Patrick Carlin On His Brother's Book "Last Words," Man

Patrick Carlin, older brother of the legendary, late comedian George Carlin, told Imus George is always with him.

"It's the strangest thing," said Patrick, here to promote his brother's book Last Words, which George co-write with Tony Hendra. "You don't know it until someone's gone, when they're really, really close to you. He's, like, still here."

A resident of Woodstock, New York, Patrick pretty much defines the term "aging hippie," adding the words "man," "bro," and "dude" to the end of every sentence. He is incredibly charming, with a voice strikingly similar to that of his brother, thereby making him a perfect fit to read the audio version of Last Words.

None of the revelations in his brother's book were surprising to Patrick, who said he knew George's soul "from when he was tiny little dude, man." He added, "He was always looking for the easy way, and the easy way is the best way."

Not long before he passed, George had entered rehab for addiction to Vicodin and red wine. Patrick believes admitting to the problem was the hardest part.

"Before he went I said, 'You're already cured, dude,'" Patrick recalled, proud that his brother was able to kick those two bad habits, even though he continued another. "He was using reefer sparingly — only for editing purposes!"

Was George a genius? Patrick thinks so. "I don't think he thought so," he said of his brother. "He had a genius way of putting things together. It was natural. It was just like having blue eyes, man."

Before he died, Patrick told his brother something impossibly true: "Before he went on his 'big trip,' I said, 'You really chiseled your name into the granite of the lifetime billboard thing, man.'"

Having sat next to the Imus family at one of Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles last year, Patrick was inclined to share with Imus favorite song from Levon's latest album.

"The most neglected song on Electric Dirt is Growing Trade," said Patrick, insisting it was about so much more than "dope," as Imus put it. It's about "real American people," the kind Patrick met in the service when he was "keeping the country safe from the commies."

While he had Imus's attention, he added that he also likes the song Sam Stone, by John Prine, and Moody's Mood for Love, by King Pleasure.

Which led Imus to observe, "You've got a lot of time on your hands up in Woodstock, don't you?"

-Julie Kanfer