Carlin captivates crowd at Elliott with vulgar wit
Willie Karashin/Senior Photographer
Comedian George Carlin performs one of his classically raunchy comedy routines Saturday night in the Elliott Hall of Music.
By Ben Steckler Staff Writer
It was a typical comedy show Saturday night. A cable suicide network, the first enema and the total collapse of the known universe are standard topics in a comedian’s act. Well they’re standard if that comedian’s name is George Carlin.
The crowd that packed into the Elliott Hall of Music experienced what Carlin’s audiences have for 40 years, a show that was shocking, offensive and funny as hell.
Before Carlin took the stage comedian Dennis Blair gave the audience some more conventional material. Blair talked about beer, flying and rock stars before picking up his guitar and spoofing some of the audience’s favorite bands. Blair improvised as the crowd yelled out names, playing his own renditions of hits from the Dave Matthews Band, Jimmy Buffett and Metallica. While some of the material was dated and stale, Blair provided a decent half-hour of comedy.
As expected, once Carlin came out the show started rolling. Spouting a flurry of buzzwords from the new millennium, Carlin started off with an energy few 67-year-old performers possess.
"I’m an alpha male on beta blockers," Carlin said. The bit was a new piece of material he’s been trying out for his next HBO special.
After a few random jokes Carlin jumped into the topic that would dominate the first half-hour of his set, suicide.
Carlin threw out the idea of a new suicide channel on cable television. As he put it, "It’s probably the most interesting thing you can do with your life. End it."
He even outlined his network’s plans for sweeps involving mass suicide on broadcast network TV.
"When I think of network TV and suicide, I think of Fox," Carlin said.
Carlin was fascinated with one way of death more than any other, autoerotic asphyxiation, which provided the most outrageous moment in the show. Mimicking the masturbatory act, he spent ten minutes on the topic.
After a few fart jokes he offered his idea for a new and creative form of organ donation, an idea bordering necrophilia. From there, he described his idea of how the enema was invented and to offer some new song ideas to the audience.
"I’m sick of love songs," Carlin said. "How about a song about a fire in a daycare center," which brought a groan from the audience, "OK, a nursing home."
Carlin didn’t spend all of his set on complaints. He ended the show talking about something he likes, big fatal disasters.
He professed his love of tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes while always hoping for an asteroid the size of Pennsylvania to hit Pennsylvania.
As Carlin puts it, you can never have too many bodies.
"Another thing I like about a tornado," Carlin said. "After it no one can find their cat."
He ended the night by laying out a massive, hilarious doomsday scenario involving fire, viruses and the collapse of the known universe. A new universe would then spring up to replace ours where everybody’s Uncle Dave would have a winning lottery ticket every week and a satisfying sex life.
After four decades of comedy Carlin remains sharp, although having to rely on a paper to remember some of the newer material.
"I think he’s as strong as ever," said John Niwicki, who came to Purdue for the show. "He’s not losing it at all."
The night proved to be what one expects from a George Carlin performance, something that will be funny and audacious, but what it will be about is anyone’s guess.
"You never know what to expect from him," said Adrienne Szymanski, a junior in the School of Liberal Arts.
