One of the easiest things to forget about Carlin is what a fantastic writer he is. Granted, he knows how to perform his stuff equally well, but there's always been real genius in the way he expresses his ideas.
HAVRILESKY: I noticed that, looking at the older clips, the newer stuff is much more playful and vivid and full of imaginative digressions -- that feels like inspired writing.
CARLIN: They're like essays, or set pieces. In school as a boy, I was a smart kid, I could master the material, but I was a showoff and eventually a fuck-up too. I was always getting into trouble for this or that and I didn't do my homework. I was a smart but not a good student. So now, with these essay-type things, the good student is doing his homework, and at the same time, the showoff gets to perform it. So I'm complete. I'm integrated. And it just feels like a sure thing. It feels really good to know that about myself because they always said to me, "Oh, you're on the wrong path. You'll never amount to anything. You're not using your brain." And I knew that I wanted to be a comedian, and I knew that I had a way of going about it, and it worked out for me. That dream started in the fifth grade, so it feels nice that I've come full circle and I'm getting good marks for my work.
HAVRILESKY: Do you feel that, now that the good student is doing his homework, you actually enjoy the process of creating more?
CARLIN: Yeah, absolutely. It's so much fun. That's because you're doing something you love, that you're good at. Anytime you're doing something you love that you're good at, the only thing you have to add to that is recognition for it, and you've got the package for success or happiness or whatever you want to call it. It's just so great! And when word processing came along, that's what pushed me from Stage 1, I think, to Stage 2. To be able to move text like that, it's just such a magic feeling as things fall into place, and then you patch them up and you polish them.
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