There were few better nose-thumbers in American culture than comedian George Carlin. So it would stand that Carlin's posthumous final record, 2008's IT'S BAD FOR YA, would find the uncompromising comedian in full Mark Twain-bemused mode, ranting about the absurdity of our relationship to death's final knell, and chortling at the illogical notion of a great beyond. But as with any Carlin record, the topic quickly changes to other things that grind his gears: overbearing and over-proud parents, the self-esteem movement, blind acceptance, Barbara Bush, liars, hypocrites, and, of course, language. On IT'S BAD FOR YA, Carlin takes his last licks, going out the way he came in. While it can be overwhelming at times, as always, his scattershot vitriol is breathtakingly shattering and brutally funny.