CharlieH has alerted us that the late George Carlin is visiting Kiner's Korner right this very minute, right here. It's a rain delay clip identified as having run in the summer of '89 (though a reference in George's and Ralph's conversation makes me think it's from a year later, but whatever). It's also nine minutes of bliss, both men in tip-top baseball-talkin' form. I'd say it belongs in the Hall of Fame, but it's probably too good for Cooperstown. A YouTube where corporate copyright hounds keep their pants on would suffice, because these are nine transcendent Met minutes that deserve to be played in a loop for all and for all time.
As wait-out-the-tarp fare goes, it surely beats Beer Money. When it comes to rain delays and men named Carlin, accept no substitutes.
Kudos to archivist extraordinaire jphilips41 for fighting/flaunting the power and getting this up there. Kudos to the Brooklyn Dodgers fan from White Harlem who stuck by the Mets for many a decade. Kudos to Kiner just for being Ralph.
“You can always tell when you start taking drugs, because that's the year you lose track of who won the World Series.”
CLASSIC!
THANK – YOU!
OUT – FUCKIN – STANDING
God I'm gonna miss George.
Absolutely transcendent. Thank you to everyone responsible for bringing that to my eyes and ears.
Fabulous stuff!
Wonderful. Thanks Greg.
that was awesome. thanks, everyone.
Wow. I vaguely remember seeing this when it first aired. Great job digging it out for all us fans of Carlin, Kiner and the Mets. I came to you through MetsMorized.
oh, this was fab. as much for kiner as for carlin. when he was on his game, ralph could be a great interviewer.
Ain't that the truth? Ralph was dignity personified. Still is, actually.
The flag in centerfield at Shea was at half-mast on Tuesday, when I was on-hand to witness that 11-0 embarrassment. Was that for Carlin?
“It was always those Yankees, they always bothered me.”
It seems the good ones always “get” it.
Since it wasn't at half-mast on Monday, I'm guessing it was for longtime Met employee Jim Plummer who died Monday. His story, via Marty Noble, here. He had quite a run.
I got this email from one of my readers, but it should have gone to you instead of me. I really enjoy your site so much, but the Kiners Korner clip was so incredible that I had shared it on my own site. Outstanding job guys!
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The clip of Ralph interviewing George Carlin was priceless. I enjoyed watching it and even put in my favorites on YouTube.
I haven't seen an episode of Kiner's Korner since 1982, when we moved away from New York. The last time I watched it was when the set still had that really putrid yellow backdrop behind Ralph. Do you remember that? I think it had all the names of the teams written in different lettering if I remember correctly.
And especially seeing the clip of an interview with Carlin? Wow!!! This has been tough for me. I've been a huge Carlin fan my entire life, since about 1976 when I saw him on HBO. Of course, when it got to the cursing parts, my parents made me covered my ears!!! That was back in the day when to access HBO you had to walk up to the TV and flip a switch on a little box.
A lot of times when I read a celebrity or actor dies, I usually say, “Oh, jeez” and then go about my day. Some hurt more than others. Losing George Carlin this week has been really hard on me. I have about 4 or 5 of his stand-ups on tape and am lucky to say that I saw him live twice. The first time was back in about 2000 at the MGM here in Vegas and I have to tell you, Joe, at one point I was laughing so hard my side was actually hurting. I just couldn't stop. He was, in my opinion, a true comedic genius who could make you laugh AND think. I don't expect we will ever see his likes again.
Anyway, thanks again for a powerful and touching memory. Great find.
Thanks Joe, and thanks for spreading the Kiner konvo. Credit due to our eagle-eyed CharlieH for shadowing jphilips41's doings in the hope that he would one day return to his unlicensed glory.
How hard would it be for SNY to round up a few of these and package them as Best of Ralph so we won't have to curse out MLB for pulling it as it eventually will? Come to think of it, why not do the same for all the great clips to which jphilips granted us a glimpse, the '73 WS pregame, the '77 and '79 OTDs and such? A few bucks and a lot of happy customers.
Brilliant, Greg.
I'd love to spend a couple of hours watching the “Best of Ralph,” and I'd love to see SNY do it before Ralph leaves us.
Oh how I wish SNY would lend an ear to the real Mets fan base who still remember the golden days of Mets baseball and how incredible the simplicity of day out at Shea really was. I remember when the Mets were still on MSG they would sometimes do replays fo Homerun Derby, and I can't help wondering why SNY couldn't do what you suggest in bringing back some of those classic Mets moments on Kiner's Korner. Could the ratings be any worse than Playin for peanuts and Beer Money? I wish SNY could at least be half as devoted to the Mets tradition as the YES Network is to the Yankees. Then I would actually tune in for something other than a Mets game.
Greg,
Thanks for sharing. This is a true classic. Keep up your great work.