George Carlin AI special criticized by his daughter
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
(CNN) — Kelly Carlin is not happy about a comedy special centering on her late father.
Carlin spoke out against “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” which uses artificial intelligence to recreate the famed comedian’s voice and image.
“My dad spent a lifetime perfecting his craft from his very human life, brain and imagination,” the younger Carlin wrote in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“No machine will ever replace his genius,” she continued. “These AI generated products are clever attempts at trying to recreate a mind that will never exist again. Let’s let the artist’s work speak for itself.”
There has long been debate about “reanimating” deceased stars.
Announcements of performances with holograms of late artists, including Tupac Shakur, Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse, have sparked outrage and debate over the tastefulness of such projects.
“Humans are so afraid of the void that we can’t let what has fallen into it stay there,” Kelly Carlin continued. “Here’s an idea, how about we give some actual living human comedians a listen to?”
“If you want to listen to the genuine George Carlin, he has 14 specials that you can find anywhere,” she added.
George Carlin died of congestive heart failure at the age of 71 in 2008.
The special was produced by Dudesy, an AI comedian that has a podcast and YouTube show featuring “Mad TV’s” Will Sasso and podcast Chad Kultgen as cohosts.
“I just want to let you know very clearly that what you’re about to hear is not George Carlin,” Dudsey’s voice is heard saying at the beginning of the special. “It’s my impersonation of George Carlin that I developed in the exact same way a human impressionist would.”
“I listened to all of George Carlin’s material and did my best to imitate his voice, cadence and attitude,” he goes on to say. “Think of it like Andy Kaufman impersonating Elvis or like Will Ferrell impersonating George W. Bush.”
CNN has reached out to Dudesy for comment.
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