Carlin showed teaching side to Jackson resident
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

Jackson Township resident Gus Acevedo (second from left) goofs around as he is joined by fellow students in a class that was taught by comedian George Carlin (wearing "Front" T-shirt) at the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College in California in 1974. Carlin's death on June 22 prompted Acevedo to recount his memories of Carlin as a classroom lecturer.

JACKSON - One Jackson resident will always have fond memories of George Carlin, the noted comedian who died of heart failure at the age of 71 on June 22 at St. John's Health Center, Santa Monica, Calif.

Gus Acevedo, a former member of the Jackson Board of Education, recalled how he crossed paths with Carlin years ago.

"I was starting my second year of graduate studies at the University of Southern California (1974) and I decided to take additional classes, just for relaxation and to break the tension of the serious school work I had been encountering," Acevedo said.

The Sherwood Oaks Experimental College was a school where people like Dustin Hoffman and Jerry Lewis taught class as volunteers, he said.

"I decided to take classes with Mel Brooks, who taught the Mel Brooks Seminar, and with George Carlin, who taught Comedy Awareness in Language," Acevedo recalled. "I was perhaps the only student in that class who was not a cinema or comedy professional. As a matter of fact, Gallagher, the comedian who smashes watermelons with a giant sledgehammer, was a classmate in that class."

Acevedo said even though Carlin was going through some personal difficulties due to substance abuse at the time, the comedian was never late to class and he was always a professional.

"He would always stay after class to speak with young comedians who had specific questions regarding their careers," he said, remembering that Carlin would speak to the group of about 40 students in a relaxed manner, while sitting on one of two stools.

"On the second stool he would keep a six-pack of Coors or Olympia beer, which he would sip as he paused midway through a story," Acevedo said. "Not once did I ever think he was drunk or out of control."

Acevedo described how Carlin kept a tape recorder nearby and when he had an idea for a joke he would pause and dictate the idea for future reference.

"He always repeated the following memorable line to us: 'The world seems straight and serious, but if you just tilt your head, you will notice how really funny it can be,' " he said.

Acevedo said he learned several lessons from that class with Carlin and he recalled one in particular.

"He didn't believe comedy should hurt the weak, but it should not spare the pompous, well-off citizen," he said.

Acevedo said even when Carlin made jokes about the Catholic nuns who had taught him as a child, he was not disrespectful.

"His concentration was on making sure we understood that what brought everything to a comedic peak was point of view and the truth," Acevedo explained. "Comedy has to be about the truth as we see it, knowing that the truth has different points of reference."

To highlight this point, Carlin wore the same T-shirt on the first and last day of the semester. On the front of the shirt it said FRONT and on the back it said BACK, Acevedo said.

Acevedo said to prove to the students that his comedy was family oriented, Carlin brought his only daughter to the last class. She was in the fourth grade and she brought a classmate from her elementary school, he said.

Acevedo has a photo of himself, Carlin and some of the other students who were in the class.

"The photo has been battered by time and I was barely able to save it from a basement flood," Acevedo said. "I once brought copies of the photo to his manager to show him, when Carlin performed at the Strand Theater in Lakewood years ago. During the intermission I met up with his manager, who was very candid with me. The manager said, "Gus, I want you to know that George never accepts such gifts from his fans, but when he saw this picture he asked if he could keep a copy of it.' "

Acevedo eventually received a copy of the photo signed by Carlin and bearing the inscription, "Hi Gus! George Carlin."

"I doubt he remembered me, but it still was a most generous gesture on his part. He always made each one of us feel special," Acevedo said.