mumpish

I am watching, not without some sadness, George Carlin's final HBO special, It's Bad For Ya!. Carlin has been a regular, welcome presence in my life, from my youngest smuggled cassettes to this latest special. Of all the great entertainers I've been committed to - Watterson, Thompson, Hicks, Pink Floyd, Pratchett, Breathed - Carlin is the only one who has been willing and able to go the distance. His worst work was inventive and amusing; his best was brilliant and penetrating.

Watching this, it's hard to believe he didn't know it was his swan song. He's visibly aged from his last outing, moving much slower, and he's dialed way back on the vitriol of his last outing. He's not coasting; he concludes the show with a penetrating, cynical analysis of what rights are (and why they are fictional). But it's hard to watch this without thinking that he wanted to go out on a softer note and was aware of the importance of the tone of this performance.

Part of what makes me think that is the excellent interview piece in the special features. It's just a one-camera on Carlin, with the interviewer edited out. Carlin talks in depth about his place in culture and entertainment history, what he sees as three significant phases of his career, his writing and performance process and other fascinating details that are more introspective and personally revealing than I've ever seen him before. Intentional or not, it's a fitting capstone performance and an interesting DVD.