George Carlin’s ranking in the VT Boomer Icon all-time list is high. Just behind Elvis and the Beatles.

Most boomer icons faded from my eye-line several decades ago so their death is just the physical manifestation of a loss from long ago. But Carlin is someone I’ve been following and enjoying for nearly 40 years. This is one I will actually miss. I’ve seen everything he’s done in TV and films and the peak of his performance chops is, without a doubt “Jammin in New York” from ‘92. I can not imagine a better 60 minutes of entertainment in my lifetime.

The last few years (since the death of his wife 10 years ago and after several heart attacks) has seen him trip up on stage a few times. In the middle of a rant you could catch him miss a beat and catch his breath before continuing. But the writing, oh, the writing had never, ever been better than right up to his death this afternoon. Nobody dug into the soul of the boomer with a sharper razor than George Carlin. I can’t think of an artist whose words I wanted to inhabit more than him because he explained the world to me like nobody else. Fuck him for dying.