I was on a bit of a Carlin bender last month, as I worked through about half of his HBO specials via Netflix Instant.
I'm going to buck conventional thought here and say that my favorite routines from him are in his specials from the '90s. His routines from the '70s and '80s (Seven Dirty Words; Stuff, etc.) are untouchable, but his most powerful content is found in that latter phase of his career that a lot of purists pigeonhole as being little more than "angry old man ranting" caliber stuff. There are some real lulls in his later specials (I was never much for his gross-out material), but a lot of his best social commentary exists in between the padded filler material.
My favorites from him are:
- The Ten Commandments (Complaints & Grievances)
- Religion Is Bullshit (You Are All Diseased)
- Abortion (Back in Town)
I felt lucky to see him live in 2005, especially given his death three years later. I honestly can't remember many specifics of the set (though that's true for almost any comedy show I've been to), but I do remember him trying out the bit that would later become Modern Man (he was still in the phase of having to refer to written notes to get through some of it).
And while many comedians have tried to go down the offensive route, most miss the mark, since their crassness exists for the lone purpose of offending. Carlin touched upon the most sensitive subjects we have: Abortion, religion, homosexuality. But he did so in a manner that forced any open mind to think, even if you completely disagreed with the message.
