Napalm & Silly Putty (abridged audiobook) by George Carlin

Sometimes funny, sometimes just the rants of a cranky old man 

Performed by the author, George Carlin

Published by Highbridge Company, April 1, 2001

Duration: 2 hours, 29 minutes
abridged

George Carlin (1937-2008) was an iconic stand-up comic known for his cutting edge humor. This audiobook is not really either, however. I am not saying it does not have its funny moments - it certainly does. But, large stretches of it sound more like a cranky old man spouting off than an actual attempt at humor.

George Carlin
(1937-2008)

Funny parts of Napalm and Silly Putty include his observations on cats, dogs, grocery stores, "saving" the environment, health nuts and driving. Those are actually full blown comedy bits  and remind me quite a bit of Dave Barry with generous quantities of superfluous cursing thrown in for spice. Sadly, for a comic known for his edginess, none of these topics are particularly edgy.

His attempts at edginess come with rants about businessmen, organized religion and politicians that are too loose to be called bits and end up being along the same line of thought as grumpy old men who curse at these topics out of habit, not of any particularly well-developed line of thinking. Thrown in between some of the longer bits are several one-liners. Most are not particularly funny. I did like this one: "If there are really multiple universes, what do they call the thing they're all a part of?"

So, sometimes funny, sometimes not, always filled with profanity.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin.

Reviewed on June 17, 2012.