R.I.P., George

I woke up this morning and turned on CNN as I usually do and discovered that one of my favorite comedians, George Carlin, had died. Sad news. Like many people my age, I grew up listening to George. My mother was a huge Carlin fan and I can remember listening to his albums and watching his HBO specials often. Even with the "blue" language (as my dad would say), he was always a big hit in our household, even with my more conservative father. I often think that Carlin is where my own political consciousness began to develop -- and maybe that's what my more liberal mother was trying to accomplish all along. Who knows? I just know that he was a funny, funny motherfucker.

Here is George performing one of my all-time favorite monologues, one which I think of almost daily (especially as I continue to recover from my recent move) as I deal with my stuff .

BREAKING NEWS: I just read in the New York Times that HBO will be re-airing eleven of the fourteen Carlin specials that have aired on the network over the past 30 years. (Why only eleven and not all fourteen is beyond me.) Set your DVRs and TIVOs now, folks!!