APPRECIATION

‘A God Who Cussed’

Director Kevin Smith remembers George Carlin

Special Guest Columnist
Jun 23, 2008 | Updated: 5:10  p.m. ET Jun 23, 2008

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  • Posted By: sidix @ 08/18/2008 5:42:08 PM

    Well put Kevin, George was my hero as well and I Came accross him the exact same way you did. An HBO Special and my VCR. After that I to purchased every album and watched every special. It was very sad to see him go but Heaven needed to laugh a little to I guess and if there was anyone on this planet that could make god laugh it would be him. Just remember, Life is a series of dogs, you just keep getting a new one.

  • Posted By: sidix @ 08/18/2008 5:41:53 PM

    Well put Kevin, George was my hero as well and I Came accross him the exact same way you did. An HBO Special and my VCR. After that I to purchased every album and watched every special. It was very sad to see him go but Heaven needed to laugh a little to I guess and if there was anyone on this planet that could make god laugh it would be him. Just remember, Life is a series of dogs, you just keep getting a new one.

  • Posted By: stephenmajewski @ 07/30/2008 8:32:26 AM

    I can see why director Kevin Smith was an ???instant...disciple??? of George Carlin. The late comedian was an unabashed atheist, ???a god who cussed.??? If only God and the Catholic Church, of which the filmmaker and Mr. Carlin shared a common abhorrence, had never existed. There would have been no Jesus, no St. Augustine, no St. Thomas Aquinas, no Blessed Mother Teresa, no Servant of God John Paul the Great, and no salvation. Wouldn???t the world have been much better without them? On second thought, maybe this is no laughing matter.

    • Posted By: iteachscience @ 08/14/2008 12:16:47 PM

      Stephen, you are mistaken about Kevin Smith's abhorrence of the Catholic Church. If you knew much of anything about Mr. Smith, you would know that he was raised Catholic and definitely still considers himself a Catholic. He is a man of great faith. Before you go knocking people down, try educating yourself first. Maybe you could start with Kevin's own words on the subject, which you can see at http://viewaskew.com/press/dogma.html

  • Posted By: JCFXSI @ 08/01/2008 12:27:34 PM

    Breath taking Kevin... simply that.

    I never imagined George ever dieing. It was like he would slap God in the face and say "Not yet, ***!"

    Atleast thats how i would like to think of it. He's not dead... not to me... ever.

    Love you George.





  • Posted By: theisland815 @ 07/29/2008 2:58:02 PM

    I think it' s sad that people are using George Carlin's death as a way to broadcast their views (or lack thereof ) about God.
    A man died show some respect ans let him rest in peace

  • Posted By: acrates @ 07/01/2008 1:23:14 PM

    Aaaaw, Kevin. I'm sorry for your personal loss of this great guy. I'm also sorry for his family. I lost my mom on the same day and life has become even more of a struggle.

  • Posted By: spadada @ 06/30/2008 11:10:52 PM

    I re-watched "Jersey Girl" this weekend in honor of George Carlin. I don't care what the critics say, I like the movie and I love Carlin's subtle portrayal of "Pop." Only George Carlin could make someone with such scraggly edges so warm and likable. He reminded me of my own grandfather. I would have liked to see the priest who strangled kids, sure, but not in place of this very personal and powerful performance. This is my favorite Carlin/Smith collaboration.

  • Posted By: spadada @ 06/30/2008 11:10:28 PM

    I re-watched "Jersey Girl" this weekend in honor of George Carlin. I don't care what the critics say, I like the movie and I love Carlin's subtle portrayal of "Pop." Only George Carlin could make someone with such scraggly edges so warm and likable. He reminded me of my own grandfather. I would have liked to see the priest who strangled kids, sure, but not in place of this very personal and powerful performance. This is my favorite Carlin/Smith collaboration.

  • Posted By: auntfrannie @ 06/28/2008 8:36:54 PM

    George discovered: 1) There IS a God & 2) She's a fan!

  • Posted By: auntfrannie @ 06/28/2008 8:35:59 PM

    George discovered: 1)there is a God & 2) She's a fan.

  • Posted By: artificial_cherry @ 06/27/2008 1:13:55 PM

    Posted By: smith4st @ 06/25/2008 11:59:43 AM
    Comment: I would imagine the word Hell is not so funny to Mr. Carlin right about now!

    "Morose delectation" ("delectatio morosa" in Latin), meaning "the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil thoughts". The church teaches morose delectation as a sin.

    I would imagine that comment is not so funny to smmith4st right about now!

  • Posted By: ScEdFr @ 06/24/2008 1:35:49 PM

    Can someone remove the "-666" comment? "Einstien, Sagen, Carlin, Hawking, Galileo, DiVinci..." all atheists? Assuming Einstien refers to Albert Einstein and DiVinci to Leonardo DaVinci, then the claim is patently false, as well as the claim for Galileo at least. The idea that the smartest people are always atheists is both false and offensive. The biggest problem in the world today is bigger than religion - it's ignorance, and this guy is guilty.

    • Posted By: Chasman @ 06/24/2008 5:15:26 PM

      I believe what superman-666 was trying to convey is that most people of science must be agnostic by nature. True "people of science" must believe that seeing IS believing. So therefore, how can they really believe in a god that they've never seen? We want to believe that there is a higher being...but until we actually see him/her/it, our scientific side keeps us as agnostics. Personally, I was raised as a Lutheran...which I was until the age of reason.

      • Posted By: youheardithere1st @ 06/24/2008 7:06:44 PM

        science and god exist, one cannot exist without the other.

        • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 06/25/2008 12:47:00 PM

          They can easily exist without each other. That science exist is openly provable and obvious. that god exists is not. As a human-made construct, god(s) (since there can be more than one depending one's beliefs) may exist in the imagination of the believer, But ther eis not irefutalbe proof that god(s) exist anywhere else. God is not a universal truth or necessity. For those that create it in their mind, it is needed and that is fine. But for those who do not, god does not exist, and that is just as fine.

          • Posted By: youheardithere1st @ 06/26/2008 11:12:40 AM

            and for thousands of years science said the earth was flat. there is so much science doesn't know or can't prove, yet i believe the world is round, and i believe in a greater power, which some refer to as god. if science exists, its because a higher power created it. who's to say that scientific beliefs today are true? 100 years from now scientists will be laughing at some of the things science say are facts now. as for god, well it can't hurt to believe in him, it may help. because no proof exists does not mean that something doesn't exist.it just means it hasn't been discovered yet. like the earth being round or flat. [see eienstein] a true scientist who did believe in god, without proof.

            • Posted By: WakeUpPeople! @ 06/26/2008 2:59:15 PM

              back when they thought the earth was flat, science was controlled by religion. And what you've posted says you believe in hope. call it religion or what ever but you believe in hope. hope is not a basis for scientific fact, and if back in the day you believed the earth revolved around the sun your religion punished you. A religion is a set of beliefs and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature. you can't say back in the day because the church controlled "back in they day"

              • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 06/26/2008 6:27:20 PM

                One can have hope, as opposed to believing in it and without believing in a deity or religion.

                Hope and science can actually exist side by side, since in its basic concept hope is just an emotion or desire.

                I can hope for peace while realizing that without concrete actions, that peace is not attainable. I can hope to win the lottery, but without buying a ticket (and then leaving the remainder purely to chance) I cannot succeed.

                I guess that I use the word hope in its our sense and not in the religious supernatural sense.

                • Posted By: WakeUpPeople! @ 06/27/2008 8:34:37 AM

                  Hope is an emotion, and each individual feels it differently. We as a species have lost valuable time and effort based on religion. People die every day because we let religion dictate right and wrong. Science has pushed boundaries and religion pushes back. Because we hope there is a god, has forced stem cell research backward, keeps Israel a battle ground, and we spend tons of cash to determine same sex marriages. Look at the Middle East, the area has been in holy wars for thousands of years. Because of that they are behind with technology, life expectancy, human rights, education, and the list could go on forever. Then they look to us and we have become so different that we are viewed as an "enemy". Instead of letting religion go and try and share our technology you get churches going on "missions" where they force upon other cultures their beliefs. If religion no longer existed the human race would evolve very quickly into a unified world organization, 90% of the conflicts would no longer exist to fight over. But instead your own sense of "hope" forces things like churches picketing over gay marriages, movies, and controlling the government. The church keeps its power by convincing its followers that their "hopes" should be forced upon others. Until humankind realized that the sun was a star they thought of it as a god, everything that made no sense became a god. Till today when now the church views god as money. Christianity is by far the most disgraceful of the religions. It changes every time the church needs something. It was created from hundreds of other religions, picking what they wanted to create power and wealth. In fact look at the churches in your own towns people, how much does your own ministers and priests make, look at their houses, look at their cars, what true sacrifices do they make for your religion? Like Carlin states it???s all about the money. And those who cannot look past that and view what they are told as fact force my "hope" out the door. As for earlier posts about scientists believing in god, we as humans the closer we get to our death bed begin to look for anything to prolong our existence. Einstein even spent the last ten years trying to disprove his own theories in search of longevity. Its human nature! I have to deal with the fact that someone who believes in a "man in the sky" thinks they can make better judgments about my life. Even though we come across huge holes in their stories like dinosaurs, and evolution, they still think they can decide better than the rest. I'm a huge Kevin Smith fan, and grew up with Carlin, came to this site to read Kevin's words on a great man. And have to deal with some ignorant post about how funny is "hell" now. These are the people who force down human evolution. And I'm tired of hearing that it???s not a "true Christian". Look your religion created this person's belief structure, and your religion

                  • Posted By: youheardithere1st @ 06/27/2008 9:11:41 AM

                    you miss the point of hope. there are two kinds of hope. active and passive. active hope is 'i wish there was peace in the middle east' and then you do something about it that will make it happen. passive hope is 'i wish there was peace in the mideast' and you do nothing to bring it about. for hope to work it must be active. as for believing in god, that comes from faith., which is different from hope. formalized religion kills more people then cancer. it sets one group against the other. as for heaven and hell, they do exist, but they exist here, some people are in hell every day of their life, others are in heaven. they are both physical realities and a state of mind. as for carlin, he was funny early on, but turned bitter. why? i don't know. but he was not a great man, he was a talented comedian. as for the opening comment about him being in hell, well, lets face it, he brought that on himself. its a good line, one he would have used himself on someone else if he was alive. you need to take a xanax, calm down, carlin have 70 years, on a bad heart, not a bad run. as for religious fanatics, ignore them, they will go away. the only thing formalized religion does well is seperate money from your wallet.

              • Posted By: youheardithere1st @ 06/26/2008 5:46:50 PM

                well, without hope, why live?

                • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 06/26/2008 6:29:09 PM

                  Purely for the adventure.

                  But then again, the adventure may entail hope that one has a good time or does not have too much pain or cause pain and suiffering to others through one's acitons.

                  But even then, one does not need hope to live. It just makes it easier.

            • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 06/26/2008 6:22:33 PM

              There is a distinct difference between knowing something and believing it. Science may or may not ever prove god, but unitl it does I personally see no reason to waste my time believing in it. I do not need it to be a good person. I have not problem with others beleiving as long as they let me alone and do not try to convert me.

              Actually the idea of believing in god not mhurting is called Pasdcals Wager and has been disproven several times. Since there are a variety of gods out there, as well as a variety of religions, wasting one's time on what could be the wrong one, actually could hurt one. And Einstein did not believe in god in the way most religious people did. He believed in a creative force, but that does not require one to worship it, nor does it mean that that force is a punitive little twerp that sends non-believers to a place called "hell" as some religions believe.

  • Posted By: smith4st @ 06/25/2008 11:59:43 AM

    I would imagine the word Hell is not so funny to Mr. Carlin right about now!

    • Posted By: WakeUpPeople! @ 06/26/2008 10:43:14 AM

      Your a tool smith4st. Can't you relize what your saying? You cast judgment from your make believe world, like your above the rest. You have the intelect of a child, you can convince a child of anything but most as they grow and learn let make believe go away. "hell" is but a word used to scare the less intelligent, by posting your comment it only shows how ridiculous you are. Your directly responsible for war and poverty. Your religous beliefs have done more wrong to this world than any other religion ever. So keep posting your thoughts, support your religon, prove Carlin right! If Carlin could read your post he'd wet himself, its as childish as a jinx. Wake up people! See who you sit next to in church, the same guy who posts such crap when a great man dies.

    • Posted By: ghostmasseur @ 06/25/2008 12:50:35 PM

      Acutally I would imagine that if he were not dead that it is. Since he is dead there is nothing, no heaven or hell.

      It never ceases to amaze me how some so-called Christians, seem to get oriastic sadomasochisitc pleasure out of the idea that if someone does not believe in their religious beliefs that they will be punished. It is all a human-made construct so it is not relevant to those who do not buy into it.

  • Posted By: fsilber @ 06/25/2008 8:12:11 AM

    I've used obscene words before, but decided that it's better not to do so. I've also used the word, "n*gger" -- but I've given that up as well (so as not to hurt the feelings of black people). So why is the ban on four-letter words from television any less justified than bans on deprecatory use of the "n-word"?

    I always liked George Carlin, but sometimes his opposition to hypocrisy was hypocritical.

  • Posted By: jed_clampett @ 06/23/2008 7:43:16 PM

    If he replaced Catholicism then you have serious problems. George Carlin was an atheist, a vulgar little man, and a pathetic example of what a real comedian should be. The world will be a better place without him.

    • Posted By: borlandmiller@aol.com @ 06/24/2008 4:53:21 PM

      Jed says athiest and vulgar like these are bad things. He must be a Catholic - full of hate.

    • Posted By: superman_4_ever_666 @ 06/24/2008 12:42:05 PM

      "Religion has actually convinced people, that there's an invisible man, living in the sky, who watches everything you do every second of every day. And this invisible man has a list of 10 things he does not want you to do. And if you should do any, ANY, of these ten things he has a special place full of hate and torture and fire where he will send you to live for all of eternity. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs money. Never understood that part of it some how he's all knowing, all seeing, but just can't handle money." - George Carlin.
      George you will be missed. Thank you for opening the eyes of millions of people around the world to just not take themselves to seriously. Religion is the biggest proplem in this world. If we would just get rid of it, there would be a very happy place. And it's amazing to witness that the smartest people in the world are athesist. Einstien, Sagen, Carlin, Hawking, Galieo, DiVinci. Makes you think that the primitive brain is the one who wants to believe that we're not alone. And Carlin's take as Cardinal Glick will go down as one of the greatest cameo's of all time. Buddy Christ. That was amazing. And to quote Carlin one last time. "How come when it's us it's an abortion, and when it's a chicken, it's an omelette? Are we some much better than chickens? When did this happen that we passed chicken's in goodness? When's the last time you heard about a rooster going out drinken then came home and beat up his hen? You don't because chickens are decent people. You don't see chickens hanging out in drug gangs, no, because chickens are decent people. You don't see chickens hook up some guys n*ts to a car battery do you? No because chickens are decent people. Thank you Kevin for knowing who George Carlin was, and putting him into the best roles ever.

  • Posted By: bryanthefilmguy @ 06/23/2008 8:12:57 PM

    Obviously jed_clampett missed the entire point of that statement. It would great to hear Carlin's response to such idiotic remarks. Carlin was a comical genius in the likes of others that paved the way that are all gone now. This would include Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce to name a couple. Carlin was an inspiration on so much of what most people enjoy today. His observational and polticially slanted humor can be imitated, but never recreated. As a final note on Smith's article, Carlin's performance in "Jersey Girl" really proved that there was an untapped side of the comic. He was not only believable as Pop, but a truly likable and geniune character. If anyone watches that film and does not get choked up by his final line they are without heart. Fortunately, for a man so beloved like Carlin there was never a chance that he would die alone.

    • Posted By: C. MacLean @ 06/24/2008 2:20:14 PM




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      In the Words of George Carlin...
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      George and Richard were good friends. One of my favorite off-the-cuff Carlin routines was about his relationship with Pryor.

      "Richard Pryor had a heart attack - I had a heart attack. Richard Pryor had another heart attack - I had another heart attack. Richard Pryor set himself on fire - I said f*** you! I had another heart attack!"

      I think Carlin always knew his heart troubles would eventually get him - that's why he put them in a comedy routine. Honesty was his mantra, hypocrisy his enemy, and laughter his weapon. I try to emulate Carlin whenever I can and quote him whenever the situation could use one of his quotes (which is often), which frequently lands me in trouble, but people always know where they stand with me.

      He was convinced that J. Edgar Hoover had his phone tapped, so he started all his phone conversations with, "Hello, f*** Hoover." As in, 'I'm not going to censor anything I think or say, not even for the FBI, and I'm not going to pretend I'm something I'm not, even for the FBI. So take that, J. Edgar.'

      George's philosophy is why I use my real name on this blog.

      Thanks, George - my life was richer for having you in it. But you never did answer the philosophical question you asked so many years ago: "If you have 23 odds and ends on a table and 22 fall off, what do you have left - an odd or an end?"

      Somewhere in heaven, god is laughing his ass off.

  • Posted By: superman_4_ever_666 @ 06/24/2008 12:42:44 PM

    "Religion has actually convinced people, that there's an invisible man, living in the sky, who watches everything you do every second of every day. And this invisible man has a list of 10 things he does not want you to do. And if you should do any, ANY, of these ten things he has a special place full of hate and torture and fire where he will send you to live for all of eternity. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs money. Never understood that part of it some how he's all knowing, all seeing, but just can't handle money." - George Carlin.
    George you will be missed. Thank you for opening the eyes of millions of people around the world to just not take themselves to seriously. Religion is the biggest proplem in this world. If we would just get rid of it, there would be a very happy place. And it's amazing to witness that the smartest people in the world are athesist. Einstien, Sagen, Carlin, Hawking, Galieo, DiVinci. Makes you think that the primitive brain is the one who wants to believe that we're not alone. And Carlin's take as Cardinal Glick will go down as one of the greatest cameo's of all time. Buddy Christ. That was amazing. And to quote Carlin one last time. "How come when it's us it's an abortion, and when it's a chicken, it's an omelette? Are we some much better than chickens? When did this happen that we passed chicken's in goodness? When's the last time you heard about a rooster going out drinken then came home and beat up his hen? You don't because chickens are decent people. You don't see chickens hanging out in drug gangs, no, because chickens are decent people. You don't see chickens hook up some guys n*ts to a car battery do you? No because chickens are decent people. Thank you Kevin for knowing who George Carlin was, and putting him into the best roles ever.

  • Posted By: bobbis @ 06/24/2008 10:38:28 AM

    I've been waiting to read what Kevin Smith had to say about George Carlin's passing and as usual, he nailed it. George was a god and his performance in Jersey Girl was perfect. I'll never forget the scene where Pop reminded his son that he too had lost a wife. It's was deeply affecting (the best bit of the whole movie) and broke my heart.

  • Posted By: scarrington @ 06/23/2008 6:07:24 PM

    Thanks Kevin. Nothing I've read so far is as spot on as this article. Thank you George Carlin for teaching this Irish Catholic girl that cussing is not a deadly sin. You will be missed.

    • Posted By: youheardithere1st @ 06/24/2008 8:17:44 AM

      spot on= new lingo meaning right on point. wonder what carlin would think of this new political correct term. it is grammatically wrong, god, how i hate this phrase. spot on, spot on. spot on. think about it, its a terible way to make one's point, often used by politicians to doubletalk us into being amazed by their command of english.

  • Posted By: jonstorm @ 06/24/2008 8:14:47 AM

    Good Bye George Carlin.

    The world will miss you. I couldn't help but notice you went to St. John's Catholic Hospital not UCLA or even Ceder Sinai. How Ironic that you came in to this world under the roof of the Catholic Church and came back to die under that same roof. I guess there really "are no athiests in foxholes." I always suspected that you were not a real athiest though but merely playing the devil's advocate in reaction to a church that has become infamous for it's arcane posturing and hypocrisy. You may speak like an athiest but you act like a believer. For all the sh#t you talked about God you are probably one of his favorite people on earth. You told him when he was f#cking up, instead of groveling before him and thanking him for it.

    See you in hell my friend. Just make sure you don't smoke all the good weed before I get there.

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