Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 68. Kelly Carlin
Episode Date: September 14, 2015Writer, producer and performer Kelly Carlin joins Gilbert and Frank at the New York Friars Club to promote her new memoir, "A Carlin Home Companion" and to share treasured (and not-so-treasured) memor...ies of growing up with the man who forever changed and redefined the art of standup comedy, the legendary George Carlin. Also, Kelly hangs with Sammy Davis Jr., seduces Leif Garrett, borrows Farrah Fawcett's shampoo and recites the "7 Words You Can Never Say on Television." PLUS: Burns and Carlin! Burns and Schreiber! The "Danny Kaye Plan"! Otto & George! And Gottfried Sings Again! If you've got a car and a license, put 'em both to work for you and start earning serious, life-changing money today. Sign up to drive with Uber. Visit www.DriveWithUber.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Gilbert Podfried, P-O-D-F-R-I-E-D. You see, it's kind of a pun on the last name.
Ah, never mind. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast.
I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre, and we're here at the legendary Friars Club in New York City.
Our guest this week is a writer, actress, producer, monologist.
I knew I was going to fuck up monologist.
You got it.
Yeah, yeah.
I just, I got scared.
An internet radio host.
She was a producer on The Green Room with Paul Provenza
and hosts The Kelly Carlin Show on Sirius XM Radio.
She's also the only child of arguably the greatest stand-up comedian
in the history of the meeting.
In the history...
Should I do this whole shit over again?
Why don't you start again?
Yes.
Sorry.
It's going to be long.
Yeah.
I was so amazing.
You should have brought a change of clothes.
I actually have a change of clothes.
That's all good.
Take it in stages.
Yes.
Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast. I'm here with my co-host Frank Santopadre and we're here at the famous Friars Club in New York City. Our guest this week is a writer, actress, producer, monologist,
and internet radio host. She was a producer on The Green Room with Paul Provenza and hosts the
Kelly Carlin Show on Sirius XM Radio. She's also the only child of arguably the greatest stand-up comedian in the history of
the medium, the legendary George Carlin. Her one-woman show and her new book are entitled
A Carlin Home Companion, Growing Up With George. Please welcome the only guest we've ever had
with a master's degree in Jungian psychology
other than maybe Shecky Green.
Ladies and gentlemen, Kelly Carlin.
I'm going to need to talk to Shecky about that.
I had no idea.
Much more intellectual than you.
Wow.
I'm blown away right now.
Yeah.
You always think of him as an alcoholic getting beaten up by the mob.
Yeah.
Driving his car into a fountain in Vegas.
That's what you think.
But you're so wrong.
That's why he went into Jungian psychology.
Now, the last time I think we spoke was at the tribute.
No, we were naming the street.
Yes, last year they were naming the street.
Yeah, yeah.
Up on the Upper West Side.
My dad grew up on 121st between uh broadway and
amsterdam but the city the church wouldn't let us put the sign on that block because the church is
there so we had to go across the street you know whatever so are you basically lying where he
no no not technically because as my uncle his brother, said, yeah, we used to get high on all these corners.
And a shout out to our pal, Kevin Bartini, who worked so hard to make that happen.
I mean, really, it's all because of Kevin.
Thank you, Kevin.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Kevin.
Love him.
And I remember I was on a plane one time and I'm getting on the plane and I see George Carlin sitting there a few seats down.
And, you know, I didn't want to bother him to just sat in my chair.
And I see him get up from his chair and walk directly over to me.
And my heart's pounding, thinking, oh, George Carlin wants to talk to me.
And he says to me very quietly, yeah, I'm going to be working on some stuff.
I have to read some things and write some stuff out.
And then I'm going to take a nap.
So I can't.
So basically your father told going to take a nap. So I can't. So,
so basically your father told me to go fuck myself.
Oh my God,
Gilbert.
That is so my dad.
This man had an obsession with controlling his time.
And that's what he was doing.
He like had a plan.
He had a plan for the plane ride and he was like,
oh shit.
Now there's a comic on board.
He'll want to talk to me.
He'll want to talk comedy or whatever, and now I just have to let him know that I can't do that because I'm slightly OCD.
And, oh, my God.
God bless Daddy.
Because I remember thinking, had he just stayed in his fucking seat and not come over, I wouldn't have cared.
You wouldn't have bothered him, right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But now, now I'm like, like hurt for the rest of the flight.
And I'm sitting there feeling miserable for a six hour flight from L.A. to New York.
I feel horrible.
Oh, my God.
Can you tell me he gave you his info, though?
His phone number?
That you carried around in your wallet?
He did when it was getting near the end of the flight
when they announced they'd be making their
descent. He got
up and walked over to me and
handed me a piece of paper with his phone
number and said
next time you have
something airing on television,
I want you to call me and tell me
because I want to see what's going on in that mind of yours.
He loves you. He loved you.
Isn't that nice?
Absolutely.
And that was the sincere, generous part of my dad with comics.
He did that with comics that he loved,
and he loved connecting with them,
and he wasn't a very social creature, as you could see.
But he would have these moments where, you know, and I do know that he was a big fan of yours.
So there.
And I feel horrible because there's a few people whose numbers I've gotten over the years.
I've gotten over the years.
And like a few of them, one or two I called,
and I was always disappointed when something happened, you know?
And it's kind of like when a girl gives a guy a number and she goes, call me, call me.
Here's my number and here's my cell number.
And then you call and she goes, yeah.
And I've had
that with celebrities. So
I feel horrible that
I never called George Carlin
and Jonathan Winters
gave me his number and I never called
him either. Oh, Gilbert. That's a bummer.
And Norman Fell, right? Norman Fell
also. Wow. How could you
not call Norman Fell? Yeah.
It's a signature part of your act.
Yeah.
I wanted to.
But I had these other incidents where I called and I felt like, oh, God, maybe they just felt like you're supposed to give someone your number.
Well, that wasn't my dad.
Certainly not him.
But I really wish you'd called Jonathan.
certainly not him, but I really wish you'd called Jonathan.
Because once Jonathan gets your phone number, he calls.
I had the pleasure of finding this out.
I saw, oh, someone from Santa Barbara's calling.
Didn't know who they were.
Pick up the phone.
And Jonathan's in character doing the bit. And you have to jump in immediately and be a character with him
and improvise for 10 to 20 minutes
a bit.
And the whole time you're thinking,
oh my God, I'm fucking improvising
with Jonathan Winters on the phone right now.
It's a cool thing.
Yeah.
We had Paul Williams and Tracy Jackson on the show
and they were telling us that
toward the end of his life,
Jonathan Winters would just stand in the neighborhood
and just do bits for passers-by.
Just draw them in.
Yeah, oh yeah. I think that's what he did.
And then I had heard a story that
Cheech
Marin used
to go to this one supermarket
and he would see Jonathan Winters
going up and down the aisles
talking in different voices and being different characters.
And then he would have to walk over to him and go,
you know, I think you should just buy something and go home.
Wow.
Bless his heart, as they say.
Love, Jonathan.
And I remember, I guess the last time I saw your father was at, we were just talking about this, the Legends of Vegas, which they should have done for TV.
They must have been done it for TV, I'm thinking.
Why else would they have done it?
Was it a fundraiser?
No, I don't think so.
It was like Larry King was the emcee and your father and Jerry Lewis and Norm Crosby,
Shecky Green, a Jungian psychologist, and I think Phyllis Diller.
Yeah.
And I mean, I remember too, when I saw your father there, he gave me a very friendly hello and kissed me on the cheek.
There you go.
Yeah.
See?
So I should have called him.
You should have.
Praise from Caesar.
Yes.
You should have called him.
And speaking of Bartini and the dedication of the street, there was a club, there was a show that followed that.
Yes.
And I believe the man sitting across from me, my co-host.
Okay.
Can I just say?
Yes.
Gilbert, really, that night, I mean, it was wonderful.
We were all up there and everyone was getting up and doing their stuff.
And you got up there and, oh, my God, I still love you.
First of all, I don't think I had laughed that hard since my father died.
And you got up there and, oh oh my God, it was so beautiful.
Talked about all the reasons why you were happy he was dead.
And I'm crying.
I'm doubled over laughing so hard. And for about the first minute or so, the audience was not sure what to do.
minute or so, the audience was not sure what to do.
But once
I think they saw me laughing
as hard as I was, they relaxed
a bit. My dad would
have loved that bit.
It was, because it was
perfectly you
and it was taking advantage
of this earnest, could
be sappy, earnest moment
that you just love to stick
a huge stick into.
And you never stopped.
You went on.
I wasn't there, but I heard about it.
And on and on and on.
And it got more and more ludicrous and insane.
Yeah.
I kept talking about how I was praying that your father suffered to the end.
Suffered horribly.
And was praying to God to kill him.
Pure genius.
And I remember both what touched me is both you and your Uncle Pat.
Yeah.
Both said the same thing, that George would have loved that.
Absolutely. And your Uncle Pat. Yeah. Both said the same thing, that George would have loved that.
Absolutely.
And, like, thank you profoundly for doing the thing, for crossing the line for all of us, you know? And that's, it's funny that you mention that, because in interviews, for the many times I've gotten in trouble...
For the many times you've crossed the line.
Yes!
What you're talking about.
Not me.
I'm Red Skelton.
No, you're fine.
I always said, well, George Carlin said...
Well, can you...
You want to say the line?
No, you say it.
Okay.
I'm totally spacing.
Oh, yeah. want to say the line uh uh no you say it okay i'm like totally spacing oh yeah it's the duty
of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and deliberately cross over it yeah yeah
absolutely and and knowing that you're gonna you're gonna take people across the line with you
and they won't even know it has happened at some point. And as long as they're laughing,
most of them will be like,
oh, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Yes.
You know?
Because you give them permission.
And yeah, so crossing the line was everything to my dad.
Absolutely.
And you certainly hold that torch high.
That's a nice way of saying it.
I'm a nice person, Gilbert.
I'm a nice person.
And I thought it was interesting, because of Crossing the Line, like your father was a big fan of the Mox brothers.
Yeah, and the Ritz brothers, too.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, huge fan of both.
Yeah, the Ritz brothers, too.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, huge fan of both.
Yeah, the Ritz brothers too.
Oh, yeah.
My dad had such a – it was such a great education growing up with him because he loved all kinds of comedy.
He loved pure slapstick, goofy, silly shit, and the most subversive stuff you could imagine.
So, I mean, Otto and George, huge fan.
He turned me on to Otto and George.
Oh, the best.
Yeah, exactly. I'm glad you brought that up.
Yeah, yeah.
The best.
So, you know, yeah. I mean, it was always fun when my dad would turn me on to a comic, you know, because it was a certain angle of it that he couldn't do or that they were doing mining so well that they were representing that whole part of comedy you know so because i
remember um uh roger ebert was said his father used to take him to marx brothers movies and he
would give him like a wink and a smile at certain things they said like you you see how see how they
pushed it there you see how they yep see how they got away with something there?
Well, and they were like Shakespeare because, you know, there's the higher level conversation they're having.
And then there's the slapstick stuff for the groundlings.
Right.
So that's why they were so brilliant.
There's Groucho's comedy, which is very intellectual and very verbal.
And Harpo's physical.
Exactly. yeah.
It's so funny you mentioned Otto and George, which was an act.
And for our listeners that don't know Otto and George, find it immediately.
We lost Otto, I think, last year, which was terribly said.
George is in a home for puppets.
I guess technically we lost George, too.
There was a story, I don't know if it's apocryphal at all, about somebody.
You've heard this, about an audience member getting so angry that he attacked the dummy.
Oh, yes.
But that was taking filth to an art form, much in the way that your dad could do.
Yeah.
Could just, something like Mongolian Clusterfuck, that wonderful list that he reads at the end of Carlin at Carnegie.
Yes, yes.
Which is, again, I urge people to find it.
It's a wonderful list that he reads at the end of Carlin at Carnegie. Yes, yes. Which is, again, I urge people to find it. It's just wonderful.
Now, can you say the seven words, the seven words that weren't allowed by the FCC that you judged did a famous bit?
Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.
Yes.
I love it.
And if you're going back to Class Cloud, tits shouldn't even be on the list.
Of course not.
And if you're going back to Class Clown, Tid shouldn't even be on the list.
Of course not.
And then he added fart, turd, and twat.
Correct.
Yes.
Correct.
But the end of Carlin at Carnegie, which you should go back and revisit, he pulls out this list.
Like a scroll.
A scroll.
A scroll. A scroll. A scroll. And takes that idea, takes that tried and true bit and just turns it on its ear and does what?
Another 200?
Yeah.
That's so long that he's reading them during the credit roll. During the credit roll.
And then we ended up selling a poster with I think over 1,000 of them on the poster.
It's absolutely brilliant. great line that really explains censorship on tv where he said uh you can prick your finger but you
can't finger your pricks and it's poetry i mean he would do it in that poetic way yeah absolutely
it says it all and and you said in the book that uh when your father would ask his mother what a certain word meant.
Yes.
She would make him go.
My grandmother, Mary Beery Carlin,
she would make him go and look it up in the dictionary.
And my dad told this story many times.
And so one day he went to look up a word. No, she had, oh, what the hell is the word?
He looked up a word and he'd used it at breakfast and, oh, okay, hold on.
I got to get the story now.
I didn't know you were going to edit.
We'll do an edit.
Okay, wait.
So the word was peruse.
No, the word was, what the hell is the word?
Is it in here? Is it in Hendra's book? It's in Hendra's book peruse. No. The word was – what the hell is the word? Is it in here?
Is it in Hendra's book?
It's in Hendra's book for sure.
Wait.
Grandma – oh, cursory glance.
Okay, okay, okay.
Okay, cursory glance.
So my dad heard the word peruse and wanted to know what it meant.
So my grandmother, Mary Berry Carlin, told him to go look it up in the dictionary and he was very excited.
She would always ask him to use it in
a sentence or whatever. So he was very excited
and he comes down to breakfast
and he says,
so mom,
have you perused
the newspaper this morning?
And she says to him, why no?
I haven't given it a
cursory glance. once and so he like
had to go back to the dictionary and look up the word cursory that was his mother that's the sharp
mind she had she could tell a story also do all the characters and all of that and that was a
woman who very much fed him and and fed his obsession with language
and your father almost wasn't born yeah yeah this is very true yes uh grandma mary was at the
abortion clinic which was a very nice place it was dr sunshine at grammar Park, where all the ladies went to get taken care of.
And she's sitting in the waiting room, and she's reunited with my father's father, Patrick,
and they've had a torrid one-day stand at Rockaway Beach Motel.
They've been separated.
It's so romantic.
Yes, very romantic.
I always picture sand involved for some reason.
And she's sitting in the waiting room, and she looks up at a picture of the Virgin Mary.
Oh, she thought it was a sign.
And sees her mother's face in the picture and saw it as a sign and got up and looked at Patrick and said,
I'm keeping this child and walked out of the office.
Yeah, because I saw an online interview with your dad and he's talking about Locke.
Yeah, that was the first bit of Locke right there.
What a role Locke played in his career.
The HBO comes along just at the right time.
That's the perfect vehicle for his comedy, but even his life itself.
Yeah, absolutely.
Started out with a series of fortunate.
But I was also thinking, reading that story,
was that that's the kind of story your father would have heard
and thought, oh, what a piece of shit.
You know, like she saw the Virgin Mary.
Yeah, and that's the beautiful irony of it.
You know, here's a man who dismantled the Ten Commandments, and yet the Virgin Mary saved his life.
Yes.
It's so beautiful.
Ironic.
It's so beautiful.
So tell us, and Gilbert and I were talking about a million things, and we've got so many cards here and so many things we could cover.
We're talking about Jack Burns before you came in and so many different parts of your dad's career.
But it's safe to say, and we both read the book,
safe to say you did not have a conventional childhood.
Safe to say.
Yeah. Tell us about, I mean, you could start, tell us about the first time your mom sat you
down in front of the TV to see dad.
Yes. Mom was so excited because, you know, dad had been doing a little bit of TV here and there.
And so I was born in 63. So by about 65,
dad was getting rolling.
And I think he did the Tonight Show
at that point with Carson.
He'd already done it very early on
with Parr, with Burns.
But there was a Tonight Show
and there was some Merv Griffins
and things like that that were happening.
Whatever it was,
I don't know what the show was,
but my mother was very excited.
I was old enough to understand.
Daddy's out doing work or whatever.
Live TV, of course.
And she plops me down in front of the TV and the announcer says, and here's George Carlin.
And this little four-inch man comes up on this screen and it's my dad's voice coming at me.
And I freak out.
I am convinced he is stuck inside the little box.
I love that.
And I go, where's my daddy?
My daddy.
Didn't go over well.
No.
See, that sounds like you were on acid as a kid.
Aren't all kids on acid?
And gradually you got used to the idea that he was.
I did.
Gradually I did.
I absolutely understood that he has this.
But to capture some of what the book, I mean most of what the book is about, it's a very, safe to say, use the word tumultuous childhood.
I mean, it's a little like you growing up in days of wine and roses.
Yeah, a little bit. And yet, if all of us out there who have alcoholic or addict parents or
any kind of a dysfunctional childhood, that would be 99% of us. But it was the times too. The cultural shift really did
shape what was going on in my family. And here my dad was a kid who had smoked pot since he was 14
on the streets of New York, straight-laced comic, getting all the success, doesn't feel true to
himself. On the inside, he's hanging out with all his rock and roll friends.
They're all getting to speak the truth on stage.
My dad realizes he's entertaining the parents of the people he wants to be hanging out with.
And he, you know, he finally finds his true voice.
And that's 70-71.
And then, you know, it's the early 70s.
And the drugs were insane.
And that's how everyone shared their love back then.
Here's a packet of this.
Here's that.
Here's a joint.
And my dad comes from a solid Irish upbringing.
His dad was a raging alcoholic.
So there were some years there, about age 7 to 12,
especially between my mother's very serious alcoholism that almost killed her
and my dad's cocaine addiction,
there was some fucked up shit in my household going on.
But the thing about it is,
and the thing I really wanted to talk about in this book and really portray,
is that no matter what, we loved each other and we knew that.
And that got us through.
And that ultimately saved the day.
So even though there was a lot of chaos
there was a foundation of of real love the three musketeers the three musketeers that my dad my
dad called us it's touching one of the people not surprisingly who discovered your father
was lenny bruce yes lenny got my dad his first uh, Murray Becker, who managed all those guys. And yeah, Lenny saw my dad and told Murray Becker about him. And Lenny would tell club owners, you know, you should hire this guy. And Lenny was, you know, a god to my father.
Yeah, I mean, well, he was the original of like getting in trouble well yeah and i i mean i tell the story of my solo show um about how and i think i tell it in the book too about how in 1961 when lenny was arrested
in chicago both my parents were there they were just married and the cops were asking every the
cops were trying to hassle the club owner about underage drinking so they were asking for everyone's
id and they asked my dad for his ID and my dad and his typical
wanting to cooperate with the
police say, I don't believe in identification.
And they
promptly threw him in the back of the paddy
wagon with Lenny. When my dad
told Lenny, proudly told
Lenny what he had just done, Lenny
looked at him and said, what are you, a
schmuck?
And my mom chased that paddy wagon by foot all the way to the precinct and bailed him out of jail that night.
So my mom and dad and Lenny had a fun relationship.
Yeah, people talk about them a lot in the same thought.
Yep.
And it makes perfect sense.
I mean, without Lenny Bruce, there is no George Carlin.
So I guess they knew Lenny toward the end.
Yeah.
In fact, my dad visited him the day before he died.
Oh.
Yeah.
And they were shocked by all of that too but – and really pissed off about what the cops did and all that stuff.
Yeah, because for anyone who doesn't know, he was actually – he was getting in trouble for obscenity.
Yes.
I guess in the 50s.
And religion and talking about the church, too.
I mean, a big part of it was that.
And he was actually getting arrested for it.
Yeah, he would just wear his trench coat on stage because he knew he didn't want to lose his coat.
So he would wear his trench coat on stage knowing that they were going to arrest him on stage and that they would just take him away and they wouldn't let him get his own stuff.
So, yeah.
Another piece of lucky timing for your dad in a way because he came along just a little
bit after.
Yep.
And things had relaxed a tick.
A tick.
Right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
Where he wasn't going to be thrown in jail for talking about religion.
Except for in Milwaukee.
Except for in Milwaukee.
Right, of course.
Now, here's a point in your book that hit me.
And I remember as a kid listening – I used to listen to the radio a lot.
And there was – I think BAI at that point was like a kind of hippie kind of station.
Pacifica Network.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Very hippie.
And I remember hearing a song.
Maybe I heard it once and it stuck in my head.
And I thought, am I the only one familiar with this song?
Until I was reading your book.
And the song, pardon me if my Native American is a little rusty.
Wichita, ta, gimme ra, orinica, oranica, hey, nay, hey, nay, oh, rah.
All that spring spirit going round my head makes me feel glad that I'm not dead.
Wichita, ta, gimme rah, oranica, oranica, hey, oh, rah, no, oh, hey.
I sing it in my solo show. You do? Yeah, I do a whole scene around it. Unbelievable. Oh, Gilbert. G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A-R-A-N-G-A- to me. You were listening to BAI in those days?
Yeah, I was listening to everything.
Why not? Yeah, I had no life.
When I wasn't watching TV, I was
listening to the radio. Listening to
Native American songs. Boy,
until, and then I saw it in the book
and I just saw one word
and I said, I know that song.
You know he sings on
every show. I did not know that. I got my chance to sing. Thank God. Yes, I gave know that song. You know, he sings on every show, Kelly.
I did not know that.
So I got my chance to sing it.
Thank God.
Yes, I gave you that opportunity.
Wow.
If we can only find a way to put in some Paul Williams numbers, I can do my Paul Williams.
Oh, my God.
I'm blown away right now.
I was not expecting that out of your mouth.
Because you said you were at camp.
Yeah.
And they used to sing it.
Yeah, they sang it to me.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
There's some other stuff in there.
I don't want to talk too much about the substance abuse, but it's in your show.
It's in the book.
Well, and it's part of what built our, you know, the foundation.
I mean, you know, the book is really about the father-daughter relationship mostly,
but it's about the whole family.
And then it's about me finding my way
towards myself.
So, you know, I mean,
it's part of my story, absolutely.
I didn't want to go too Oprah on you.
It's okay.
But you should at least tell Gilbert
the son story,
because it's such a wonderful story.
So we, first of of all we've been in
hawaii on a hawaiian vacation that did not go well my parents like were brandishing knives at each
other they were trying to kill each other i i end up having to get them to sign a i write out what
i call a un style peace treaty to get them to calm down during the vacation so the vacation has been
rather not vacation-y.
The very next day we come home from vacation,
my dad walks into my room,
wakes me up and says,
Kelly, I have something important to tell you.
I was convinced we're getting divorced.
I mean, it has to be
because they've been trying to kill each other
for the last year.
Instead, my father says to me,
Kelly, I think the sun has exploded
and we have about seven minutes to live.
Wow.
And you know, it's your dad. I mean, I knew he'd been doing a lot of drugs. He'd probably been up
for four days. But when your dad's your dad, you think you think well maybe we should go and check and and so we
did we went outside and checked and i have to tell you when we got outside the sun it was one of those
la smoggy this is the 70s when la was really smoggy it was one of those la smoggy days
and the sun was really bright and it was kind of weird out and i thought wow maybe really this is
happening and so my dad's like you know what we
should really find out if anyone else notices that and he was like ready to call his friend
doc in new york here from the old neighborhood but then he says you know what the phenomena of
the sun exploding might be different on the east coast so we need someone on this coast
and so he calls his friend Joe Billardino in Sacramento
and has to explain to Joe over the phone
that, um, could you go
outside and check and see if the sun is okay
because I think it may have
exploded.
And being
a ten-year-old kid
sitting on the end of a bed, listening
to your dad, having this conversation with
a friend, you're thinking, really this, the sun hasn't exploded, it doesn't matter because my life is over as I knew it.
Oh, my God.
Was this a bad acid trip?
It was no.
I think he really had been up for about three or four days on cocaine.
Right.
And when he would stay up, he would stay up three or four days at a time.
I mean, at one point you found him.
He would stay up organizing his albums. Organizing everything. I mean, at one point you found him. He would stay up organizing his albums.
Organizing everything.
Everything.
You name it, he would organize it.
The story of you finding him,
and I guess he's been up three or four days at this point,
and he's organizing washers.
Yes, washers, screws, nails.
He's putting them in.
Sizes, usage.
I mean, whatever.
It had little drawers, this little thing with little drawers.
Oh, yeah.
He was slightly OCD,
so any kind of organizing was just, you know,
was his bliss.
So, you know, and when you're doing Coke,
things get tidy.
Right.
And I found out, I didn't know this,
that your father was in a comedy team.
Yeah, Burns and Carlin, Jack Burns,
who ended up replacing...
Well, he replaced Don Knotts.
Don Knotts.
Briefly on Andy Griffith's show.
Yeah, yeah.
Burns and Treiber.
Yeah, and Burns and Treiber.
Burns and Treiber were afterwards.
Yes, they were. They were in the late 70s.
Yes, because they were very
popular.
And Jack Burns is a genius.
And I can't get him to leave his house
to let the world know that he's a genius.
I know. He's in LA. He won't do anything do anything he won't do my podcast he won't come out for anything and he is a fucking genius he killed at my dad's memorial i'm like
jack you need to be out in the world doing this more often you just killed up there yeah i remember
it's like in that well with him and schreiber it used to to be like, cab, cab, taxi, cab.
It's a taxi cab.
You know?
Yes.
Didn't they do that kind of what, huh?
What?
Yeah, what?
Oh, shit, shit.
Yeah, they used to do that quick, back and forth.
Avery, people would know, maybe audiences would know Avery Schreiber
because I think he became the Doritos guy later.
Yeah, I think you're right.
He had a series of Doritos commercials where he would bite the chip.
Big, bushy-haired guy.
Yeah, he would bite the chip.
But Jack Burns, then, again, to our listeners, look him up because he had a great career.
And look up the early Burns and Carlin stuff.
It's out there.
Kind of Irish New England accent.
Very Irish.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, they met in, if I have my stories right, they met in a radio station in Boston.
I believe so, yeah, because my dad had stolen the radio truck to go score weed in New York City.
And they both got fired or something.
I don't know.
It's crazy.
Now, was it Jack Burns who produced Fridays?
Fridays.
Yes.
Well, he had the famous Andy Kaufman incident.
Oh, yes.
With a fake kind of.
Yeah.
Jack Burns.
Look him up.
Yeah, please. And tell Gilbert, and I don't fake kind of... Yeah. Jack Burns, look him up. Yeah, please.
And tell Gilbert, and I don't want to dwell on the...
But you keep dwelling on it.
What is that?
He apologizes and then he does it.
Because it's so riveting.
Kind of like saying to someone, hey, I never do this.
I'm just fascinated by it.
You're so cute.
You're 12 and you're having...
Thank you for saying that. You're 12 and you're having – thank you for saying that.
You're 12 and you're having a conversation with Sammy Davis Jr.
Oh, yes.
This is sort of another inappropriate joke.
So mom gets sober.
Yay.
She doesn't die because she almost fucking died.
She gets sober.
So we go to Hawaii for Christmas and we stay at the Kahala Hilton, you know, very fancy Hollywood place back in the 70s.
And when we arrive, we realize that Steve Lawrence and Edie Gourmet are doing the New Year's Eve show and Sammy Davis is part of it, too.
And, of course, dad knows all of them from Vegas and all those places.
So now, you know, we get to sit and have dinner with Steve and Edie and Sammy.
We have dinner and then they do the show and everything like that.
And it's schmaltzy, but it's great at the same time.
So at the end of the show, we're at some kind of party or whatever,
and dad's talking to Sammy and I'm standing there with dad,
between Sammy and dad, and they're talking about coke
and just what a horrible drug it is and how my mom was sober now
and dad's walking away from it and Sammy's like, yeah, man, it really took me over too and everything like just how what a horrible drug it is and how my mom was sober now and dad's walking away from it
and Sammy's like, yeah, man,
it really took me over too and everything like that.
And there I was, it was 75, so I was about 12
and I'm standing there
and as if it was perfectly normal
to have a 12 year old part of this conversation,
but I felt like it
because even though I had never snorted cocaine,
it was like, I really understood the insanity of the drug because I just watched my parents almost kill each other with it for four years.
Does it occur to your dad or Sammy Davis Jr. at any point to say, you know, maybe we should walk away from the 12-year-old?
No, darling.
Maybe we should get her an ice cream.
No, it's 1975.
We didn't – there was no boundaries in 1975.
And of course later – and this is the last I'll say about it, but I'm leading to a place that I know Gilbert will care about.
Later you had, you developed your own substance.
I developed my own liking of that particular drug.
And because I met a, well, you know, I experimented and had fun in high school, of course. I went to a very cool, hip high school in Santa Monica called Crossroads.
This was the time where you could get a note from your parents to smoke cigarettes.
It was back in those days.
So yeah, I experimented in high school.
And then I met an older man.
I was 18.
He was 29.
And he was very much into the cocaine.
And I fell into a large baggie of it for a few years myself.
I think it would be disappointing, in a way, if the daughter of George Carlin
didn't do a little of that.
It turned out to be Marsha Brady.
Yeah, exactly.
Hey, Gil, you love making good money, don't you?
No.
Okay, good.
No, I do it all for the art.
The love.
Yes. The passion. Yes, and when I make money, I't you? No. Okay, good. No, I do it all for the art. The love. Yes.
The passion.
Yes, and when I make money, I give it to starving nations.
Really?
Yeah, it all goes to charity.
Oh, I do.
You were so altruistic and big-hearted.
Well, here's a cool opportunity in the event you want to make money.
Yes.
And that's driving with Uber, which is the popular smartphone app that connects riders with drivers.
Now, your lovely wife, Dara, who produces this show, loves to use Uber.
In fact, here she is to tell a story.
Tell us, Dara.
A little testimony.
Yeah, I was in L.A. with Gilbert, and I use Uber all the time.
And I wanted to visit.
My sister was living in North Hollywood at the time, and Gilbert and I were in Hollywood.
So I wanted to quickly go visit her,
and I just used Uber,
and it was only $12 there from Hollywood to North Hollywood.
Very easy.
Got to visit my nephew for an hour
and turn around and go back and be with Gilbert.
It was a great, easy, easy experience.
I love it.
An easier experience than actually living with Gilbert?
That was not an actress, by the way.
That was the actual Darren Godfrey.
Tell us some of the attributes about Uber, won't you, Gil?
Yes.
If you drive with Uber, you can be your own boss.
You make great money.
It's easy to start.
All you need is a car and a license. And if you need flexibility,
if you're a parent or a student, you have it with Uber. You could drive between classes.
And now it's the prime time to cash in driving with Uber. You'll thank me for telling you how to get paid every week.
So if you're like Darren, you're stuck in Hollywood and you're in a situation in a tight spot,
you contact Uber. So what are you waiting for? You have a car, you have a license,
put them both to good use and start earning serious life-changing money today.
Sign up to Drive with Uber.
Lily?
Visit drivewithuber.com.
That's drivewithuber.com.
Drivewithuber.com.
Thank you, Lily.
And during one of these lost moments of your life, you wind up, and I have no fear about bringing this up because it's in the book, you wind up falling into bed with a teen idol.
Oh, yeah, that was in high school.
So I went to Crossroads. There was a lot of famous people's kids who went there and still do.
And we all hung
out with all sorts of Beverly Hills High
and all those stuff. And we had all
the money in the world, access
to everything and zero responsibility. Our parents
just gave us cars and money and I shared
weed with my dad. I mean, you know, it was
insane. Insane times. So
we end up
in a bad relationship with a
boy who is not nice to me and is kind of emotionally and physically abusive to me and not kind of he was.
This is the guy that you'd rather chase with a baseball bat.
Yes, exactly.
And so one day we're all hanging – I'm hanging out with myself and I'm hanging out with Griffin O'Neill, Ryan's son, Tatum's brother.
Trouble right there.
And I love Griffin to this day.
And Griffin's all clean and sober and great now.
But we were all troublemakers back then.
And Leif Garrett.
I ended up hanging out with Leif Garrett one day.
And my ex-boyfriend shows up.
And it's one of those abusive domestic violence things where you're
like yes no yes no yes no with the crazy person and so i make this decision that i'm going to
bed lafe garrett that night because i'll leave you there but it's so good by betting lafe garrett i
will somehow heal myself of all of the pain of this abusive
relationship.
So you weren't thinking
straight. No, it was an act of
great feminism, Gilbert.
I was going to put
a notch in my bedpost
and empower
myself.
And so we go out to Malibu
to Ryan and Farrah's house
because that's what you do.
Oh, yeah.
And we walk in
and I see the wall of Farrah Fawcett there
and there's all these pictures of Farrah
and I'm thinking this is a sign
of even more feminine power, empowerment.
Look how empowered she is.
I'm empowered too.
And so Leif and I, of course,
end up doing the deed on the couch.
And well, we were 17 and very high
and it wasn't the most fantastic sexual experience of my life.
Not that I'd had a lot to compare it to.
So then the next day we wake up and we sneak upstairs into Ryan and Farrah's bed.
And I want to say Leif redeemed himself.
And then I'm laying there on the bed thinking, okay, how fucking surreal is this?
I'm in Ryan and Farrah, Ryan O'Ne'neill and farrah faucet's bed having sex with
lafe garrett like it doesn't get more surreal than that and i'm and i'm george carlin's daughter like
the whole package is there and i'm thinking this is the most surreal moment i will ever have in my
life and then 10 minutes later we go into the bathroom to take a shower together and I say to Leif hand me the shampoo
and so he hands me Farrah Fawcett's
shampoo but it is actually
Farrah Fawcett brand
shampoo.
Love it.
And so I always end the story with
so there I was washing my hair
with Farrah Fawcett
brand shampoo under
Farrah's faucetett brand shampoo under Farrah's Fawcett.
That's such a great L.A. growing up a kid in L.A. story.
It really is the perfect story.
Celebrity kid.
It is.
You just can't help yourself.
And what was the story of your father chasing the guy with the baseball bat?
Well, I finally told my parents what was going on,
and my dad looked at me like,
why the fuck didn't you tell me
this before and the boy showed up a few days later and my dad went into his office and just kind of
you know put the baseball bat on his shoulder to kind of let him know and he just told him you know
you come near my daughter again i'll bash your fucking head in and for me it was you know a
profound moment because it was this like like my my dad showed up, like the dad.
It's parenting.
It was parenting. Yeah. Like he finally fathered me, you know, and it was,
it was, you know, it was, it was a really actually a sweet moment in my life.
I was thinking of a Leif Garrett song, by the way, when you were telling me.
Oh, I didn't.
I was made for dancing.
I was made for dancing all, all, all night long.
Bless your heart.
And that's when I realized he wasn't.
And Gilbert, you slept with Jack Wilde, right?
Yes.
So you have your own teen idol.
You can relate to that.
Now, your father was also court-martialed.
A few times, I believe.
I think if you look in his memoir,
actually, Gilbert,
next time you're in L.A.,
call me up.
You're coming over to my house and I'm going to show you the archives.
Because I have my dad's Air Force folder.
And then my dad wrote out on a list, on a specific piece of paper, where he started rank-wise, when he was promoted, and when he was demoted.
And it's like this little roller coaster ride of George Garland's military career.
Yeah, he was, yeah.
Not big on authority.
No.
Famously.
Thank God.
Yeah.
Why don't we talk about, well, I just want to talk about, too, since we brought up Burns and Carlin, I mean, that before we moved to the transformation, the big transformation.
I mean, he had a busy career when he was the straight George Carlin.
Sure.
When he was buttoned down George Carlin. I mean, it was not only Burns when he was the straight George Carlin. When he was buttoned down George Carlin.
I mean, it was not only Burns and Carlin, but he was hosting.
Well, but he went solo.
Paul and Carson.
Yeah, he went solo pretty quickly after Burns and Carlin.
Right.
And then, yeah, he, you know, he got.
He did a ton of stuff.
He did a ton of TV.
And he became the it guy.
He was the modern hip comic.
And he, you know, he had a ton of success. He was on That Girl. He was the modern hip comic. And he had a ton of success.
He was on That Girl.
He was on That Girl.
He played –
Cast by our friend Bill Persky.
Yes.
Who did this show.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shout out to Bill.
And your father, early on in his career, had the Danny Kaye plan.
He did.
He did.
He really seriously,
at age nine or ten...
Yeah, yeah.
If you listen to the show,
Danny Kaye comes up a lot
in the context you can imagine.
So dad sat in the movies as a little kid
and saw what he could do with language
and all of that
and the funny voices and the thing.
And dad said,
I want to be just like him.
And he came up with this career strategy strategy at age nine become a dj get good at that then become a stand
up and then they'll let me be in the movies like danny k and it is exactly what he did he became a
dj and then he became a stand-up and then he did some acting and hated it and luckily became more
better stand-up but then years later he, he kind of met Danny Kaye.
He did.
And so he – it wasn't even years later.
When he was a little boy, he waited out – he would take – they'd take the subway down to Times Square and all the Broadway shows.
And he was outside of some theater waiting for Danny Kaye in the rain for hours to get an autograph.
And Danny Kaye came out and blew
right past all of them. And my dad swore to himself that if I ever become famous,
I will never ever do that. And my dad stopped, would bring, let anyone come in, especially young
kids. If the kid came up with an album anywhere at any time, my dad stopped what he was doing
and would talk to
the kid have a conversation and sign whatever needed to be signed and and i think he said that
i think your father was watching like danny kade do these commercials for like unicef and knew what
a prick he was yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah some sort of ambassador to children, really. Yeah.
He was also famously good not only to fans but to comics, but to young comics.
And Gary Shandling told a story about George, your dad, giving him some feedback on some comedy material.
Yes. I think Louis Black was somebody else that he encouraged.
Louis is someone else, too.
Yeah.
A lot of comics, yeah.
And when I met him, he was great to me.
By the way, I met him at a signing at the Writers Guild for Napalm and Silly Putty.
And I found out after he died that not only – I mean I'd heard the Gary Shandling story because Gary told it publicly.
But I had young comics, open mic comics who were still open mic comics contacting me and saying, so I was writing for the college paper.
I interviewed your dad.
I told him I was a stand-up.
Your dad would check in with me every few months
to see how my open mics were going.
Wow.
Yeah.
See, Gilbert, you should have fucking called him.
I know.
You should have called him.
Think of how much help he would have been.
So all of this stuff is going on.
He's doing, I was telling Gilbert before, this variety show called Away We Go with Buddy Rich and Buddy Greco.
And he's on that girl.
There was some good weed on that shoot.
Craft Summer Music Hall and the Hollywood Palace.
Yes.
All the shows of the day.
All of them, yeah.
And Joey Bishop and the Smothers Brothers.
And then he decides, and the drugs are catalysts for this.
And then he drops acid.
Well, you have that great line in the book where you say America was falling in love
with George.
America had fallen in love with George Carlin just in time for him to have fallen out of
love with them.
It's great.
Yeah.
He tells the story.
Yeah.
And so, obviously, the pot and then the cocaine, or maybe it's not cocaine at that point.
No, no cocaine at that time.
No, the acid really, you know, he says pot and acid, any kind of psychedelic is a values shifter. And he realized at that point, what the hell am I
doing? I am entertaining the parents of the people I'm hanging out with. My dad was in between the
two generations. He was over 30 when he made the change and the shift. And yet he related to all
these 20-somethings going through all that stuff.
And he went to my mother.
Well, he got fired twice from Vegas.
And he went to my mother and he said, I can't do this anymore.
And my mother had just put a deposit down on a beautiful home in the San Fernando Valley.
But she saw the pain he was in and she said, okay, let's go for it.
And they did.
Well, didn't he say, I'd be happy if I just play coffee houses in colleges for the rest of my career?
Yeah.
So the transformation, you say in the book, he went in for hernia surgery.
Yeah, came out. I didn't shave while he was in the hospital.
He came home with a beginning of a beard.
It kind of scared me.
When you're a kid and your dad looks different suddenly,
because I was 70, I was only six or seven,
and he never shaved the beard from that day forward,
and then started growing his hair.
He'd already had those sideburns.
He was kind of already faking the long hair
with the sideburns, you know,
and the little bit of length in the back, you know,
but it was still short hair.
It's pretty cute. And I love this length in the back, but it was still short hair. It's pretty cute.
And I love this line in the book.
When he was still doing the straight-laced comedy
and he was still buttoned down George,
and Gilbert will appreciate this,
he says,
if Cesar Romero dances past me one more time
in one of these clubs,
because he hated playing, at that point, the copa,
and he got himself fired at the copa,
Jules Podell banging the ring,
and the whole thing. Lying Jules Podell banging the ring. Oh, God.
And the whole thing.
Lying on the stage and reading underneath the piano just to get fired.
And the Playboy Club would not fire him no matter what.
And doesn't he drive to Chicago to meet Hef?
Yeah.
Because he figures Hef is a...
Hef understands.
Right.
And Hef says, there's two Hugh Hefners.
There's the Playboy, and there's the businessman.
Sorry, you're fired.
Hef still owes us twelve
hundred dollars but really never paid my dad for that and supposed to in the contract anyway
interesting so so much for the danny k plan thank god he was good at stand-up
and then am and fm which is the which he comes out with the album right which was brilliant
because it was like here's the old George. You all know him.
You remember him.
This is the one side.
And here's the other side.
Here's the new George.
I mean, what a beautiful, smart way to transition. He ushered everybody through.
Yeah, he held their hand through it.
And can you read the portion from your book?
Your book is, of course, a Carlin Home Companion Growing Up with George.
Wait a minute.
I got it marked.
All right.
Is this the part about you?
Is this the you part?
Yes.
Oh, good.
Excellent.
Hold on.
Of course I can.
We'll cut because I lost my spot.
All right.
It's in the ashes.
Hang on, Gil.
Here it is.
All right.
Here it is.
All right.
So just to give you a little context, my dad gave me 30 days to get rid of his ashes.
And, of course, I knew exactly what I was going to do.
I was going to go to New York and spread them all over town.
So here's the bit.
So Bob and I arrived at JFK late in the day on July 18th.
After we checked into the hotel, we immediately headed downtown to the Club Comics
to see Richard Belzer.
Belzer was making a rare appearance that night
and had arranged for us to see the show.
As I sat there, oh, and by the way,
I didn't know any comedians until my dad died.
Just want to make that context.
Belzer called me and said,
welcome to the family, you're coming to New York,
I'm going to take care of you.
So that's how that happened.
So as I sat there watching Belzer on stage, I was hit hard with the realization that I would
never see my dad on a stage again. While everyone in the club was laughing, I was crying. After the
show, we headed toward the dressing room. Before I could open the backstage door, Taylor Negron
came walking out. Taylor and I had met at a spoken word gig in Los Angeles the year before.
I was very fond of him.
He's a great human and a fantastic writer-performer.
We hugged.
I knew I was home, safe and sound with family.
And that feeling grew as I made my way into the dressing room.
Belzer was so lovely and kind.
Then Gilbert Gottfried came out of the bathroom.
I was a huge fan. So lovely and kind. Then Gilbert Gottfried came out of the bathroom.
I was a huge fan, but he also made me nervous.
I can't explain it really.
It feels like he's from another planet.
And so I'm never sure what he's going to do or say.
Richard introduced us and Gilbert asked, what are you doing in New York? I'm here to spread my ashes, I said. And Gilbert said, do you have any on you now? Now, I had put a small Ziploc bag of
ashes in my purse before I left the hotel room, knowing we'd be near Greenwich Village that night
and maybe there'd be a chance to spread them at the bitter end.
But I lied to Gilbert and said no.
I lied because I really didn't know what he would do
if I had said yes.
I feared he might eat them.
Gilbert then asked me,
whose career is more dead,
mine or George's?
Without a beat, my friend Amy said,
yours, Gilbert.
Everyone laughed, and I realized,
yes, these were my people.
That's touching.
I love it.
That's, of course, in your new book, a Carlin home companion.
Yes.
I just want to talk, too you real quick about the second change
for your dad
because we're just
running out of time.
Yeah, yeah.
There's so much to cover.
I know.
First of all,
there's so much to cover
in the book.
But people get to read that.
Yes, yes.
And hopefully you're going
to bring your show
to New York.
I would love to.
It would be fantastic.
But his career is so long
and so varied.
And then the specials themselves you could do an hour and a half just on the content there.
But since we're talking about the big change from button-down George to more radicalized George,
then there's a change even later, which Gilbert and I were talking about,
where if you look at Carlin and Carnegie and Carlin on Campus and the early HBO specials,
it's kind of the hippie George.
Yeah, and the ops are very observational.
But then comes the turn.
I guess it's jamming in New York.
I would say so.
Even the show before that in 90, you start to see it.
He starts to talk about politics in the one, which I think is What Am I Doing in New Jersey.
doing in New Jersey.
But yeah, because in the 80s, you know, he kind of, when he talked about that part of his career, he said, you know, given the chance to bend back around toward the middle, I took
it.
And he had a big tax debt.
Oh, that's when he was returning to appearing on the old variety shows like Tony Orlando.
But then he saw Sam Kinison and saw Sam screaming at the audience.
And he realized, oh, we've lost the audience,
and we have to wake them up.
We have to get their attention.
And look at what Sam's doing.
And he was very intrigued by Sam.
And my dad, I didn't really realize this until later,
but my dad would see something like that,
and maybe, Gilbert, you feel this way too.
It's like, now I have to raise the bar like now uh-oh my game has to get better too and that's what happened to
him he knew his game had to get better and he started going in this direction where he could
really really let his rage feed his comedy and wasn't there a point that uh your father just kind of like
became just part of the norm yeah that was that was the 80s i mean definitely he kind of you know
he was trying to pay the bills and everything and he uh wanted to i mean he had to pay the bills
yeah you know and and so he was ended up, you know, like, Tony Orlando and Don
Christmas specials
and shit like that.
Well,
that's the point
that he sees Rick Moranis
parodying him
on SCTV,
which must have been painful.
Devastating to him.
Devastating.
Realizing now I'm a...
Yeah,
now I'm being made fun of.
Or at the very least,
I'm old guard.
And then,
so we're getting the rights to that
for my solo show because I played on my solo show,
the Rick Moranis thing.
So we have to find Rick Moranis.
He has the rights to all that stuff.
Rick calls me up to say,
I can't believe I hurt your dad's feelings.
I never meant to do that.
We were just joking in the room and I wanted to do him.
And he had no
idea what a devastating effect it had.
And so Rick called and talked to me for like
45 minutes about the whole thing.
Rick's a very sweet man.
Pretty much retired from the business at this point.
I believe so, yeah. So in Jammin' in New York
and the one before it in
What Am I Doing in New Jersey, I mean the full social
critic, the social and political
critic emerges. It's a different George Carlin. What am I doing in New Jersey? I mean, the full social critic, the social and political critic.
Shows up.
Yeah, emerges.
And it's a different George Carlin.
For sure.
And the Jammin' show was my dad's favorite show.
And I believe it is probably one of the most perfectly crafted bits of hour of comedy ever. It's got the stuff that you're used to and the airline stuff and the languages and, you know, the moving train bit and all the observational stuff.
But it opens up with an attack on Bush.
Yeah, yeah.
Reagan's gang, I think, was the name of the bit.
Yeah, yeah.
And all of the criminals that were in Reagan's cabinet and how none of these people are in jail.
Or a lot of them did get indicted.
And, yeah, he went right for it.
And the Gulf, I mean, this is, you know, this is Gulf War, you know, territory and all of that.
So, yeah, it was thrilling to watch.
It was a thrilling moment for me to watch because nobody was doing anything like that.
And he was stepping over that line we talked about earlier.
And yet doing it with his normal deftness, his poetry.
But now there was, you know, we had all survived the 80s somehow and he was
he was speaking that rage
that we had all been keeping in for 10
years and he was just letting it go
it was beautiful
it's funny that you asked Gilbert that before
did you ever, the Kinison analogy
did you ever find in your journey
or all the years you've been doing stand up
that the audience, you had to turn the act a little more
extreme to keep people's attention?
Yeah, I notice that each time I go on stage.
I knew from his expression where he was going at.
I mean, when you started, you were doing impressions.
Yeah.
But the act became more and more outrageous.
Oh, yeah.
Was that to satisfy you or to keep people's...
Yeah, I have no idea.
I've never...
Like I told you about that line, it's the duty of the comedian.
I always said what appealed to me about that is he said duty.
So he was never that intellectual.
And the later specials, and we were talking about this before you came in,
he found it interesting, and I did too, in the book that you talk about,
I think it's Life is Worth Losing,
where you thought even he had started to cross the line into a little bit.
I was worried about him.
I was worried about his heart and his soul. I was physically worried about his heart and all that anger,
which is really not good for heart patients.
And I was worried, like, has he really given up on all of us?
Like, has he really given up on the species?
Because guess what, Dad?
I'm 40-something, and I get to be on this planet,
hopefully for another 20 to 40 years. So could you root for us a little bit? Could you root for me?
You know, and I felt a little left out. I never voiced that to my dad because as you'll, when you,
when you read the book, you'll find out we didn't do a lot of talking in our family about things
like that or anything. But, but yeah, I was, I was worried. I was worried about him. And, you know, at one point I confronted him and I did say, you know, Dad, if you've really given up on everything, then why do you bother going out on a stage and talking about this stuff?
he really took that to heart and really thought about it and eventually came you know said you know you're right um i'm a broken-hearted idealist and if you scratch the surface
of a cynic you will find a broken-hearted idealist and he did in 1972 when mcgovern lost he knew it
was all over he never voted after that And he just kind of checked out.
And then that just increased over the decades
with all the insanity going on in this planet.
So, and, you know, that position he had
about being able to be outside of the species
and the planet and look back,
that gave him a lot of artistic freedom.
And I understand that, you know,
it's important to have that.
And personally, he didn't
give up on anybody or anyone individuals he loved but he knew kind of this is a very interesting
uh biological experiment we've got going here as human beings so he didn't like groups and
definitely groups right he said in some interview that everybody's if you meet them by themselves, they have a certain decency about them.
Yeah.
But if they go with one other person...
Just one.
It's all it needs.
It didn't mind audiences.
Three.
We're fucked.
Yeah.
There's an interview online,
which of course you've seen,
with Sonny Fox
and the radio Sonny Fox,
not the old Wunderama host Sonny Fox.
Yes.
Where he's talking about that very thing.
And he asked him, do you really give up?
Did you really give up?
And he said that it was disappointment in what happened to the species.
It is disappointment.
That we went in the wrong direction.
We did.
We did.
And, yeah.
But how many artists get to have that many acts in their life that he went from?
Look at the –
It's a great point.
And I think it is what makes his story so rich, his particular story.
And I think it's inspiring for any kind of person who's an artist or person in the performing arts or whatever.
Because you can evolve.
You can reinvent.
And you should.
Because look at how rich it was for him.
Each time he evolved, he went deeper and his audiences got bigger.
Always different.
Always different.
And prolific.
I mean, nobody turned out more material.
The man was writing all the time.
Consummate craftsman.
Yeah.
I just had one last question
Does it bother you when so many things on the internet
Are attributed to George Carlin
It drives me fucking crazy
It's everywhere
What can you do about it
At first I wanted to correct every single one of them
And then I realized I will never win this battle
So what I do now is if I find
A really egregious one
Like earlier this year one of the neocon, big neocon groups like the Heritage something or others, took one of my dad's quotes, which is about how business, the owners of this country, and I don't know the whole quote, but if you guys go find the owners of the country, George Carlin, he's got a whole bit about big business.
They changed the word business to government
and they put it up as a
poster meme on Facebook.
It completely changes the whole fucking
meaning of the quote. It's a bit about the owners of America
don't want an informed
society. That's why
education sucks.
It's not even about the education one. It's the one about
business. Anyway, the business owners.
So anyway,
so what I do
now is when I see something like that
is I sick the fans
on those people.
I go onto social media and I have
this army because they are
rabid, loyal fans
of my dad's.
And they've become fans of mine.
And I'm just so touched by how much they want to protect me and all of that.
And I sick these legions of George Carlin fans on these neocons and these Christians and all this stuff.
And it's very fun to watch then.
It's a big show.
Last question.
You got a last question?
Yeah. It's going to be about him question. You got a last question? Yeah.
It's going to be about him.
I'm so afraid now.
Do you like to suck cock?
Not as much as I used to.
Well, like if it was a comedian.
Oh, definitely not.
Yeah.
if it was a comedian.
Oh, definitely not.
Yeah.
What if he... What if he was a voice
in a Disney car?
Still a fan?
She's thinking about it.
What character?
Only a lead.
Yeah, it would have to be.
Only a lead.
Sorry.
Oh, wait.
No.
Well, that might work out.
Here's an impossible question to answer before we go.
Favorite, you can't pick it, but I'm going to ask it anyway.
Favorite routine?
Can you boil it down to one?
I love the little goofy shit.
Me too.
He would do.
So, you know, the dogs and cats bit.
There's just moments in that.
But also when he, like the last, I don't know how many HBO shows,
when he would come out and do the declaration line.
He would come out and, you know, the first one was, you know, why is it that the people who are against abortion are the people who want to fuck anyway?
These big declaration lines.
Right.
Loved that too, but really loved the goofy shit.
Okay, favorite bit.
Segmented walking farts.
That's a great one. That's a great one. Because you've got to love a goofy shit. Okay, favorite bit. Segmented walking farts. That's a great one.
That's a great one.
Because you've got to love a fart joke.
He made them into an art form.
He did.
I love, you know, what is it, the National Pancake?
Oh, fuck waffles.
Fuck waffles.
Fucking A, man.
One of my favorite things.
I love the bad hair day bit.
I think that's on Carlin and Carnegie.
And, you know, for larger bits, more satirical bits or more pointed bits, you mentioned, you referenced it before, the two commandments.
Taking the Ten Commandments and he boils it.
It's brilliant.
It's real artistry.
And then there's Modern Man.
Modern Man is great, too.
Which is, you know, I mean, it's just incredible.
And I loved his line where he said, God is the leading cause of death.
I loved his line where he said, God is the leading cause of death.
Oh, and you know, and I could only get away with this on your podcast.
Go for it.
You know the shooting in the church?
Yes.
My dad had a bit about it.
He kept saying, I can't wait until there's guns in churches and they start shooting those motherfuckers.
Now, of course, he would have not have been happy that it was a white racist in a black church, but the minute that news story came up, I thought,
Dad, you fucking got what
you wanted.
I mean, and it breaks my heart,
and yet I thought, he always
predicted this shit. He predicted a lot of
things. He always predicted this shit.
He was so prophetic, so
it's the most distasteful thing I've said
in a while, but I did. I thought of my dad when that news story came up.
Well, you could get away with that on this show.
Of course I could.
This show is all about taste.
Because Gilbert just asked me to suck his fucking dick.
It's becoming a pattern on this show.
What made you give up sucking cock?
Nothing.
But when you're in your 50s,
you're like, Jesus, I've had enough of this.
Goddamn Pfizer.
I'm sure men going down on their
wives gets a little old
at 50.
I have nothing to say to that.
I'm a newlywed.
So glad I made Gilbert laugh. You did. I'm going to say to that. I'm a newlywed. So glad I made Gilbert laugh.
You did.
I'm going to plug the book.
Thank you.
You plug the book.
You're the host.
Oh, okay.
The book is called...
A Carlin Home.
Well, see, that's the second part of the book.
I don't read this shit.
A Carlin home companion growing up with George.
And our guest today was George Carlin's pride and joy and someone who doesn't suck cock anymore.
No, I didn't say that.
I didn't say ever.
So you will be willing to suck cock.
I'm willing to suck cock.
Of course.
So Kelly Carlin's daughter is still willing to suck.
Kelly Carlin's daughter?
Yeah, yo, Kelly Carlin.
George Carlin's daughter, Kelly Carlin, I want to announce right here and now, is still ready to suck cock.
My husband will be so happy about that news.
He's got the kilt.
It was perfect. in Colossal Podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre at the Friars Club
where Kelly Carlin
is willing
to suck cock.
Thank you, Kelly Carlin.
I was going to end
on a softer note.
It's okay to eat pancakes
for dinner.
And that shows
the contrast of this show. I love you both. Thank you, Kelly. I say it's okay to eat pancakes for dinner. And that shows the contrast of this show.
I love you both.
Thank you, Kelly.
Thank you.
I say it's okay to suck cock, too.
For the fifth time.
Thanks, Kelly.
I say this to a lot of guests, but you really were a sport.
Bye. If you like listening to comedy, try watching it on the internet.
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