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Product Details
Free Press, November 2009
Hardcover, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 1439172951
ISBN-13: 9781439172957
Description
As one of America's most pre-eminent comedians, with 50 years worth of material and appearances on the international comedy circuit, George Carlin saw it all and made fun of most of it. Blending his signature acerbic humor with never before told stories from his own life, Last Words is part comedy routine, part reflection, and all original. Written with bestselling author Tony Hendra, Last Words is the story of the man behind some of the most seminal comedy and commentary of the last century.
Carlin's journey to stardom began in the rough and tumble neighborhoods of New York in the 1940s and '50s, where class and culture wars planted the seeds for some of his earliest material. Carlin describes his major influences as an up and coming comic, talking about the origins of some of his most famous stand up routines including the notorious Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television. Sparing no detail, Carlin describes his life and career, discussing his own battle with substance abuse, his turbulent relationships with his family, and the unique worldview that informed so much of his stand up. From the high points on stage to the low points few knew about, read by his brother Patrick Carlin, Last Words is George Carlin's life told with the same unblinking honesty that defined his comedy and made him one of the best loved comedians in American history.
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"Last Words, a posthumous autobiography from George Carlin, is a jazzy, inward-looking piece of work...as a chronicler of the working of his own mind, Carlin is terrific." -- The New York Times
"...what "Last Words" ultimately reveals is how Carlin became a political protester, slam poet, cynic, polemicist and performance artist whose messages were delivered under the veneer of humor." --Washington Post
"The book is at turns biting and touching, and often both, which is what you would expect from a man for whom the sacred was profane and the profane, sacred." --Entertainment Weekly
"...frank and insightful..." --Time magazine
"This is not a collection of setups and punch lines, but a candid, fearless accounting of his life and art...Last Words shows a comic master at the height of his storytelling powers and with no limit to what he had left to say."--L.A. Times
"For comedy fans, this book is vital. It's easily worth its weight in gold for the biting observations on showbiz and its personalities." --San Francisco Chronicle
"[Last Words] sounds as if he is still with us, rested and ready to ridicule the latest cultural hypocrisies." --The Washington Times
"Seven particular words are associated with the late comedian George Carlin, and sentimental is not one of them. But that's the surprising portrait that emerges from Last Words."
"...what "Last Words" ultimately reveals is how Carlin became a political protester, slam poet, cynic, polemicist and performance artist whose messages were delivered under the veneer of humor." --Washington Post
"The book is at turns biting and touching, and often both, which is what you would expect from a man for whom the sacred was profane and the profane, sacred." --Entertainment Weekly
"...frank and insightful..." --Time magazine
"This is not a collection of setups and punch lines, but a candid, fearless accounting of his life and art...Last Words shows a comic master at the height of his storytelling powers and with no limit to what he had left to say."--L.A. Times
"For comedy fans, this book is vital. It's easily worth its weight in gold for the biting observations on showbiz and its personalities." --San Francisco Chronicle
"[Last Words] sounds as if he is still with us, rested and ready to ridicule the latest cultural hypocrisies." --The Washington Times
"Seven particular words are associated with the late comedian George Carlin, and sentimental is not one of them. But that's the surprising portrait that emerges from Last Words."
-- Houston Chronicle
Washington Post, December 29, 2009
...LAST WORDS By George Carlin with Tony Hendra Free Press. 297 pp. $26.99 George Carlin didn't want to write an autobiography in the classic sense. In his mind, only ...
Lawrence Journal-World, December 20, 2009
...Advertisement In 1987, when he was 50 years old, George Carlin decided the time had come for an autobiography from the groundbreaking comedian who had famously said “The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.” Five years later, ...
Book Reporter, December 19, 2009
...George Carlin with Books by George Carlin with Free Press Memoir ISBN: 978143917295 Over the last 15 years of his life, George Carlin enlisted friend and fellow comic to help him ...
Huffington Post, December 15, 2009
...broadside. On just about every page, you'll find a pithy, pointed barb worthy of the late great George Carlin." - Tony Hendra (George Carlin's "Last Words") Follow Jeff Kreisler on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeffkreisler ...
Daily Gleaner, November 14, 2009
...This book cover released by Simon & Schuster shows "Last Words", by George Carlin. In 1987, when he was 50 years old, George Carlin decided the time had come for an autobiography from the groundbreaking comedian who had famously said ...
Lafayette Daily Advertiser, November 10, 2009
...'Last Words' (Free Press, 297 pages, $26.99), by George Carlin, with Tony Hendra: In 1987, when he was 50 years old, George Carlin decided the time had come for ...
News 1130, November 10, 2009
...In 1987, when he was 50 years old, George Carlin decided the time had come for an autobiography from the groundbreaking comedian who had famously said 'The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.' Five years later, Carlin ...
MSN Entertainment, November 10, 2009
..."Last Words" (Free Press, 297 pages, $26.99), by George Carlin, with Tony Hendra: In 1987, when he was 50 years old, George Carlin decided the time had come for an ...
USA Today, November 9, 2009
...You could consider George Carlin's Last Words, a 20-some-years-in-the-making memoir he called a 'sortabiography,' as the comic genius's answer to Michael Jackson's This Is It. Told in his own voice and ...
