My recent chat with a Hollywood Comedy Producer
- The Bro (4: 53 PM): So whats the feeling in the comedy world with regard to Carlin's death?
- The Bro (4: 53 PM): Have you spoken to many people?
- HCP (4: 55 PM): well, obviously it's a big loss
- HCP (4: 55 PM): he was one of a kind and really influenced a lot of people that came after him
- HCP (4: 56 PM): to be honest, i've personally been a little surprised the extent to which the mainstream media seems to have picked up on kind of how important he was
- The Bro (4: 57 PM): Really? By mid-day I couldn't even find the article on Yahoo. It was on their front page this morning early on, and wasn't even in their highlighted section anymore by about 10am or so our time..
- HCP (4: 57 PM): comedy, especially standup, can be really tough to stay relevant over a long period of time and for him to be as relevant as he was as long as he was is pretty amazing
- HCP (4: 57 PM): then again, maybe i'm just fooled cuz i'm living in a comedy bubble so it seems like it's gotten more mainstream attention than it has
- HCP (4: 58 PM): but if you look at sites like Digg, a bunch of the top stories on there are about carlin so somebody's reading and spreading the word
- The Bro (4: 59 PM): I wonder if he had any projects going currently that are now searching for someone to take over..
- The Bro (4: 59 PM): Who would you get to replace Carlin if you had to right now?
- HCP (4: 59 PM): i think he was planning another tour and i believe he was going to be getting some kennedy center award or something like that
- The Bro (5: 00 PM): Actually I did see that in the article about the kennedy center award..
- The Bro (5: 00 PM): Does this mean somebody else gets it now?
- The Bro (5: 00 PM): Maybe they'll give it to Lewis Black
- HCP (5: 00 PM): yeah, somehow i doubt it
- The Bro (5: 00 PM): Kathy Griffin?
- HCP (5: 01 PM): there you go - somebody that addresses important issues facing society like her take on the latest episode of Project Runway
- The Bro (5: 02 PM): Okay then, who has the most to thank for George Carlin do you think?
- HCP (5: 02 PM): The short, clever answer is "America."
- HCP (5: 03 PM): but that's also the "dodge the question" answer
- The Bro (5: 03 PM): yeah really.
- The Bro (5: 03 PM): we dont want anything quite that profound here
- HCP (5: 03 PM): i think any comic that's performed on HBO owes Carlin cuz he helped turn that into a unique outlet for comics
- HCP (5: 04 PM): I also think guys like Chris Rock couldn't do some of the edgier stuff they do if Carlin hadn't done it before
- HCP (5: 05 PM): I also think carlin proved that you don't necessarily have to "sell out" to build a career in comedy
- The Bro (5: 07 PM): Don't you think Pryor and Murphy paved the way for Chris Rock? Or is that just being shortsighted (is shortsighted another word for racist in this situation)?
- HCP (5: 07 PM): Pryor and Murphy definitely paved the way for Rock, but you could say that Carlin paved the way for Pryor and Murphy as well
- HCP (5: 08 PM): and "shortsighted" is only racist when referring to asians
- The Bro (5: 10 PM): I think guys like Seinfeld and Jon Stewart have more of a debt to him, not so much that for the 7 words bit (which by the way I almost hate that he's known for that, he did so much more than just that), but just the whole 'analyzing the world' style of comedy
- The Bro (5: 11 PM): Larry David is probably today's version of George Carlin in that sense.
- The Bro (5: 11 PM): Or at least the Jewish version of him.
- HCP (5: 12 PM): i see the jon stewart connection, kinda disagree about seinfeld
- The Bro (5: 12 PM): and here i thought i was stretching the jon stewart reference
- HCP (5: 14 PM): i see what you mean about seinfeld and the mundane observations, but here's what i think
- The Bro (5: 14 PM): and we're out of time
- The Bro (5: 14 PM): (just kidding)
- HCP (5: 15 PM): carlin is really known for his political and liberal views and making a statement with his comedy
- HCP (5: 15 PM): seinfeld - is the opposite of that
- HCP (5: 15 PM): seinfeld's material specifically avoids any kind of political viewpoint or anything really controversial
- HCP (5: 16 PM): so maybe stylistically they are similar, but seinfeld would never challenge authority and carlin's career is based on challenging authority
- The Bro (5: 16 PM): Granted Seinfeld isn't political, and granted Carlin was very political at times, but wouldn't you say that they both point out the ridiculousness in mundane everyday life?
- HCP (5: 16 PM): yeah, i see the similarity there, but to me it was carlin's viewpoint that was most iconic about him
- HCP (5: 17 PM): at the time, comedy didn't really do that. That's what was kinda revolutionary about him
- The Bro (5: 17 PM): I'm willing to bow to your authority. You being the expert and all.
- HCP (5: 17 PM): i have no idea what i'm talking about it, but it sounds good
- The Bro (5: 17 PM): its like writing a term paper
- The Bro (5: 17 PM): just bullshit your way through it if you have to
- HCP (5: 17 PM): exactly
- The Bro (5: 17 PM): Did you ever meet him or see him live?
- HCP (5: 17 PM): never met him or saw him live actually
- HCP (5: 18 PM): but i can say from dealing with a million comics, that every comic that has a strong viewpoint lists him as a reference point
- The Bro (5: 18 PM): I saw him live in Vegas with my Aunt and friends one time..
- The Bro (5: 18 PM): I'm embarassed to admit that we had been up for about 40 straight hours at that point and so I fell asleep about 15 minutes into his set. Woke up for the final 15 minutes.
- HCP (5: 19 PM): nice
- HCP (5: 19 PM): hey, that's 15 more minutes than i saw of him live
- The Bro (5: 19 PM): actually that's 30 math wizard.
- HCP (5: 19 PM): me no good with numbers. me good words.
- The Bro (5: 21 PM): Before we sign off, anything youd like to plug?
- HCP (5: 22 PM): sure, TheComedyFeed.com
- HCP (5: 22 PM): the official blog of comedy.com
- HCP (5: 22 PM): which is a professional way of saying, come check out a bunch of videos of people getting kicked in the nuts
- The Bro (5: 22 PM): why mess with the classics?
