More than a Punchline: A Review of the HBO Documentary, George Carlin’s American Dream
You might think a nature blog is an odd place to find a review of a documentary about a comedian but, ours is a time of change and few comedians embodied a capacity for change quite like the late George Carlin. George Carlin’s American Dream, directed by none other than comedy juggernaut, Judd Apatow, and documentary filmmaker, Michael Bonfiglio, is currently streaming on HBO Max. Covering a career that spanned five decades, the two-part documentary traces the ebb and flow of an artist who charted his own success (and failures) while truly redefining comedy itself.
Growing up in a rather conventional household, I witnessed firsthand how Carlin’s comedy threaded the multi-generational needle with grace. Quick aside: I’ll never forget my own introduction to Carlin. It was 2005, I was sixteen, and I was “grounded” for the weekend. More guaranteed-family-time than actual punishment, my folks bought us tickets to see George at the newly renovated Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois. Sitting between my folks, I melted the minute Carlin walked on stage. And he let it rip with everything he had. I couldn’t help but wriggle and writhe in my seat, gutted in laughter one moment, at peak cringe the next as he educated the audience (my mum) on what a dingleberry is. Never afraid to leverage the crude taboo du au jour, throughout his career Carlin gave permission to even the most ardent adherents of the status quo to simply ask, why? And, at a time when so many of life’s big questions feel like they’re ready to burst, there is a lot of freedom to be found in simply asking why? (To be fair, it can be equally terrifying.)
Arguably the defining moment of Carlin’s career came when, forgoing a burgeoning and lucrative touring schedule, he opted out of the mainstream in favor of pursuing audiences he believed were on the cutting edge of culture: young people. (Good advice too for anyone north of thirty sincerely seeking climate solutions. Who’s future are we fighting for anyway?)
Carlin’s comedy was a masterclass in leveraging rhetoric as a means to share his keen observations with the world. Often, many of us may feel as if we already know the answers we seek, but we lack the fortitude to act on it. Despite his many struggles, Carlin managed to act on his observations more than most. With a fierce compassion for the whole of life, hiding his own profundity in plain view, Carlin strove to shake loose those in his audience yearning for a new story.
Featured in the documentary was a bit from Carlin’s 1992 HBO special, Jammin’ in New York (considered by Carlin to be his best). Aware of one such new story emerging for some in the nineties, Carlin zeroed in on those committed to “saving the planet.” Seemingly admirable, Carlin invited the audience to shed their anthropocentric view and don a planetary perspective; calling attention to what he saw as just more evidence of humanity’s continued “arrogant meddling” with nature.
One of the more memorable lines, Carlin assures the audience, “the planet isn’t going anywhere. We are! Pack your shit, folks. We’re goin’ away!” While undeniably dark in tone, the message feels more akin to someone sounding an alarm than preaching our ultimate damnation. Often labeled a nihilist, however unfairly, Apatow and Bonfiglio’s documentary manages to cast Carlin in something of a different light; a compassionate light. Well worth the nearly four hour run time, George Carlin’s American Dream offers a glimpse into the mind of a man who valued an examined life. Or put another way, George Carlin despised bullshit.
Carlin’s career was ultimately that of someone who cared. He cared about his family, he cared about his audience, and he cared about the world he lived in. Carlin was committed to sharing his insights with the world until the day he died. Something no nihilist would commit to. Towards the end of his career, during an interview with Jon Stewart, Carlin’s was asked, “Why do you still care?”
“I’m an entertainer first and foremost but there’s art involved here. An artist has an obligation to be en route, to be going somewhere. There’s a journey involved, you don’t where it is, and that’s the fun. It drives you to keep calling on yourself a little more.”
Like Carlin grappled with before us, the question we face today isn’t so much will our world end but, will we be around to witness the next? The planet has, and will, continue to see many (many) world-ending disasters over its lifetime. And while there is still plenty of external work to be done in service of healing the the planet, ultimately there is no obligation. The only person who can call on us is ourselves. There is no draft for the paradigm shift.
