Last Words: A Memoir [Hardcover]

George Carlin (Author), Tony Hendra (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2009

This ebook features added multimedia content: an interview with George Carlin's daughter Kelly about life with her dad and a tribute video with interviews with Susie Essman, Michael Ian Black, Richard Belzer, George Wendt, and Jeffrey Ross, who talk about Carlin's incredible ability to make people laugh.

Last Words is pure, unapologetic, hilarious George Carlin. With 19 appearances on the Johnny Carson show, 13 HBO specials, 5 Grammys, a critical Supreme Court battle over censorship, and countless appearances on the international comedy circuit, George Carlin saw it all and made fun of most of it.

Blending his signature acerbic humor with never before told stories from his own life, this book is part comedy routine, part memoir, and all original. His journey to stardom began in the rough and tumble neighborhoods of New York in the 1950's, where class and culture wars planted the seeds for some of his earliest material including the infamous Seven Dirty Words sketch. Carlin describes his major influences as an up and coming comic, talking about the origins of some of his most famous stand up routines. The people he encountered on his rise to stardom reads like a Who's Who of 1970's celebrity, from Lenny Bruce who took him under his wing to Hugh Hefner who gave him his first big shot. 

Carlin spares no details as he describes his life and career. He discusses his own battle with substance abuse, his turbulent relationships with the women in his life, and the politics that informed so much of his stand up. From the high points on stage to low points in the hospital, Last Words is George Carlin's life told with the brash, unblinking honesty that defined his comedy and made him one of the best loved comedians in history.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For more than a decade before his 2008 death, groundbreaking stand-up comedian Carlin had been working on his autobiography with writer Hendra (Father Joe), who finished it by distilling hours of conversations with the irascible social commentator. Armed with an eye for detail and a seemingly photographic memory, Carlin retraces his life in full, chronicling petty crimes and stolen kisses, escalating drug problems and the death of his wife with unflinching honesty. He applies that same precision to the mechanics of comedy, giving would-be comics a veteran's insight into the dynamics of crowds, the structure of a performance and the importance (or unimportance) of the social and political landscape. Tracing his evolution as a comedian from the first time he made his mother laugh to performing for an empty room in Baltimore to the series of HBO specials he made over the course of his career, Carlin peppers his narrative with the routines that have made him famous (though this is no gagfest, a la Brain Droppings, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, etc.). Throughout, Carlin comes off as a smart, humble everyman with a strong distaste for hypocrisy in all its forms; fans may be surprised at his discipline and drive, and anyone interested in comedy should find this autobio as illuminating as it is funny.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Seven particular words are associated with the late comedian George Carlin, and sentimental is not one of them. But that's the surprising portrait that emerges from Last Words."

--Houston Chronicle --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (November 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439172951
• ISBN-13: 978-1439172957
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (134 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

445 of 456 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What can I say?, November 10, 2009

By 

K. Carlin "Polymind" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Words: A Memoir (Hardcover)

Okay, so I AM biased. BUT! I even learned things about my dad that I didn't know. So imagine, if you are a fan, how fun it will be for you. My dad kept his inner life pretty close to his chest, and in this book he shows his hand fully.

Enjoy.

116 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "HOW CARLIN BECAME CARLIN.", November 12, 2009

By 

Rick Shaq Goldstein "*SHAQ*" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Last Words: A Memoir (Hardcover)

This long overdue posthumously released biography of comic genius George Carlin provides fans detailed personal information in a no holds barred format. Though there are bits and pieces of his famed skits... that is not the reason you should buy this book. There are innumerable videos... DVD's and albums available that contain unlimited sketches. What the reader learns within these pages... is what George eventually... with a lot of self-searching... learned about himself over a lifetime. Carlin had to eventually come to grips with what he felt and believed as a person... through an introspective journey... that encompassed painful truths of his parental heritage... childhood environs... religious culture and beliefs... along with alcohol and drug abuse.

The fact that George was developing this book for almost fifteen years is explained in an enlightening introduction by his friend Tony Hendra. A summary of why this book took so long to be born... could probably be best described by a John Lennon lyric: "LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHILE YOU'RE BUSY MAKING OTHER PLANS." Though George may have been a "Clown-Prince" on stage... his family's foundation was less than regal. His Father was an alcoholic bully... who beat George's beloved older brother... and self-proclaimed "best pal" Patrick from the time he was small... thus leading to the family's separation. In one chilling scene Carlin's Mother is sitting in a Doctor's office... mere minutes away from aborting George. "MY MOTHER'S PRIMARY MOTIVE IN LEAVING MY FATHER WAS TO PROTECT ME FROM THE BEATINGS HE GAVE LITTLE PATRICK." Patrick was a role model for George... and not always in the best of lights. As an example when George followed Patrick into the Air Force the Carlin boys accrued five court- martial's between them. But even from this experience the author... with the added benefit of time and space states: "WEIRD HOW THE MILITARY TOUCHES SO MANY ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE. IT'S LIKE THE CHURCH IN THAT WAY. YOU HATE IT BUT IT FORMS YOU. IT'S A PARENT. MOTHER CHURCH AND FATHER MILITARY." As an Honorably Discharged Viet Nam era veteran... now benefiting from the same time and space... I couldn't agree with him more.

As Carlin painstakingly describes his own metamorphosis... he makes it clear how much he idolized ground-breaking comedian Lenny Bruce. So much of what Carlin became... and what he dreamed of becoming... was influenced by Lenny Bruce. Not only what Bruce did on stage... but what he did in the courtroom. It's easy for the reader to appreciate how cathartic these writings must have been for George... since on one hand he is reaching for fame and fortune on TV... and in the very next breath he is sharing all the things he couldn't stand about TV. He was a talk show "darling"... yet he hated the chit-chat minutiae. He reminisces as much about the performances where there was one person in attendance as he does about sellouts.

To truly know oneself is a unique gift. When you think of the type of comedy George Carlin created he once gave a pretty good self-definition of what he thought his "outer-talent" was. "I COULD ALWAYS THINK ON MY FEET, BUT I NEVER WAS QUICK AROUND THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO DOMINATE A TABLE. I WAS A PRODUCT OF IDEAS, NOT AD-LIBS."

The beauty of the story telling in this book is that the author openly shares his personal agony and pathos... while at his personal highs... and while at his personal lows... as it is painfully obvious... that he himself... was trying to fully understand what made Carlin... Carlin.

71 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The long-awaited memoir from the greatest comedian of the 20th and 21st centuries, November 10, 2009

By 

J. Ward - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Words: A Memoir (Hardcover)

I picked up this book yesterday and finished it this morning. It is a revelatory read, as George's previous three books are along the lines of his standup material, whereas this book is a narrative. We finally get a full three-hundred page book worth of the "real George" that we saw glimpses of throughout the years in his interviews and less guarded moments.

As a lifelong fan of Carlin, I could never understand why there weren't a ton of biographies written about him. There are lots of revelatory moments in the book; the amount of catastrophe that followed Mr. Carlin around in the 70s and 80s is truly staggering. However, George never displays a victim mentality; he never blames others for his problems, and his attitude as the narrator is charitable towards the individuals he knew.

It is made clear how easy it would have been for George to take the path of least resistance at his turning point in the early 1980s, struggling with a cocaine problem and owing massive amounts of back taxes. It is also made clear just how much of a lifesaver his 1980s business manager, Jerry Hamza, was for George.

Carlin details his business problems as well as all of his heart problems and heart surgeries, and he dives headlong into the mess of the 1970s and talks about his years of drug abuse very candidly, as well as his marriage to Brenda Carlin (née Hosbrook) and his wonderful daughter Kelly. He talks candidly about both his and his wife's near-death experiences in the 1970s and 1980s, and her death in 1998 from liver cancer.

It is clear from their History together and from Hendra's introduction (not the typical fawning introduction; clearly written about a close friend with whom he had worked for many years, with the caveat that Hendra was required to write in Carlin's voice a bit, a candid admission that is fitting with the subject of the book) - and that's what works so well. The voice in the book is clearly Carlin's. The voice of a friend for many of us who we never knew personally. The insight provided into his creative process is fascinating as well, woven consistently throughout the book.

One more aspect of Carlin's life that is shown in the book is just how much his daughter Kelly helped George and Brenda to clean up in the 1970s, when Kelly was only ten years old. She remained an important voice in George's life until the end, helping him shape his material in some ways (she advised him that 2005's brilliant "Life is Worth Losing" was just a bit too dark, with its material on suicide and graveyard set, resulting in the more homey "home office-style" stage-set for his last special, 2008's "It's Bad For Ya."

A fitting sendoff if ever there was one. I imagine he's screaming up at us right now.