Comedy or Philosophy Lecture?

I am a huge fan of George Carlin, and also, maybe unrelated, Socialism. Carlin made a name for himself as an edgy comic who was upset with the way America worked in some areas, and tailored his jokes to point out the flaws in the system, and to "attack the man." However, in the "Fat Americans" section of his HBO special we watched in class, what started out as a comedy act turned into a philosophical lecture right out of the notes of Herbert Marcuse. I have read Marcuse, i love his way of thinking and the arguments he used to reach his philosophical points. He used Aesthetic philosophy to point out the flaws in the American system, much like Carlin. And the two were just about as funny. Granted, Marcuse was known for his one liners against arch-nemesis Ronal Reagan, but he was a philosopher who could be funny. It appeared as though Carlin wanted to be a comedian would could be philosophical, but the effort fell flat on its face, comedy-wise. The tirade may have been 100% correct, and i agreed with much of what he said, but it wasn't comedy. After watching it, another student and i traded words of agreement on the subject as we left class, and judging by the crickets around the room (and even in the theater on the DVD) we were not alone. I can't really think of another comedian who does things like this except for Lewis Black. However, at the core of Black's comedy is that we can laugh about how worked up he gets, and he still throws punch lines in his jokes. Carlin seemed like an experienced person who was genuinely upset, but more along the lines of the uncle who has a few too many at the family Christmas party, not a man who people pay to watch preform comedy. Anyway, those are my two cents, what about you, did you find the piece funny?

Another pun, because i am not feeling very little kid like this week.

Two guys are fumigating a house:
Guy One: "I hate fighting termites"
Guy Two: "Yeah, they are such a bunch of gnaw-it-alls"