George Carlin has died.
June 23rd, 2008 | by Dusty |And I am brokenhearted. I saw George through three different decades of my life and up until the end when I saw him in Vegas two years ago, he was on his game, satire at its best and grumpy as hell. From MSNBC:
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.
Sigh…His routine on the seven words you couldn’t say on the air was groundbreaking. From Wiki:
Carlin and his “Seven Dirty Words” comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation. The words are (with examples):
1. Shit - The bird shit on the statue.
2. Piss - I have to piss like a race horse.
3. Fuck - Fuck you.
4. Cunt - She has a nasty cunt.
5. Cocksucker - Go to hell, you cocksucker.
6. Motherfucker - You are a motherfucker.
7. Tits - Hey, nice tits.
He was a friend of Lenny Bruce and he continued the Bruce traditions of being a non-conformist. He is with Lenny now perhaps, one can hope anyway.
He was to be honored Nov 10th with the Mark Twain award for American Humor. It will be posthumously accepted now I presume. The infamous routine is below:
14 Responses to “George Carlin has died.”
By Liberal Jarhead on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
I loved his perspective, the way he could point out things that made him angry and laugh at the same time he raged, and his goofy side “Why is there no blue food?” He’ll be missed, but his material will still be getting played and imitated after we’re all dead too. Not a bad way to be remembered.
By Dusty on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
Ah LJ, he was good and although I didn’t think his last show I saw was all that good, he was the best in his prime, bar none.
By Tom Harper on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
Well this sucks. I didn’t even know he was sick.
His material combined with his deadpan manner were what made him so hilarious. I saw him live a long time ago. In the middle of his monologue, he said “well, it’s time for my break.” And he just sat down in a chair right in the middle of the stage, just sat there staring straight ahead with that deadpan expression. Too funny for words.
RIP.
By Dusty on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
He fought cancer a few years ago I think as well. But he knew his ticker wasn’t up to par the last few years, and he made good use of them.
His expressions were priceless.
By Steve O on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
I’m sad.
This sucks!!!
By Cranky Liberal on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
A Shitty way to wake up.
By Jet Netwal on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
My Dad was a fairly conservative person, but “tater tits” left him in stitches. Everytime we ate them while I was growing up, Dad would pop off with a comment, and laugh and laugh.
Carlin lit up more than people’s senses of humor, he redirected their minds and put the questions luking in the back of them out there for everyone to take a look at. Through his eyes we saw the idiody, banality, redundancy and hypocrisy. We laughed through his lessons, and are poorer today without him.
By Lisa on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
I saw him once and I love this one he said:
He had a little dog and a cat and the dog used to hump the cat so they took a picture of it and usd the picture on their Christmas cards captioned “Piece”
I knew how to say the 7 dirty words when I was a teen courtesy of my brother playing his album “Class Clown’ over and over.
By Mateo Giovanni on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
Sir Carlin was a Freedom fighter. He woke up more through his satire, than most any of us will ever come close to.
Find your journey well Sir Carlin!
By Paul Merda on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
He was by far my favorite comedian of all times. I currently am reading “When Will Jesus Bring the Prok Chops”, so sad I will never get to see him live again…
By steve on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
I just remember watching his performance on HBO a few months back from Santa Rosa, CA. Sucks…but he had a good run. Probably laughing at the Pearly Gates right now.
When I was a young kid, like 6 or 7, my brother used to tape his comedy stuff that was on the radio. He had the 7 Bad Words thing but it was all bleeped out so we used to try and guess the words that were bleeped. Then one day, he bought the real version. I ran out and got like all of my friends when my parents left. We all sat in the garage on our bikes and my brother came out with his Panosonic ghetto blaster and he had just dubbed the thing off of his LP. All 8 of us 6-7 year old kids on our huffys laughing our asses off to the real 7 bad words you can’t say on television. He became my favorite after that.
I really liked A Place for My Stuff… The New Jersey one… The caught every last HBO the last 10 years.
I especially loved his character in Jersey Girl. If you haven’t see this movie, his acting as a grumpy old dad was impeccable. Really set off the movie. I saw a lot of my Dad and I’s relationship in that movie.
George was a good man…
By Liberal Jarhead on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
He was great in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and in Dogma, too.
In one of his routines once he talked about how when he was in parochial school they did an experiment and taught his class to be independent thinkers and questioners, and they all left the church, so the church quit doing that. The way he told it was hilarious.
I’d forgotten “tater tits” - made me laugh just seeing the words!
By Windspike on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
George Carlin was funny because he spoke the truth.
We will all miss that.
RIP George.
By Dusty on Jun 24, 2008 | Reply
Carlin spanned the decades and the political spectrum.
We are worse off for the loss.