The Clown's Poem

I recently stumbled upon something called The Clown's Prayer or Poem and since the last thing I would ever want to do is support or encourage religion I'll refer to it as the The Clown's Poem. It has been around for years and apparently is quite well known(it's rumored that Chris Farley carried around a copy of the poem in his wallet) so I found it odd that I had never heard it before. The poem is simple, sweet and Anonymous - which is an antiquated idea.

Quotes are no longer Anonymous in our culture because everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame. Everyone wants their own show on the E! network. Everybody wants their words to go viral and everybody wants to be "retweeted"(follow me on twitter @idolizingclowns). So without further ado or self promotion(Like us on Facebook)...

The Clowns Poem

As I stumble through this life,

help me to create more laughter than tears,

dispense more cheer than gloom,

spread more cheer than despair.

Never let me become so indifferent,

that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child,

or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.

Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people,

make them happy, and forget momentarily,

all the unpleasantness in their lives.

And in my final moment,

may I hear You whisper:

"When you made My people smile,

you made Me smile."

Class Clown - The George Carlin Movie

Biopic - noun - a biographical movie or TV show.

Lenny Bruce has one. Lenny starring Dustin Hoffman

Richard Pryor has one in production. Is it Something I Said? starring Marlon Wayans.

    So why doesn't George Carlin have one? It's something that has been bothering me for quite some time.(And yes it really does bother me, hardly a week goes by when I don't think about it.) So I took my question to the only person I thought would give me a definitive answer either: Kelly Carlin(George Carlin's daughter). She's very active on Facebook as well as Twitter and is one of the more approachable people on these sites. She takes great pride in her last name and what her father represents. Below is the brief dialogue we had that spurred on this post.

@kelly_carlin has there been any talk of a biopic about your Dad? His influence on North America culture is worthy of an epic movie.


@idolizingclowns Lots of talk. But we are holding off right now. It will happen some day!!

     So there you have it. A direct answer from the most trustworthy of sources. It puts my mind at ease although now I guess I have opened the door to all kinds of speculation about who could potentially star as George and what the movie would be called.

My best guesses for titles of the movie are:

• Class Clown
• Last Words
• 7 Dirty Words
• It's Bad For Ya
• You Are All Diseased
• Playing With Your Head
• Brainddroppings
• Life is Worth Losing

    As for lead actors, surprisingly, I don't have any ideas. So I'll show you some people who could do it based upon looks and acting ability. These are my top three:

Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Gosling

Russell Crowe

    Ryan Reynolds is far and away my first pick. He has a natural comedic talent and he's been known to do the occasional dramatic role and finally I think he's animated enough to pull off all of Carlins animated facial expressions. 

    As for Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe both are good actors who look enough like George. Both are known mainly for dramatic roles however so I would be concerned about their ability to have the stage presence that George did.

    Regardless of when this movie gets made and who stars in it I can promise you one thing: I will be there opening night and someone I love will have to deal with my giddiness. 

A Community Endorsement

You're Not Watching This Show And You Should Be!

This really is more of a rant/public service announcement so please bare with me.

    I'm getting really tired of the strange looks I get from people when I ask them if they've watched the latest episode of Community. I usually then have to explain what Community is. Then I have to explain who Joel McHale is.

    Community is probably one of the funniest shows on television right now and you aren't watching it. The premise is that the lead character Jeff Winger is a disgraced lawyer who needs to go back to college to get enough credits so he can begin practicing again. Jeff decides he wants to "hook up" with the hot blonde from Spanish class(Britta, like the filter) so he creates a study group to get her alone but Brita ruins those plans by inviting other people from Spanish class to attend and what we end up with is a great ensemble cast with terrific chemistry.

    The cast plays their often times stereotypical roles brilliantly and seem to really enjoy themselves. Joel McHale plays Jeff Winger the hot shot, charismatic, "too cool for school" character. Gillian Jacobs plays Britta Perry the feminist, uptight, socially aware character. Danny Pudi plays Abed Nadir a completely unconventional character who comments on the events that are going on like a third party to whole situation. Yvette Nicole Brown plays Shirley Bennett a Christian, single mother with a heart of gold. Alison Brie plays Annie Edison a typical "good girl" whose innocence is her most prominent characteristic. Donald Glover plays Troy Barnes the ex high school jock who used to be the big man campus and finally Chevy Chase plays Pierce Hawthorne a racist, sexist, old man who tries desperately to be "hip".

    Community is unlike anything you've ever seen in a sitcom before in that they do "theme" episodes on a regular basis. They have done an episode in a style of a mafia movie, a zombie movie and this years Christmas episode was done in stop-motion animation just like the old "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". But best of all its consistently funny, which not something I say about sitcoms very often.