Product Details

• Actors: George Carlin
• Directors: Steven J. Santos
• Writers: George Carlin
• Producers: George Carlin, Bob Kurtz, Brenda Carlin, Jerry Hamza
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: First Look Home Ente
• VHS Release Date: October 7, 1997
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304597851
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,480 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The dean of observational humorists in America preaches to a like-minded choir in this lively 1984 college performance by George Carlin. Beginning with a little offstage psychodrama (albeit funny) about the pain of being a class clown in Catholic school, Carlin on Campus soon hits the boards with the former Hippie-Dippie Weatherman's take on Brooklynese pronunciations of the names of sexually transmitted disease ("hoipes"), plus a prayer for the separation of church and state, feuds between breakfast foods, and the absurdity of wearing jungle camouflage in a desert. Carlin's tone and choice of material toughen up as the show goes along: he makes an astute assault on passive-aggressive drivers, lobbies hard for his "world's most obscene cheer," and suggests that people may be ready for "full-contact chess." Much of this stuff is pretty funny, though the program is marred a bit by reliance on some lowbrow, pretaped material that punctuates Carlin's monologue. A contrarian to the end, however, Carlin is going to do what he's going to do, and that's part of his charm. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars more, feed me more, February 9, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: On Campus [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In my opinion this is some of Carlin's best work. He does three classic monologues including "A Place For My Stuff", "Baseball and Football", and "Cars and Driving". I think a person who loves carlin should have this but one flaw is he throws in strange cartoons at odd moments.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Leaves you hungry for more, September 30, 2002

By 

D. Rusley "cyclops284" (Englewood, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: George Carlin: On Campus (DVD)

My favorite part of this DVD is the bit on Cars and Driving. This one's also got his classic bits on Stuff and Baseball vs. Football, along with some inspired observations on flamethrowers and the Rain Dance. There's also some fun memories about his Grandpa and his famous dog, Tippy. He even offers tips on how to deal with your boss ("Hey, it's MY JOB, I'll do it MY WAY!"). After watching the whole show, I've decided that you can't possibly own just ONE George Carlin concert on Video/DVD. Also, I found that it's even better to actually WATCH the guy perform than to just listen to his act on CD. Carlin's so good with pantomime and facial tics.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A belated "Kudos", October 21, 2008

By 

A Hermit "J.Hamric" (Southwestern Pa.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: George Carlin: On Campus (DVD)

When I moved last Summer, I inherited a vast collection of 1980's recordings, all on cassette tapes, from the people who lived in the house before. In the mess was a cassette tape of "Carlin On Campus," and I remembered watching this on TV a long time ago, as well as last Summer at the news of his death (I moved a few weeks prior).

Listening to this material last night (at this writing: October 20th, 2008), I am reminded of how genuinely FUNNY he really was. I have the first two books he wrote, and where the material is taken mostly from his live shows, it doesn't always translate to the written word like it should. And even listening to him, you lose something, because his gestures, especially his facial expressions and vocal inflections were priceless.

As he got older, he still kept his outsider image, but it seemed, to me, anyway, he came off as a bitter old man. Still pretty funny and insightful, but bitter and fed up. Although I don't blame him; I share a lot of his disappointment with "our failed species," as I have heard him often call people. But some of his ideas, perverse as they are, touch on genius, in their simplicity. Talking about the idiot behind you in traffic who won't turn off his high beams, he suggests slamming your brakes so they crash into you, destroying their headlights and teaching them a lesson in the process; Want to get rid of a counterfeit bill? Put it in the collection plate at church. These two points are perfect examples of his humor coming off better when you actually hear him, or better still, see him go over it. It's funny to read, but the comedian's true magic is in the live delivery.

The set ends with an expanded list of "impolite words," a trademark of his live shows, and detractors dismiss it as someone who just gets off rambling off obscenities for the sake of obscenity, like a kid who has just discovered profanity. Not necessarily the case. Words are tools, they convey thoughts and intentions, and he just shows us how far down that road we have gone. There are so many ways to describe the sex act, and insult one another, or simply express emotion, and to hear this much of it at one time, when you take it to its extreme, one can see just how silly it all becomes. And the amazing thing is, this list of words and phrases, to this day, continues to grow.

I found some of his material a little dry at times (only just a little, seldom at that, re: "Occupation Foole"), but as well, I feel I am one of his biggest admirers. He did what he wanted to do, and he did it well. "Carlin On Campus" is solid proof.