Friday, October 17, 2008

What would Hicks and Carlin say?

Surveying the currently erratic economic scene and hurly-burly surrounding the rapidly approaching US presidential election, I'm wondering, "What would Bill Hicks say? What would George Carlin say?" They'd have plenty of fodder for their gags, that's for sure! I wonder also, "How can anybody ever fill their shoes?".

I wrote a little about Bill Hicks and his natal chart last year : "Anger with Humour".

Any fan of Bill's with a basic knowledge of astrology will appreciate the fact that his close cluster of 4 Sagittarius planets (Sun, Mercury, Mars and Venus) are an exact fit for his angry philosophising about politics and religion.

His following quote is probably something near to what he'd be telling us, once again. I often re-read this quote - it's almost poetry!


"The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question, is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride." And we kill those people."




And that other, sadly missed, comedian whose Gemini Moon with Mercury conjunct Uranus brough forth such ascerbic wit and wisdom - George Carlin - what would he be saying now? It would, quite possibly, be unrepeatable on a family blog! The following, all-purpose Carlin quote fits well enough though:

"When you’re born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat."


9 comments:

anthonynorth said...

I love those quotes, especially the first one. I've thought life is a rollercoaster often, myself.

Wisewebwoman said...

I've never heard of Hicks, T. Wonderful quote, I will keep it.
As to George, I loved his wit and wisdom but unfortunately at one of his live performances he was totally contemptuous of his audience and we actually walked out.
I try not to let it damage my previously high regard for him.
XO
WWW

Twilight said...

AN ~~ Yes - good analogy! :-)


WWW ~~~ I didn't know Hicks until I came to the USA. He died way, way too young - a great loss. His humour could be seen as offensive at times, but I look on it as a knife, cutting through the crap!
Sometimes it's necessary to be a little bit offensive to get a point across.

Carlin did get quite crotchety in his later years - his style changed from how he was in early recordings (Hippy-dippy Weatherman etc). We saw him perform 2 or 3 years ago in Oklahoma City. His humour then was quite dark. He talked a lot about death, suicide etc. He had hecklers then, they left the theater and somehow did something to the electricity supply - he dealt with it all with reasonable good humour but a a lot of choice swear words! I can imagine him overdoing things though, if he happened to be having a bad day.

Comedians like these often make us look at things we'd rather not see, but there's no excuse for being rude to a paying audience, I agree on that, WWW.

anyjazz said...

Those are good ones: Comedians and quotes. They had unique ways of looking at life. I often wonder if comedians know some secret the rest of us are missing.

Groucho said; Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.

Twilight said...

Yes, the best of 'em do have incredible insight into the human condition, don't they? It's a gift to us, but quite often doesn't seem to bring them much joy personally. I've read often of comedians who, in their personal life are depressive and sombre.
They must give it all away, leaving nothing for self.

Groucho was so right, getting old is easy. Getting wise - not so much. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Lots of social satirists end up crotchety or contemptuous or despondent. Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, PJ O'Rourke, Dennis Miller come to mind immediately. One who actually went the other way and seemed to become more optimistic was Richard Pryor. Although, he also tried to burn himself up, so there was that to consider!

Anonymous said...

Man,

You and I are locked in. I am doing a Bill Hicks vs Bill Maher piece. Love your blogbte. Great stuff.

http://www.robertphoenix.com

Twilight said...

TNPOTUS~~~~ Hi!
I'm not very familiar with the work of any of the satirists you mention, except, perhaps, Dennis Miller. We saw him just this week in a recording of a show from, I think, 1989. It was obvious how much his style has changed since then, he's become so much more bitter. Performers like these must infect themselves, and their own lives - a side-effect of what they do to make a living.

Twilight said...

Hello Anon (robertpheonix.com)

Thanks for visiting - nice to "see" you!

I read your today's piece as soon as I logged on this morning - hmmm- synchronicity at work - or did we pluck something out of the ethers at around the same time? LOL!

I thoroghly enjoyed your take on Bill Hicks and Bill Maher.