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Chris Kuhn

Editor, skirt! Tampa Bay

I'm an outspoken thirtysomething who has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1992, full of useless facts on just about every facet of pop culture. I'm passionate about vegetarianism without passing judgment. I love to laugh. If we can't talk politics, music, movies, sports, TV or current events, you'...

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Determined to Chuckle

Chris, editor for skirt! Tampa Bay

I was pretty bummed out when I learned about George Carlin’s death last month. You might be surprised by this, but the man has influenced me tremendously and held a very special place in my life for many years. He made me laugh ever since I was a little twerp watching the first Saturday Night Live on my living room floor at age 5. While growing up, I found a common source for laughter with my dad as we frequently watched together the many live concerts he did for HBO. In my teens, I “discovered” his real genius through a collection of cassettes that included Grammy-winning albums like his ground-breaking AM/FM and my personal favorite album Occupation: Foole.

I became so familiar with his routines that I even performed several of them on the stage in Drama class my freshman year of high school. By the time I reached college, I had the pleasure of seeing him in concert, with interestingly enough, another late funnyman Richard Jeni as his strong opening act. In my adult years, I’ve treasured every Carlin book that’s had me in stitches and captured my attention like few books do, reading them cover to cover in a matter of a few hours, particularly my personal favorite Brain Droppings.

I’ve always appreciated Carlin’s natural ability to find and articulate the humor in our everyday language and societal traditions and norms. He always made me think as much as I laughed. And he didn’t use profanity as simply a device. He used language as a means to connect. And when a forty-ish Irish New York comedian connects intellectually with a teenage girl living in another part of the country, in another world really, that’s pretty powereful connecting.

So I’ve decided that this week I will start every day with a chuckle and make that long ride home an amusing one, as well, while I rediscover the albums of George Carlin in my car. (Yes, I really do have a cassette player in my car still. Sad, I know...)

It’s day two and already I’m loving it. Haven’t missed one Fallout Boy or OneRepublic tune on the radio yet...and there’s no one on the air locally that can come close to making me laugh the way Carlin does, so I haven’t missed a thing. Okay, local traffic reports, but half the time, these seem inaccurate or expired info anyway.

So if some morning this week, you happen to pass me on the highway here in the Bay area and I appear to be either laughing uncontrollably or jabbering aloud to myself, rest assured, I haven’t lost all of my marbles. Just a few. Already I’ve found myself arriving at my final destination with a smile on my face. And that’s not too bad.