Complaints and Grievances

Complaints and Grievances is the 17th album and 12th HBO stand-up special by comedian George Carlin. It was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album.^[1]

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Complaints and Grievances
Live album by George Carlin
Released	December 11, 2001
Recorded	November 17, 2001
Venue	Beacon Theatre, New York City
Genre	Comedy
Length	56:16
Label	Eardrum/Atlantic
Producer	George Carlin
George Carlin chronology
The Little David Years (1971–1977) (1999) Complaints and Grievances (2001) Life Is Worth Losing (2006)

Production

The working title of the show was I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die, but it was changed after the September 11 2001 attacks.^[2] In an interview on Opie and Anthony on October 24, 2001, Carlin explained:

It's gonna be good, though. It's a strong show. I had to make a few alterations 'cause—you wanna hear the name of what the show was called and I'm telling you the truth? ... The name of it was I Kinda Like It When a Lot of People Die. Yeah. And it was all about natural disasters and stuff and I had a nice nine minute piece on that but the morning I woke up and saw the special effects thing on the TV I thought "Oh yeah. Oh. Change. Changing the name."

After briefly explaining the nature of the show, Carlin added, "Everything's the same, except I had to take that piece out. I just knew ... no-one would laugh. You know. Obviously."^[3]

Complaints and Grievances was recorded live at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on November 17, 2001, and was broadcast live on HBO.^[4]

Legacy

Cassette recordings of the original working version of the show, recorded in Las Vegas on September 9 and 10, 2001, were discovered in the 2010s and released in 2016 as I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die.^[5] The album includes the routine removed from Complaints and Grievances, titled "Uncle Dave".^[6] A recording of the first performance of the routine from June 2001 is also included as a bonus track, under its original title of "I Kinda Like It When a Lotta People Die".^[7] Portions of this routine were later reused for "Coast-to-Coast Emergency", the closing bit from Carlin's 2005 special Life Is Worth Losing.^[6]

Track listing

All tracks by George Carlin.

1. "The Opening" – 9:22
2. "Traffic Accidents: Keep Movin'!" – 6:16
3. "You and Me (Things That Come Off of Your Body)" – 10:38
4. "People Who Oughta Be Killed: Self-Help Books" – 1:16
5. "Motivation Seminars" – 1:05
6. "Parents of Honor Students" – 2:15
7. "Baby Slings" – 0:59
8. "My Daddy" – 0:51
9. "Telephone Mimes" – 1:09
10. "Hands-Free Telephone Headsets" – 0:38
11. "Answering Machines" – 0:52
12. "Family Newsletters" – 1:23
13. "Music on Answering Machines" – 1:39
14. "People Who Wear Visors" – 0:39
15. "Singers with One Name" – 0:41
16. "Rich Guys in Hot Air Balloons" – 1:01
17. "People Who Misuse Credit Cards" – 0:51
18. "Guys Named Todd" – 1:30
19. "Gun Enthusiasts" – 1:26
20. "White Guys Who Shave Their Heads" – 0:48
21. "NASA-Holes" – 1:32
22. "Why We Don't Need 10 Commandments" – 7:14

Personnel

• George Carlin – writing, production
• Greg Calbi – editing, mastering
• Terry Kulchar – location sound
• Winston Smith – illustration
• Dan Dion – photography
• JDK – art direction