Carlin's Last Laugh

The very last comedy album from George Carlin is due to be released today, CNN reports.

And the album apparently pokes fun at death. Carlin died of a heart attack on June 22.

The album is titled "It's Bad For Ya," and CNN reports that Carlin was "particularly pleased with the material."

Reportedly, his daughter Kelly calls it a return to Carlin's "playful goofiness."

If so, it's an appropriate farewell from one of the great comedians of all time to the adoring audience he left behind.

But we also get hints that this album — and Carlin's final HBO special that aired in March — only scratched the surface of Carlin's wit and wisdom that was never shared with the world — and, now, never will be.

"Definitely some people who are close to me who have seen this show, and have seen a lot of the others, feel this is my best stuff yet," Carlin told the Associated Press a few months before he died.

We are fortunate to have so much of Carlin's brilliance preserved in audio and video recordings.

But if you want to take flowers to his grave, you're out of luck. According to CNN, Carlin was cremated, and his daughter and brother scattered portions of his ashes in different places that were special to him.

Seinfeld's Tribute to Carlin

Last night, I was watching the tribute to George Carlin on Larry King's show on CNN.

One of his guests was Jerry Seinfeld, and it was during King's Q&A with Seinfeld that he revealed that he had written an article about Carlin that would appear in today's New York Times.

Now, I was never much of a Seinfeld fan. I guess I liked him better than some of King's guests last night — like Roseanne. But I like Lewis Black and Bill Maher, and they both shared some memories of Carlin and insights into his personality.

So, too, did Seinfeld. And I think his article has resonance for me, especially because of an observation he makes:

"I became obsessed with him in the '60s," Seinfeld writes. "As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story."

Seinfeld also talks — as everyone else does — about Carlin's "cutting edge" comedy. That really goes without saying, considering the Lenny Bruce-like legal problems he had over his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television" routine.

(That routine, by the way, seems almost pedestrian by today's standards. And it's been more than 30 years since he recorded it. But you still can't say those words on TV!)

But, in both the article and the King show, Seinfeld was in awe of Carlin's "precision." He was always very precise, and he seemed to get better at that as he got older.

"To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality," Seinfeld says.

Read Seinfeld's article.

Read it if you admired Carlin.

Read it if you never watched one of Carlin's performances or listened to one of his records.

And if you missed him while he was alive, more's the pity.

George Carlin Dies

It's the kind of news I feel a need to confirm.

And, once I've confirmed it, I still find it hard to believe.

Comedian George Carlin died yesterday in Santa Monica, Calif., of heart failure.

He was 71.

No one lives forever, but it's hard for me to imagine a world without George Carlin in it.

He always gave me a laugh when I needed it, and my memories of listening to his recordings are intertwined with my memories of other people who were significant in my life.

Many of those people are, like Carlin, gone now.

It's hard for me to pinpoint the very first time I heard Carlin's routines or saw him on TV. He went from being one of the generation of young comedians influenced by the groundbreaking comedy of Lenny Bruce to being an inspiration for the next generation of comedians. I can't remember a time when his comedy wasn't part of my life.

So I guess things came full circle for Carlin.

And, as I reflect on the mark Carlin's comedy has left on my life, I'm reminded of one of his routines from one of his early records, "FM & AM," in which he reflected on the greatness of Ed Sullivan.

"No one got a chance to thank Ed," he said, pointing out that Sullivan's long-running variety show was canceled after it went into reruns so no one associated with the program knew that the last show that season truly was the last show.

In much the same way, no one got a chance to thank Carlin for all his years of making us laugh — and making us think.

Thanks, George. For everything.

Harvey Korman Passes Away

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"A world without Harvey Korman -- it's a more serious world."

Mel Brooks

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There were moments in Harvey Korman's career that will live forever through the magic of video tape and DVD.

Korman died at the age of 81 on Thursday, succumbing to complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago.

My memories of his career are mostly from his years on The Carol Burnett Show, a classic from that nearly extinct genre, the variety show.

Burnett's show was on Saturday nights. Today, when a show is relegated to Saturday night, it's a sure sign that show is disposable.

In the 1970s, Saturday nights were like pure gold for CBS, which gave viewing audiences an entire evening's worth of classic entertainment every week, starting with "All in the Family," followed by "M*A*S*H," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Bob Newhart Show," and, finally, the hour-long "Carol Burnett Show."

"We were an ensemble," Korman said, "and Carol had the most incredible attitude. I've never worked with a star of that magnitude who was willing to give so much away."

Korman made people laugh every week for a decade on that show before leaving it to seek success as the headliner on his own variety show.

That wasn't his niche, however. He was more suited for being part of a comedy team, whether it was in his Mel Brooks movie roles or his classic sketches with Burnett or Tim Conway.

"It takes a certain type of person to be a television star," he said. "I didn't have whatever that is. I come across as kind of snobbish and maybe a little too bright. ... Give me something bizarre to play or put me in a dress and I'm fine."

It's a funny thing. When you see something on TV or in the movies that is destined to be regarded as a "classic," you know it, even when it's new and you're seeing it for the first time.

Korman's performances were like that.

I was a teenager when I watched Korman in Brooks classics like "Blazing Saddles." I was even younger when I watched him during his early years with Burnett.

Even 35 years ago, I knew they were classics.

And I will always remember his comic genius -- as well as sharing it with the people who meant the most to me.