Life Is Worth Losing (2005)

Original title

George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing

Directed by

Rocco Urbisci

Genre

stand-up comedy

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 15m

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 109 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

George Carlin performs a stand-up comedy special recorded live at the Beacon Theatre. He jokes about grim topics like torture, suicide, and genocide while the stage is decorated with tombstones.

darkly comicconfessionalbleakgrittysharply observantcandidangryprofaneunflinching

What happens

Life Is Worth Losing is the 18th album and 13th HBO special by American comedian George Carlin. It was recorded simultaneously with the live broadcast of the special and was his final special recorded at the Beacon Theatre. The special was the first project Carlin had undertaken since completing drug rehabilitation in 2005. Early on in the program, Carlin announced that he was 341 days sober at the time of the recording, and that 2006 would be his 50th year in show business. Much of the material in the special focuses on topics such as torture, depression, suicide and genocide, and the stage is adorned with tombstones. Carlin later revealed that he had been suffering from heart failure during the recording of the special and was subsequently hospitalized for a short time afterward. Portions of "Coast-to-Coast Emergency" were originally part of a routine titled "Uncle Dave", intended for a planned 2001 Carlin special to be titled I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die, which was reworked after the September 11 attacks and retitled Complaints and Grievances. A live recording of "Uncle Dave" was later issued on the 2016 posthumous release I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die, derived from cassette tapes from Carlin's personal collection. Life Is Worth Losing was nominated for Best Comedy Album at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to Lewis Black's The Carnegie Hall Performance. A DVD of the special was released on February 27, 2007, by MPI Home Video. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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• Complaints and Grievances (2001)
• Jammin' in New York (1992)
• What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988)
• Playin' with Your Head (1986)
• George Carlin: Again! (1978)
• Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics (1990)