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Remembering George Carlin

I was bored this morning.  Actually bored may not be the right word because I had not actually attained that state yet.   I knew if I did not go looking for something interesting or entertaining I would pretty soon be that.  So I fixed it.

I found my favorite comic being interviewed by another great comedian Jon Stewart.  This was a recording from 1997 that HBO did for their cable programming to commemorate 40 years of comedy and Jon's guest was George Carlin.

In the conclusion of this conversation George went on to share that while he studied in a progressive school in NY there were no grades and scores given to students. He did not get any A's or B's growing up but the only A's he did care for and receive were from his audience.

They 'Admired' him, 'Appreciated' his acts and provided the 'Applause'.  He got the A's he wanted.

George also was humble about how he got to be so clever and famous in time.  A lot is genetic lottery.  His command of the language was a mix of both having the natural temperament but he also honed it with lot of hard work.

He claims that while he can produce some amazing work writing a few pages at a time a good weed joint gets him punching out the good stuff.  He abused drugs in his youth but had the wisdom to quit when the ratio of pleasure to pain was reversed.  He by his own admission was down to a joint a month.

Adding a picture of the caricature that became the cover of a Carlin book - of the very amazing mural we saw in Italy....

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