George Carlin: Doin' it Again

George Carlin: Doin' it Again.
Original HBO airdate: March 23, 1990.
Written by and starring George Carlin
Director: Rocco Urbisci
Available from Amazon.

For those unaware, this HBO special was released to CD under the title Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics with a different running order. This was the last George Carlin special on HBO that wasn't edited or rearranged when it was released on compact disc.

George Carlin returned to the stage in New Brunswick, New Jersey in early 1990 to attack political correctness as well as the "soft language" that had been, in his view, overtaking the English language. For instance, in the old days, a World War I veteran was considered "shellshocked", but now, he is simply suffering from PTSD. Carlin speculates that had the phrase shellshock not fallen out of, some of the more traumatized veterans could very well have received the help they desperately needed at the time. Carlin also discusses feminism, which somehow transforms into a fairly uncomfortable routine where he claims that rape can be funny, and it depends on how one phrases the joke.

Other highlights are Carlin's stories about his old dog Tippy (he brings out his then-current pet at the end of the show), as well as discussing things you never see, things you never hear, or things you don't want to hear.

This is a recommended performance, as well as the first signs of the "angry old man" stage persona that Carlin started developing during the 1990s, although he's nowhere near as pissed off or nihilistic as he got over the course of the decade, reaching its inevitable conclusion during his 2005 special, Life is Worth Losing.