It's all about bouncing back

Thursday, June 26, 2008

A final resting place for your stuff

I can't add anything meaningful to the many wonderful tributes already written about George Carlin's passing. (I especially loved this one by the ever-amazing Louis CK which reminded me of something I had forgotten -- that I used to listen to many Carlin bits on the AM radio show classic, Doctor Demento -- remember that? I actually used to hide a transistor radio under my pillow so I could listen on Sunday nights at an hour well after I should have been asleep . . .)

I can only humbly say that Carlin is responsible for many happy giggling hours in my childhood and for that I am especially grateful. I played "Class Clown" until the grooves wore thin and quoted "FM and AM" verbatim far before I had reached an age where I really understood most of it. If there is one Carlin bit that will forever define him in my mind, however, it has to be the great classic "A Place to Put Your Stuff" -- a masterpiece of social commentary wrapped in utter silliness -- I still find it very impressive. Every time I listen, I still laugh -- and it never fails to make me briefly reflect on how I'm living my life. Once, when I asked some friends to help me move out of one house and into another, I overheard my friend Eric, box in hand, walking away from me and mumbling: "Sometimes you gotta move -- why? Too much stuff!" Can't argue with this logic.

Here he is, performing the bit at the 1986 Comic Relief -- years after it had already become a classic. Thanks for everything, George.

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