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George Carlin
Ritz Theater April 18, 2004
(Warning: This gallery area is rated NC-17--Adult Language)
Fresh off of his much lauded appearance on
HBO's
Real Time with Bill Maher
and his HBO
Special,
George Carlin instantly grabs the
microphone, the spotlight and the
packed-to-the-rafters audience by its genitals at
Tiffin, Ohio's
Ritz
Theatre.
A year has passed since
Joan Baez
had caused
a ruckus at the Ritz with her anti-war theme.
A hundred souls jeered and walked out of her
concert in an anti-antiwar protest.
My, how times have changed. No one exits
Mr. Carlin's show prematurely. Perhaps because
it is virtually devoid of any direct political comment.
His monologue, though, is probably causing
Lenny Bruce to turn over in his grave. Lenny's
language was tame in comparison.
"Pussy farts. People don't talk about them in public
anymore," is George's opening greeting.
He has our
attention. Later in the show he asks that we donate a
used pussy to the needy,
perhaps to a lonely old fart living alone up in the Montana mountains.
"Screw Survivor and those other reality shows,
Get Must Die TV, the 24 hour, all suicide Channel,"
he says. "For sweeps we could do a mass suicide. We
could have Christians dying for Jesus, 500
of them
holding hands and jumping over a cliff. That would get
the ratings."
This is George's take on the grave subject. "American people are a lot dumber that we give
them credit for. Cock this, and I'll discharge a load for you," (to gun enthusiasts).
"Quit Breaking'
My Balls," (his idea of a name for a pool hall).
"NAS-holes, (the NASA's Mars brain trust). I'm not here to judge,
(after one of his insightful
observations) with 15 million songs already recorded,
isn't that enough? Gay Boy Scouts? Put them in the
Girl Scouts.
Who thought of the first enema? I really love my disasters," begins his
farewell riff.
He reads some of it. This is his newest material for his
upcoming HBO special. George makes you think. Sometimes, though, we do
not want to do any contemplating, this is why we pay
him to do it for us.
It is effortless for us, though, all we
have to do is sit here in our easy chairs
while we drink, smoke, listen and ruminate. On the other hand, George
has to high-tail his buns back and forth across the
continent to get his points across.
And the point is...
Words. Ideas. Vision. Inspiration. Action. Fun.
George Carlin is a maestro with the language.
Think surrealism:
envision Salvador Dali mind-painting with words or Walt Disney's take on
bodily functions,
or tight-rope
walking alone on razor-thin wires of free speech-- no
net and a tank full of frenzied sharks awaiting your
fall. George gives us too much
information, overload. Perhaps he hopes that some of it will stick to our minds
and do us some
good.
After all, " according to George "We are a nation of nitwits and
assholes."
We need help and Carlin is here to show us the way. Dennis Blair is George's
opening act. The house
roars with laughter when he calls Iraq's leader the
"Jack-in-the-box Hussein," and pantomimes him
popping out of that hole.
He sings and plays his
Ovation guitar while the audience calls out song titles:
"ZZ-Top, Dylan, Starship, Neil Young." He improvises with a high
Neil Young voice and comments, "I might
as well be a gawd damn
Bee Gee." His imitation of a conversation with Dylan and Ozzie is way funny.
Also See Gallery:
Joan Baez,
Ritz Story
Links:
George Carlin
Carlin Tour Dates
Ritz Theatre
Salon- Havrilesky
2008 Interview
(Click Picture to Enlarge)
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