APRIL 26

“Fuck hope” is the happy theme of George Carlin’s latest work. He means it, too, but one can’t help laughing. Perhaps it’s Pavlovian. After all, the comedian turns a spry 60 next month, and we have come to expect a certain wit from the only comic to have his work debated before the Supreme Court. But Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” routine seems almost quaint these days, a fact he’s responding to. “I made a conscious decision in about 1990 to raise my voice,” Carlin says from his L.A. office. “The culture had become noisy; the culture was very cluttered—especially with comedians.” Carlin feels that it was in his 1992 Jamming in New York shows that he “finally settled into my artistic voice,” and part of that means “to keep my anger raw and unfettered.” On that recording, the punch lines are often along the lines of “Fuck that!,” to which the crowd responds with Arsenio-style boorishness. But what should we expect? “The public sucks,” says Carlin as matter-of-factly as you please. And “don’t blame politicians,” he chides. “They are the products of your systems.” Still, the cantankerous comic is not totally averse to our systems. He wants the sucky public to know that they may call 1- (800) 557-1199 to receive George’s Best Stuff, a collection of material from 20 years of HBO specials. But wait, there’s more: Included in the $20 cost is an hourlong tape, Carlin on Campus. Maybe George meant Fuck Bob Hope. The hysterical doom and gloom begins with Dennis Blair at 7 & 10:30 p.m. at the Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. $25-29.50. (202) 783-4000. (Dave Nuttycombe)