George Carlin - Complaints And Grievances
2003
The bad boy of American comedy, George Carlin is filmed here live at New York's ornately appointed Beacon Theatre. Always rude, crude, and spot-on hilarious, Carlin had his audience rolling in the aisles! Read more
| Starring | George Carlin |
|---|---|
| Genres | Comedy |
loading...
George Carlin - Complaints And Grievances
The bad boy of American comedy, George Carlin is filmed here live at New York's ornately appointed Beacon Theatre. Always rude, crude, and spot-on hilarious, Carlin had his audience rolling in the aisles!
| Starring | George Carlin |
|---|---|
| Studio | DELTA VISUAL ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 55 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 14 Jul 2003 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
13 out of 17 people found this review helpful
What Happened to Carlin!?
I have long been a big fan of George Carlin. As a previous reviewer has rightly pointed out, Carlin is one of a handful of American comics who, in the 60's and 70's, pushed the boundaries of stand-up comedy right to edge, thereby laying the ground work for the likes of Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks and Doug Stanhope to come.
And best of all, he used to be goddamn funny!
With his penchant for dazzling wordplay, his scathing wit as well as his leftfield hippy humour, this man could make you goddamn bellyache with the best of them.
In the 80's he changed his tone somewhat, as he adopted a more aggresive and ranting style of delivery. And guess what? That was funny too!
Carlin was, in fact, one of the most consistent and hilarious social commentators on 1980's and early 1990's America.
One need only listen to his kickass and laugh out loud 'Jamming in New York' from the time of the first Gulf War for proof of this.
So what the hell went wrong? How did he metamorphosis from a comedy guru into little more than an uninspired old man shuffling about on stage?
His current stage persona seems little more than; old grump comes out on stage and runs through a list of people he hates and then he curses them out.
He does not explore why he hates these people. He does not build any sort of joke or storytelling structure - instead, he simply declares that he hates random people and then curses them out.
The cursing is unimaginative and repetitive. (This is really too bad as Carlin is a master curser, having been more than once arrested in the 1970's for his '7 Words You Can't Say on Television' bit.)
This is seriously lazy comedy - a characteristic of his comedy since, at least, his 'You Are All Diseased' album in the late 90's. It is as though he had the outlines of a full show but he could not be bothered to further explore the ideas contained within.
Propelled on by the adoring whooping crowd, it seems that all Carlin has to do is turn up and complain to get paid these days. (BTW, Carlin was recently admitted to a drug rehab facility in California!)
I would only recommend this dvd to diehard Carlin fans, who are ready and willing to view evidence of the demise of a satirical master. All others, I urge you to do justice to the waning genius of the man and stay away!
Search out his albums of the 70's, such as 'Occupation Fool' or the aforementioned early 90's 'Jamming in New York'.
As much as it pains me to say this, this just ain't comedy folks, its just a once-brilliant old man who doesn't know when to shut up... -
Most recent members' review
View all -
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
Check out his earlier stuff...in the interest of fairness
This was my first experience of George Carlin and I'm tempted to say my last.
His recent material 'Complaints and Grievances' was so bodily functioned based, it was boring and embarrassing.
I had been hoping he'd been a libertine firebrand like Doug Stanhope, David Cross or the late, great Bill Hicks.
Instead, his performance looked like an open mike try-out, coupled with his unkempt appearance, it seemed like he hadn't really bothered to put on a show for his home town.
To be fair, this may have been a one-off bad show, so I'll listen to his early stuff and maybe I'll have to revise my opinion.
Then again, if it's as bland as this, maybe I won't. -
More like this
View all
Related user collection
Favourite Indie / Under-estimated Films (7)
86.6% from 6 members
Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop
-
-
-
George Carlin - Complaints And Grievances
The bad boy of American comedy, George Carlin is filmed here live at New York's ornately appointed Beacon Theatre. Always rude, crude, and spot-on hilarious, Carlin had his audience rolling in the aisles!...
-