Nearly two decades after his death, George Carlin remains one of the most prolific stand-up comedians of all time, with specials. He doesn’t have the most specials overall; that distinction goes to Kathy Griffin, who holds the Guinness World Record for “Most stand-up specials by a comedian.” But Carlin’s still in the conversation, which is pretty impressive considering that he hasn’t put out a special for the better part of two decades—unless you count that goofy AI-assisted nonsense that made the rounds last year.
Carlin’s record is for HBO specials specifically. Between 1977 and 2008, he released 14 of them. That number is a bit iffy only because 1997’s George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy isn’t a full-on stand-up special. It was partially a retrospective of his career and also contains an interview with Jon Stewart at the end. Yet, he does perform stand-up in it—even if it’s less than a half hour’s worth—and it is a special, OK? So for those reasons, it technically counts.
Whether Carlin has 13 or 14 specials doesn’t really matter, though, because the fact is that very few people are close to him. That’s not to say comics aren’t cranking out material at a similar pace; if Kathy Griffin released her specials on HBO, she would’ve broken Carlin’s record in 2011. Louis C.K., Bill Burr, Ricky Gervais, and Dave Chappelle would all be nearing their records if they’d all remained with HBO.
But as it stands, there’s only one stand-up comic closing in on Carlin’s HBO record, and that’s current HBO employee Bill Maher. Overall, the Real Time host released 13 specials, though only 11 of them were for HBO—2012’s Crazy Stupid Politics was for Yahoo! Screen, and 2016’s WhinyLittleBitch streamed live on Facebook. Still, 11 is still more than anybody else, and there’s no sign of another comedian coming close to Carlin any time soon.
Robert Klein performed on the first HBO comedy special in 1975, and he has only nine to his name. Dennis Miller landed his first HBO special seven years before Maher, but he still has only eight, and neither he nor Klein has done anything for HBO since 2010. So it looks like it’s up to you, Bill. No pressure, but if you’re looking for a shortcut, you can always try the ol’ George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy trick.
The post The Comedian Nearing George Carlin’s Stand-Up Record appeared first on VICE.
