http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/stage/stories/MYSA031105.WK.carlin.120be6cb0.html
Newly sober Carlin revisits Majestic tonight
Web Posted: 03/10/2005 12:00 AM CST
Hector Saldaña
Express-News Staff Writer
There are some things in this world that aren't that surprising.
| George Carlin | Where: Majestic Theater, 224 E. Houston St.
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Tickets: $35-$40 at Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets for the Jan. 14 date will be honored. |
|
Comedy iconoclast George Carlin selling out the Majestic Theater is one (It's the same story tonight when he performs at 8).
That he knows a thing or two about mood-altering drugs is another.
But it was a bit of a shock to learn in December that Carlin had checked himself into rehab at an undisclosed location to dry out from a growing habit of wine and pills. And it was disappointing to learn he had postponed his San Antonio concert (originally scheduled Jan. 14).
"I'm going into rehab because I use too much wine and Vicodin," Carlin said in a prepared statement through his publicist.
"No one told me I needed this. I recognized the problem and I took the step myself." Carlin added that he was "motivated" to kick it and that his problem wasn't as bad as those of other celebrities.
The outrageous, groundbreaking comedian, actor and best-selling author seems to be as hard on himself as he is on the pious targets he skewers.
But at his core, the angry, foul-mouthed comedian, provocateur of the seven dirty words, is an unapologetic perfectionist, and there is no doubt that his meticulously worked-out, linear bits will be edgy as ever, razor sharp and, yes, sick tonight.
"I don't stop when I have a traffic accident," Carlin told a packed house at the Majestic back in 2002. "Who has the time?"
As always, Carlin's show comes with the tacit warning: No audience participation allowed. To heckle or "help" Carlin when he's on a roll onstage is to risk the wrath of a genius comedy diva who is neither hippy nor dippy.
"Calm down, it's not a (expletive) rodeo," a disgusted Carlin warned two rude audience members at that Majestic show in 2002. Carlin then ordered security officers to escort them out when they didn't stop "the cowboy (expletive)."
Carlin isn't out to be anyone's pal when he's performing.
"I'm not their drinking buddy," he told the San Antonio Express-News in a 2002 interview. He doesn't like to be annoyed, distracted or have his flow interrupted.
"My stuff is linear. It kind of goes from thought to thought. And it has some progression to it," Carlin said in 2002.
In retrospect, it's possible that Carlin's wine and Vicodin cocktails were affecting his mood onstage, too. On the eve of his rehab announcement, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on a Carlin onstage meltdown on his last night at the MGM Grand in December that was ugly, even by Carlin standards.
During a rant about moronic Las Vegas tourists, the Las Vegas newspaper reported, a female audience member confronted Carlin, who promptly ordered her to perform a sexual act on him.
That the legendary, unrepentant Grammy- and Emmy-winning comic has made a career out of such behavior is certainly no secret ? and is part of his winning formula. Evidence: His latest book, "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?" (Hyperion), is another best seller.
hsaldana@express-news.net 
