I performed at a showcase in Florida where a Carlin impersonator came out and did some of Carlin’s classic bits verbatim. No one laughed. They just curiously gawked. They all seemed to be saying, “Dude, what the fuck are you doing?”
Yes! Empathy is so missing in this country. I wish that more schools focused on social-emotional learning and paying attention to fostering empathy in children and teens so that they can grow to adults who actually change things around here!
My Mount Rushmore of comics- Dave Chappelle (I know, that's a controversial one, the older stuff), Michael Che (Michael Che Matters is my favorite, but I love everything he does), George Carlin (his bit about abortion is the most brilliant piece of stand up IMO), and Wanda Sykes (such a uniquely smart voice and perspective as a gay, black woman)
Feb 3·edited Feb 3Liked by Kelly Rafferty, W. Kamau Bell
Hi Kamau, I think I have met you before in Berkeley....anyway, I can really appreciate your outlook.
Bill Hicks was brilliant, yes like Lenny Bruce. The video with Bill Hicks was so telling about how people get mixed up about what art is really about. It has always been to transform. Even if it's a light transformation, like a lullaby, it puts you to sleep dreamily....but when it comes to day to day reality, we need the truth. But, that English woman in the audience was basically saying: "Just don't say the truth clearly." Which is what fucks us up the most. The never ending euphemistic perspective. The lie. Let's not clearly examine the problem - hence, John Lennon....and many others. Well, I am sure you know all of this anyway-- and I grew up in Mill Valley and I had met Dana Carvey and some other famous peeps, in my little home town - where it's too expensive for me to live anymore. HA!
I don't usually like when artists ride on top of the shoulders of artists before them, unless it's a clear depiction of bringing someone back to life - like Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight.
But - others have tried and it is ICK. It's weird. I'm glad George Carlin's daughter is there looking after his legacy. He was a gem. Like music, we've run out of that AMAZING music from the 60's and 70's......I feel so lucky to have been able to enjoy, listen, sing the best music in all time......and movies and art too of course....Thanks for being here and sharing this.
I can't offer anything original about the really, really, really bad idea of Carlin's AI.
But I can kinda/sorta give my Mt Rushmore of comedy. Bill Hicks has been the greatest, in my mind, since I first found his work in the late 90's/early 2000's. He was a less polished Carlin who held a mirror up to society. Carlin also is on the but I'm not going to go in depth on him. Hicks and Carlin were such an interesting dichotomy. The cynical optimist. I think both deeply cared about humans but thought society was completely fucked. The only other person I can think of in that class is Kurt Vonnegut. And like Vonnegut, Hicks made his art seem effortless. I listen to his albums and it just seems like a casual conversation between friends(the audience being the other friend). And it's so incredibly prescient to where we are today. I would love to see Hicks' take on, oh, everything that's happened in the last decade. Hicks made the truth a little more palatable.
Carlin, Chappelle, and Robin. Robin Williams will always have a soft spot in my heart.
I excluded you from my list because you asked the question and it would feel weird to say you.
"Empathy deficit" is a great term!
I performed at a showcase in Florida where a Carlin impersonator came out and did some of Carlin’s classic bits verbatim. No one laughed. They just curiously gawked. They all seemed to be saying, “Dude, what the fuck are you doing?”
Yes! Empathy is so missing in this country. I wish that more schools focused on social-emotional learning and paying attention to fostering empathy in children and teens so that they can grow to adults who actually change things around here!
My Mount Rushmore of comics- Dave Chappelle (I know, that's a controversial one, the older stuff), Michael Che (Michael Che Matters is my favorite, but I love everything he does), George Carlin (his bit about abortion is the most brilliant piece of stand up IMO), and Wanda Sykes (such a uniquely smart voice and perspective as a gay, black woman)
Hi Kamau, I think I have met you before in Berkeley....anyway, I can really appreciate your outlook.
Bill Hicks was brilliant, yes like Lenny Bruce. The video with Bill Hicks was so telling about how people get mixed up about what art is really about. It has always been to transform. Even if it's a light transformation, like a lullaby, it puts you to sleep dreamily....but when it comes to day to day reality, we need the truth. But, that English woman in the audience was basically saying: "Just don't say the truth clearly." Which is what fucks us up the most. The never ending euphemistic perspective. The lie. Let's not clearly examine the problem - hence, John Lennon....and many others. Well, I am sure you know all of this anyway-- and I grew up in Mill Valley and I had met Dana Carvey and some other famous peeps, in my little home town - where it's too expensive for me to live anymore. HA!
I don't usually like when artists ride on top of the shoulders of artists before them, unless it's a clear depiction of bringing someone back to life - like Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight.
But - others have tried and it is ICK. It's weird. I'm glad George Carlin's daughter is there looking after his legacy. He was a gem. Like music, we've run out of that AMAZING music from the 60's and 70's......I feel so lucky to have been able to enjoy, listen, sing the best music in all time......and movies and art too of course....Thanks for being here and sharing this.
I can't offer anything original about the really, really, really bad idea of Carlin's AI.
But I can kinda/sorta give my Mt Rushmore of comedy. Bill Hicks has been the greatest, in my mind, since I first found his work in the late 90's/early 2000's. He was a less polished Carlin who held a mirror up to society. Carlin also is on the but I'm not going to go in depth on him. Hicks and Carlin were such an interesting dichotomy. The cynical optimist. I think both deeply cared about humans but thought society was completely fucked. The only other person I can think of in that class is Kurt Vonnegut. And like Vonnegut, Hicks made his art seem effortless. I listen to his albums and it just seems like a casual conversation between friends(the audience being the other friend). And it's so incredibly prescient to where we are today. I would love to see Hicks' take on, oh, everything that's happened in the last decade. Hicks made the truth a little more palatable.
Carlin, Chappelle, and Robin. Robin Williams will always have a soft spot in my heart.
I excluded you from my list because you asked the question and it would feel weird to say you.
Thank you for your support and your community’s support. -Mary Thorne
Do you remember about 15-20 years ago they were doing holographic "tours" of dead singers? Roy Orbison, for one; but there were several.
My Mt. Rushmore comics are you ( The Bell Curve) and the early Dana Carvey before SNL. (1980’s The Other Cafe S. F
You and Richard Pryor