'When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat."
-GEORGE CARLIN
GEORGE CARLIN had the greatest line about the freak show. May I add: 'When you're in the entertainment business in Las Vegas, you get a backstage view."
I don't use the 'G' word to describe too many people. If you're not careful, words can lose their meanings and the 'G' word is overused as it is but I think we can all now agree that GEORGE CARLIN was a comic 'GENIUS.' My older brother had all of Carlin's records and I'd play the dirty parts for my friends (I can still hear my buddy Tim Wurth quoting the Seven Words) and my theft of the newscaster stuff for routines, skits and scripts continues to this day. So imagine how cool it was to be allowed in George's dressing room, here at Bally's and, at the very end of his career, at the Orleans. My great friend, entertainment executive SAM DISTEFANO knew George his entire career and thanks to the quick-thinking comic, Sam got immediate medical treatment for a condition Carlin recognized backstage during his final gig.
I'd admitted early on to stealing his stuff and George quickly replied with a Catholic joke, slowly followed by a serious point I'll always remember: we all steal.
GEORGE CARLIN considered himself an artist, and of course he was. The intricate rhythms began on paper and right up until the very end, GEORGE CARLIN was writing. It's no secret that I have a special place in my heart for creative types, especially fellow writers. Writing is lonely. It is. Quite lonely only, later-if you're lucky-there's a payoff when your words are read by others.
I've been keeping an eye on the freak parade- from the back of the house to back stage- and it's clear that comic NICK THUNE is the closest thing we have to GEORGE CARLIN. Nick is without a doubt the most creative comic working today. Here's why:
Some people, looking for a laugh, will look at things differently but Nick SEES the world in an entirely new way and his point of view allows for authentically humorous observations.
EYE THUNES
I always laugh when JAY LENO points out the funny typos in newspapers, but, in 'Headlines,' the joke comes from someone's error. In the world of NICK THUNE, the humor is found by seeing things through the eye of Thune, by recognizing the freak show we all are a part of.
There's a character that (too) many comic actors portray these days. You know the one: the nerdy guy who doesn't know he's a nerd, a not cool guy who thinks he's got a shot with the hot babe. The audience sees humor in the view down the road; they can see disaster looming. NICK THUNE is smarter than all that, and he respects his audience too much to go there. Nick has some great routines where the comedy lies in his character's inability to admit something to himself, like that he can't get the girl, or can't accept that she dumped him and in that subtle difference lies comic genius. I mean, 'G' he's a you-know-what, you know?
People love to be entertained and audiences will always appreciate those who don't talk down to them. In comedy, that's not always easy but NICK THUNE has established himself as the kinda-nerdy boy next door who also happens to be the smartest guy in the neighborhood. And that's freaking genius!
