Some of the finest and funniest in the biz share their memories of the one and only:
Carlin’s posthumously-released memoir, Last Words, is out this week. Click here to purchase.
Want to win a copy of Last Words? Enter to win the Ultimate George Carlin Prize Pack Sweepstakes. You do NOT have to say it five times fast as part of the entry process.
Posted: November 11th, 2009 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy.
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You know his dirtiest words, but what about his last?
Legendary comedian George Carlin’s (posthumous) memoir, Last Words comes out this week, and Rooftop has partnered with publisher Simon & Schuster to bring you some exclusive, in-depth content. Today? A juicy excerpt from the raw and wrenching manuscript. All week? Audio and video clips featuring Carlin’s closest friends and family, reading from the book and extolling the foul-mouthed virtues of the First Amendment’s best friend.
From the publisher:
As one of America’s preeminent comedic voices, George Carlin saw it all throughout his extraordinary fifty-year career and made fun of most of it. Last Words is the story of the man behind some of the most seminal comedy of the last half century, blending his signature acer-bic humor with never-before-told stories from his own life.
In 1993 George Carlin asked his friend and bestselling author Tony Hendra to help him write his autobiography. For almost fifteen years, in scores of conversations, many of them recorded, the two discussed Carlin’s life, times, and evolution as a major artist. When Carlin died at age seventy-one in June 2008 with the book still unpublished, Hendra set out to assemble it as his friend would have wanted. Last Words is the result, the rollicking, wrenching story of Carlin’s life from birth — literally — to his final years, as well as a parting gift of laughter to the world of comedy he helped create.
In celebration of the man who dared to utter those seven unutterables (and, perhaps more significantly, dared to so brashly assert his right to free speech that the Supreme Court was compelled to step in and quash all the fun), we urge you to spend the day wielding the word “motherfucker” like a hand-crafted sword of justice, striking down any enemies or censors who dare to cross your path.
George and Patrick Carlin (Courtesy of Kelly Carlin-McCall)
Need a little motivation? Download an excerpt from the book: Excerpt – Last Words
Not enough for you, greedy goblin? Click here and enter to win a super primo prize pack that includes Print edition and audio edition of Last Words; Classic Gold, the deluxe 2-CD set including Carlin’s first 3 albums (Am & Fm, Class Clown, and Occupation: Foole); and a collection of Carlin’s top selling DVDs.
Posted: November 9th, 2009 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy.
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Rooftop comedian (and super bestie for life) Robert Buscemi blogs for us from the Andy Kaufman Awards!
Posted: November 8th, 2009 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy.
Comments: 3
What’s so “special” about Special Ed? For one thing, the man can eat an entire burrito in less than a minute. Sorry, ladies. He’s taken.
One-quarter of Boston’s beloved morning show sausage fest The Sandbox on 101.7 WFNX radio (92.1 in New Hampshire, for the yokels), Ed — also the show’s producer — is super picky about the funny. (He does like a good fart joke, but it has to be well-crafted. Finessed. Seamless. Did you know there’s a fart art?) Ed has bantered on the mic with some of the country’s best comedians, so we trust his judgment.
Posted: November 2nd, 2009 under Guest Editors.
Comments: 2
It’s here! The Rooftop staff’s favorite holiday. Nothing better than costumes and candy!
Behold! The ghosts (and vampires. And soccer trophies?!) of Rooftop’s Halloweens past:
Posted: October 30th, 2009 under Cool stuff from Rooftop Comedy.
Comments: 2
Myq Kaplan does not spell “Mike” that way to be a gimmicky wackadoo comedian; he changed his name to Myq as a pre-teen at summer camp, and never looked back.
Well, he may have looked back. But he never stopped spelling his name that way.
However you spell it, you should commit his name to memory; pretty soon, it’ll be all over the place. Featured as a “New Face” in the 2009 Montreal Just For Laughs festival, Myq is about to tape his first half-hour Comedy Central special, and can be seen stumping for Pizza Hut and Subway on a series of Comedy Central promos. (Even more impressive when you consider that he’s been a vegan since college.)
Posted: October 25th, 2009 under Guest Editors.
Comments: 1
David Nadelberg is one of the bravest men in comedy.
As the creator of Mortified, a hysterical smorgasbord of teenage angst wherein real people share their real childhood artifacts (such as diaries, letters, poems, songs, etc), Nadelberg has hit the nail on the painfully nostalgic head. Audiences go nuts for the stage show, and the press has, too; the show has received countless accolades, including Day-Glo raves from Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, and “This American Life” on NPR.
Can you imagine hopping up on a stage and reading, aloud, to a group of strangers, your most intimate and, yes, embarrassing, teenage thoughts?
We told you it was brave.
Posted: October 19th, 2009 under Guest Editors.
Comments: 1
Giulia Rozzi isn’t afraid of anything. Stand-up comedian, writer, actress, and co-creator of the wildly raunchy and side-clutchingly side-splitting show Stripped Stories, Giulia and her comedy partner/college best friend Margot Leitman bare all onstage, telling their most intimate and hilarious stories of sexual escapades. (Upcoming dates in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Click here for more info.)
Giulia’s wink/nudge adorable antics are also the star of the show in two short films directed by Anya Garrett; “Pizza Day,” and “We.”
Wanna get inside Giulia’s…head? We do too, which is why we asked her to pick her fave Rooftop clips.
Posted: October 13th, 2009 under Guest Editors.
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Jenny Slate Fucks Her Way to Stardom
by guest editor Joshua Neuman
I’ve been a huge fan of Jenny Slate for about 5 years so I was overjoyed when she was recently cast on SNL. That she dropped the F-bomb on her SNL debut has probably brought a great deal of chaos to her life, but more than anything, it’s an indication of someone who has been honing her craft in spaces with limitless creative boundaries. And please mark my words: Slate will be to Nancy Grace what Tina Fey was to Sarah Palin. Long story short, four years ago a bunch of comics and I were on a van driving through the countryside in Georgia to perform at a national conference of Jewish student leaders (sort of like performing on SNL except with intense suicidal thoughts after), and she virtually channeled Grace for the 2-hour ride. Fucking brilliant.
Posted: October 8th, 2009 under Guest Editors.
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by Guest Editor Joshua Neuman
Each year, we announce our list of 100 Jews you need to know about, 10 of which from the field of comedy. This year’s list, which we announced this week, featured writers, stand-ups, performers and a couple who I can only categorize as performance artists. Of particular note is Dave Nadelberg, founder of the Mortified stage show, in which performers revisit embarrassing childhood moments in front of sloshed audiences. If you haven’t seen the show, it is a must-see. The accompanying photograph of Nadelberg will appear in the forthcoming edition of our magazine and is part of a traveling portrait exhibit, which opens in NY at the 92Y Tribeca.
Posted: October 6th, 2009 under Guest Editors.
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