i'm new to this board...more importantly, no i did not find his one liners funny at all. that man scares the crap out of me
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Originally Posted by MyNameIsKenny
I saw him live 4 years ago. The old guy's still got it.
And personally...I don't care for George Carlin. If I want angry political commentary, I find Dennis Miller more amusing. *ducks to avoid thrown tomatoes*
ETA: oh yeah, and, starpower!
All my life, I have felt destiny tugging at my sleeve.~ Thursday Next
I don't want to "go with the flow". The flow just washes you down the drain. I want to fight the flow.- Henry Rollins
All this spiritual talk is great and everything...but at the end of the day, there's nothing like a pair of skinny jeans. - Jillian Michaels
It's kind of funny, I had written something quite similar--and yet COMPLETELY different--in the "Jay Mohr...thread," only I was bashing George Carlin (I misspelled his name Karlin), whom I find gut-wrenching and highly depressing to listen to (he makes me want to head into the bathroom and swallow a couple bottles of sleeping pills then wash them down with a few gulps of Pepto-Bismal--and I don't even have either of these items in my house--and then go around and kick EVERYBODY I SEE in the shins!). I could count on my left pinky the number of times I laugh at ANYTHING he says during one of his current TV specials--and I used to like the guy quite a bit "back in the day." His humor, demeanor and delivery are just plain UGLY to me now. I know I am definitely NOT in the majority here…but it’s JMO.I definitely do not think Jay London is funny. Not his one-liners, not his delivery. I don't know about this venerable tradition of one-liner comedy. Sure, back in the day that style of comedy may have been around but there were still people who hated Rodney Dangerfield (like my dad). Just like how now, some people think Jay London is funny and some people would rather sprain both ankles then run to catch the bus rather than listen to the guy.
Maybe it's more like evolution. People got tired of one-liners and started ignoring people who did them (I know some people think/thought Rodney Dangerfield is funny, but where is he now? Guest starring in a bad Simpson's episode? And Henny Youngman? You can buy a joke book written by him on amazon.com. A JOKE BOOK.).
I think George Carlin is a shining example of an older comic who's still around today, one who appeals to young and old (he has a great album recorded at a college -- they loved him), and who isn't a one-liner kind of guy. I think George Carlin would pants Rodney Dangerfield if he got half the chance.
One-line comedians irritate me because they skip from one topic to the next so abruptly. When you talk to someone (or listen to someone) who talks about five completely different things in five short sentences (I was in the grocery store... Butterflies scare me... I don't understand cricket... etc.) don't you just want to kick 'em in the shins? Or at least slip them a Ritalin?
I like it when the comedian gets in front of the audience and just seems to naturally talk about funny stuff, like it's coming from off the top of their head. I know that this definitely isn't the case, but I like that illusion. And there's nothing faker (more fake?) than "here are some jokes I wrote. Let me tell them to you. What do you think about this one? And this one?"
-- jm
When done well (e.g. Steven Wright and even Jay London IMHO), the one-liner kind of humor can and often does embody that quality of being “spontaneous.” Almost as if they’re high on something and just keep coming up with weird thoughts (I don’t quite get that same feeling from Dangerfield or Youngman—IMO they’re material seems much more contrived and mechanically-delivered.)
What makes one-liners great to me is that momentary delay that occurs before actual synapse takes place and one actually grasps the double-entendre intended. That takes a little bit of brain power…some times more than others, but at least you think before you react with a groan, guffaw, little snort or rolling eyes.
So I hope you don't mean that we have "evolved" to the point of only reacting on a visceral level (to the vicious snarls and barks and growls and rants of an aging hippie) in lieu of a cerebral one, where the brain gets at least a little action. That would sound to me more like regression than "evolution." So sad.
Okay...hopping off my soapbox now.
<--trying to catch tomatoes for tonight's salad!!
And personally...I don't care for George Carlin. If I want angry political commentary, I find Dennis Miller more amusing. *ducks to avoid thrown tomatoes*
ETA: oh yeah, and
I'm with you, AJane...Miller is not quite so psychotic.
Huh. It is kinda strange about your Carlin piece. I hadn't read it when I wrote mine! To tell the truth, I haven't heard Carlin's ultra-new stuff, so maybe he is getting bitter with age. Last I heard him, he was good. I think a person has to be a little mean to enjoy him, though.It's kind of funny, I had written something quite similar--and yet COMPLETELY different--in the "Jay Mohr...thread," only I was bashing George Carlin (I misspelled his name Karlin), whom I find gut-wrenching and highly depressing to listen to (he makes me want to head into the bathroom and swallow a couple bottles of sleeping pills then wash them down with a few gulps of Pepto-Bismal--and I don't even have either of these items in my house--and then go around and kick EVERYBODY I SEE in the shins!). I could count on my left pinky the number of times I laugh at ANYTHING he says during one of his current TV specials--and I used to like the guy quite a bit "back in the day." His humor, demeanor and delivery are just plain UGLY to me now. I know I am definitely NOT in the majority here…but it’s JMO.
When done well (e.g. Steven Wright and even Jay London IMHO), the one-liner kind of humor can and often does embody that quality of being “spontaneous.” Almost as if they’re high on something and just keep coming up with weird thoughts (I don’t quite get that same feeling from Dangerfield or Youngman—IMO they’re material seems much more contrived and mechanically-delivered.)
What makes one-liners great to me is that momentary delay that occurs before actual synapse takes place and one actually grasps the double-entendre intended. That takes a little bit of brain power…some times more than others, but at least you think before you react with a groan, guffaw, little snort or rolling eyes.
So I hope you don't mean that we have "evolved" to the point of only reacting on a visceral level (to the vicious snarls and barks and growls and rants of an aging hippie) in lieu of a cerebral one, where the brain gets at least a little action. That would sound to me more like regression than "evolution." So sad.
Okay...hopping off my soapbox now.
As for the point about how Jay London's humour being kind of like someone who's high... I don't know what kinds of drugs you're talking about but stoners really irritate me. I know some people find 'em funny, and maybe they're the same people who find Jay London funny. *Please no one hate me for that. It's all just speculation*
I used the "evolved" thing as a bit of a tribute to Jay London and his evolutionary chain/chart thing -- half seriously. I couldn't resist the whole "the man looks like a neanderthal AND he's doing primitive humour" bit. Okay, one-liners aren't primitive. But I don't consider of form of humour that makes me groan or roll my eyes good humour (JMO).
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