An NYT piece talks about the eternally-relevant George Carlin, who will be doing his first concert special for HBO in nearly four years.

Some excerpts:

Mr. Carlin's new 75-minute HBO show is an extended meditation on the three aspects of life that have preoccupied him for nearly a half-century: the little experiences we all seem to share, the words we use and our penchant for doing one another (and the world around us) harm. ...

However familiar the themes of his new show may be, the actual material is somehow fresh, as he tries to give people license to laugh about matters that few other performers would dare broach. These include the beheadings in Iraq, natural disasters (he does not mention Hurricane Katrina but doesn't have to), genocide, human sacrifice ("I miss that," he said from the stage), suicide, autoerotic asphyxiation and necrophilia.

"You know the best thing about necrophilia?" he said onstage here. "You don't have to bring flowers."

After a pause, he added: "Usually they're already there."