Once too raw, a George Carlin special resurfaces

Once too raw, a George Carlin special resurfaces

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2016/09/04/once-too-raw-carlin-special-resurfaces/PjkoqNmm5yxJmzt3P0MJOP/story.html

By: Jason Zinoman
Date: 2016-09-04

NEW YORK — On Sept. 10, 2001, George Carlin, the greatest political comic in history if measured only by stand-up specials, recorded a bracing hour of social commentary for his new HBO special. The next day, he shelved it.

It wasn’t only the title, “I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die,” that seemed in bad taste after nearly 3,000 people were killed a day later in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Carlin also told a joke about a fart so potent it blew up an airplane. “You know who gets blamed? Osama bin Laden,” Carlin joked. “The FBI is looking for explosives. They should be looking for minute traces of rice and bok choy.”

If timing is everything, Carlin had nothing.

Fifteen years later, his lost special is finally being released. (It is on Sirius XM, though it will be for sale as a download or DVD on Sept. 16, at Amazon and iTunes, among other outlets.) It will be a revelation for comedy fans nostalgic for the days when you could expect a series of articulate salvos from Carlin about every two years. This special is not bonus track material. It’s a polished hour of new jokes with a virtuosic centerpiece, an intricate and elusive nearly 10-minute story that inspired its title, firmly in the tradition of Carlin’s comedy but also a fascinating departure.

A long-shelved recording of a George Carlin routine — taped Sept. 10, 2001 — will soon be released. In it, he makes a joke about Osama bin Laden being blamed for the downing of an airplane.

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