--- product_id: 18203233 title: "A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George" price: "32531CFA" currency: XOF in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.sn/products/18203233-a-carlin-home-companion-growing-up-with-george store_origin: SN region: Senegal --- # A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George **Price:** 32531CFA **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George - **How much does it cost?** 32531CFA with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sn](https://www.desertcart.sn/products/18203233-a-carlin-home-companion-growing-up-with-george) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Truly the voice of a generation, George Carlin gave the world some of the most hysterical and iconic comedy routines of the last fifty years. From the "Seven Dirty Words" to "A Place for My Stuff," to "Religion is Bullshit," he perfected the art of making audiences double over with laughter while simultaneously making people wake up to the realities (and insanities) of life in the twentieth century. Few people glimpsed the inner life of this beloved comedian, but his only child, Kelly, was there to see it all. Born at the very beginning of his decades-long career in comedy, she slid around the "old Dodge Dart," as he and wife Brenda drove around the country to "hell gigs." She witnessed his transformation in the '70s, as he fought back against---and talked back to---the establishment; she even talked him down from a really bad acid trip a time or two ("Kelly, the sun has exploded and we have eight, no-seven and a half minutes to live!"). Kelly not only watched her father constantly reinvent himself and his comedy, but also had a front row seat to the roller coaster turmoil of her family's inner life---alcoholism, cocaine addiction, life-threatening health scares, and a crushing debt to the IRS. But having been the only "adult" in her family prepared her little for the task of her own adulthood. All the while, Kelly sought to define her own voice as she separated from the shadow of her father's genius. With rich humor and deep insight, Kelly Carlin pulls back the curtain on what it was like to grow up as the daughter of one of the most recognizable comedians of our time, and become a woman in her own right. This vivid, hilarious, heartbreaking story is at once singular and universal-it is a contemplation of what it takes to move beyond the legacy of childhood, and forge a life of your own. Review: Examining A Life With Wit, Humor, and Perspective, Without Bitterness. Entertaining and Real. - Kelly Carlin's book is her life story, her history. Coming of age with a famous parent and a beautiful, brilliant mother, Kelly describes the rocky road of growing up while her family sacrifices to realize George's dream and also keep a family together during the journey. Today people love to demonize people who use recreational drugs or alcohol or suffer from addiction. Kelly doesn't demonize her parents, but looks at their use and addictions with the maturity and perspective not of a bitter woman, but as a child does with two wonderful parents, and the people they turned into when they used. The Three Musketeers--her family (and mine!) is what they called themselves. Kelly and I are only 9 years apart, and it amazed me how we shared so many experiences. We love our parents and give them credit for their great qualities. There are HURRAY moments where George shares his humor, kindness, his music, sends her flowers after she's in a musical. You just grow to love him along with Kelly, and you also see her pain as she misses him when he's on the road. Mom Brenda drank, and that also pulls the foundation of your security of a child out from under you. You compose a life as an adult where you look back and take the bad times that made you sharp, smart, but also where you learned to be afraid and how that breaks you and builds you stronger. You love the good times more. You adore the sober parent and how fabulous they were. You mourn them when they become that Other person. She doesn't resort to demonizing them. To be healthy and compose a life, you must compose your history. She loves them for their merits and the great people they were. She also works through the problems they had and grows into a smart, strong, fiercely witty, brilliant adult with a new foundation. Children of addiction like me understand this. You take the story of your life, celebrate the beauty, the good times, the love and you give meaning to the hardship and you rebuild your life and your story without bitterness. The realization that her father was a lot like my mother. My father was a lot like Brenda Carlin. My childhood was so much like her's, and somehow, we both became adults with perspective, stronger for the experience, but still mourning the time that was lost to addiction. But you grow and you cherish your life for the greatness and the lessons. And you just love them. We write, we go on, and we become the author of our own story. There's power in this, and also in knowing that Kelly Carlin did it. (So I can, too!) Her story is a victory, with sadness and courage and some of the most observant and witty humor mixed in. I look forward to more of her work in the future, and I'm grateful that she gave us this glimpse of her life with George. All life is messy, sad, tragic, wonderful and a bit crazy. But to compose a book like this is to heal, find closure, and celebrate the love and the life of her family. She's an amazing person with an original voice and I can't wait to read more--I hope she continues to write. Rock on Kelly. You have a gift that speaks to children of addiction, and also people who appreciate sharp wit. Keep on composing your life. We can't wait to read more! Review: As honest as she could be, given who she is - Well done, Kelly! An honest, if not understandably favorably biased account of growing up in the Carlin household by the only person left to tell it. She delivered on the kind of book I expected it to be. At an early age, she was "raised" by absentee, fall-down-drunk, and coke-devouring parents. By her teens she was placated with riding horses, daddy's extra joints, and a BMW - which she totaled, only to have replaced. To me, the most revelatory scene she recounted about the essence of her father, was when he was standing in his driveway in an elite suburb of Los Angeles, screaming obscenities at his rich neighbors, just because they were rich coc****kers. He truly hated them. There he was, living in the same neighborhood, just as rich as they were, spoiling his own child like they were theirs, just as self-indulgent as they were - but no doubt, ingesting way more drugs than they did - and he was enraged at them for . . . . ? For being like him, except with a coat and tie. And for that reason, George was eternally convinced that he was both morally and socially superior to anyone who had a 9 to 5 job, which, of course, is most people. Another (understandable) blind spot in her description of her father, was her delusion, mirroring his own, that as he got older, he got better at comedy. That reminded me of hearing David Crosby say, not too long ago, that he's writing the best music of his life right now. What?!?! Not even close. George got exponentially darker, misanthropic, and way less funny as he got older. As a tribute to her dad, she peppered her remarks at his memorial service with the F-bomb, and other vulgarities. How dignified. Sadly, George would have thought that was funny. To her credit, she's managed to find a measure of stability in life after her own bouts with addiction, panic attacks, dysfunctional relationships and all the other predictable byproducts of growing up a Carlin. Unlike her father, she's been able to make peace with her deceased parents and the chaotic upbringing they remanded her to. He, on the other hand, couldn't ford that river and died a broken and angry rebel. Keep at it Kelly. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,945,798 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #410 in Television Performer Biographies #776 in Comedy (Books) #1,563 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies | | Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 446 Reviews | ## Images ![A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91PKQ8Tp2lL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Examining A Life With Wit, Humor, and Perspective, Without Bitterness. Entertaining and Real. *by J***S on September 17, 2015* Kelly Carlin's book is her life story, her history. Coming of age with a famous parent and a beautiful, brilliant mother, Kelly describes the rocky road of growing up while her family sacrifices to realize George's dream and also keep a family together during the journey. Today people love to demonize people who use recreational drugs or alcohol or suffer from addiction. Kelly doesn't demonize her parents, but looks at their use and addictions with the maturity and perspective not of a bitter woman, but as a child does with two wonderful parents, and the people they turned into when they used. The Three Musketeers--her family (and mine!) is what they called themselves. Kelly and I are only 9 years apart, and it amazed me how we shared so many experiences. We love our parents and give them credit for their great qualities. There are HURRAY moments where George shares his humor, kindness, his music, sends her flowers after she's in a musical. You just grow to love him along with Kelly, and you also see her pain as she misses him when he's on the road. Mom Brenda drank, and that also pulls the foundation of your security of a child out from under you. You compose a life as an adult where you look back and take the bad times that made you sharp, smart, but also where you learned to be afraid and how that breaks you and builds you stronger. You love the good times more. You adore the sober parent and how fabulous they were. You mourn them when they become that Other person. She doesn't resort to demonizing them. To be healthy and compose a life, you must compose your history. She loves them for their merits and the great people they were. She also works through the problems they had and grows into a smart, strong, fiercely witty, brilliant adult with a new foundation. Children of addiction like me understand this. You take the story of your life, celebrate the beauty, the good times, the love and you give meaning to the hardship and you rebuild your life and your story without bitterness. The realization that her father was a lot like my mother. My father was a lot like Brenda Carlin. My childhood was so much like her's, and somehow, we both became adults with perspective, stronger for the experience, but still mourning the time that was lost to addiction. But you grow and you cherish your life for the greatness and the lessons. And you just love them. We write, we go on, and we become the author of our own story. There's power in this, and also in knowing that Kelly Carlin did it. (So I can, too!) Her story is a victory, with sadness and courage and some of the most observant and witty humor mixed in. I look forward to more of her work in the future, and I'm grateful that she gave us this glimpse of her life with George. All life is messy, sad, tragic, wonderful and a bit crazy. But to compose a book like this is to heal, find closure, and celebrate the love and the life of her family. She's an amazing person with an original voice and I can't wait to read more--I hope she continues to write. Rock on Kelly. You have a gift that speaks to children of addiction, and also people who appreciate sharp wit. Keep on composing your life. We can't wait to read more! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ As honest as she could be, given who she is *by H***R on January 17, 2016* Well done, Kelly! An honest, if not understandably favorably biased account of growing up in the Carlin household by the only person left to tell it. She delivered on the kind of book I expected it to be. At an early age, she was "raised" by absentee, fall-down-drunk, and coke-devouring parents. By her teens she was placated with riding horses, daddy's extra joints, and a BMW - which she totaled, only to have replaced. To me, the most revelatory scene she recounted about the essence of her father, was when he was standing in his driveway in an elite suburb of Los Angeles, screaming obscenities at his rich neighbors, just because they were rich coc****kers. He truly hated them. There he was, living in the same neighborhood, just as rich as they were, spoiling his own child like they were theirs, just as self-indulgent as they were - but no doubt, ingesting way more drugs than they did - and he was enraged at them for . . . . ? For being like him, except with a coat and tie. And for that reason, George was eternally convinced that he was both morally and socially superior to anyone who had a 9 to 5 job, which, of course, is most people. Another (understandable) blind spot in her description of her father, was her delusion, mirroring his own, that as he got older, he got better at comedy. That reminded me of hearing David Crosby say, not too long ago, that he's writing the best music of his life right now. What?!?! Not even close. George got exponentially darker, misanthropic, and way less funny as he got older. As a tribute to her dad, she peppered her remarks at his memorial service with the F-bomb, and other vulgarities. How dignified. Sadly, George would have thought that was funny. To her credit, she's managed to find a measure of stability in life after her own bouts with addiction, panic attacks, dysfunctional relationships and all the other predictable byproducts of growing up a Carlin. Unlike her father, she's been able to make peace with her deceased parents and the chaotic upbringing they remanded her to. He, on the other hand, couldn't ford that river and died a broken and angry rebel. Keep at it Kelly. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I went in a George Carlin fan and came out a Kelly Carlin fan *by S***V on January 8, 2016* What's it like to be George Carlin's daughter? That's a question for comedy nerds like me, especially since I'm a boy. Yes I've seen at least two stand-up specials from everyone quoted on the jacket of this memoir, but George is special for me. He was a transforming artist. In my intellectual journey there was before Jammin' and after Jammin'. No other comic transformed my molecules like that. Only musicians and writers. There was Twain, Whitman, Jimi Hendrix, and George Carlin for me. Early in the book Kelly Carlin describes things that would kind of be recognizable to a fan, his pot smoking (cool dad!), his "teaching moments" (I recognize those from his stand up!), going on the road with her mom and dad (!), and mouthing off to squares (holy s***..My dad mouthed off to Reagan on the TV but to see him do it live to their faces!). And it's at that latter bit, the mouthing off to the squares, where Kelly pulled me down to earth. "Dad was now saying stuff out loud often to people's faces, and it made me want to disappear." Thus her childhood becomes a whirlwind of fights and drug use from her parents, having to be the adult as a child, having to hide drugs and alcohol and settle disputes between them, and losing herself in the process. And it's that searching for the self that makes this book special. It's a spiritual journey. An honest account of the daughter of a very famous man, Kelly doesn't hide the fact that she had money, was taken care of and often supported as an adult by her dad. And I suspect that aspect of the book is hard to deal with for some people who were raised middle class and with the promise of the American dream, the blaring obviousness that money with all its advantages doesn't buy your way out of problems, and suffering, and sadness, and losing oneself. The most infuriating thing about someone who grew up with wealthy parents is their seeming ignorance of it, which Kelly shows none of. It's part of who she is, and she acknowledges it, along with her own bad choices, mistakes, and flaws. I found this book amazingly ballsy in a lot of ways. Also I like Kelly's husband Bob, who becomes her rock, her guide out of codependency. When they first hook up and spend a weekend together, Bob leaves to meet up with his friends who he had plans with. Kelly asks if she can come to, and he says No, flat out, without meanness. That's the dude I wish I was when I was a lot younger. This is definitely a book for anyone who's had a hard time figuring out their path in life. Definitely a great book for me, since I've been floating around pretty much aimlessly in the past 4 years since I've had a divorce which also ended a business I was in for 7 years. And anyone who has an artistic and creative mind trying to figure out how it functions in a world that casts those types of minds out. I've listened to a lot of Kelly Carlin's interviews and her one-woman show, and I expect great things to come. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.sn/products/18203233-a-carlin-home-companion-growing-up-with-george](https://www.desertcart.sn/products/18203233-a-carlin-home-companion-growing-up-with-george) --- *Product available on Desertcart Senegal* *Store origin: SN* *Last updated: 2026-06-24*