LATimes

George Carlin Toys With Kids in 'Napalm & Silly Putty'

Reuters

LOS ANGELES--Some 25 years after his routine about "seven dirty words" made him a counter-culture icon, George Carlin has moved on to new frontiers of comedy, railing against environmentalists, consumerism -- and children.

That's right. The venerable class clown who played Mr. Conductor on the PBS children's series "Shining Time Station" is disgusted with what he sees as parents' overprotection, overindulgence and general preoccupation with kids.

"Your children are overrated and overvalued, and you've turned them into little cult objects," Carlin writes in his new book, "Napalm & Silly Putty" (Hyperion), a collection of offbeat, sometimes derisive observations, one-liners and excerpts from his latest stand-up material.

"... these baby boomers, these soft, fruity baby boomers, have raised an entire generation of soft, fruity kids who aren't even allowed to have hazardous toys, for Chrissakes! ... Whatever happened to natural selection? Survival of the fittest? The kid who swallows too many marbles doesn't grow up to have kids of his own. Simple stuff. Nature knows best!"

You get the idea.

Long after the shock value of the seven dirty words you couldn't say on television was drowned out in a tidal wave of anything-goes humor in the mass media -- from Howard Stern to "Freddy Gets Fingered" -- Carlin, who turns 64 next month, still thrives on provocative material.

"I don't have any beliefs or allegiances. I don't believe in this country, I don't believe in religion, or a god, and I don't believe in all these man-made institutional ideas," he told Reuters in a telephone interview before receiving a lifetime achievement salute at last Sunday's American Comedy Awards.

"With the society relaxing some of its rules, or some of its standards, (it) doesn't affect me a lot because I'm still in dissent."

MAKING THEM SQUIRM

Carlin revels in the possibility of offending people even as he works to coax laughs from them.

"I still find plenty of things where I can kind of get them a little tense. I do like that," he said. "When I hear them pull back, there's a ... sudden silence, and there's this, 'Oh boy, where's he going to go with this'."

Anyone can easily laugh about silly airport announcements. But at the height of patriotic fervor over the Gulf War and its immediate aftermath, Carlin recalled, he made audiences squirm by poking fun at America's penchant for "bombing brown people."

More recently, he has pricked fans' comfort level with routines ranging from God and religion to golf, which he calls a "meaningless, mindless, arrogant, racist game." Carlin says his golf-bashing "chases off a lot of people" but also illustrates that "no one's safe when you come to my show."

How safe one feels with Carlin may have changed over the years. Left-leaning fans amused by Carlin's anti-establishment brand of humor during the 1970s may find themselves stunned by his recent attacks on the environmental movement.

"I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalist, white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is that there aren't enough bike paths," he writes in an excerpt from one of his more popular routines. "The planet is fine. The people are f---ed!

"The planet isn't goin' anywhere, folks. We are! We're goin' away. ... And we won't leave much of a trace. Thank God for that. ... Maybe a little Styrofoam. The planet will be here, and we'll be gone. Another failed mutation, another closed-end biological mistake."

THAN DIRTY WORDS

One thing that hasn't changed much about Carlin's comedy in 25 years is that he continues to serve it up with generous portions of profanity. But dirty words, while perhaps overused in the popular culture, remain potent "if you have them connected to really interesting ideas," Carlin said.

In any case, Carlin argues, mass marketing and the quest for material goods has coarsened our society far more than sex and violence on TV. "Every aspect of this country is more vulgar and coarser than it ever was. And it's a function of consumerism," he said. "I mean just get off an interstate and drive through any town and look at those horrifying Long John Silvers signs, and Amoco and then Midas Muffler, and then McDonald's. I mean it's just an ugly, coarse, vulgar neon sewer."

For his own part, Carlin readily acknowledges the conflict between his attacks on the consumer culture and efforts to hawk his own commercial wares -- namely his second book, an upcoming HBO concert special and a new comedy Web site (laugh.com), launched with such comic pioneers as Jonathan Winters and Red Buttons.

His first book, "Brain Droppings," sold 750,000 copies and was on the New York Times bestsellers list for 40 weeks.

"It's a contradiction sure. But life is full of those," Carlin said, adding that he tries to limit his participation in the world of commerce to "partial immersion." "People have certain compromises they have to make with the culture," he said. In the end, Carlin said his answer is to do his best to offer entertainment that's worth the price his fans pay for it.

"I think I'm delivering value."

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

Answers

I've always been an avid George Carlin fan, although I doubt you could tell from my personal sense of humor...

If you haven't checked out his website, it's great!

George Carlin

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

"There's a big high over California and it's spreading over the rest of the country. . ."

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001