Finally released, the show George Carlin recorded on the eve of 9/11

A previously unheard stand-up special George Carlin recorded the day before the 9/11 terrorist attacks is to be released for the first time next week.

I Kinda Like It When A Lotta People Die had been intended to air on HBO – but the title, and much of the content, was deemed in too poor taste for broadcast following the Al Qaeda outrages.

The special even included a joke about a fart so powerful it blew up an airplane, with Carlin joking: ‘You know who gets blamed? Osama Bin Laden. The FBI is looking for explosives. They should be looking for minute traces of rice and bok choy.’

It was recorded the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 9 and 10,  2001, and should have been his 12th HBO special, going out in November that year.

However, he shelved it the following day; reworking some of the content into what ultimately became the special now known as Complaints and Grievances, released later that year.

I Kinda Like It When A Lotta People Die will now be released as a CD, download and limited edition download next Friday. 

Also included are interviews with people who worked closely with Carlin – who died on June 22, 2008, at the age of 71– and a rare home recording from 1957. Fellow comic Lewis Black says the tape shows Carlin ‘already speaking with an authority that would become his trademark’.

Here is an extract:

• Everything Mitch Hedberg ever released is to be reissued as a limited edition vinyl box set. The collection, out on November 4 priced $100 (£75), will include 12-inch editions of all three Hedberg albums: 1999’s Strategic Grill Locations, 2003’s Mitch All Together and 2008’s posthumously released Do You Believe in Gosh? Mitch Hedberg: The Complete Vinyl Collection will be accompanied by a 36-page book packed with original essays by Margaret Cho, Mike Birbiglia and Doug Stanhope. The package also includes a USB flash drive with digital versions of all three albums, plus an unedited version of Hedberg’s Comedy Central Presents special from 1999 and some unreleased recordings. Preorder from the US here.

Published: 7 Sep 2016