How George Carlin Showed His Hair

Getting fired from the Frontier and the Playboy Club were catalysts in George's evolution, but more important in his mind was the realization that he himself was no longer in his own act. Biff Barf, the sportscaster, Congolia Breckenridge, and Al Sleet, the hippiedippie weatherman, were there. But George was missing.

He made this realization after taking acid. He mentioned it during his recent guest hosting of The Tonight Show, only to have it cut out of the tape. He also decided that for the present he didn't want to be an actor. He decided that after making a film called With Six You Get Egg Roll with Doris Day and Brian Keith.

His performances are now autobiographical. He doesn't refer to his work as an act but as a job, and on stage he mentions that originally his job was called "Fool." During his job he refers often to dope smoking simply because it has been an integral part of his life for so long. Lately, however, that has changed.

"I'm 35 now, and I started smoking grass when I was 15, which is 20 years, — my entire adult life. Which means like 20 years of eight to ten joints a day, plus about eight bottles of beer a day, because I was always into that at the same time. Then after 20 years of getting up every day and getting high and doing everything high, I would say, 'Well, I'm gonna walk down the stairs now, and wouldn't it be great to do that stoned.' After 20 years of that, I discovered cocaine and how good that was. And what was scary was that I discovered I could afford it.

"Then one night my wife Brenda and I went through some fine confessions and everything opened and we decided to cut it all out. We said, 'Well, we've been through the first half of our life stoned, let's try the second half straight.' And we did that for about two months. There were a number of reasons for it. For one thing, I was missing some jobs because of laryngitis. This German doctor would say to me. 'Don't use coke, because when you use coke you rap too much.'

"So Brenda and I laid off of everything for two months and then all of a sudden, we decided to celebrate the Carson thing and the Carnegie thing by getting high. And that was great too. So now we know we can stop and be off everything and then all of a sudden we might say, 'Hey, let's have another one of those weeks of getting high.' Anyway, I take a perverse delight in knowing that I never did a television show without being stoned."

What did hosting the Carson Show mean, besides a nice excuse to celebrate?
"Hosting The Tonight Show meant being turned down on having Ralph Nader as a guest because the show has too many Detroit sponsors. Being turned down on Jane Fonda and being turned down on Sally Marr, Lennie Bruce's mother. That was really the capper. I had to call Sally and say, 'Sally, you won't believe this. He's been dead for six years and they're still scared of him.' I'd like to host the show a couple of more times. Or do the Cavett Show if that comes up. And each time I'm gonna ask for Ralph Nader, Jane Fonda and Sally just so I can say I kept asking for them."

What did it mean to do Carnegie Hall?
"Well, Carnegie was important I guess because I grew up in New York and all that. Also because it was near the Copa which is the place I always hated working the most. If you have any intelligence at all it doesn't go over at the Copa. One time I worked at the Copa for three weeks and it was really hostile. I told the audiences I was a Dada humorist who had come there for their rejection."

It was much different at Carnegie. The Class Clown ran out in front of the packed house screaming, "Isn't this a great place to meet? Let's Meet Here Every Week." The audience was his for two solid hours. The only time they stopped laughing was when they applauded. George moved back and forth with far greater animation than Fritz the Cat in his cartoon form. Stand-up comic would be a misnomer for him. He's a gifted mime in perpetually hilarious motion. He trucked off after two hours and then trucked back on to a standing ovation, letting Biff Barf and Al Sleet finish the show for him.

Afterwards he went back to the Plaza where he and Brenda and their daughter Kelley and their dog Tippy stayed up until 10 the next morning rapping.

[From Issue 115 — August 17, 1972]