Today, I present to you George Carlin’s American Dream Part 1 review. Firstly, this is a Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio two-part documentary for HBO. This is the first of two articles I will be sharing for you on what I consider a masterpiece documentary work on the life and legacy of America’s greatest stand-up comics and entertainers of the twentieth century.
If you’re a fan of stand-up, here’s a two-part documentary that you will love. Firstly, it is about a man that made stand-up comedy his life and soul and made out of it a great platform to convey not only humor but a countercultural set of ideas that resound from the 1970s up until this day. With his witty humor, sarcasm, and wild tongue, this American comedian inspired four generations of comedians with an incredible style. Without further ado, here’s part one of George Carlin’s American Dream Part 1 Review.
George Carlin’s American Dream Part 1 Review
Judd Apatow —known for movies like “The 40-year-old Virgin and Knocked Up— teams up with Michael Bonfiglio to present much more than a hagiographic recount of George Carlin’s life and legacy across five decades of artistic life. With brilliant footage and great documentation on sources —which include access to his writings, family documents, and first-hand recollection of his tapes— Apatow manages to give viewers an inside look at how his early life molded what would become the staple style that would define him.
Right off from the start, we see that George Carlin was a Catholic New Yorker born into a broken home. His brother’s recollection of his childhood, coupled with the first-hand account from his lifelong childhood friends, gives us a glimpse of how his life would mold him into the comedian he’d become in the late 1970s and would provide us with that dark comedy tone in the early 2000s.
The Beginnings
George Carlin began cutting his teeth on stage in the 1960s comedy circles, telling jokes for a generation of people he felt out of touch with. And right from the get-go, we see from Apatow’s work that Carlin wanted to make humor for a generation that kept in touch with him. Moreover, George Carlin felt like he was making jokes for adults that were sending teenagers to the war in Vietnam. So, he wanted to connect with an audience that could understand him.
Therefore, he changed the suit and tie, grew a beard, dropped acid, and entered the counterculture scene of the 1960s. With it came a major shift in the culture and in his humor. Apatow conveys a powerful story here, with brilliant animations by Stefan Nadelman. Furthermore, Joe Beshenkovsky’s edition work is powerful, putting clips from the historical periods that influenced Carlin and the world to help us understand it all.
George Carlin’s American Dream Trailer
The 1970s
With the 1970s comedy force, George Carlin’s Golden era, he signs a record deal with Flip Wilson that gets him four records that go gold label. He begins showing up on talk shows. And what’s most important of all, he’s the first host of the legendary comedy show Saturday Night Live. His articulate candor and reality bites at counterculture resonate with youth audiences and propel him into stardom.
One of the things that make this film great is the impact that George Carlin had on other legendary stand-up comedians and how Apatow interviews them and puts them on film to give their perspective of this man’s cultural legacy from the 1970s. People like Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr, Chris Rock, Hasan Minhaj, Paul Reiser, Jon Stewart, Patton Oswalt, and Stephen Colbert intervene in the documentary giving their two cents on his cultural legacy.
Carlin’s Personal Side
One note that I decided to leave for the last part is just how in-depth this documentary goes into George Carlin’s personal life. With interviews with Carlin, his wife, brother, and daughter, Apatow draws an interesting look at just how troubled and conflicted George Carlin was in his personal life and the struggles he had to deal with. From his substance abuse, his wife’s alcoholism, and how he had to cope and struggle with those things to make ends meet to survive.
Overall, if you like stand-up comedy, you will find that George Carlin’s America is a great documentary that will compel you to look at the evolution of humor and entertainment in so many ways. Moreover, Carlin’s imprint on the contemporary aspects of modernity and how they convey into American counterculture still resonates today. In part two of this series, I will analyze the second leg of Judd Apatow’s George Carlin’s America, which covers George Carlin’s life from the 1980s up until his death.
