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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Complaints and Grievances

George Carlin

HBO · 2001 · 56 min

A late-career inventory of everyday irritants and cultural stupidity.

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George Carlin was scheduled to film a special called “I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die.” Then September 11 happened. Forced to scrap the original title and nine minutes of material about mass casualties shortly before taping, Carlin pivoted to a meticulous, angry inventory of everyday human behavior. Instead of reveling in catastrophe, he focuses his hostility on petty irritants and modern inconveniences.

Filmed at the Beacon Theatre in New York City in November 2001, “Complaints and Grievances” is his 12th HBO special. It finds him settling fully into his late-career persona as a cultural antagonist. The set runs through the compulsion to gawk at traffic accidents, the gross realities of things that fall off the human body, and an extended argument on why the Ten Commandments should be condensed down to two.

The hour ultimately earned a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Comedy Album.

The set list

3 bits

  1. People Who Oughta Be Killed

    An extended catalog of everyday irritants, targeting readers of self-help books, parents of honor students, people wearing visors, hands-free headset users, hot air balloonists, and men named Todd.

  2. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Why We Don't Need 10 Commandments closer

    Carlin philosophically edits down and consolidates the biblical Ten Commandments into two, taking aim at religion and fanatics who kill in God's name.

  3. Traffic Accidents: Keep Movin'!

    Observational riffing on driving behaviors and rubberneckers causing delays at accident scenes.

How it plays

Tone
Splenetic, observational, profane, and biting.
On stage
Splenetic, dirty-mouthed, and philosophical; venting universal irritations and taking aim at social stupidity.
Pace
Retains vocal energy and animated character voices while dropping most of the manic physicality of his earlier career routines.
About
Assholes of Our Time / People Who Oughta Be Killed, Religion and the Ten Commandments, Language and annoying social behavior, Driving and traffic accidents, Post-9/11 New York atmosphere

What the critics said

Regarded as a strong, cathartic return that successfully addressed 9/11 before pivoting to universal observational gripes, even if Carlin appeared slightly more fatigued than in previous years and repurposed a few older ideas.

In the room: An appreciative hometown New York theater audience navigating post-9/11 anxiety, receptive to local references and Carlin's venting.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, allmusic.com, georgecarlin.net, georgecarlin.com, nytimes.com, dvdtalk.com, m.imdb.com, variety.com.

Backstory

Filmed in New York City just over two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Carlin altered the show's original title ('I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die') and cut a nine-minute closing routine about natural disasters and mass casualties, feeling audiences in post-9/11 New York would not laugh at it.

Details

Released
Taped
Beacon Theatre, New York City
Runtime
56 min
Where
HBO
Honors
Nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album
Topics
Before
Napalm and Silly Putty (2001)
After
Life Is Worth Losing (2005)

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