Song:The Confessional
Album:Classic Gold
OK so I guess this isn't really a song but there was a time when comedy albums did very well on album charts. Of course home video has changed all that. And of course George Carlin was one of the all time greats of stand up comedy. This 2CD comp covers his best selling albums from the early 70s. He was born May 12, 1937 in New York City. Carlin came from radio. While stationed in the Army in Shreveport, LA, he started working as a DJ and met fellow radio personality Jack Burns. They formed a comedy team and toured for several years. Burns would find success working with Avery Shreiber and Carlin started working on his own. Through the 60s, Carlin's routines like the Hippy Dippy Weather Man were very radio influenced and there was nothing unusual about his presentation. He wore a suit. But Carlin sensed that morals were loosening in the late 60s so he grew out his hair and started talking about controversial subjects considered taboo. Carlin knew it was a risk because he was present at Lenny Bruce's obscenity arrest. But it worked. The Confessional is a hilarious skewering of his Catholic upbringing from Carlin's 1972 breakthrough album Class Clown. The album was a huge hit mostly because of Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television. Carlin was arrested for obscenity in Milwaukee and a radio station chain was taken to the Supreme Court by the FCC for playing Carlin's records. Of course this made George Carlin a legend and though he faded as a recording artist, he flipped that into his long running series of HBO specials. George Carlin continued to be very funny until his death on June 22, 2008 at age 71. George Carlin did what Lenny Bruce couldn't do. He changed stand up comedy. There's no video of Carlin performing The Confessional but I think you'll enjoy his performance of Religion Is Bullshit from one of his HBO specials. It's a similar subject.
defshepard here Frank,
ReplyDeleteGeorge Carlin was one of my favorites. And even after his death still is. He was one of a kind. I loved his comedy and when he went off on one of his rants I could identify and relate in a very personel way what he said. He still strikes a deep chord with me, and always will. Thanks for the video!