George Carlin died yesterday. He will be greatly missed. He was both brilliantly funny and sharply insightful, a combination that is all too rare and incredibly important, and his nonstop questioning of authority and willingness to push at the limits of perceived acceptable humor were...well, inspirational. He was going to receive the Mark Twain prize in November, and I really can't think of a comedian more deserving of it. His wry humor and dedication to free speech and language were very much in Twain's tradition.
I first encountered his humor several years ago, in the book aisle at Target. I used to hang out there while my mom was shopping; one day I picked up one of his books, Napalm and Silly Putty, and proceeded to giggle like a maniac for the next 15 or 20 minutes. After a few minutes my mom came to join me; she picked up another copy and laughed with me. People were giving us very strange looks and hesitating to enter the aisle; we probably looked like deranged maniacs, but we weren't. He was just that funny.
Here's one of my favorite clips, a monologue on the Ten Commandments. You may or may not have heard it, but take a few minutes to watch it and mourn his loss.
Cross-posted at WTF is a Hoosier?
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