So by now I’m sure every comedy dork and laughter enthusiast has heard that the legendary George Carlin is dead. I’m bothering to actually post about it because once, many years ago, I won some comedy contest and got to open for George Carlin when he performed at UNC. I met him backstage, and found him to be very approachable and unpretentious.

He’s also the first celebrity I pulled my universally-adored “call the famous guy by the wrong famous guy name” gag: I called him “Slappy White“; and let me tell you, got big laughs. This gag was so big about 7 or so years later I had an encore to do it again, this time to Eric Idle, who I called “Benny Hill.” I’m hoping by 2014 I’ll get to call Jon Stewart “Jimmy Fallon.” 

Opening for George Carlin really was a huge honor, and I think the biggest crowd I’ve ever been in front of without brandishing a weapon. So thanks, Mr.Carlin, and have fun using the word “Cocksucker” in front of Ghandi and some saints.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.