Word: deathly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...what has been conveniently missed is the fact that, for the past few years of his life, the entertainment world didn't pay much attention to George Carlin. Unlike his great contemporary Richard Pryor - whose slow decline from multiple sclerosis prompted years of tributes and early eulogies, before his death in December 2005 - Carlin had the bad form to keep working to the very end, maintaining a nearly full schedule of concert appearances, drawing crowds of devoted (mostly baby-boomer) fans, continuing to come up with edgy, often reckless, occasionally brilliant material. Other stand-up stars, like Pryor or Jerry...
...surprising, and wonderful, thing happened after Carlin's death. The outpouring of praise from his comedy peers, and a bounty of clips from his nearly 50 years of stand-up, amounted to more than just the obligatory Hollywood sendoff for another departed star. They actually helped make the case for Carlin's immense importance in the world of comedy, a case never made during his lifetime. And so, the ceremony in which Carlin was posthumously awarded the annual Mark Twain Prize in American Humor - taped last November at the Kennedy Center, and airing on PBS on Wednesday...
...clips are exceptionally well chosen. For the uninitiated, there's the famous "seven dirty words" routine (the seven still bleeped, of course), and his still audacious routines on religion and death. But there are also generous helpings of early bits from his short-hair days (cracking up Johnny Carson with his Hippy Dippy Weatherman) and rareties like Carlin sitting at the piano on Arsenio Hall's show, accompanying himself in a rendition of "Cherry Pie" - as well as a generous helping of his playful but pointed riffs on language, like his account of the progress of military jargon from "shell...
These women did. They have worked hard, made tremendous contributions to their family, to their life, to the workplace, to the community, and they find themselves standing alone. Maybe deliberately and maybe through the death of a spouse. And they are saying, "I want to add a little romance to my life"...[But] when it comes to the world of dating and romance, they are quite uncertain because it's been awhile. What does a man expect? Who pays? Who calls? What do I reveal about myself? (See pictures of the 20th century's greatest romances...
Widows struggle with the idealization that naturally comes when you lose a spouse, because love - and quite often guilt - floods that space. Divorce is accomplished most typically through rage. You don't need death to separate. You need anger. So you are likely to be angry rather than guilty. Widows are accorded a tremendous sense of social respect, as well they should be, because they are weathering a life passage that's very injurious. Divorce is a stigma that says somebody failed somewhere. So from that perspective, your wound is different, and the way the world views you is different...