Judd Apatow on George Carlin: ‘He was the Madonna of comedy’
Apatow refers is co-producer Michael Bonfiglio, the acclaimed documentarian (“30 for 30: Bo Jackson”) with whom he collaborated on the 2018 HBO documentary “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling.”Their study of the trailblazing Carlin, who died in 2008 at the age of 71, unfolds in much the same vein as “The Zen Diaries” and includes interviews with Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin, and a gaggle of fellow comics including Paul Reiser, W. Kamau Bell, Steven Wright, Judy Gold, Robert Klein and Patton Oswalt.Viewers familiar with only the bare-bones arc of Carlin’s life will take a deep dive into his professional and personal trajectory — from the clean-cut, suit-wearing ’60s-era stand-up comedian who grudgingly embraced “establishment” television mores (including a 1966 guest-starring role on the ABC sitcom “That Girl”) — to embracing his inner voice and morphing into the bearded, pony-tailed comic voice known for his cutting-edge record albums and standup act (The “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”) that launched him into household-name stardom — and plunged him into an abyss of drug abuse.Apatow and Bonfiglio also shine a light on Carlin’s personal life, including his childhood growing up on West 121st Street, and his nearly-forty-year marriage to wife Brenda, who died in 1997 from liver cancer.“What’s interesting is that he changed [performing] styles five times.