Book Review: When Will Jesus Bring The Porkchops by George Carlin

Summary Of Book (By Author)
On the heels of George Carlin's #1 New York Times bestseller Napalm & Silly Putty comes When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops — infused with Carlin's trademark irreverent humor and biting cultural observations.

Here we go again . . . George Carlin's hilarious When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops offers his cutting-edge opinions and observational humor on everything from evasive euphemistic language to politicians to the media to dead people. Nothing and no one is safe!

Despite the current climate of political correctness, Carlin is not afraid to take on controversial topics:

—Carlin on the media: The media comprises equal parts business, politics, advertising, public relations, and show business. Nice combination. Enough bull for Texas to open a chain of branch offices.
—Carlin on the battle of the sexes: Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.
—Carlin on hygiene: When did they pass a law that says the people who make my sandwich have to be wearing gloves? I'm not comfortable with this. I don't want glove residue all over my food; it's not sanitary. Who knows where these gloves have been?
—Carlin on evasive language: Just to demonstrate how far using euphemisms in language has gone, some psychologists are now actually referring to ugly people as those with "severe appearance deficits." Hey, Doctor. How's that for "denial"
—Carlin on politics: No self-respecting politician would ever admit to working in the government. They prefer to think of themselves "serving the nation." To help visualize the service they provide the country, you may wish to picture the things that take place on a stud farm.

The thinking person's comic who uses words as weapons, Carlin puts voice to issues that capture the modern imagination. For instance, why are there Ten Commandments? Are UFOs real? What will the future really be like? This brand-new collection tackles all that and more.

In When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops Carlin's razor-sharp observations demolish everyday values and leave you laughing out loud — delivering exactly what his countless fans have been waiting for.

Review:

Now I will say one thing first before anything so no one is at all confused later in this review. I did not read the book, I listened to the audio book. So, firstly let me talk of George Carlin's behalf. George was one of the most popular and one of the most devious comedians to have ever lived. He was a man who was very funny, whose death may not have been untimely, but not predicted, and not welcomed at the time of the event. This was his last book before that unwelcomed time.

Now George's words were not welcomed by many people. This included over protected parents, and overly proper or pompous people. It was understandable to dislike him but to go after his demise was another, many did not like him. And unlike myself he had no religious views, which makes some of his quotes awkward for myself. But as he said he was not an atheist he was just a guy who was waiting to find out what was waiting for him. George was a very enlightened man, but he never acted as such, he was humble, he never called himself the smartest man alive, but he enjoyed to tear idiots a new one.

George was a very talented comedian, writer, and man in general. He was never pompous or as annoying as many celebrities today. He laid low, allowing himself to bask in his enjoyable life, while finding things to nitpick. So, now is the moment in the review where I will reveal what I enjoyed about the book and what I did not.

As for the things I enjoyed I the book, there were many. Carlin was a very intelligent man. His words could be very insightful and even if you did not agree with his opinion, his point on the matter would always have you ponder. He was extremely convincing and thought provoking. His words always held a type of truth to them, and would more than not make you continue to listen to his words. Almost as if you had the impulse to either agree with this man or strongly dispute him. Maybe that was a sort of attraction he had.

Jokes: George, as stated previously, was a very funny man. A high multitude of George Carlin's jokes were highly insulting and funny for a variation of reasons. One was seeing his point of view. One thing that made many high class people dislike him was that George was very different. His point of view on many things were strange in some minds, and funny to others. Also, George's habit of going against what society said was right or what the norm was considered, was astounding. He just didn't care, what so ever. To him, the only opinion that had any effect was his own, and the opinions that disputed his were always targets he was ready to face head on. This also added to his charm.

Another thing that added to his hilarity was his mixture of jokes. Some were plain dirty. His mixture of dirty jokes could involve any part of the body or any of its functions and put them in wacky situations. He would say stuff that would be frowned upon by many, which was one reason they were funny. Another was just his timing, or how though out the joke could be. George also had another type of jokes mixed in with those ones. I will call these the vulgar/morbid/frowned upon by society jokes. He would have jokes where he would openly insult religion, races, humanity as a whole, and many other things. The way he used some of this material was funny in itself, but as always his non-caring attitude never fell short to add that feeling to his words. Some of these types of jokes would highly offend other and make others laugh their bones outside of their bodies. It is all about preference.

Finally the type of joke that George used that I will mention last is what I call, thinking jokes. They were a series of jokes that would leave you thinking, pondering over what you believed, or maybe sometimes would just stick in your mind. They had a power to them, where at times, they didn't feel like jokes.

One reason the audio book was so much more enjoyable than the book was George Carlin's voice. George's voice never failed to add emotion to his words. The way he cursed just added the feel to his words. The way he expressed his points were so, him, so different. He was just a different type of person.

George was so unpredictable at times, he was enjoyable to listen to, and figure out what he would say next.

As for the things I did not enjoy about the book were few but that shared by many who have read the book, or listened to the audio book.

This first thing was a complaint by only people who had read the book. They claimed it to be more enjoyable to listen to George's voice, rather than reading his words of page, which is totally understandable. Now do not misunderstand me, he is a very good writer, but when writing for humor, if not heard by, can sometimes be unappealing.

Another gripe I had with this book was that some of Carlin's jokes were hit and miss for me, also some of his jokes were distasteful even for myself. He would say something really funny one second then it would change parts in the book and he would go on with a joke which's payoff was unsatisfying for all of the build up it was receiving. George's sense of humor was very appealing to myself, but at times he went to far for me. Insulting certain things, or saying certain things in general fell too distasteful for me. Yet, I did agree with many of his points, others I did not. It was 50/50 for I.

Another problem which probably befell the audio listeners instead of others was that his constant book changing scenes would happen often. And for the listeners of the book, they were aware of this by a piano playing very shortly. Now that was the problem, the concern was that many of the parts would be short, and after a while, it could be confusing what topic he was on.

My final gripe is that Carlin seemed to revisit certain topics in the book. And as it would be funny the first two times, the one he had talked about a third time had not been as entertaining as the first two, and you sometimes become uninterested.

Now, for my final thought of the book. When Will Jesus Bring The Porkchops is a book by George Carlin, for George Carlin fans. You will enjoy it most if you enjoy his work. It is not for the light hearted, the easily offended, or the overly protective. It is a hilarious book that for people who enjoy crude humor, is totally worth the money. Sure sometimes his humor could become a bit much, but for all the payoff you get from all of his very good comedy, it is worth it. This book just isn't for some people, but if it is for you, you will enjoy it, love it even. So, if it sounds appealing to you, get it. I would recommend this book to my close friends who have the same humor as I.

Oh yeah I will end this on one of those thinking jokes. This is also one of the best book endings I have ever seen.... George was a 'good' man and he will be missed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh5MbszK_Ug

7/10