i saw eddie murphy s raw and delirious when i was really little, like, when i was in second grade. i even knew then he nasty, he naughty, he s not supposed to be saying any of that. those are bad, bad words, and it s hilarious. do you watch the bill cosby show ? [ cheers and applause ] i do, too. i love bill cosby show. i been a big fan of bill cosby all my life. never met the man before, but he called me up about a year ago and chastised me on the phone for being too dirty. [ applause ] i was pissed off. i was so mad, i called richard pryor s house up and said, yo, richard, bill cosby just called me up and told me i was too dirty. [ laughter ] he said, dude, do people laugh when you say what you say? i said, yes. he said, do you get paid? i said, yes. he said, well, tell bill i said have a coke and a smile and shut the [bleep] up. [ laughter ]
-[ blows raspberry ] -he s constantly picking and picking and picking. carlin: and the irish priests were always heavily into penance and punishment, you know. they give you a couple of novenas to do. nine first fridays, five first saturdays, stations of the cross, a trip to lourdes. wow! [ laughter ] that was one of the things that bothered me a little about my religion, was that conflict between pain and pleasure, you know, cause they were always pushing for pain, and you were always pulling for pleasure, man. you know? [ applause ] sacks: george carlin was a wordsmith, and each of his routines were poetry. memorized poetry. carlin would spend a year practicing these routines where every word was there for a reason. nothing was there by accident. carlin: my trouble was, i wanted a list. here are these words i m not supposed to say. let s have a look at them. i ll be glad to avoid them if i can just see them and know what they are. you gotta say them to find out what they are, man.
she bounces the little rubber ball up and down. yeah. and she stands with her legs like this. and when the little ball bounces up and down, the little ball disappears. [ laughter ] well, what are you bragging about? what? my wife does the same thing with a basketball. sure. yeah, she does it the hard way. she s knock-kneed. mankoff: vaudeville is clean. burlesque is dirty. the thing about burlesque is, that audience is all male. you re not going to burlesque to see the comic. [ laughs ] okay? you re going to see the boobs. the dean martin celebrity roast, coming to you from the mgm grand hotel. [ applause ] benny: dean, i d like you to know that i canceled a proctologist s appointment to be here tonight. [ laughter ] and i think i made a mistake.
but i find it difficult to say. you do? most white people, it s hard to say crazy. [ laughter ] you tell them the title of the album. i can t say that. the title of the album is, that nigger s crazy. see, now, you can just say that. if i said that, wouldn t you get mad? i d punch you out. [ laughter ] zoglin: richard pryor was influenced by redd foxx, but what he did was to bring some of that sensibility to the mainstream. the idea that a guy who had been developing this new, provocative, racial material suddenly break through to a mainstream audience was a big moment. a lot of people here might be offended, so you should leave now cause i m gonna say [bleep] and suck. [ laughter ] and [bleep] and doo-doo. [ laughter ] watkins: pryor used profanity in a way that even exceeded lenny bruce and all the comics who went before him. he made the use of those terms seem to be a part of everyday life and made the people listening to his comedy
that was my water. [ laughter ] i was raised by parents who spoke explicitly. there s something about growing up not knowing that talking about your vagina or penises was taboo. now, if you haven t done it before, ladies, go home and treat yourself. do it tonight. just give your man a little push, push in the tush, tush. just give him a little atari. my whole comedy career, i ve been told to be less dirty, and i would get more work if i just toned it down a little bit. and it s crazy to me that a highbrow publication like the new yorker would be interested in interviewing me about why i find it funny to butt-finger a man. no, please, no, really i don t think there s any subject that s off limits. i actually did that joke in alabama, right? these three rednecks met me after the show, man.