George Carlin isn't funny.

[kentonio]

Inside every successful comedian is an angry, angry man.

I think that might be the thing, when they become famous and start concentrating more on the agenda stuff and less on the actual comedy it runs the risk of just becoming tiresome. Who wants to pay to watch someone rant for an hour if they're not being particularly funny about it? I think that's where Stewart succeeds, he remembers to be a comedian first and foremost.

[Elok]

I knew Bill Maher expressed some flaky medical/health ideas, didn't know about any misogyny. It's not like I follow him, though--nor Carlin, since both are/were fairly aggressive atheists.

[Dr Strangelove]

George Carlin is currently rather musty and stale.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

So you are a big fan of Dennis Miller these days?

Stylistically Miller was and will always be a niche comedian, his forced erudition does not translate to large audiences.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I don't find Seinfeld funny, mildy witty maybe, in the Bill Cosby tradition

And argueably both Seinfeld and Cosby have far greater universal appeal due in large part to not segmenting their intended audiences. Albeit, Seinfeld less so considering the pandering to NYC.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Stylistically Miller was and will always be a niche comedian, his forced erudition does not translate to large audiences.

Though had far more funnier things to say when he wasn't pushing an ideological agenda. Part of what makes humor work is surprise - when you kind of figure out a comedian's shtick, he or she tends to be a lot less funny. And politics is a pretty easy shtick to identify once a comedian goes down that path.

FWIW, I think John Stewart is a lot less funny when he gets all partisan rather than remembering his show is originally about mocking how the media reports things.

[-Jrabbit]

I agree on Dennis Miller. When he was the over-educated fountain of pop culture knowledge, he made some amazing connections, much of it done on the fly.

Now he's become a too-cool-for-the-room know-it all who openly puts down anyone who doesn't agree with his rather glib take on political reality.

He's still quick on his feet and plenty clever, just not as funny as he once was.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Though had far more funnier things to say when he wasn't pushing an ideological agenda. Part of what makes humor work is surprise - when you kind of figure out a comedian's shtick, he or she tends to be a lot less funny. And politics is a pretty easy shtick to identify once a comedian goes down that path.

FWIW, I think John Stewart is a lot less funny when he gets all partisan rather than remembering his show is originally about mocking how the media reports things.

Agreed

[Elok]

Though had far more funnier things to say when he wasn't pushing an ideological agenda. Part of what makes humor work is surprise - when you kind of figure out a comedian's shtick, he or she tends to be a lot less funny. And politics is a pretty easy shtick to identify once a comedian goes down that path.

FWIW, I think John Stewart is a lot less funny when he gets all partisan rather than remembering his show is originally about mocking how the media reports things.

The problem with partisan "humor" in general is that its objective is seldom actual humor. Rather, its goal seems to be to repeat a series of well-worn flippant stereotypes about the opposition to reinforce the believer's sense of smug superiority. Hence "Fundies hate science and are scared of vaginas HA HA HA" or "Liberals are effete, clueless pantywaists with double majors in Women's Studies and Interpretive Dance HA HA HA!" These tropes work best when repeated over and over again, so that they become familiar and comfortable like an old jacket and you don't have to stop and think to "get" them; indeed, if you can see them coming a mile away it heightens the sense of shared cleverness. For a partisan comedian to say something genuinely subversive or unexpected would actually be counterproductive, since it would break the comforting spell of certainty that makes the whole style popular in the first place.

That all this makes partisan comedy rather easy for a glib and lazy person to pull off--well, that's just gravy.

[loinburger]

The thing about Carlin's partisan comedy is that he wasn't going after cheap laughs, instead he wasn't going after any laughs - the audience never laughed at his partisan comedy, instead they often cheered. Yes, as Mr Fun as shrilly pointed out, Carlin had a first amendment right to not be funny, but by any reasonable definition of "comedian," if the audience isn't laughing then you're not a good comedian.

I still listened to his later comedy specials, because ***** farts transcend time and space in their comedic value. However, his later specials were only half as good as his early specials, because he was only funny half of the time.

[giblets]

MrFun -- When the joke requires political agreement on one side or the other for the punchline to be effective, it defines the humor as non-universal.

Hence, less funny.

The same thing can be said of any humorist who restricts his audience to those who agree with or share a specific culture with them in order to "get it," like Borscht Belt and Chitlin' Circuit comics from back in the day.

Humor is subjective so "universal humor" sounds like an oxymoron. I'm pretty sure any human comedian would fail miserably in front of an extraterrestrial audience.

[Dinner]

I liked Carlin and thought he was funny.

[MrFun]

Yes, as Mr Fun as shrilly pointed out, Carlin had a first amendment right to not be funny .....

That's not what I thought, nor what I was arguing.

[loinburger]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAH oh wait nobody else is laughing because he isn't being funny

MrFun, why would you berate conservatives for not finding him funny when liberals (I'm assuming the people who bought tickets to his concert and are cheering him but who are not laughing at him are liberal) don't even find him funny?

And I didn't even have to dig around for a clip like this - this is the second youtube result for "George Carlin"

[Alexander's Horse]

I like Letterman *runs*