George Carlin posthumously received the Mark Twain Prize for Humor at the Kennedy Center last night — the award’s been around for 10 years and he’s only receiving it now, which is absurd — but no amount of admiration or gushing stories from Carlin’s peers did more justice to his night of remembrance than the following symbolic occurrence:
A handful of protesters gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Kennedy Center, some holding signs saying “Carlin’s Going to Hell.”
1) Is there any greater validation for one’s career than to spend 40 years railing against stupid religious people and to have stupid religious people protest your posthumous award ceremony, thus re-confirming their stupidity? Anyone can win an award, but to inspire that level of simultaneous irrational hatred and blind irony while doing so is the mark of a truly transcendent career.
2) What the f*ck were they protesting? “Listen, if we get enough people holding up signs that say ‘Carlin’s Going to Hell,’ then it actually happens!”
3) Are any comedians not going to hell? Good ones, I mean? Honestly, if I’m God, I’d much rather prefer the company of Carlin / Pryor / Hicks / Bruce to, say, Christian Comedian Anita Renfroe.
