Story 40: Great George

Back when I was in college at Albany, my brother Bruce and I and our friend Michelle decided to go see George Carlin perform in nearby Schenectady. In a word he was fantastic. I don't remember ever laughing so much.  In my opinion he was one of the funniest comedians ever.

   After the show, Michelle declared, “I’m going backstage to meet Carlin.”

   After a half an hour without seeing her, I said to my brother I was going backstage to find her.

So, that’s what I did. I went backstage to find Michelle. I looked around but didn’t see her. After looking  for a few minutes I met a man and told him I was looking for my friend.  Then, I saw Carlin.

“Wow, there’s George Carlin.” I said with surprise.

The man replied, “I’m his brother, do you want me to introduce you?”

“Sure.” I answered quickly, and with that he introduced me to his famous brother.

“What’s your name?” George asked.

“Eric.” I said in return.

“Howard?” He said.

“No, Eric.” I replied with a smile.

“Oh, Eric, nice name, never change it.” I shook his hand and we all laughed collectively.

Later, I went back to the car and Michelle was waiting there.

“Michelle,” I said.  “I went backstage to look for you, and I met George Carlin.”

“You did?” she asked with a touch of jealousy.  “I never went backstage, but I’m going to his limo to talk with him.” And with that she left us again and walked over to Carlin’s limousine.

Later Michelle returned and informed us she was going to meet him at the hotel with her friend Marni.

The next day, I inquired how her encounter went with Carlin at the hotel bar.

“Fine, “ she stated. “until he suggested we all go back to his room. Which I refused.”

“Well, he is George Carlin,” I answered.  “maybe he was making a joke." 

Michelle just looked at me and for once was at a loss for words, because she knew one of his seven words you cannot say was something she just wouldn’t do, even if he was famous.

Life Lesson 44: Famous people are still just people, but values are universal, and saying "no" is definitely a word you can always say.