"... The [new HBO] documentary shows the comedian bantering about it with Johnny Carson on 'The Tonight Show' a couple of months later.
'What did they do to you in Milwaukee?' Carson asks Carlin.
'Well, what did they
try to do to me … ?' Carlin replies, going into the old Blatz Beer jingle, 'I’m from Milwaukee, and I ought to know … The routine worked everywhere, really, very well … Except in Milwaukee, where they must really be bad words. One policeman took exception … apparently he hadn’t been listening in the locker room.' Carlin was arrested by a Milwaukee police officer who happened to be at Summerfest with his family.... The promoter rushed over to [Carlin's wife] Brenda, telling her that the police were going to arrest the comedian.... 'My mom knows that my dad is carrying weed and coke in his pockets,' [Carlin's daughter] Kelly remembers.... 'She grabbed a glass of water and walked out on to the stage, whispering in his ear,
"Cops are here, exit Stage Left."' Carlin left the stage, Kelly says, emptying his pocket as he went.... Tom Schneider, then a young assistant district attorney, had been at Carlin's show.... Schneider's boss, who knew he'd been at the show, asked him if Carlin had disturbed the peace; Schneider told him Carlin received a standing ovation.
The charges were dismissed in December 1972."
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36 comments:
The problem is that Snagglepuss would exit audience left - not stage left. Had to unlearn that.
Three words you can't say on Twitter or on the mainstream media: "Hunter Biden"s laptop". It apparently is disturbing the peace, leftie peace that is.
I wonder what seven words we'd have today..
Well, what SIX words we'd have; The one that starts with "N" is obvious, but the others?
"Exit, stage left" was a standard theater command before it was a catchphrase.
The history of radio and television is in no small part a history of free speech argument in the 20th century. There are at least three Supreme Court decisions that shaped and changed the way TV worked in America, and Carlin's Seven Words (FCC vs Pacifica) is one of them.
Carlin would have loved today's woke crowd. Man...that would have been a Battle Royale.
I note that Chappelle is still gettin canceled. There is no room for laughter in this new woke world.
"The problem is that Snagglepuss would exit audience left - not stage left. Had to unlearn that."
That's why I wrote it was "potentially confusing way to aim Carlin toward an escape route."
I believe that if Carlin's wife used those words, she just meant a facetious "get the hell out of here" and wasn't telling him which path to take. In earlier days, it would have been colloquial and jocose to say "Cheese it. The cops."
In earlier days, it would have been colloquial and jocose to say "Cheese it. The cops."
Crikey! The rozzers!
While reading this, I had a vision of George and Dave standing side by side taking on the current delusions and dealing with them using the wit and contempt that these times so richly deserve.
Let's see how we muddle through this mess. Jesus take the wheel.
We should bring back, "Cheese it, the cops!"
If he was walking around such a public space with "weed and coke in his pockets," clearly the police were a minor concern.
So some of this talk actually is locker room talk? My heart is fluttering.
The lesson is that the cancellation instigators are the last gasping grasp of a dying culture desperate to hold on to their backwards beliefs. Only their compatriots and cowards think the Karen's are winning.
After he rattled of the seven dirty words, best was the immediate follow up line:
"And tits doesn't even belong on the list..."
Temujin said...
Carlin would have loved today's woke crowd. Man...that would have been a Battle Royale.
It’s hard to project the values of liberal comedians and musicians of the past to where we are today. Would George Carlin still have held strong to basic truths of freedom like Chapelle, Bill Burr, Eric Clapton, & Van Morrison try to do?
Or would he have sold his soul, and led his audience astray like Bruce Springsteen, Late Night TV hosts, & Neil Young?
Having attended fifteen Grateful Dead shows in my youth, and eaten everything they had to offer, the most perplexing thing about our current slide into totalitarianism, is watching the Woodstock Boomers betray everything they once stood for.
What would Jim Morrison do?
“Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners.” — G. Carlin
More apt every day.
"We should bring back, "Cheese it, the cops!""
The OED says this use of "cheese" has an unknown origin but might be "an alteration of cease."
It's got examples of the use — meaning run away — going back to 1811 .
I liked:
1866 Evening Standard 27 July As soon as he went up the prisoner Blagin said, ‘Cheese it (run away), here's the bobby coming.’...
1883 J. Hawthorne Fortune's Fool ii. xxxiii. 326 ‘Cheese it, mates! 'ere comes the bobbies!’...
1972 F. B. Maynard Raisins & Almonds 60 ‘Cheese it!’ Hazel called. She streaked for the door, with Fern at her heels.
1984 K. Amis Stanley & Women i. 57 No use telling her to stow it or cheese it or come off it because she really believes it.
Apparently, the people at Hanna Barbera were well-aware of the "stage-left" mistake, but didn't want to confuse their young audience regarding left vs. right.
There's a popular meme now that when anyone puts up a poll, one choice should always be "cheese". It's just one of those all-purpose words deployed throughout history.
I watched the docu a month or so ago, whenever it dropped, and was appalled to see what a nasty, bitter man he grew into; a moralistic scold. In that way, he foretold the decline of comedy and the birth of "clapter."
Free speech, he declares to the camera at the beginning, is an American myth, except that free speech and liberty are what he claims throughout as his birthright.
My takeaway after gutting it out till the end credits: How did you ever think George Carlin was funny?
"Exit stage left"
It looks to me like Snagglepuss is exiting stage right.
This always confused me (and I may still have this wrong) but as I understand the conventions of stage direction stage left, stage right refer to those directions relative to the actor's point of view. His left is the audience's right, and his right is the audience's left, assuming the actor faces the audience as is customary.
From what has survived in manuscript, Shakespeare's original scripts have the directions written in abbreviated Latin by a different hand, presumably the stage manager, e.g. Malcolm, Macduff, Ross exeunt dex. (they go out right).
"Exit stage left"
It looks to me like Snagglepuss is exiting stage right.
This always confused me (and I may still have this wrong) but as I understand the conventions of stage direction stage left, stage right refer to those directions relative to the actor's point of view. His left is the audience's right, and his right is the audience's left, assuming the actor faces the audience as is customary.
From what has survived in manuscript, Shakespeare's original scripts have the directions written in abbreviated Latin by a different hand, presumably the stage manager, e.g. Malcolm, Macduff, Ross exeunt dex. (they go out right).
"Three words you can't say on Twitter or on the mainstream media: 'Hunter Biden's laptop.' It apparently is disturbing the peace, leftie peace that is."
Such a self-satisfying and fallacious comment. No one who is really left gives a shit about Hunter Biden or his father, and see them as anathema.
Now, if you had said "Dem loyalists' peace," you might have had a point.
If we are going to get into Shakespeare we have to mention the infamous: Exit, pursued by a bear.
"Having attended fifteen Grateful Dead shows in my youth, and eaten everything they had to offer, the most perplexing thing about our current slide into totalitarianism, is watching the Woodstock Boomers betray everything they once stood for."
There are several possible answers to your perplexity, depending on one's point of view:
1. They are too burned out from acid to remember what they once stood for.
2. They didn't actually stand for anything other than easy sex and plentiful drugs.
3. Being fans of the Grateful Dead, they are by nature fated to be on the wrong side of the right side of any issue.
4. The extant cohort of Grateful Dead-listening acid eaters is too small to account for any but a fraction of the popular opinions of today.
5. The slide into totalitarianism is the inevitable result of the social and political forces the Grateful Dead-listening acid eaters (GDLAE) opposed at that time: the plutocrats and the political uniparty (Republicrats) who serve the the plutocrats. The extant GDLAE are as impotent today as then to effectively rage against the machine, (but that's another generation).
"What would Jim Morrison do?"
Drop his pants and expose himself. Perhaps the most appropriate response.
"I watched the docu a month or so ago, whenever it dropped, and was appalled to see what a nasty, bitter man he grew into; a moralistic scold."
You don't understand: all comics and satirists who are any good are and have always been nasty, bitter moralistic scolds.
'You might think "Exit stage left" was a potentially confusing way to aim Carlin toward an escape route, but "Exit stage left" was a catchphrase of the time.'
I don't think it is confusing to someone who makes their living working on an actual stage...
This was the one and only time I attended Summerfest. I was in the audience, but it was such a chaotic situation that I didn't even realize what was happening on stage. What I did hear of his act was pretty funny, though.
it would have been colloquial and jocose to say "Cheese it. The cops."
Especially in Wisconsin!
"Cheese it" actually makes no sense whatsoever. Probably references some sketchy Milwaukee behavior in a cheese factory/speakeasy in the 1920's. You have to add "the cops" just to let people know what the hell you're saying.
Cheeses swept.
One can type Carlin's Seven Words on Facebook and not catch a ban. There are at least three words, however, that will get you banned: the N-word and even the variation "chigger," which caused my friend, SF novelist Michael Z. Williamson, to be banned on Facebook for 30 days; "f----t," (rhymes with maggot); and "tranny" (even if used to describe the car part). Mike Williamson has been banned for the first two, and I have been banned for the third. Others that will probably get you banned are ethnic/gender slurs against Jews, Latinos, and lesbians. That would bring the list to six words. Note that all of them are what the Left considers "hate speech" rather than profanity. "Groomer" was just recently banned by Reddit, and members there came up with the ingenious "Predditor" to replace it.
Say goodnight, Gracie.
Make like a tree and leave.
Make like Siamese twins, and split.
Make like a cow pie and hit the trail.
Make like a bread truck and haul buns.
Feet don't fail me now.
"Cheese it" also was used in West Side Story as a warning when the cops showed up.
Oddly, "cheesed off" means very upset. I see no references for "cheesed on" or "cheesed out" or "cheese them" and so on, thus a large opportunity to create slang using the word "cheese" remains available.
"Being fans of the Grateful Dead, they are by nature fated to be on the wrong side of the right side of any issue."
Doesn't happen often, but when Cookie's right, he's right.
Mmmmmmmm. . . . Blatz. . . . . .
We painted our frat house on a case of returnable Blatz every morning.
"Cheese" in baseball is a fastball. I'm gonna guess that "cheese it" meant to run away in a straight line. No bluffs, no diversions - just put maximum distance between yourself and the place you currently occuppy.
>>In earlier days, it would have been colloquial and jocose to say "Cheese it. The cops."
Earlier today TCM showed Little Lord Fauntleroy as part of an apparent celebration of C. Aubrey Smith. Early on, Freddie Bartholomew and a very young Mickey Rooney were getting the snot beat out of them by a bunch of young Brooklyn toughs. The fight broke up with a cry of, you guessed it, "Cheese it, the cops."
--gpm
>>In earlier days, it would have been colloquial and jocose to say "Cheese it. The cops."
Earlier today TCM showed Little Lord Fauntleroy as part of an apparent celebration of C. Aubrey Smith. Early on, Freddie Bartholomew and a very young Mickey Rooney were getting the snot beat out of them by a bunch of young Brooklyn toughs. The fight broke up with a cry of, you guessed it, "Cheese it, the cops."
--gpm
I was there. Really, I was. I was a 14-year-old Milwaukee kid. Any questions?
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