Review of George Carlin: Complaints and Grievances

Introduction

George Carlin probably isn`t that familiar a name in the UK, but you probably have seen the face, especially if you have seen the Bill and Ted movies where he played the uber-cool Rufus. In that guise he played a small but significant part in my teenage years.

Still, while Carlin moonlights at movies, his day job is stand up, something I didn`t know until I saw the Complaints and Grievances Live DVD. Recorded in late 2001 in New York, those nice people at HBO were there to get the whole thing on tape. And here it is for your delectation.

Video

A 1.33:1 regular transfer that is never going to set the world alight showcases this programme to average effect. Typically low resolution and low contrast, this is the kind of material that doesn`t really need a stunning transfer, but it might have been nice…

Audio

Don`t let the Dolby Surround logo at the start of the show fool you, the DVD comes with a PCM Stereo track, which conveys the sound adequately. All the dialogue is audible, which is all you can really ask for.

Features

Nothing, nada, not even any subtitles. It`s not as if there is lack of space as the main programme is only 55 minutes long. The disc is Region 0 by the way.

Conclusion

So there I was, expecting Rufus when a balding old man shuffles on stage, a little wizened, a little stooped and proceeds to let rip with a tirade of obscenities. Let me put it this way, the first joke (about weathervanes) is enough to justify the 18 rating by itself. Like a lot of comedians, their stand up persona and their movie persona rarely match and this is certainly true here.

Did I find George Carlin funny? That`s the important question. While laughter is universal, comedy certainly isn`t and it`s only occasionally that I find American stand up performed in America really funny. George Carlin is a New Yorker performing to his native audience here and a couple of American Football references do go whizzing overhead. Naturally he does refer to the September 11th incident and while he is hardly reverential, he doesn`t exceed any boundary of taste. George Carlin`s material is variable. He gets substantial mileage from a stream of fart gags, and there are some leftfield one-liners that had me laughing out loud at their sheer shock value, nothing repeatable here though. What many comedians do nowadays is complain, they get laughs from little neuroses and niggles that don`t stray over the politically correct border. This is what George Carlin is best known for (hence the Complaints and Grievances title) and you get an extensive list of people who should die, guys named Todd for instance. Of course you`re not an accomplished comedian if you don`t interject some valid social comment, so there is some of that as well.

I`m afraid that George Carlin failed to tickle my funny bone. At his age, complaints and grievances seem more like whinges and whines, and I half expected him to interject a "in my day" or "young whippersnapper". But the ultimate problem is that the material, despite the copious use of swearing and shock tactics is ultimately too tame. There`s no challenging of the status quo, no skating on thin ice, nothing provocative at all. Similarly Carlin`s delivery is too staccato for my liking, I prefer comedians who paint pictures with words, who can build up a gag over several minutes. Carlin is finished with a subject as soon as he starts it and most of the chapters on this disc last less than 60 seconds.

That coupled with the typical US audience proved to be too much of a turn off for me. You know the kind, and it`s especially true of Chris Rock audiences. They`ll clap, cheer, scream, woof, worship, anything but laugh. The comedian is an evangelist and the audience his flock, and he`s not seeking laughter but agreement and vindication. Me, I`d rather laugh until I cry, and this disc is a dismal failure in that respect. There just aren`t enough laughs on this disc, and I felt that I was in a lecture.

OK, Comedy is subjective, and what I find tedious, may crack up others. I can only speak for myself in that regard, but consider this, for your money, you only get 55 minutes of programming, hardly good value.