Life Is Worth Losing [Single]

George Carlin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000CCD07Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,179 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #11 in Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy > Classic Comedy
  • #92 in Music > Miscellaneous > Radio Shows

Editorial Reviews

George Carlin is back and he’s funnier than ever. The Atlantic Records companion album to the four-time Grammy Award-Winning comic’s 13th HBO comedy concert, LIFE IS WORTH LOSING, is another Carlin classic, a collection of side-splitting riffs and splenetic rants that cut straight to the heart of 21st Century America. Recorded live at New York City’s Beacon Theater, LIFE IS WORTH LOSING fi nds the legendary comedian with his dander at full mast, unleashing his righteous rage at such topics as ‘Dumb Americans,’ ‘Autoerotic Asphyxia,’ ‘Extreme Human Behavior,’ and more. As ever, Carlin’s blend of hilarious comedy and biting commentary forces listeners to confront the dark truths of modern culture while trying to catch their breath from non-stop laughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Making his twilight years count, March 14, 2006

By 

Scott Sweet "Music Freak" (Colorado Springs, CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Life Is Worth Losing (Audio CD)

The tone of the CD shows right on the package: black and white photo, simple tracklisting on the back. The wackiness and "color" of his earlier decades has bled away, and now Carlin gets down to business the same way he did on "Jammin' in New York" and "Back in Town".

Much of the material addresses murder, suicide and neglect. Different roads lead to the same place. 1) There absolutely IS humor in how we face what we all share - mortality. 2) Why does Carlin lean so heavily on the subject this time around? THERE ARE MANY MORE DAYS BEHIND HIM THAN AHEAD OF HIM. Go with a smile, or go in denial. Carlin chooses the former.

"A Modern Man" is a cute loose-rhyme opening in exactly the same style as his previous "Advertising Lullaby". I started laughing really hard at the midway point, with "Dumb Americans". The first half relies upon what Carlin has offered since the '80s. So, "Dumb Americans" is the first peak, and he peaks again with the closing "Coast-To-Coast Emergency". The last piece paints an apocalyptic picture of how this sick, twisted universe can die and return as a better one.

My only disappointment is the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning on the back of the CD case. Invoking a government emblem to discourage unlawful behavior totally undermines an anti-establishment schtick. It's no different for Carlin than it is for A Perfect Circle.

This album doesn't introduce a lot of new material, but that's only because when Carlin holds a mirror to America, the view hasn't changed in at least 25 years.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not so much funny as it is interesting, April 15, 2006

By 

R.H. (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Is Worth Losing (Audio CD)

This CD will go down as one of the least funny Carlin CD's. Very few belly laughs in this one, some might not even laugh once throughout the entire thing. So why 4 stars? Because I have never heard a better examination of American life by anybody. George shows us a man who has lived through America in its best and worst times and his examination into our need for consumption is thought provoking. While death is the overall motif of the CD, almost everything ties back into how over privelleged we all are and how truly animalistic human behavior is.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Out of the Way Whipper Snappers, February 20, 2006

By 

Tom The Trader (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Is Worth Losing (Audio CD)

Far too often, George Carlin's recent work is compared to his work of the 1960s and 1970s. I think some people have not fully come to terms with the transition GC has made. He no longer is "class clown" (and hasnt been for about 15 years). He is a full blown cynic, angry, creative, and much more condescending than he was in the past.

I think there are a couple of reviews out there that dont take into account that, well, the truth is, Carlin is getting older. Not to say that he is irrelevant now. Just that the same zing and etc that used to be in his live performance is gone a bit. I saw the performance at the Beacon Theatre just before LIWL was filmed. He actually forgot some of the jokes and you could tell that his timing was off a little. (To be fair, he had only shortly before been released from a hospital for pneumonia and heart problems.)

Now that does not mean that his material is any weaker. It may mean though that Carlin is not as "fun" to listen to as in the past--at least in the form of a full blown stand-up show. His material is still great--he opened the show woth a word for word rendition of A Modern Man from When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? But when he starts the "offensive" material, it loses just a little zip because it is coming from a person who now sounds like they are a senior citizen. Up until his last album, Carlin seemed to have the youth and vigor of a man half his age. Time is catching up to him a little. Can you imagine what Andrew Dice Clay would sound like if he was 70 yrs old and talking about 20 yr old women?

Nevertheless, Carlin's material is fresh, observant, and thankfully, hysterical. I laughed aloud often during the show because he is still the greatest comedian around today, hands down and his material proves it. But like professional atheletes, there comes a time when audiences start to say, "so-and-so is losing it." I think it is fair to say that Carlin win will more awards for his books and related materials than he will for his live performances from now on.

Treat yourself to a good laugh and buy the album. Just cut the man some slack! He can perform until he has to be wheeled out there and nurses have to move his lips for him to speak. He's that funny. And rejoyce in the fact that in a recent Playboy interview, it was revealed that Carlin had enough written material on his computer hard drive for something like 10 books.