WHO'S GOING TO EXPLAIN STUFF NOW THAT GEORGE CARLIN'S GONE?

The other day we lost a master of not only comedy, but of the English language. George Carlin died of the heart disease that had plagued him for some time, at a far too young 71. At his age, a time when most comedians are rehashing the routines that made them famous, Mr. Carlin was always writing and performing new material, still thinking and expressing himself in a different way than anyone else. He was a chronicler of the absurd in human life, a puncturer of inflated egos and a master of social observation. With George Carlin around to explain stuff, we were all a little more down to earth.

He broke comedy ground again and again but still moved on to new material, fresh observations and was always current. He was as prolific a writer as Steven King and a hell of a lot more entertaining. There were no sacred cows in his world, including himself. And unlike a lot of thought-provoking comics, he was always very funny. Who else could make you think about the absurdity of the phrases "jumbo shrimp" and "colossal olives?" And his Hippy Dippy Weatherman review; "Tonight, dark. Tomorrow night, more of the same..."

Born to an Irish American family in New York City and educated in Catholic schools (Traditionally rich wiseguy training grounds), he made his mark in both conventional and counter-cultural comedy. His "Seven words you can't say on television" routine marked an end to his association with traditional comedy and sent him on the road to his greatest successes as an outsider who made everybody laugh, both traditionalists and avant garden types. That was because he spoke the unvarnished truth, that quality of his work that was probably greater than his innovation, his creativity, his superb comic timing and performance skills or the sheer volume of his work.

It was the raw honesty of his work that kept us all riveted. He pandered to no one and struck no false notes in his long career. For an artist to remain true to himself is one of the greatest achievements of any artistic discipline. And as topical and current as much of his work was, it was also timeless, much like Charles Dickens, who wrote about his own time and place but somehow managed to leave us timeless works. That's because, like Dickens, Carlin wrote about humanity, a commodity that never changes, and bloated egos, which seem to prosper in every age.

Artists like this are the people who see the forest through the trees and point out the obvious to the rest of us while entertaining us superbly. Talents like George Carlin are few and far between and we're going to miss him. There was nobody quite like him. And as he grew older and a little more grumpy, we liked him even better, like he was almost a family member or a favorite neighbor. Now that he's gone, who's going to explain stuff to us? Here's to you, George Carlin. Thank you and goodbye. Or rather, so long pal, since a little bit of George Carlin has rubbed off on all of us and in a sense he's not going anywhere in a hurry.