Saturday, July 08, 2006

George Carl


"He seems to be retired now but, years ago in Vegas, I loved to go see George Carl do a comedy act that Johnny Carson (no stranger to great comedy acts) called "The funniest 20 minutes in show business." It basically consisted of Mr. Carl getting tangled in the microphone cord. For 20 minutes.

Ostensibly, he was there to play a harmonica solo...but before he got the first note out, he dropped the mike and then he had trouble with the mike stand. And then he knocked over a tray with his harmonicas on it. And then he somehow got the mike down his pants...and the more he tried to undo things, the more tangled and snarled and hopeless and hysterical things got.

I don't know how many times he performed it. I'm guessing 3 shows a night, 6 nights a week for 40 years. Those are very conservative numbers and it still totals out to 37,440 performances. Long before I saw him — near the end of a very long career — he had every second of the act perfected. Every movement, every gesture, every expression, he'd polished the way Nijinsky honed each step of Afternoon of a Faun. If there was a way to get a laugh in any given second of his performance, Carl had found it. A dead person would have laughed at that act — even one pumped full of formaldehyde."

Mark Evanier
http://www.povonline.com





George Carl:

Date of birth
05/07/1916 Ohio, USA.

Date of death
01/01/2000 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. (complications from cancer)

George Carl, the legendary pantomime artist, began his career as a circus clown while still in his teens. He, his wife and two children entertained as a family of acrobats in the Kelly-Miller Circus in the early 50's. They traveled throughout the south doing two and sometimes three shows a day, six days a week. For a time the Carls were the nightly featured act at the luxurious Condado Beach Hotel in San Juan Puerto Rico.

He eventually attained international fame as a clown, vaudevillian, and slapstick comic. He appeared on numerous variety shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show, the Hollwood Palace and was one of Johnny Carson's favorite guests on the "Tonight" show-- always bringing down the house. He also worked the Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris for many years.

He appeared in a "Royal Command Performance" for the Queen at the Paladium in London and the Circus Festival of Monte Carlo honored him with an the coveted "Golden Clown" awar

for his act, presented by Princess Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monocco.

George Carl made his screen debut at the age of 79, portraying an eccentric music-hall comedian in Funny Bones (1995). He can be seen performing segments from his act in the film, which also starred Oliver Platt, Lee Evans, Freddie "Parrot Head" Davies, Leslie Caron and Jerry Lewis, and was also the last time George Carl performed professionally.

2 comments:

  1. The year 1984 at the Dunes Hotel - George Carl was in the show that Irving and Kenneth Feld produced. I was on a show that Paul Kaye produced that had 50 high acts not counting the ground acts. Our opening night the show started at 7 PM . I hit the top of the ramp when finale was over it was 12 midnight. Incidently, the Felds stayed til intermission, then left. Visitors to the lot that evening were Anita Vargas, and her Elvis Jaqualine Zerbini and George Carl. I was introduced to Mr George and had a nice time cutting up jackpots. In the days to follow, catching various shows on the strip I was telling a cab driver to take us to the Dunes ; His reply ;" Are you going to see the show there? "I replied Yes. He replied, " Everybody that I pick up there says the show stinks." Never the less ,Felds produced it and I wanted to see it. 2/3's of the show went on and we were about to get up and walk out , then out came the same man that I was intoduced to the night before,without a doubt the highlight of the show. Actually the only thing in the show that was worth looking at. I had no idea he was a comic til then. We surely enjoyed his performance.

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  2. I worked in the same show as george
    at JUPITORS CASINO GOLD COAST AUSTRALIA 1987-88 I watched his show every night from the lighting box for 18 months I have nrver seen anything like it since he was definatly a one off sensation.
    He had the apartment above and we became good mates he use to love to cook me the best SPAGHETTI ever
    he is a sad loss to our business but is fondly remembered by many people in AUSTRALIA
    NOEL TALBOT

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