Comedic Genius: Marking 10 Years Since The Passing Of George Carlin

Today marks 10 years since comedic icon, George Carlin, passed away at age 71 from heart failure.

Growing up we had an old record player & I loved comedy albums (almost as much as playing Yellow Submarine on repeat for a serious living room dance sesh). Unfortunately, the standup I requested most was of the Bill Cosby variety. ::collar pull:: But even at a young age, and although I only caught the tail end, it was clear Carlin was a brilliant comedic force.

A New Yorker raised in Harlem, he dropped out of high school to join the Air Force. At age 19, while stationed in Shreveport, LA, he began his performance career with a side job as a radio DJ. After his enlistment ended, he took DJ jobs in Boston & Fort Worth, and on his travels, he began teaming up with other comedians & hitting the standup circuit.

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By the ’60s, he was making appearances on ‘The Tonight Show’ & ‘The Merv Griffith Show’. He came up in the era of Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory, Joan Rivers… people with a gift for satire & biting social commentary who pushed the envelope in a rapidly changing country.

To say he was prolific is an understatement. Between 1963 – 2008 he had almost 30 comedy albums, 3 best selling books, various Emmy nominations and countless TV appearances. Not to brag, but I was pretty hip with the times & loved him as Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station & as a narrator for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

In an interview, he said he liked being Mr. Conductor because it was such a huge departure from how people usually saw him, and also, it ‘didn’t shove morals down the kids throats’. I like that the same person who said, “Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy,” also floated some morals gently into my little brain.

In ’91, he told the LA times the three main ingredients to his jokes which “wax & wane in importance”:

1) English language and wordplay
2) Mundane, everyday observational comedy — dogs, cats and all that stuff
3) Sociopolitical attitude comedy

He was brilliant in all. Carlin looked at aspects of American life & called out the parts that confused, twisted and/or concealed depths of real meaning, and he really rustled some nerves along the way.

Carlin was arrested in 1972 in Milwaukee for using indecent language. In a separate case in 1973, a radio listener complained after a station played part of his album. That case went the Supreme Court, which in 1978 ruled in favor of the FCC, saying the radio station could not broadcast those words at times when children could be listening.

A great example is his infamous 7 Dirty Words. It’s Friday, sink down in your cubicle for a few minutes & enjoy.

But first, allow me to say,

::politely clears throat::

SHIT, PISS, FUCK, CUNT, COCKSUCKER, MOTHERFUCKER & TITS!