Wednesday, December 2, 2015

A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George by Kelly Carlin (book review)

A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with GeorgeA Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George by Kelly Carlin
My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Full disclosure: I returned this book to the library without finishing it. I just couldn't take any more pathetic celebrity name-dropping. When Carlin bragged about bedding Leif Garrett--"Nothing could possibly top having sex with Leif Garrett in Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett's bed"--even the Tiger Beat teen inside me felt embarrassed for her. I had wanted to read her biography after seeing Kelly Carlin shine on the irreverently funny YouTube talk show, Getting Doug with High, especially since I'm a fan of her father's work. I wish I hadn't bothered. I hate feeling judgy about my favorite entertainers' personal lives, but it's hard not to on this kind of family outing. George! Really?! You think buying your daughter another BMW's gonna make everything OK? I'll never be able to listen to Carlin's classic "Stuff" routine without feeling sad for the comic's materialism rather than impressed with the unconventional spirit I thought he had. You can blame it on the times, but it's hard when your heroes turn out to be mere mortals. I guess because Carlin was such a comedic iconoclast I expected him to be a different kind of father instead of the sadly same-ole neglectful celebrity dad we hear about all too often. Major disappointment.

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Here's the awesome video of Kelly Carlin as a guest on Getting Doug with High. Forget the book. Watch this video and be thankful that Kelly Carlin turned out relatively OK despite her early childhood trauma:

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