American Dream

May 23, 2022

“They call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

-George Carlin

 

Absolutely brilliant. #MustSee

Directors: Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio

Personally, a microcosm of my own cultural history, from John Davidson, to Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffon, Michael Douglas, Johnny Carson, first SNL in ’75, and every comedian who was influenced by his work and intellect. Fourteen years after Carlin’s death, his material remains relevant and vital, as the directors illustrate with their remarkable editing, and why Carlin often still trends today with his stand-up soundbites. KQED calls the documentary ‘revelatory.’ Indeed.

The examples of just how many things Carlin got right and/or predicted over the course of his nearly 50-year career are too numerous to list here.  But as W. Kamau Bell notes in the second half of this two-part, three-and-a-half hour documentary: “I mean we all love Lenny Bruce. But no one’s sharing a Lenny Bruce bit to explain what’s happening in the culture right now.”

Jon Stewart:

“I still refer to him all the time, which for a comic … I mean, comedy is so ephemeral in so many ways. It takes him out of the class of pop star and puts him in the class of Bach and Beethoven and classicists—people that created something that was timeless because it wasn’t based on a moment, it was based on a deeper truth.”

More from KQED: ‘George Carlin’s American Dream will expose you to myriad truths—about life, about comedy, about power, about pain. Some of them hurt, some of them entertain, but all, presented through Carlin’s eyes, feel inspiring, motivating and, frankly, like a kick in the ass. Even 14 years after his death, Carlin’s words still have the power to give us a jolt. It’s up to us now to figure out what to do with them.’

He became his ‘authentic self’ on stage and with his material after, as Stephen Colbert shares in the documentary, he went from the Beatles’ ‘Love Me Do’ period, to the ‘White Album.’ “He is the Beatles of comedy.”

[“He created the scientific method for comics.” Comedians Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Hasan Minhaj, Sam Jay,Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr and many more share how the legendary comic influenced their own work.]

A perfectly beautiful archive of Carlin’s work, what he meant, and still means, to our culture and to all of us.