When George Carlin Penned a Letter to the Editor

By: E&P STaff In a tribute on the Web to the late comedian George Carlin today, Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter John Campanelli recalled when Carlin wrote a letter to the editor of his newspaper.

Here is an excerpt.
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He was famous for never recycling old material. Every tour was fresh, which meant he never stopped writing and working....

After a show in Cleveland in October 1992, a PD critic blasted Carlin, insisting he was "out to collect a paycheck," and had the attitude of "let me bark my lines and get out of this dump before I bore myself silly."

A simmering Carlin then wrote a letter to the newspaper, mocking the very idea of a review of a comedy show: "It is like reviewing the Ice Capades or the circus: Who really cares?"

"What comedians do is actually a form of art," he continued. "It may not be on so lofty a perch as poetry or ballet, but it is nonetheless art . . . vocal art, expressed in monologues.

"I do not take any of my performances for granted; I do not throw a show away; I do not 'bark my lines'; I do not consider the Palace Theater a 'dump'; and I have never 'bore(d) myself silly' on stage. All such assertions run counter to my beliefs and actual experiences, and, worse, they presume to describe my inner values."