George Carlin - It's Bad For Ya [DVD] [2008]

Ah, the perils of being a once trailblazing standup comedian in your 70s... Where once George Carlin was a refreshingly bitter and anarchic comedian, in this his last HBO special before his death, he comes across as a mildly grumpy old man trying far too hard to be shocking to really hit the mark. Unfortunately, with so few comedy taboos left (if any), this tends to come down to little more than saying the same four-letter word as often as possible in the belief that it makes his material more edgy and instantly funny. Unfortunately, much of his material is pretty old-school showbiz shtick - take away the obscenities and you could be listening to a more talkative George Burns on the joys of growing old (taking advantage of others, leaving social events early, faking Alzheimer's to confuse your family and outliving your friends), the absurdities of political correctness and even the illogical practicalities of Heaven and Hell.

Some of it is mildly amusing, but mild is the operative word - for all the empty professionalism of his delivery, it's only in the last couple of minutes that he works up any real passion only to... stop. He only really hits the target head-on once with his demolition of the self-esteem movement ("Imagine that, sociopaths have high self-esteem!"), and that's more accurate than funny, while potentially amusing ideas like trying to coax a telephone bore to end a call like a traffic controller talking down an airplane never fulfil their initial promise. Laughs are few and far between, with Carlin sounding increasingly like the trivial, boring people who run off at the mouth about things of no interest to anyone but themselves that he rails against, but is unaware of the irony. It's a poor send-off for a comedian who, in his prime, was capable of much, much better.

The extras free DVD boast decent picture quality but boasts what might just be the most useless scene selection menu ever - four textless pictures of Carlin with a microphone and no indication of what part of the 68-minute set they represent.

I'd heard a bit about this guy, but having watched this DVD I wonder what the fuss is all about. The comedy is not exactly new, and though the "grumpy old man" routine is funny to start with, it did get a bit samey and predictable after about 20 minutes in. It is funny in places, but for me it wasn't good enough to keep the interest going all the way through.

A year behind the US with this release, this is George Carlin's final HBO comedy special before his death at the age of 71 in 2008; his 14th HBO special in total, which is currently the record for a comedian. And, remarkably, it's only the second of his stand-up DVDs to get a commercial release in the UK, the other one being 'Complaints And Grievances' from 2001 (not released until 2003). 2005's 'Life Is Worth Losing' will finally be released in February 2010.

On his final tour Carlin delivered a typically vitriolic tirade tackling topics like death, children, old age and parents, and the original show was nominated for an Emmy. After release the CD equivalent won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album. How much his death contributed to this would probably be a valid question, but compared to most comedians' output, this is amongst the best. Against the formidable measuring stick of Carlin's own output however, it isn't his best.

Easily the funniest section is his closing rant about rights, where every one of his observations is on the nail when some of his previous ones in this show, like some of the ones about children, aren't. In some instances he is intentionally making silly arguments (like saying babies are ugly because their heads are too big), but some are just a little off the mark.

Other particularly funny segments are his observations on boring conversations, professional parents, swearing on the bible, and "the self-esteem movement", mostly concluded by the phrase which gave the show its name "It's all bulls**t folks and it's bad for ya."

If you're a Carlin fan, get this. We have precious little of his material available in this country and this is a good example of his work. The filming, sound and picture quality is of course first class as you'd expect for a show recorded as recently as March 2008, and George was still as sharp as ever, even at 70.

Hopefully this, February's release, and the two forthcoming books, will at some point be followed up by the 'All My Stuff' box set, which contains all 12 HBO specials from 1977's 'George Carlin At USC' through to 'Life Is Worth Losing' (the 1997 special was a kind of "best of" and isn't included).