quote:

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Comedian George Carlin dies at 71

Anti-Establishment icon gained fame with his ‘Filthy Words’ routine

BREAKING NEWS
updated 9 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital Sunday, a spokesman said. He was was 71.

Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PT after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his "Filthy Words" routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Copyright 2008 Reuters.

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He sure gave me lots of laughs over the years starting with his "Hippy Dippy Weather Man" bit. RIP George.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-23-2008, 12:27 AM:
 
Wow. There's a been a lot of "celebrity" deaths lately but this is the only one that made me do a double take.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 06-23-2008, 12:31 AM:
 
"Wonderful WINO"

I remember hearing Carlin's stand up comedy in the nightclubs that he was doing his shows in during the mid 60's and introduced these two famous comedy sketches...on LP's that he had recorded

RIP George, you're still funny.
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 06-23-2008, 12:31 AM:
 


He had a recent act about suicide... he said how every 30 seconds, someone tries to kill themself... and then he looks right at his watch and says" woops, there goes another guy" and has a funny look on his face.... I was almost crying at that point, glad I got to see him several times here in Phoenix.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-23-2008, 12:36 AM:
 
Shit, piss, fuck...
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 06-23-2008, 12:47 AM:
 
So we have Harvey Korman, and now George Carlin... who's next (according to the "rule of three" thing)?
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-23-2008, 03:18 AM:
 
Thanks for all the laughs for many years.

RIP Mr. Carlin

Seven Words
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-23-2008, 01:20 PM:
 
This saddens me very much. Although his last couple of albums have been a little over the top "anger-wise," he had a great way of skewering society with humor that made you stop and think.

"And now they want to ban TOY guns....but they're gonna KEEP THE FUCKIN' REAL ONES!!"

"I'll tell you why we have a 'homeless problem' -- it's because there's no money to be made off of that problem."

"Did you ever notice that you never get laid on Thanksgiving? I think it's because all the coats are on the bed."

"When two countries are at war, what they're really saying is 'My dick is bigger than your dick.' And the bombs, the bullets and the rockets are all shaped like dicks."

"My job, essentially, is thinking up goofy shit. I mean, you don't have time all week."

"I don't understand why prostitution is illegal. Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. Why isn't selling fucking legal?"

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot? And anybody driving faster than you is a MANIAC!"

"A house is just a place to keep your stuff, while you go out and get...more stuff!"

"The planet is fine...the people are fucked. Pack your shit, folks; we're goin' away."

And one classic rant about goofy game-show rules in the early 70s:

"By the time they get to the first question, the first question is, 'Can you come back tomorrow? We're out of time!' You've heard the rules, right? 'Well, you know how we play our game, dontcha? The champion, Mrs. Muckinfuss, will get the first question. If she answers correctly, the challenger, Mrs. Fussmucker, will SPIN the big prize wheel to determine the champion's prize. If the wheel stops on a prize already won by our champion, she can either forfeit the prize or draw a number for a new category. If the wheel stops on a prize NOT yet won by our champion, she'll have a choice, of either accepting the prize, or taking a prize from the challenger's list, in which case the champion forfeits her turn and chooses the challenger's home partner from the revolving drum. We'll call the challenger's home partner and we'll ask her 15 questions. If she answers all of them correctly, she can select a number from one to 900. The champion will then SPIN the big prize wheel to determine the amount of money won by the challenger's home partner. Well, that's what happens if the champion answers correctly. If she answers incorrectly, she has to give us her first-born male child.'"
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-23-2008, 01:39 PM:
 

quote:

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his last couple of albums have been a little over the top "anger-wise,"

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His cable shows, too. I saw one of the HBOs here recently and I wasn't laughing. I seriously thought he'd lost his mind.

Sorry to see him go, regardless. He was a true pioneer. I still have all of his old classic albums.
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 06-23-2008, 03:16 PM:
 
I first heard him in the mid '70s when I was working at the mad girls' school. 'Class Clown' had something of a cult status among the girls there at the time, mainly due to the swear words in the 'Seven words' sketch. Swearing seemed to be very popular at the time, 'Derek & Clive Live' was also very popular at the school, and unlike George Carlin always seemed very un-funny to me. I remember thinking at the time that I'd heard all of he seven words on British televison.

Much of his material was political or religious in nature; I hope that at this distance in time from the events involved the following isn't considered too political to post here:

Muhammad Ali - he had an unusual job, beating people up, but it's one you're entitled to. Government didn't see it that way, government wanted him to change jobs, government wanted him to kill people. He said ¨No, I'll beat 'em up, but I don't want to kill 'em¨ Government said ¨No, you don't kill 'em, we won't let you beat 'em up¨

Weird way of looking at things. Goodbye George.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-23-2008, 04:12 PM:
 

quote: Stephen Furley

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I first heard him in the mid '70s when I was working at the mad girls' school.

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quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

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Ha? Mad Girls School????

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quote: Charles Greenlee

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We know the words you can't say on TV. So what are the words you can't say on film-tech? I guess we'll never know now.

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I know those words, they are "
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 06-23-2008, 07:12 PM:
 
I'm glad someone caught it.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 06-23-2008, 09:20 PM:
 
I wonder if he heard a two minute warning?


 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-23-2008, 10:15 PM:
 
...and I won't have to die...I'll "pass away!"
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 06-23-2008, 11:40 PM:
 
"I dread the deaths of certain super-celebrities. Not because I care about them, but because of all the shit I have to endure on television when one of them dies. All those tributes and retrospectives. And the bigger the personality, the worse it is.

For instance, imagine the crap we'll have to endure on TV when Bob Hope dies. First of all, they'll show clips from all of his old road movies with Bing Crosby, and you can bet that some news anchor asshole will turn to the pile of clothing next to him and say, "Well, Tami, I imagine Bob's on the Road to Heaven now."

Then there'll be clips of all those funny costumes he wore on his TV specials, including the hippie sketch, where they'll show him saying "Far out, man, far out!" They'll show him golfing with dead presidents, kissing blonde bombshells, and entertaining troops in every war since we beat the shit out of the Peloponnesians. And at some point, a seventy-year-old veteran will choke up, and say, "I just missed seein' him at two, 'cause I got my legs blowed off. He's quite a guy."

Ex-presidents (including the dead ones) will line up four abreast to tell us what a great American he was; show-business perenials will desert golf courses from Palm Springs to O.J.'s lawn to lament sadly as how this time, "Bob hooked one into the woods"; and, regarding his talent, a short comedian in a check-ered hat will speak reverently about "Hope's incredible timing."

And this stuff will be on every single newscast day and night for a week. There'll be special one-hour salutes on "Good Morning America," the "Today" show, and "CBS This Morning." Ted Koppel will ask Henry Kissinger if it's true Bob Hope actually shortened some of our wars by telling jokes close to the frontlines. CNN will do a series of expanded "Show Biz Todays." One of the cable channels will do a one-week marathon of his movies. And it goes without saying that NBC will put together a three-hour, prime-time special called "Thanks for the Memories," but at the last minute they'll realize Bob Hope's audience skews older, and sell it to CBS.

Then there'll be the funeral, carried live on the Dead Celebrity Channel, with thousands of grotesque acne-ridden fans seeking autographs from all the show-business clowns who dug out their best black golfing outfits to attend "one of the hottest burials to hit this town in decades" -- Variety. And all this shit will go on for weeks and weeks and weeks. Until Milton Berle dies. And then it will start all over again. I dare not even contemplate Frank Sinatra and Ronald Reagan."


 

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Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 06-24-2008, 12:08 AM:
 
Damn, a funny comedian is gone. This guy was so funny. RIP George Carlin.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-24-2008, 12:40 PM:
 
George Carlin's death is sad and somewhat surprising news. Lots of people live well past their 70s now. I didn't know he had a history of heart trouble.

I think the news media went a bit overboard with all the coverage for Tim Russert. Carlin is certainly worth all the tributes he receives. He's one of the greatest comedians of all time and would deserve to be ranked high in a top ten list if one were to put together such a list of greatest comedians. Jerry Seinfeld had a lot of great things to say about George Carlin on The Larry King Show last night.

Some comedians will sometimes throw out the term "fearless" when complimenting a fellow comedian who has daring material. George Carlin was the epitome of the fearless comedian. He didn't worry about pissing off anyone while knocking many out of their comfort zones to be challenged by what he said.

Back in the mid 1970s when my brother and I were just elementary school age kids, we sneaked downstairs in the middle of the night to watch a repeat of Carlin's first special on HBO. Our parents rushed us out of the living room when it came on during normal hours. George Carlin wasn't above telling a good fart joke or making other scatological remarks. My Uncle Wesley had a lot of comedy vinyl LPs and the cover of Carlin's Class Clown stood out. We had to listen to that, but do so without any grown-ups finding out about it.

It was pretty impressive how much touring George Carlin would do. He even did a show here in Lawton years ago at McMahon Memorial Auditorium. He had to cancel a return engagement when his first wife died.

Carlin's last couple or so HBO specials weren't quite so great. He still was a master of vocabulary and delivery. But the tone was more angry than funny. Aside from that, his collection of work is pretty incredible.

HBO2 will be showing 11 of George Carlin's HBO specials over 2 nights during this week.

Wednesday, June 25
8pm - George Carlin at USC (1977)
9pm - George Carlin Again! (1978)
11pm - Carlin at Carnegie (1983)
12am - Carlin on Campus (1984)
1am - Playin' with Your Head (1986)

Thursday, June 26
8pm - What Am I Doing in New Jersey? (1988)
9pm - Doin' It Again (1990)
10pm - Jammin' in New York (1992)
11pm - Back in Town (1996)
12:05am - You Are All Diseased (1999)
1:00am - It's Bad For Ya (2008)

quote: Mike Heenan

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For instance, imagine the crap we'll have to endure on TV when Bob Hope dies.

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quote: Mike Heenan

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And all this shit will go on for weeks and weeks and weeks. Until Milton Berle dies. And then it will start all over again.

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Milton Berle died a year before Bob Hope.
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-24-2008, 12:53 PM:
 
Mike Heenan was quoting from George Carlin.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 06-24-2008, 12:55 PM:
 
Ah the dangers of embedded quotes - Mike was reciting an old (and prescient) Carlin routine...

[Edit: - Doubled with David. What he said.]
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-24-2008, 01:09 PM:
 
I see. Serves me right for not looking at Mike's post closer. Guess I'm just used to quotes looking like this:

quote: What Someone Once Said

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The Cock crowed three times! Hey! It's in the Bible!

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quote: George Carlin

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July 21, 1972 - Arrested at Summerfest in Milwaukee for using indecent language in front of wheelchair-bound children. Narrowly escape big cocaine bust by giving shit to the Siegal-Schwall Band while exiting stage. Band thrilled.

1982 - Second heart attack (Dodger Stadium during Mets game). This time God doesn't fuck around.

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quote: Steve Guttag

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I could listen to "200 mph" or "Wonderfulness" every day and not get bored with them.

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Those two records probably have the best of the Bill Cosby "sound effects." Two mega-classics! They'd be in my top ten comedy albums along with a couple or three of Carlin's.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 06-24-2008, 09:51 PM:
 
For me, Cosby's Revenge and Carlin's Occupation: Foole were the ones that got their grooves worn down to lead-in flatness from endless listening.

This blog entry was posted today at Las Vegas CityLife and I'd like to share:

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My One Big Moment with George Carlin
posted by Andrew Kiraly
Tuesday, Jun. 24, 2008 at 12:10 PM



Reader Gabriel Gentile writes:

On June 14, I went to see George Carlin give a live performance at the Orleans hotel/casino. I had seen him live several times before, but this time was going to be special because, for the first time, I was going to go backstage to meet him.

I think the first time I ever saw George Carlin in any medium was when I was 10 years old. I saw him performing on television and thought, “Why are all these people laughing? He’s not telling any jokes - he’s just yelling and cursing.” With that, I changed the channel back to someone I considered much funnier at the time, Fat Albert.

Years went by and my naiveté shriveled as my vocabulary grew, particularly when it came to epithets. It didn’t take me long to discover that the ideas espoused by Fat Albert (good will always triumph over evil, drugs are BAD, the police are your friends, etc.) were as flat and flimsy as he was. I was without someone who could both serve as a personal role model and make me laugh at the same time.

When all the sudden, here was this guy who was older than my father, yet somehow younger than me. This chronological freak would go on to be my favorite fool, a source of new ideas (question everything, don’t be afraid to speak your mind, 9 times out of 10 the majority is wrong) and a voice I would always keep handy when I needed some comfort in a world seemingly gone mad from the fumes of its own bullshit.

Anyway, back to the show… George came out and knocked it right out of the park. I couldn’t stop laughing, even at the stuff I had heard from him before. There was just something about seeing him live that made it all seem fresh and new. He even did a new routine about music that he was working on for his next HBO special.

Soon enough the show was over and me, my friend Greg and Dan, the fellow who set the whole thing up, get up from our seats and head backstage. A moment later, George comes out wearing a baseball cap and eyeglasses. He says hello to Dan first, shaking his hand and chatting for a bit. Then he turns to look at me, standing there in my jeans and Superman T-shirt and asks, “Is this the comic”? He walks over to me and says, “Hey, what’s your name?” I say, “My name is Gabriel, sir.” He says “Gabe! It’s great to meet you,” and starts shaking my hand.

I had given a lot of thought to just what exactly I was going to say to this man who had provided so much more than laughter to my life, and I figured it was now or never. “Mr. Carlin,” I said, “I know you probably want to get the hell out of here, so I just wanted to say, thank you for teaching a kid who had to grow up in a place like Las Vegas that it was okay to be something other than a soulless shithead with a lot of money.”

George laughed for a moment, and then, right then and there, George Carlin gave me some advice that, unlike that which he had given me through his work, was mine and mine alone.

“Well, you just keep being yourself and have fun with it. If you like what you’re doing, they’ll come… Trust me.”

A photograph and an autograph later, and that was that. Eight days later, I receive a text-message on my phone from my friend, Gilbert. It contained only three words.

“George Carlin died.”

I looked at the message for a long while, rubbing my chin and thinking, especially about what George said to me the one and only time I got to meet him.

Finally, after much thought, I texted Gilbert back:

“Well what did you expect him to do, fart nickels?”

So long, George … and thanks for the advice.

_____

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 12:10 pm and is filed under CityBlog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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quote:

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Cosby's Revenge and Carlin's Occupation: Foole

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Cosby:
...somebody hit me in the face...with a slushball! And I looked around with one eye, and there's ol' Junior Barnes just a-laughin.' 'Cosby, I got ya real good, I hit ya real good didn't I?' And I cursed at him, I was so mad: YOU GUNKIE!!

Carlin:
And then one day, grass SWEPT the neighborhood...and gang-fighting WENT AWAY!



I need to play these again...haven't heard them in a while.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-24-2008, 10:45 PM:
 
George Carlin had a spectacular sitcom on Fox I think. He would talk to his dog and nobody would laugh. Then he'd go down to the bar where all of the characters hung out and nobody would laugh. What a great show that was. I think it was even called "The George Carlin Show". Am I the only one who remembers it? I think I even have a part of an episode on tape still... not because I liked or even watched the show, but because when I programmed my VCR back in the day I'd always give it a lot of headroom on the time just in case.
 

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 06-24-2008, 10:50 PM:
 
It doesn't seem like he was 71. Maybe it's because most 71 year olds I know aren't as feisty as he was
 

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Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 06-24-2008, 11:22 PM:
 
Puddin' pops!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-24-2008, 11:34 PM:
 
Joe - I remember that George Carlin Show. It had its moments, but a classic it wasn't.

On the website, he says he loved the cast and the crew, but he "couldn't wait to get the fuck out of there."
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 06-25-2008, 12:58 AM:
 
I remember that show! I remember one of the shows that was pretty "controversial" (judging by the coverage on ET), in that they actually used swear words that were bleeped out... I guess at the time that was pretty edgy. Sadly don't remember much else about it.
 

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Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 06-26-2008, 11:47 AM:
 
Here's a piece that Kevin Smith wrote for Newsweek :

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‘A God Who Cussed’

Director Kevin Smith remembers George Carlin

They say you should never meet your heroes. I’ve found this a good rule to live by, but as with any rule, there’s always an exception.

My first exposure to George Carlin was in 1982, when HBO aired his “Carlin at Carnegie” stand-up special. When I saw the advert—featuring a clip of Carlin talking about the clichéd criminal warning of “Don’t try anything funny,” and then adding, “When they’re not looking, I like to go …,” followed by a brief explosion of goofy expressions and pantomime—I immediately asked my parents if I could tape it on our new BetaMax video recorder.

That was a hilarious bit. But when I finally watched the special, Carlin blew my doors off. Whether he was spinning a yarn about Tippy, his farting dog, or analyzing the contents of his fridge, Carlin expressed himself not only humorously, but amazingly eloquently as well. I was, as they say, in stitches.

And that was before he got to the Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television.

I was 12 years old, watching a man many years my senior curse a blue streak while exposing the hypocrisy of a medium (and a society) that couldn’t deal with the public usage of terms they probably employed regularly in their private lives. And while he seemed to revel in being a rebel, here was a man who also clearly loved the English language, warts and all—even the so-called “bad words” (although, as George would say, there are no such things as “bad words”). I wouldn’t say George Carlin taught me obscenities, but I would definitely say he taught me that the casual use of obscenities wasn’t reserved just for drunken sailors, as the old chestnut goes; even intelligent people were allowed to incorporate them into their everyday conversations (because George was nothing if not intelligent).

From that moment forward, I was an instant Carlin disciple. I bought every album, watched every HBO special, and even sat through “The Prince of Tides” just because he played a small role in the film. I spent years turning friends on to the Cult of Carlin, the World According to George, and even made pilgrimages to see him perform live (the first occasion being a gig at Farleigh Dickinson University in 1988). Carlin influenced my speech and my writing. Carlin replaced Catholicism as my religion.

Sixteen years later, I sat across from the star of “Carlin at Carnegie” in the dining room of the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. It was a meeting I’d dreamed of and dreaded simultaneously. George Carlin was the type of social observer/critic I most wanted to emulate … but he was a celebrity, too. What if he turned out to be a true prick?

What I quickly discovered was that, in real life, George was, well, George. Far from a self-obsessed jerk, he was mild-mannered enough to be my Dad. He was as interested as he was interesting, well-read and polite to a fault—all while casually dropping F-bombs. But most impressive, he didn’t treat me like an audience member, eschewing actual conversation, electing instead to simply perform the whole meeting, more “on” than real. He talked to me like one of my friends would talk to me: familiar, unguarded, authentic.

I made three films with George over the course of the next six years, starting with “Dogma” and his portrayal of Cardinal Glick, the pontiff-publicist responsible for the Catholic Church’s recall of the standard crucifix in favor of the more congenial, bubbly “Buddy Christ.” A few years later, I wrote him a lead role in “Jersey Girl”—as Bart Trinke (or “Pop”), the father of Ben Affleck’s character. It called for a more dramatic performance than George was used to giving, but the man pulled it off happily and beautifully. (Something most folks probably don’t know about George: He took acting very seriously. The man was almost a Method actor.) Sadly, I consider that “Jersey Girl” part my one failing on George’s behalf, and not for the reasons most would assume (the movie was not reviewed kindly, to say the least). No, I failed because George had asked me to write a different role for him.

In 2001, George did me a solid when he accepted the part of the orally fixated hitchhiker who knew exactly how to get a ride in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” When he wrapped his scene in that flick, I thanked him for making the time, and he said, “Just do me a favor: Write me my dream role one day.” When I inquired what that’d be, he offered, “I wanna play a priest who strangles children.”

It was a classic Carlin thing to say: a little naughty and a lot honest. I always figured there’d be time to give George what he asked for. Unfortunately, he left too soon.

He was, and will likely remain, the smartest person I’ve ever met. But really, he was much more than just a person. Without a hint of hyperbole, I can say he was a god, a god who cussed.

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