"Other than Bruce, it was Carlin, Zoglin writes, who suffered the most. Like Dylan going electric, Carlin was treated with disdain when he left the comfort of the middle of the road (in 1966, he was a cast member on 'The Kraft Summer Music Hall' along with John Davidson--and Pryor) for a detour to the left. His new material got him tossed from the Frontier Hotel in Vegas. Johnny Carson didn't want to book him, which, for a comic, was the kiss of death. To an aspiring comedian, a stint on Carson was the brass ring. Carlin tells Zoglin of his visit to 'The Tonight Show' set to plead his case:
"'I went over to explain to him that it was a rational choice I had made, and that I was moving in a new direction and that people were buying it . . . the trouble was that I was on a coke run when I went over. I was kind of speedy, I had a tie-dyed T-shirt on and I think it further distanced them from me,' Carlin recalls."
In the Los Angeles Times, Erik Himmelsbach reviews Richard Zoglin's Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-Up in the 1970s Changed America.
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Hey Ted! I sent you an email recently but it bounced back, it was your columbia univ email, what's your new email address?
BTW I highly recommend the movie "Great World of Sound," a little indie flick i just saw on netflix. also just bought a terrific jazz compilation called "droppin science," put out by blue note records, it includes original jazz recordings that have been famously sampled. Lately, been reading "...Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz, "Beautiful People" by c.Bock, and "The Flowers" by Dagoberto Gilb, all great novels :) Hope you're well, big hugs to Reshima and Coretta who looks great on myfamily.com :)
-Ed, edsugden@hotmail.com
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