Earlier today The Hollywood Reporter reported that the forthcoming National Museum of Comedy in Jamestown, New York would feature a performing hologram of George Carlin. Let us all be deeply thankful that is not actually happening..
Image: AP Photo/E Pablo Kosmicki
Speaking to THR, the museum’s curator Kliph Nesteroff described the Carlin hologram as a gimmick designed to draw comedy fans to a town six-and-a-half hours from New York City. It would be housed in a train station remodelled as a “fake comedy club in one corner and George will be onstage, performing like old times”.
In response to the report Carlin’s daughter tweeted to say that there were no plans for such a ridiculous misuse of the late comedian’s legacy “in the immediate future”.
Wrongly reported @juster12 There is no GC hologram in the immediate future. https://t.co/iCCsZXVcZq
— Kelly Carlin (@kelly_carlin) June 1, 2016
The museum later stated in a tweet that the hologram rumours were the result of Nesteroff’s misinterpretation of the plans. It’s worth noting that in the same THR interview Nesteroff stated that he is “not in charge of design or implementation” for the museum.
PRESS NOTICE-there will not be a George Carlin hologram; Kliph Nesteroff was mistaken in his interpretation of the museum exhibit experience
— NTL Comedy Center (@ntlcomedycenter) June 1, 2016
The museum recently acquired Carlin’s archives and will be sponsored in part by his estate, which may explain some of Nesteroff’s confusion. It’s unclear how he made the leap from “we have all this cool stuff” to “let’s make a dead guy play the hits in a basement until the heat death of the universe”. We’ve reached out to Nesteroff for comment but had not heard back at time of writing.
For anyone upset by the news that there will be no Carlin hologram, let’s remember that the man recorded 20 comedy albums and numerous specials, cameoed in movies like Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Dogma and spent several seasons of Shining Time Station as Mr Conductor, among other contributions to art and society. No one should be hard-pressed to find extant media with which to remember his talents.
Perhaps the best thing we can do to keep Carlin’s legacy alive is simply to keep him in our thoughts, right between “my arse hurts in this chair” and “let’s fuck the waitress”, as he once wryly suggested in a routine about death.