Death a Joking Matter for George and Jerry

Jerry calls George "the total package of what a comedian's skills should be"

Jerry Seinfeld is going multimedia to honor his favorite monster, George Carlin.

In a New York Times editorial today and an appearance on last night's Larry King Live, Seinfeld recalled his final conversation with Carlin, which devolved into a riff on mortality.

"The honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about," Seinfeld writes in the Times. "I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes.

"We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: 'I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they've had a crash. It improves your odds.' "

Carlin died of heart failure Sunday at age 71.

Speaking to King, Seinfeld called the conversation with Carlin "very bizarre," adding, "When I got the news [of Carlin's death], it really, really threw me."

And like all the other showbiz luminaries who paid their respects to Carlin's unique talents, Seinfeld had only the most reverent things to say about the late comic's place in the pantheon.

"He was the total package of what a comedian's skills should be," Seinfeld told King. "He literally could train his eye on something very kind of mundane and regular—he could talk about couch pillows or he could take on, you know, abortion or politics or religion. So there was no subject that his mind was not able to dissect and make fun...

"And, you know, he was funny with his face and his body was funny. Everything about him was funny...I don't think we'll ever see someone who, in their lifetime, creates as much comedy as this man did. He's absolutely one of the untouchable giants of stand-up comedy."

Then, in another nod to just how stunned everyone who knew Carlin was upon news of his demise, Seinfeld admitted that he knew his friend suffered from heart problems.

But still, he asked, "Who dies at 70 anymore? It's so old-fashioned."

Seinfeld, who had Carlin appear in his 1998 HBO special I'm Telling You for the Last Time, writes in the Times that Carlin "was a monster" of comedy.

"You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways.

"Every comedian does a little George. I couldn't even count the number of times I've been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, 'Carlin does it.' I've heard it my whole career: 'Carlin does it,' 'Carlin already did it,' 'Carlin did it eight years ago.' "

Indeed, a week before his death, Carlin was tapped for the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, honoring his contributions to the art.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced that after conferring with and getting approval from Carlin's family, it will still hold a ceremony in honor of the late comic, making him the first posthumous recipient of the Twain Prize. The ceremony will rely on tributes from colleagues and friends, and we're guessing Seinfeld is on the invite list.

"I know George didn't believe in heaven or hell," he writes at the end of his Times piece. "Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I'm spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, 'Carlin already did it.' "