George Carlin: Last Words - available November 10th

LAST WORDS
By George Carlin With Tony Hendra

For more than ten years prior to his death in June 2008, George Carlin had been working on his autobiography with Tony Hendra, one of the original editors of National Lampoon magazine and author of the bestselling memoir Father Joe. When Carlin died, Hendra approached Carlin’s family about releasing the book. Based on hours of taped interviews, drafts, and polished chapters from their sessions, LAST WORDS is George Carlin’s life story as it has never been told before.

LAST WORDS is pure, unadulterated Carlin—full of the wit, charm, and mischievous insight that made him one of the most iconic and admired comedians of the past 50 years. The book is an irreverently funny, yet deeply honest, story about George’s life, from birth to his childhood in Manhattan to life on the stage. It is told as only Carlin could. Carlin has published three New York Times bestselling books, including When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, Brain Droppings, and Napalm and Silly Putty. LAST WORDS is a fitting addition to his long list of accomplishments.

Carlin is candid about both his career and his personal life throughout the book, addressing his 20-year tax battle with the IRS; a decades-long struggle with cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol; and his run-ins with the law. Carlin also writes intimately about his family life, stemming from his nonexistent relationship with his father, and the inevitable complications that led to with his mother. His 36-year marriage to first-wife, Brenda, is discussed with honesty and vulnerability, and his relationship with their daughter, Kelly, is threaded throughout the book, giving readers a glimpse into what George was like at home as both husband and father.

LAST WORDS also delves into Carlin’s work as a stand-up comedian, and his acting aspirations, in which he offers a frank account of his talent: “I was devastatingly inept! There were no Oscars in sight.” In the end, the book is a celebration about a boy from Harlem who knew how to make people laugh and forever changed the face of comedy in America and the world.

George… on politics: I had a left-wing, humanitarian, secular humanist, liberal inclination on the one hand, which implied positions on myriad issues. On the other I had prejudices and angers and hatreds towards various classes of people. None of which included skin color or ethnicity or religion. Well—religion, yes. I used to get angry at blue-collar right-wingers but that passed because I saw that in the end they were just a different sort of victim.

…on values: The worst thing about groups are their values. Traditional values, American values, family values, shared values, OUR values. Just code for white middle-class prejudices and discrimination, justification for greed and hatred. I believe in giving everyone, as I encounter them, one at a time the full value of their dignity and their honor in the world. Whether I’m seen as a celebrity on an elevator or I’m just George the stranger, I open myself to them and I take them in and I give them everything I would want myself in terms of treatment, feeling and consideration. I call that a value.

…on being an individual: It always seemed to me that the reasons groups came together were superficial. The group didn’t feed me and I had nothing to contribute to it. I had a deeper goal, this giant puzzle to work on, which was only going to happen if they left me alone… The aloneness of the stage makes groups irrelevant. Few things dramatize the face-off between loner and group more starkly than the artist before the audience. And there’s no irony here. If this loner can’t get the audience to act as a group—laugh together—he’s fucked.

A screening of "Jammin' in New York

Wednesday November 4, 2009
The Actors Gang Theater
9070 Venice Blvd.
Culver City, CA
www.theactorsgang.com Presents as part of their "WTF? Festival" A screening of "Jammin' in New York" George Carlin's groundbreaking (and his personal favorite) HBO special, that captures the comedian at his best and illuminates the importance of this unique and irreplaceable American genius. The screening will be followed by his daughter Kelly Carlin reading excerpts from George's soon-to-be released memoir, Last Words and a reading of Kelly's own essays that illuminate what it was like to be his daughter back in the day.

Commenting on this evening, Kelly Carlin says, "I love this particular HBO special because it truly exemplifies my father's ability to go way out on a limb in service of making us laugh, think and hopefully wake up. I am thrilled to read from his memoir that will no doubt please his fans to no end, and then to share my own work, well, that is just icing on this very yummy cake. I am honored that The Actor's Gang invited us to be a part of their festival - they keep a large torch lit for all artists. And who wouldn't want to be part of a festival called What the Fuck?"

Bar opens at 7pm. Show at 8pm. tickets: $15.00 call: 310-838-4264 or: www.wtffestival.com

George Carlin: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Special Class Programs. The Emmys will air on September 20th on CBS.

GEORGE CARLIN CELEBRATED WITH THE KENNEDY CENTER MARK TWAIN PRIZE

The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize celebrates the life and humor of the late comedian George Carlin who passed away at age 71 on June 22, 2008. The announcement of Carlin’s receiving the Mark Twain Prize was made a week before the comedian’s passing. Carlin was delighted with the honor, and was looking forward to attending the ceremony. The award was presented posthumously for the first time in its eleven years.

Taped at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on November 10, the 90-minute special features tributes and comic testimonials from a star-studded cast of Carlin’s friends and colleagues including leading American entertainers Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Garry Shandling, Lily Tomlin, Denis Leary, Joan Rivers, Lewis Black, Richard Belzer and Margaret Cho.

LAST WORDS: GEORGE CARLIN’S MEMOIR

November 17, Simon & Schuster, Inc. will be publishing LAST WORDS;the memoir of legendary comedian George Carlin started writing ten years before his death with the help of bestselling author Tony Hendra. LAST WORDS is George Carlin’s life story as it has never been told before.

The voice in this book is pure Carlin with all the wit, charm, and mischievous insight that made him one of the most iconic and admired comedians of the past 50 years. The book is an irreverently funny, yet deeply honest story about George’s life. From birth to his childhood in Manhattan to life on the stage, it is told as only Carlin could.

Jerry Hamza, best friend and manager of Carlin quoted, “George’s material was cherished by millions, as public as his material was, his life was private, and nobody knew much about it. This book is going to reveal the man behind the material, and give readers their first chance to hear his whole story.”

New Release: It's Bad for Ya (DVD)

On November 25th, MPI Home Video is proud to announce the release of It's Bad For Ya, Carlin's Emmy nominated 14th and final HBO special from March 2008 on Blu-ray and DVD. It's Bad For Ya features Carlin's noted irreverent and unapologetic observations on topics ranging from death, religion, patriotism and big business to the pungent examinations of modern language and the "decrepit state of the American culture."

It's Bad For Ya also includes a 30 minute featurette titled "Too Hip For the Room", which is a wonderfully candid interview conducted by The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation's Archive of American Television program where Carlin speaks about his early influences, philosophy, comedic style, major career milestones, and his legacy.

Carlin said of It's Bad For Ya, "Doing new stuff is a point of pride with me. I can't do old material; I would feel like a failure. People may not consider it so, but stand-up comedy is one of the performing arts, and artists are supposed to grow and evolve over time. Through the years, my technique has sharpened, my writing has improved and even my observations have grown richer."

Buy It Here

New Release: Carlin On Campus (CD)

Now fans of Carlin will be able to examine that evolution with the CD debut release of CARLIN ON CAMPUS from Laugh.com. Long out of print since its 1984 LP release, CARLIN ON CAMPUS features such classic routines: Cars and Driving, An Incomplete List of Impolite Words and of course, Baseball and Football.

CARLIN ON CAMPUS was the first title released by the comedian on his own label Eardrum Records whose motto was 'Stick It In Your Ear' in 1984 and should not be confused with his 4th HBO special of the same name as the material on the original LP was different.

Buy it Here