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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Back in Town

George Carlin

HBO · 1996 · 60 min

A 1996 set focused on conservative politics and minor societal complaints.

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By 1996, George Carlin had settled firmly into the hostility that defined his late career. Back in Town opens with an aggressive, prolonged breakdown of the American pro-life movement and conservative hypocrisy. It is a stretch of logic so blunt that audiences reportedly walked out during the workup shows. Instead of backing off, he made it the centerpiece of the hour.

This was his ninth HBO special, and his first time shooting at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. After taking care of the heavy ideological lifting with routines on capital punishment and state prison farms, Carlin spends the back half of the 61-minute set letting off steam. A massive nineteen-minute chunk titled “Free-Floating Hostility” operates as a rapid-fire list of minor annoyances. He complains about air quotes, men who wear earrings, personal water bottles, and whining baby boomers. Decades later, the opening abortion material found renewed circulation following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Abortion and abortion laws

    Opens with the premise 'Why is it that most of the people who are against abortion, are people you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?' and deconstructs abortion and societal sanctity-of-life views.

  2. Capital Punishment and State Prison Farms

    A dark, satirical meditation pushing the mechanics and absurdity of executions and prison farms to comedic extremes.

  3. Farting in Public

    Gross-out humor focusing on public flatulence.

  4. Familiar Expressions

    Dissecting and mocking everyday clichés and linguistic habits.

  5. Free-Floating Hostility

    A rapid sequence of 25 brutal attacks on modern phenomena, including backwards baseball hats, baby boomers, cologne, camcorders, politicians, and why he doesn't vote.

How it plays

Tone
Dark, satirical, caustic, profane, and socio-political with gross-out elements.
On stage
Caustic, ranting, and profanity-laced observer characterized by Richard Zoglin as having shoulder-length hair, a 1960s hipster attitude, and political passion.
Pace
Fast-paced, dark, hard-hitting, firing off rants.
About
abortion, the sanctity of life, capital punishment, state prison farms, farting in public, familiar expressions and words

What the critics said

Critical appraisals note Carlin's sharp, intelligent deconstruction of social and political issues (particularly abortion and modern annoyances), though reviewers like Brian Egan and Stephen Thompson critiqued the inclusion of juvenile fart jokes and extended execution routines.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, themoviedb.org, musicbrainz.org, allmusic.com, avclub.com, time.com, georgecarlin.net.

Backstory

His ninth HBO special and first performance at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

Details

Released
Taped
Beacon Theatre, New York
Runtime
60 min
Where
HBO
Director
Rocco Urbisci
Honors
1 win & 1 nomination noted on IMDb
Topics
Before
Jammin' in New York (1992)
After
40 Years of Comedy (1997)

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