John Clay's Sidelines

One positive about life on the road is HBO. It’s not part of my cable package at home. Too costly. We’ve taken it from time to time, and enjoyed it, but it doesn’t fit in the family budget at present time. It’s one of my life’s ironies that my son, a college student, has HBO and I don’t. He and his buddies love “Entourage.” They hold "Entourage" watching parties.

Anyway, back during basketball season, think it was at South Carolina, came back to the hotel room, couldn’t sleep, switched on the TV, flipped through the channels and stopped on HBO.

It was George Carlin.

Had not seen Carlin in awhile, but it didn’t take long to get hooked. I needed to switch the TV off and get some sleep before an early fight, but I couldn’t do it. One pointed and hilarious observation let right into another and the next thing you know I had watched the entire show, and re-telling it to others the next day.

Favorite (and I’m paraphrasing here): “One lie they tell you is that kids are special. Oh, my kid is special. Your kid is special. All kids are special. (Pause with look of total disgust, then a profanity.) No they’re not. All kids are not special. There are a few winners and a whole lot of losers – just like everything else in nature.”

Anyway, here’s the thing: This wasn’t some early Carlin standup special. This was this year. George Carlin was 71 years old. And still getting it done.

Carlin died Sunday night. He had just played Las Vegas, but experienced chest pains when returning to California, checked into a hospital and passed away last night.

Few comedians, few entertainers for that matter, have been as relevant as long as Carlin, or as influential. We’re talking 60s, 70s, 80s, right through to the present day. Consider that his book “When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops” was a bestseller just a couple of years ago. Why was Carlin relevant? Easy. He told the truth. He said things that needed to be said even if some people didn’t like hearing them. His point of view was to point out the absurdities of life, most of which would be immensely sad if they were not so funny.

Of course, there was Carlin’s “Baseball is played on a diamond, football is played in a stadium,” routine, and his “Here are the baseball scores: 4-2, 5-3, 6-1, 7-0.”

Of course, there was his “Seven words you can’t say on television.” He said them anyway, of course.

And as self-described atheist, Carlin in his routine would say, how could God be all-powerful when everything he makes dies.”

But Carlin’s influence will live on. When you see “The Daily Show” skewer current events, or hear Lewis Black’s rants, or even watch Seinfeld’s “observations,” think of George. And thank him.

RIP.