European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse A George Carlin at his los Angeles office targets everything from the Gulf War to environmental cracks Mem up while putting Mem Down by John j. Of Connor the new York times George Carlin is at the top of his form these Days. There a a zen and the Art of Archery sureness about himself and his audiences whether they be the handful of cognoscenti gathered in new York recently for a seminar at the museum of television and radio or the thousands of fans cheering last weekend for a stand up special carried live on Home Box office at the Paramount theater in Madison Square Garden. Now in his mid-50s and with modest Ponytail looking like a Well groomed hippie Carlin has had an unusually Public career since starting out around 1960, with Jack Burns As his comedy partner. By 1962 he was going Solo doing nicely with Standard Mother in Law jokes. But around 1970, with perfect timing he went hip Complete with tie dyed shirts dungarees Long hair Beard anger scat ology and unfortunately a whopping drug problem. Gradually life has sorted itself out for Carlin. He certainly has had a lot to fall Back on a Best Selling comedy albums guest Host spots for Johnny Carson and solid stardom. Along the Way he was the first guest Host of saturday night live in 1975. A god can to be perfect a went one line. A everything he makes nowadays he can be seen on shining time station the first rate children a series on stateside Public television. Not bad for a kid from an Irish Ameri can enclave on Manhattan supper West Side. Perhaps it was the influence of the Good Sisters at Corpus Christi Grade school who had a Way of getting their students to think and act independently. Whatever Carlin has survived a Good Many personal crises remarkably intact. He says drugs Are in the past and have been for several years. He has finally paid off a $3 million internal Revenue service Back taxes suit a 10-year ordeal he recently revealed publicly. Now its a matter of refining his Art. The future is More Likely to be closer to performance Art with fully fleshed out characters than to stand up comedy. In any event he a proceeding impressively still playing the rebellious outsider but admitting As he did at the museum seminar to a a longing to be an insider but on my own those terms Are As Tough and challenging As Ever. The new Hob show his eighth stand up special on that Cable service since 1977, opens with Carling Lenny Bruce continued from Page 26 figures Are in on the Best Selling religious novelties with a big seller being the cocktail napkins printed with inspirational sayings such As a another Martini for Mother it was a vicious powerful bit that ripped apart organized religion As just one More american corporation More concerned with profits than prophets. Later Bruce developed Christ amp Moses another classic routine in which the Messiah drops by St. Patrick a Cathedral on a typical sunday morning to see How his message of peace and love is being received on Earth. A and Christ would be confused a Bruce intoned a because their route took them through Spanish Harlem and he would wonder what 40 puerto Picans were doing sleeping in one room when this Guy Cardinal Spellman has a ring on Worth $8,000.�?� today Bruce is remembered As a dirty Lenny a the withering views of the persian Gulf War. Bombing Brown people he says has apparently become americans Hobby. The Only White people we Ever bombed were the germans he notes and that was Only because a they tried to muscle into our act of taking Over the world. Carlin if you Haven to already guessed likes to form his own opinions. Among them he does no to believe anything the government says. He does no to believe the news Media because they have become an adjunct of the government. He does no to get All choked up about yellow ribbons and american flags preferring to a leave symbols to the Carlin is fascinated with language its use and especially its abuse. Several of his sketches pounce splendidly on euphemisms and in the Case of instructions offered to airline passengers utter meaninglessness. This is familiar Carlin territory. Promising new directions can be detected elsewhere. There is a new level of social anger when he discusses homeless people and the a a myth of americans generosity punctuated with the recurrent cry of a not in my one Carlin solution Golf courses for the homeless. He appends some trenchant re Nasty comedian the Man who got arrested for saying All those vulgar words. One suspects it was his outspoken contempt for the organized Church a protestant Catholic or jewish a that really riled the authorities. N when Bruce worked the Gate of Horn in Chicago the club owner was threatened by a local police Captain who warned him a if Lenny Bruce Ever says anything against the Pope again a and in a speaking Here As a Catholic a in a going to arrest you him and everyone else in this the Only trouble was blasphemy Wasny to illegal so they busted him for obscenity instead. As bruces caustic barbs grew sharper his language rougher the arrests came quicker. In october 1964, he was arrested at the jazz workshop in san Francisco for using a 10-letter word describing a a favorite homosexual his response on the Way to jail was that the word did no to refer to homosexuals at All but to any contemporary woman he knew or would know or love or marry. A month later he was barred from entering aus Marks about that Quot arrogant elitist game that takes up entirely too much room in this the most daring and controversial routine is saved for last. Carlin lashes out against the professional worriers not least the environmentalists fretting about endangered species. He considers this just another instance of hopeless humans being carried away with their self importance. A species disappear a he says a a that a what nature save the planet a we done to even know How to take care of each other a he says. The planet i it Fine he argues its we the people who have become a an evolutionary Cul de Sac a surface prowling about the stage like some Ever so slightly crazed but undeniably Sharp Street person Carlin is a modern Day combination of Jeremiah and Diogenes. The anger is at once real and something of a smokescreen. Behind the curtain operating the controls is a deeply concerned and compassionate Man More sentimental than he would Ever admit. A take care of yourself a he shouts As he leaves the stage a and take care of somebody that perceived Core of intense concern enables him to connect passionately with his audiences. Thalia. The following october he was charged with obscenity at the troubadour theatre in Hollywood Calif. In december 1962, the Chicago officer made Good his threat and Bruce was arrested at the Gate of Horn. By the time of his last arrest at the cafe a go go in new Yorkus Greenwich Village he was a broken Man. Legal fees had left him bankrupt and each new bust left club owners a Little More hesitant to hire him. He was $40,000 in debt and he work. He was fat paranoid a not without cause a and demoralized. On monday aug. 1, 1966, his parole officer Lent him $10. Two Days later he was dead sprawled in the bathroom door of the House he was losing. T he Coroner ruled he had died of an accidental overdose of morphine. A a in a not a comedian anymore a he once said toward the end. A a in a Lenny two years after his death the last of his four obscenity convictions was overturned on Appeal. He was clean. May 3, 1992 sunday a Page
