man coming to the surface, I guess. :dunno:
 
N

Non-StopJFK2TAB

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KA$H said:
Yeah, me too. I used to watch his specials when I was barely a teenager and laugh at his exaggerations of situations, but originally I was laughing at the grumpy old man. Now I'm laughing with the grumpy old man.
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I loved his writing. Having come from the carribbean, who were taught by the British, his us usage of words was beautiful compared to most American comics. His command of the English language was phenomenal.
 

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