Kevin Smith Shares His Favorite Memories of George Carlin

The J when is the moment where you're like But it's not that because you don't, you can't think about that. Because if you think about that, it's time that takes away from the actual thing. The actual thing deserves a hundred percent of your attention and the actual thing. You feel that in the moment, but when do you fucking feel it? Like when you're like, good night and everybody explodes. Even then I let it go. I just go, oh, get it, get it out of here. Then I start thinking about other shit. Why? Why? Because that's how I go. That's how, that's what makes me go. That what makes me go is the thing. I'm always concentrating on the thing. Like, how do I get the thing better? How do I make it work better? All right. So I concentrate on the thing, but like then I fucking celebrate that. Like, holy shit. I stuck the landing. Why do that with my friends right after the show? Like we, we have a great show. Like me and Santino, uh, Saturday night, we had this fucking wild show at this arena in Cleveland. It was awesome. After it was over, we high five. We get something to eat and that's it. Then, then you let it go. You got to let it go because my thinking is literally on the road every night. And it's like, even though like it's a different show every night and it's different, wonderful audience. Like I'm still thinking about the two shows we had the music box in the Chicago theater and we're like, Oh my God, it was religious of all the screenings I've ever had in my life. Like those two will stick out. Thing is different too, because you're playing a movie that you did. You're putting out a piece and you get to sit down and watch people enjoy the piece and you get to get this like big rush. Like, ah, look at that. Then I got to go up and then do the fucking, yeah. But the Q and A is also, but the Q and A is also organic. You know, you just being yourself, you're having a good time. Definitely being yourself, but it's organic as you want it to be. Yeah. Like basically somebody asks you a question and you're like, right. Here's a long answer. Maybe had nothing to do with that question. Right. But even then it's like that it's not like you're doing us like a bit, you know, like where you have to begin your set. Thank you very much, Cago. Great to be here. Here's the thing about Chicago. Do you have memorized bits? Oh yeah, there's bits, but they don't. I was always blown away by Carlin. Like one day we were rehearsing on dogma and George Carlin was a, you know, we had a smoke break, it was the nineties. So everybody smoked cigarettes and shit. And I was like, what are you, uh, what are you working on now, George, when you're not doing this? And everybody was in the rehearsal. Matt, Ben, Linda, Salma, Chris rock, the whole fucking cast, me, Jay. And, uh, George is like, Oh, I'm working on this bit for the new HBO show. He goes, it's called advertising lullaby. And I said, what do you mean working on it? And he goes, well, I'm memorizing it. And I was like, you memorize your bits. And he goes, yeah, I write everything. I was like, you write your bits. I always just thought you kind of came up with shit off the top of your head. He goes, I mean, nuts. He's like, I write everything. And then I have to memorize everything like a script. And then we were like, can you do it? And he was like, yeah, you want to see it? And so he did a command performance for the eight of us in the room of advertising lullaby, and it was. Pitch perfect. I saw the HBO show like, you know, months later and it was pitch perfect. So I couldn't believe that that dude was as committed to the written word as he was, but he fancied himself a writer first and foremost. He was a guy that didn't even want to do comedy though. Like he really backed into it. He was, he wanted to be Danny Kaye. He wanted to act and stuff like that. And he was just happened to be funny. First he did the radio DJ thing and then the hippie dippy weather man. Burns and Allen was prior to that and stuff, but he kind of backed into comedy and was excellent at it, but was not like, it was not like, this is what I've always wanted to do since I was a kid. Just kind of, he always seemed to accept the fact that he was like, oh, I'm, this is it, I'm a genius at this. All right. Well, he did it differently. Um, he would do, I mean, he was probably the most prolific big name guy of all time. And he, he actually inspired Louis CK to do a new hour every year because that's what he did. Carlin. George did a new hour every year. And part of the reason why he did that is 275 nights a year. That's crazy. But part of the reason why is he owed a lot of money. He did a big time debt. Yeah. I don't know how that happened, but he fucked up. Last words he talks about like he bought a jet and sometimes he would, he bought a jet. He in the seventies, he was that fucking huge. He bought a jet and he would sit on the runway in Long Island. Um, at a, at a, uh, fucking LaGuardia. Yeah. And, uh, just do Coke and the fucking plane. His book, Last Words is amazing. Wow. It's, they published it posthumously, but he was working on it with Tony Hendra before he died. He was so awesome, man. Like I think about him all the time. Anytime I jump on stage, cause we, every night after reboot, we get up on stage and work the crowd and stuff. I got a chance to say hello to him once. That was it. That's, yeah. Yeah. I met him at the comedy store. It was very friendly. Said hi to everybody. Said hi to the door guys. Hey, how are you? Said hi to me. Hey, hey, hey, George Garland. How are you? He didn't know who the fuck I was. He had no idea. I just said hi. I said, Hey man, how you doing? And that's it. That was our thing. I have a, I mean, I worked with him a few times in the movies and stuff. He, one of my favorite fucking memories of George Garland is we go see him, um, do a show, me and Chris Rock. It was me and my wife, Jen and Chris was married to his wife, Malak at that point. And George was playing at Caesars in Atlantic city. And so he's like, I got seats for you guys upfront and stuff. So, you know, Rock was like, had his role with the new, he was like, fucking at the height of his game and shit. And so we go see the show and, and. Carlin had a bit where he, uh, it was like people I could do without like guys named skip shit like that. And one of them was, uh, people I could do without, uh, uh, any man over the age of 12 who wears their baseball cap backwards. So, you know, long before I met him, I'd always hear that gig, that bit and be like, uh, so the night we're at the show, he's up there doing it a bit. And, uh, and you know, he's like, uh, another person I could do without Kevin. You're exempt from this guys over the age of 12 who wear their baseball cap backwards and rock like my eyes lit up and rocks next to me and rock goes, he knows who you are. Even though like we'd work together on the movie. It was so. He let me exempt though. Uh, for the, for the show. Cause that was there kind of sweet. He was, uh, he, he, I think we got along because he, he wanted to act and I was always like, come act, come play. And like he, he like, and in just Jane's town, Bob strike back, he plays a hitch hiker that like blows people for rides. Right. And the day he was such a committed actor, the day we shot it, we had him for a few hours and then he had to rush off to go be on a stage and be Carl. So he made a little window of time for us and he came to me on set and he goes, uh, Kevin, you're the writer director of this. I have a question for you. I was like, okay. And he goes, uh, you know, this, uh, it says that I'm fucking with these dudes. I talked to him about the rules of the road. Am I fucking with these idiots or do I believe in the rules of the road? And I was like, wow, I can't believe you're giving it this much fucking thought, George, I said, but like I, the way I wrote it, I assumed the guy believed in the rules of the road and he goes, that's what I thought I was, that's exactly what I fucking thought he was so like committed to performance, man. Like, uh, he was an absolute joy to be around and he was never on. He's like you like fucking not like, Hey man, how about them donuts? He doesn't feel the needs to make you laugh. I love Tracy Morgan to death. Don't get me wrong. But like you gotta save six hours for facial, you know, rehabilitation. Yes. Because you're just laughing so hard. You're laughing and your face is in that Richtas grin the entire fucking time you ever made John Witherspoon. Is he the same way? Oh my God. I did a show with John Witherspoon and his son JD and my fucking face hurt after it was over, it was like cramps us Morgan. Like my cheeks were hurting. George was not that guy. He can just sit there and have a conversation with him. Like he was just interesting. Do you know Miss Pat? People don't know. Miss Pat. Do you know who she is? She's another one. She'll make your fucking face hurt. Really? Oh my God. She's so funny. Her stories are so crazy. She had a real crazy life. Oh yeah. What were your jams? Well, Sam Knessen was my boy. That's where I got the long coat for some. Yes. From Sam Knessen. Well, I was introduced to comedy through, uh, my parents having Cheech and Chong albums, Cheech and Chong. We have Chami Chong is in Jane's own Bob reboot. And then Bill Cosby. And then when I was a dad, gave me a Bill Cosby. Um, and my mom would always be like, you can't listen to George Carlin, but you can listen to Bill Cosby because he's clean.