George Carlin: George On George 8.25

‘George On George’ is essentially Carlin talking about his life, to the camera, with the help of pictures and some short concert footage. It’s a short monologue/non-interview (nonterview? ), but it’s rather interesting stuff, actually, covering most of his life from a young age to 2003 in about 50 mins.

In this recording, we find out through Carlin’s own words about his family life, growing up in Manhattan, his career ambition, vision and highlights as well as the ups and downs of his life. I can’t say if this is material that he’s covered before (perhaps in his books?), but it made for an excellent crash course.

Carlin is a terrific orator and can carry on endlessly with ease. Thankfully, in ‘George On George’, he gives us all killer, no filler. Obviously, one could speculate that he likely had a good editor helping him out, but the programme flows so well that I didn’t see any evidence of this.

I would highly recommend this DVD to any fan of his or to anybody who would like to know more about George Carlin, both as a comedian and as a human being. While not as thorough as a formal documentary, it does the job of painting a picture of this comic icon quite handsomely.