Big Ross and Me

With the deaths of Tim Russert and George Carlin, the nation is now without two people to hold us accountable for our national actions and decisions.

NBC and HBO have a little less spring to their lineup. But beyond how George Carlin transformed our public vernacular with “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” and how Tim Russert was in many respects, NBC News, these two men bridged a gap between a generation of fathers and sons. Fathers saw the emergence of each one’s career and their sons became fans by following in the footsteps of their dear ‘ol dad.

My father, Ross, an avid news and politics buff, reserved Sunday mornings for his news shows, including “Meet the Press.” At the insistence of trying to educate me on current events, he always encouraged his children to watch or listen with at least one ear. In a household where even the most minor of disagreements with political analysts or news anchors often meant tuning out, it was my father’s unwavering respect for Russert’s objectivity that told me this was a man worth listening to.

Passages from his book, Big Russ and Me, were recited in the car, at dinner, while doing my homework; wherever my father found himself to be reading it. Even though my father was reading from Russert’s book, it was clear he could have easily been reading from a passage in our own book, “Big Ross and Me,” and my father was proud of that.

In middle school, I asked my father to recommend a book to read from his impressive collection. With my budding comedy obsession, he gave me George Carlin’s first book, Brain Droppings, realizing I was old enough for this introduction. Something about his exploitive-laced rants made him more appealing than old Abbot and Costello shorts from the ‘50s that started my comedy foundation.

The natural progression from Carlin’s books was his live albums. My mother did not approve of these “parental advisory” CDs. My father ended this short disagreement by telling her, “It’s George Carlin, modern philosophy.” My father’s insistence on allowing George Carlin to expose the idiosyncrasies of our culture meant Carlin came with my father’s approval.

The appeal of Carlin and Russert to a wide range of ages and multiple generations strengthened the bond between fathers and sons, sons and grandsons; it was an opportunity to reach a common ground, to sit and enjoy something together, to create conversation.

Among the many people, movies, music, and books my younger self ignored for being “old or boring,” Carlin and Russert were never part of the recommendations I brushed off. And at their deaths, my father and I had little to say but how sad it was and how much our collective consciousness has lost.

This is a generation of men who transcended their respective generations; men who brought together a nation under comedy and political news. On the day of Russert’s death, his entire network was brought to tears as Tom Brokaw and Andrea Mitchell anchored with heavy knot in their throats.

Without my father, I would not have felt the loss of Russert and laughed with the rest of the country as we watched the endless amount of Carlin retrospective clips. Russert guided his viewers with the strong parent and child relationship that was instilled in him; he was the father carrying us through the complicated and often turbulent political landscape.

And George Carlin was right there to inform us that we are all diseased (see his 1998 HBO special). In a country so intent on sensitivity and political correctness, Carlin, in his affirmative raspy voice, was there to slap us back into reality and tell us we all die and do not simply “pass away.”

Russert was a voice of reliability and credibility, one that goes a long way in news. His son, Luke, is 22 like myself. Luke and I both graduated from ACC conference colleges in May; Luke from my University of Miami rival, Boston College. Our fathers and mothers both shared in this proud moment.

I If I am privileged to one day have a son, he will know of Carlin and Russert from the history of our nation and will hopefully share in the joy and knowledge that these men brought me.

My father and I will always share the memories of Russert and Carlin unfolding before our eyes. George Carlin and Tim Russert made us watch and pay attention. They made us listen. They transcended their own generation.