Many thought he was vulgar,many thought he was funny,he was all this and more. Mr. Carlin was DEEP..sometimes too much, BUT he made you THINK! Thanks for all the laughs Mr. Carlin,may you rest in peace...
FILTHY WORDS by GEORGE CARLIN
George Carlin, 71, Irreverent Standup Comedian, Is Dead
By MEL WATKINS
Published: June 24, 2008
George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” died in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He was 71.
Skip to next paragraphEnlarge This Image NBC, via Associated Press
George Carlin served as host of the "Saturday Night Live" debut in 1975.
More Photos »Multimedia
Photographs George Carlin, 1937-2008Related
City Room: Carlin Stayed Loyal to School That Booted Him (June 23, 2008)
TV Decoder: George Carlin’s Televised Stage (June 23, 2008)
Times Topics: George CarlinInterview: Refusing to Coast on 7 Infamous Words (Nov. 4, 2005)
Blogrunner: Reactions From Around the WebEnlarge This Image Vincent Laforet/The New York Times
George Carlin at the Rihga Royal Hotel in Manhattan in 2004.
More Photos > Readers' Comments
"Just seven words: brilliant, funny, witty, clever, sharp, erudite, hilarious. RIP, George, this world will miss you."Richard, Glenmoore, Pennsylvania
Read Full Comment »if (acm.rc) acm.rc.write();
The cause of death was heart failure. Mr. Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, went into the hospital on Sunday afternoon after complaining of heart trouble. The comedian had worked last weekend at The Orleans in Las Vegas.
Recently, Mr. Carlin was named the recipient of the
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was to receive the award at the
Kennedy Center in November. “In his lengthy career as a comedian, writer, and actor, George Carlin has not only made us laugh, but he makes us think,” said
Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Kennedy Center chairman. “His influence on the next generation of comics has been far-reaching.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Jack Burns, who performed with Mr. Carlin in the 1960’s as one half of a comedy duo, said “He was a genius and I will miss him dearly.”
Mr. Carlin began his standup comedy act in the late 1950s and made his first television solo guest appearance on “The
Merv Griffin Show” in 1965. At that time, he was primarily known for his clever wordplay and reminiscences of his Irish working-class upbringing in New York.
But from the outset there were indications of an anti-establishment edge to his comedy. Initially, it surfaced in the witty patter of a host of offbeat characters like the wacky sportscaster Biff Barf and the hippy-dippy weatherman Al Sleet. “The weather was dominated by a large Canadian low, which is not to be confused with a Mexican high. Tonight’s forecast . . . dark, continued mostly dark tonight turning to widely scattered light in the morning.”
Mr. Carlin released his first comedy album, “Take-Offs and Put-Ons,” to rave reviews in 1967. He also dabbled in acting, winning a recurring part as
Marlo Thomas’ theatrical agent in the sitcom “That Girl” (1966-67) and a supporting role in the movie “With Six You Get Egg-Roll,” released in 1968.
By the end of the decade, he was one of America’s best known comedians. He made more than 80 major television appearances during that time, including the
Ed Sullivan Show and
Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show; he was also regularly featured at major nightclubs in New York and Las Vegas.
That early success and celebrity, however, was as dinky and hollow as a gratuitous pratfall to Mr. Carlin. “I was entertaining the fathers and the mothers of the people I sympathized with, and in some cases associated with, and whose point of view I shared,” he recalled later, as quoted in the book “Going Too Far” by
Tony Hendra, which was published in 1987. “I was a traitor, in so many words. I was living a lie.”
In 1970, Mr. Carlin discarded his suit, tie, and clean-cut image as well as the relatively conventional material that had catapulted him to the top. Mr. Carlin reinvented himself, emerging with a beard, long hair, jeans and a routine that, according to one critic, was steeped in “drugs and bawdy language.” There was an immediate backlash. The Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas terminated his three-year contract, and, months later, he was advised to leave town when an angry mob threatened him at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club. Afterward, he temporarily abandoned the nightclub circuit and began appearing at coffee houses, folk clubs and colleges where he found a younger, hipper audience that was more attuned to both his new image and his material.
By 1972, when he released his second album, “FM & AM,” his star was again on the rise. The album, which won a Grammy Award as best comedy recording, combined older material on the “AM” side with bolder, more acerbic routines on the “FM” side. Among the more controversial cuts was a routine euphemistically entitled “Shoot,” in which Mr. Carlin explored the etymology and common usage of the popular idiom for excrement. The bit was part of the comic’s longer routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” which appeared on his third album “Class Clown,” also released in 1972.
“There are some words you can say part of the time. Most of the time ‘ass’ is all right on television,” Mr. Carlin noted in his introduction to the then controversial monologue. “You can say, well, ‘You’ve made a perfect ass of yourself tonight.’ You can use ass in a religious sense, if you happen to be the redeemer riding into town on one — perfectly all right.”
The material seems innocuous by today’s standards, but it caused an uproar when broadcast on the New York radio station WBAI in the early ‘70s. The station was censured and fined by the FCC. And in 1978, their ruling was supported by the
Supreme Court, which Time magazine reported, “upheld an FCC ban on ‘offensive material’ during hours when children are in the audience.” Mr. Carlin refused to drop the bit and was arrested several times after reciting it on stage.
By the mid-’70s, like his comic predecessor
Lenny Bruce and the fast-rising
Richard Pryor, Mr. Carlin had emerged as a cultural renegade. In addition to his irreverent jests about religion and politics, he openly talked about the use of drugs, including acid and peyote, and said that he kicked cocaine not for moral or legal reasons but after he found “far more pain in the deal than pleasure.” But the edgier, more biting comedy he developed during this period, along with his candid admission of drug use, cemented his reputation as the “comic voice of the counterculture.”
(courtesy of wikipedia)
George Denis Patrick Carlin (
May 12,
1937 –
June 22,
2008)
[17][18] was an
American stand-up comedian,
actor and
author who won four
Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.
Carlin was especially noted for his
political and
black humor and his observations on language,
psychology, and
religion along with many
taboo subjects. Carlin and his "
Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978
U.S. Supreme Court case
F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public
airwaves.
In the 2000s, Carlin's stand-up routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often took on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of
American culture.
He placed second on the
Comedy Central cable television network list of the 10 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of
Lenny Bruce and behind
Richard Pryor.
[19] He was a frequent performer and guest host on
The Tonight Show during the three-decade
Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host
Saturday Night Live.
Contents[
hide]
1 Early life and career1.1 1960s1.2 1970s1.3 1980s and 1990s1.4 2000s2 Personal life3 Religion4 Themes5 Death6 Collection of works6.1 Discography6.2 Filmography6.3 HBO specials6.4 Bibliography6.5 Television6.6 AudioBooks7 In popular culture8 See also9 References10 External links
In this moment you can breathe again
Posts
