Oh, Say You Ain't Dead, George Carlin

I just got word from the Victorian Quadrant that George Carlin is dead at the age of 71. Carlin had a long career as a comedian, actor, and general know-it-all. He was angry, funny, and, most of all, intelligent about his comedy. He pushed barriers and made us all look at ourselves with a sharper eye or, at least, forced us to laugh at ourselves. I wish I was a little bit older because I know I would have appreciated his contribution a whole lot more. I recently saw him on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and he was plugging his new DVD collection.

Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham.

He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.

"He was a genius and I will miss him dearly," Jack Burns, who was the other half of a comedy duo with Carlin in the early 1960s, said.

It wasn't until the late 1980's that I was introduced to George Carlin. He played Rufus, the time traveling mentor in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. I remember the first time I saw the extent of Keanu Reeves acting ability. It was was in the basement of my friend's house. He had invited a bunch of us over to watch the movie because he was excited that his new VCR (what the hell are those?) had Hi-Fi built into it. In theory, the sound would be better and the viewing experience would be enhanced. The movie started and the sound was much better than I had at home. The film movie was memorable and Rufus was added into that lexicon of my memory bank. Carlin was Rufus and Rufus was Carlin.

As the years progressed, I took more notice of his comedy. I wanted to see more, hear more, and, eventually, the Internet was born and I was able to read about his career and catch snippets of his work. The sad thing is, it was only a few weeks ago that I was looking up some of his acts on YouTube. I was thinking about checking him out the next time he hit one of the local casinos. Damn. He was good.

But, here is to you, George, you were good but I missed you before I knew you well: "Gentlemen. We're history."

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