I have a serious question, and, dead serious, I’m not deliberately trying to provoke. 
Why do people respect George Carlin? -Brett F., Alberta

Carlin was the observational comic who set the mold for so many of today’s comics. Like this: “Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy. ” or “In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem.” Not the absolutely most brilliant observations ever, nor the funniest. But enough of each for people to really appreciate it. His funny cynical twist was pretty ingenious at times.

“Don Ho can sign autographs 3.4 times faster than Efrem Zimbalist Jr.” In a post-Seinfeld world, this kind of off-kilter observation, which you have to think about for a second to get, doesn’t seem as hilarious as it did when nobody had heard anything like it before. And he summed…