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George Carlin dies at 71
- SwellJoe 18y agoShit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.
- aston 18y agoI'm lukewarm on Carlin being remembered for that (edit: that alone). His comedy is a lot more intelligent than a list of dirty words might imply.
- SwellJoe 18y agoRatshit, batshit, dirty old twat, sixty-nine assholes tied in a knot. Hooray! Lizard shit. Fuck! In other words: You demean the work by dividing it into the bits and pieces you consider polite.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- adrianwaj 18y agoI am unfamiliar with this side of Carlin, having seen some videos of him on YouTube recently (maybe a very occasional shit|fuck), I thought he was hysterical.
- Alex3917 18y agoSeven dirty words only became famous because of the court case. It's good, but not nearly as brilliant as state prison farms, golf courses for the homeless, euphemisms, etc.
- SwellJoe 18y ago"that alone" We're in agreement on this point. But the reality is that if one wanted to point out his impact on the entertainment industry, one of the most important aspects was that he (along with a handful of others) made it OK for a mainstream comic to work blue. Really, really, incredibly blue. My favorite of his bits were actually pretty clean. But let's not water the old man down. He's no longer able to defend himself against sanitization. And, I don't think his seven words bit was lacking in intelligence. I think it was one of his more astute social observations, and it was so controversial partly because it did touch a deep nerve in American culture. And the "ratshit, batshit" cheer was about the funniest thing I'd ever heard in my life. I don't know if I'd call it smart, but I'd certainly call it funny.
- mattmaroon 18y agoBad beat. Also a bad beat will be the flood of memorial crap in television and film sure to follow.
- aston 18y agoI'm calling shenanigans here. You can't use poker terms in real life, can you?
- mattmaroon 18y agoBad beat and bluff are the only ones allowed.
- Alex3917 18y agoAnything beyond that is a flop.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- elai 18y agoThat's really sad. But 71 isn't that bad.
- mpc 18y agoReally? Tell that to someone in their 60s.
- MisterMerkin 18y agoHe hacked culture, I guess.
- bayareaguy 18y agoI'll always remember him for this one: Leftovers make you feel good twice. First, when you put it away, you feel thrifty and intelligent: ‘I’m saving food!’ Then a month later when blue hair is growing out of the ham, and you throw it away, you feel really intelligent: ‘I’m saving my life!’
- dpapathanasiou 18y agoI always liked his "plastics may be the reason for human existence" speculation, which was part of his "the planet doesn't need saving" rant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw)
- DanielBMarkham 18y agoCarlin used to do a straight stand-up kinda gig, with a suit and a tie and the lot. Used to play Saturday nights at the Holiday Inn to a bunch of middle-aged salesmen. Then he realized that he could do a 180 and instead do a routine attacking the system. That's when he really took off. He hit his stride during the late 60s/early 70s with a completely new and growing market: the kids. This is a good example of the same product (Carlin) working at a mediocre level in one market and being a complete success in another. It takes guts to change your market positioning! I loved some of his stuff. In all fairness, to me some of his stuff towards the end sounded like "old angry hippie tries to stay relevant" But he was a genius by any measure. Somewhere up in Vallhalla Odin is probably laughing right now at the cats and dogs routine.
- dreish 18y agoHmm. He was just here a minute ago.
- icey 18y agoSerious question: Why is this one OK, but the news of Tim Russert passing was not? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=217591 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=217591
- deathbyzen 18y agoProbably because less people liked Tim Russert.
- raganwald 18y agoPlease clarify: fewer people, lesser people, or both? ;-)
- brent 18y agoyc appreciates genius.
- jdavid 18y agowho says this one is ok.
- gnaritas 18y agoBecause Tim Russert wasn't the genius Carlin was, and didn't make a living hacking our idiotic social norms like Carlin did. Carlin was a hacker in the truest sense, he was curious about everything and wasn't afraid to explore any topic, despite the consequences.
- johns 18y agoShining Time Station mourns.
- snewe 18y agoHacker News?
- TrevorJ 18y agoI might as well go right to reddit from now on I guess.
- apu 18y agoAmazingly, he did indeed "die," and not just "pass away." Perhaps he did indeed affect mainstream media slightly...
- ojbyrne 18y agoThere are, however, plenty of people out there saying he passed away and "RIP." I managed to find the bit where he talks about "passing away": http://youtube.com/watch?v=RrvyrxUpibg&feature=related http://youtube.com/watch?v=RrvyrxUpibg&feature=related (starting around 4:30). I feel an impulse to post it in a comment on every blog or article that uses a death euphemism (I did http://searchengineland.com/080623-082447.php http://searchengineland.com/080623-082447.php already :-)).
- sealedidentity 18y agoMan was a genius! He hacked culture. Fondly remembered, badly missed.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- jdavid 18y agoI love Carlin, but this IS NOT STARTUP NEWS. The article was on digg, slashdot and wired. this feed used to be different. ;-(
- gnaritas 18y agoThis site isn't about startup news, it's about hacker news. Small reminder... On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity. Carlin was damn interesting and someone I'd bet many many hackers looked up to.
- Zarathu 18y agoThis is wonderful advice for my start-up. Thank you.
- bluehatrider 18y agoWho is george carlin??