Braindroppings - A Review

One of things to expect from me here is a weekly review of something comedy related. Today I review/revisit George Carlin's Braindroppings. Enjoy!

Braindroppings
Author: George Carlin
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: May 1, 1997

    Anytime I find myself sitting down to read a book penned by a comedian I find it to be a rather unique experience in that often times while I’m reading I find myself hearing their voice in my head and not my own. And if it’s a comedian I am very familiar with I can go pages without hearing my own voice, which brings us to the first offering by George Carlin: Braindroppings. Carlin is someone whom I idolized as a teenager and young adult so for the majority of this book I hardly heard my voice at all.

    A Carlin fan will easily be able to hear Carlin’s voice performing the material which can cause the occasional let down. At times reading the material I was familiar with would cause the greatest sense of disappointment because you lose everything in the comedian’s ability to perform the material. However there is also tons of new material from short lists with bullet form punch lines to full length material several pages long.

    While it may appear outdated his take on political correctness was a personal highlight for me. There were and are still comedians who talk about being against any form of political correctness however they often stop short of saying what needs to be said. They censor themselves and fall into the political correctness trap. Only Calrin and a handful of other comedians ever truly went against the insanity that is and was political correctness.

    Carlin has been dead now for over two years and I found that even though this book was released over ten years ago all of the material still stands the test of time and, as a Carlin fan, was a real treat to revisit. I found that there are lines that appear that show how far in advance and how organized Carlin was. There is a line about suicide that would appear much later in his career about the idea of suicide being a rather mundane and stressful task like anything else in life. It caused me to wonder how long this single line was sitting in a file somewhere just waiting to be expanded upon. I also wonder how many more lines like that are sitting in a file somewhere now that will never get to reach their full potential.

What You Really Want To Know:
Is it safe to read in public? Yes but only on the condition you are very familiar with Carlin’s material otherwise read this one at home where no one will judge you for giggling to yourself.