George Carlin passed away Sunday afternoon at 5:55 pm, in a Santa Monica hospital of heart failure at the age of 71. He had multiple heart issues over the last few years and went into the hospital complaining of heart issues. This last terrible curtain call comes as no real surprise, though it still runs you over like a silent bulldozer.
As his website says, he was born May 12th, 1937, “and God Winces“.
In his early years he partnered with Jack Burns (1959) and they did radio programs, a few TV shows, Coffee houses. The usual fare for a comedian. In 1962 they parted ways to pursue independent careers. In 1970 he decided to quit running around in the standard shirt and tie ensemble, grew his beard, pulled on some tattered jeans and went liberal, speaking his mind. It took a while to catch on, but boy did it.
In January of 1972, his album FM & AM hit the public. It included some of his more famous routines like The Hair Poem, Divorce Game, the ever popular Shoot (Sh** with two O’s), and Let’s Make A Deal. The album went gold, and earned the rebel comedian a Grammy award. That must have ticked off the other straight shooters in the industry!
On May 27, 1972 he recorded the infamous Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV skit for the album Class Clown and we all know how well that went.
Carlin got himself arrested for violating obscenity laws on July 21, 1972 for performing his “seven words” skit at the Summerfest in Milwaukee.
Afterwards, his then-controversial Seven Dirty Words skit was the focus of a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case that granted the government the right to regulate Carlin’s act on public airwaves. There’s nothing better than a lawsuit to bring you some press and give you new material, once you survive the lawsuit.
In 2001, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Annual American Comedy Awards for all his hard work at tearing down the outlines of civility and starting “stuff” with the feds.
Though George Lopez was the one who motivated me to start up in Stand Up, (I did SU for a few years), George Carlin was the inspiration to the sarcastic edge in my humor through all of my youthful years, followed up in a close second by Robin Williams and Tom Servo.
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The man definitely spoke his mind and called it like he saw it.
Vic
R.I.P., George.
What made him so hilarious was the fact that he was so accurate. His comedy helped me see the truth about a lot of things, and helped shape my world view.
He’ll definitely be sorely missed.
Another Ledgend has fallen.
George was prob the best standup comic I’ve ever seen.
He talked about real life in a smart funny way that made you relate because you had done that or felt that same way.
Sure gonna miss him. ;-(
Thanks for all the laughs , George.
You’re a genius and you will be missed.
Rest easy , Dude .
Thanks to Hunter Stephenson, /Film for this amazing quote from George Carlin…..
” Here’s a mega George Carlin quote from two years ago…try to think of who today has the balls/platform to say this to millions of people.
“There’s a reason why education sucks and it’s the same reason why it will never, ever, ever, ever be fixed. It’s never gonna get any better – don’t look for it – be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don’t want that – I’m talking about the real owners now – the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians.
“Politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice… YOU DON’T. You have no choice. You have owners. THEY OWN YOU… THEY OWN EVERYTHING. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, they’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets, and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear. THEY GOT YOU BY THE BALLS.
“They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves, and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting ****ed by a system that threw them overboard thirty ****in’ years ago. They don’t want that.
“You know what they want? They want obedient workers. OBEDIENT WORKERS. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly ****ier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it.
“And now they’re coming for your social security money. They want your ****in’ retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They’ll get it. They’ll get it ALL from you – sooner or later – cuz they own this ****in place. It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long, beating you over the head with their media, telling you what to believe, what to think, and what to buy…
“The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care… Good, honest, hard-working people – white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on – Good, honest, hard-working people continue – and these are people of modest means – continue to elect these rich ****-suckers who don’t give a **** about them. They don’t give a **** about you. They don’t give a **** about you. They don’t CARE about you – AT ALL! AT ALL! AT ALL!
“And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on. The fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big Red, White and Blue **** thats being jammed up their ass**** every day. Because the owners of this country know the truth. It’s called the American Dream – because you have to be asleep to believe it… ”
Comedy or Truth?
Thanks George !!
He will be missed for sure.
Rest in Peace George; You were One of a Kind and will always be remembered!
Thanks for the laughs!
“Seven Dirty Words” by Mr. Carlin was perhaps the funniest thing I had ever heard in the late seventies when I first heard it…I couldn’t beleive a guy on a record (yes record) had recorded that and the way he used to say it really fast. I laughed so hard that tears rolled down my face everytime I listened to it…
SPFCCMT…you are the funniest George..I’ll put on one of your cd’s tonight and then reread “When will Jesus Bring the Porkchops”
I wish you and your family Peace and Contentment…
R.I.P. George. You were one of the funniest, and most honest, people to ever walk the planet. You are going to be missed.
(Actual headline)
The Four Words You Don’t Want to Hear on Television: George Carlin is Dead.
Looks like no one remembers that George played Rufus on Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.
He could pirouette with words better than anyone I’ve heard. He may be the originator of the head scratcher phrases (jumbo shrimp) and paradoxes (you can park on a driveway but you can’t drive on a parkway).
My favorite piece by him was about the junk drawer. I can’t remember a word of it except it seemed like he’d sneaked into my kitchen and peeked into that receptacle of miscellaneoty.
Yeah JC in Chicago, junk Drawer was halarious.
I was lucky enough to see George live back in the 90′s.
I loved the routine on the refrigerator.
“Not enough to drink, better put that back”.
A Tidbit:
The very first Saturday Night Live episode, the one that George Carlin hosted, will be aired this Saturday, in tribute to George.
I’m betting TiVo’s and DVR’s everywhere will be lighting up!
Saturday Night Live
S 1, Ep 1; Airdate: 10/11/1975
Host: George Carlin
Musicians: Janis Ian
(“Seventeen” and “In the Winter)
& Billy Preston
(“Nothin from Nothin” and “Fancy Lady”)
Sketches-
Four stand-up routines by George Carlin!
“Wolverines”
“New Dad Insurance,”
“The Courtroom,”
a performance by Andy Kaufman,”
“Victims Of Shark Bite,”
“Jamitol,”
“Triopenin,”
“Triple-Trac,”
“The Impossible Truth” (film), a performance by Valri Bromfield
“Bee Hospital,”
“Academy of Better Careers,”
“Show Us Your Guns,”
and “Trojan Horse Home Security.”