SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 23, 2008
Comedy Icon George Carlin Dies At 71
Long-Time Counterculture Funnyman Succumbs To Heart Failure In California
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George Carlin, 1937-2008
Irreverent and provocative comedian George Carlin has died of heart failure at age 71. His staunch defense of free speech led to a key Supreme Court ruling on obscenity. Bill Whitaker reports.
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George Carlin in a promotional photo for his HBO special, "It's Bad For Ya". (AP Photo/HBO, Robert Sebree)
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Photo Essay
George Carlin
Frenzied comedian's "Seven Words" routine led to key Supreme Court ruling on obscenity.
Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas. He was 71.
"He was a genius and I will miss him dearly," Jack Burns, who was the other half of a comedy duo with Carlin in the early 1960s, told The Associated Press.
He was a comic's comic, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker, influencing performers from Richard Pryor to Andrew Dice Clay.
"Carlin is one of the great comics of all time," Clay told CBS News Sunday night in Los Angeles. "I mean every bit he ever did was, like, thought out. He was like a teacher for other comics."
Carlin's jokes constantly breached the accepted boundaries of comedy and language, particularly with his routine on the "Seven Words" - all of which are taboo on broadcast TV and radio to this day.
When he uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, freed on $150 bail and exonerated when a Wisconsin judge dismissed the case, saying it was indecent but citing free speech and the lack of any disturbance.
When the words were later played on a New York radio station, they resulted in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the government's authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language during hours when children might be listening.
"So my name is a footnote in American legal history, which I'm perversely kind of proud of," he told The Associated Press earlier this year.
He wasn't subtle. A 9th-grade dropout fascinated by language, he was a master provocateur, testing where the lines are - by crossing them, CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports.
Despite his reputation as unapologetically irreverent, Carlin was a television staple through the decades, serving as host of the "Saturday Night Live" debut in 1975 - noting on his Web site that he was "loaded on cocaine all week long" - and appearing some 130 times on "The Tonight Show."Visit George Carlin's Web site.
Watch George Carlin's "Seven Words" at YouTube (1979 performance).
He produced 23 comedy albums, 14 HBO specials, three books, a couple of TV shows and appeared in several movies, from his own comedy specials to "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" in 1989 - a testament to his range from cerebral satire and cultural commentary to downright silliness (and sometimes hitting all points in one stroke).
"Why do they lock gas station bathrooms?" he once mused. "Are they afraid someone will clean them?"
Carlin's talent wasn't limited to observational comedy. He also invented beloved characters like Al Sleet, the "hippy dippy" weatherman.
"Hey baby, what's happenin'? Que pasa? Que what you call your pasa? Here's your hippy dippy weatherman with all your hippy dippy weather, man," he'd say, before beginning a spaced out forecast. "Tonight's low 35, tomorrow's high: whenever I get up."
He won four Grammy Awards, each for best spoken comedy album, and was nominated for five Emmy awards. On Tuesday, it was announced that Carlin was being awarded the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, which will be presented Nov. 10 in Washington and broadcast on PBS.
Carlin started his career on the traditional nightclub circuit in a coat and tie, pairing with Burns to spoof TV game shows, news and movies. Perhaps in spite of the outlaw soul, "George was fairly conservative when I met him," said Burns, describing himself as the more left-leaning of the two. It was a degree of separation that would reverse when they came upon Lenny Bruce, the original shock comic, in the early '60s.
"We were working in Chicago, and we went to see Lenny, and we were both blown away," Burns said, recalling the moment as the beginning of the end for their collaboration if not their close friendship. "It was an epiphany for George. The comedy we were doing at the time wasn't exactly groundbreaking, and George knew then that he wanted to go in a different direction."
That direction would make Carlin as much a social commentator and philosopher as comedian, a position he would relish through the years.
"The whole problem with this idea of obscenity and indecency, and all of these things - bad language and whatever - it's all caused by one basic thing, and that is: religious superstition," Carlin told the AP in a 2004 interview. "There's an idea that the human body is somehow evil and bad and there are parts of it that are especially evil and bad, and we should be ashamed. Fear, guilt and shame are built into the attitude toward sex and the body. ... It's reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have."
Carlin was born on May 12, 1937, and grew up in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan, raised by a single mother. After dropping out of high school in the ninth grade, he joined the Air Force in 1954. He received three court-martials and numerous disciplinary punishments, according to his official Web site.
While in the Air Force he started working as an off-base disc jockey at a radio station in Shreveport, La., and after receiving a general discharge in 1957, took an announcing job at WEZE in Boston.
"Fired after three months for driving a mobile news van to New York to buy pot," his Web site says.
From there he went on to a job on the night shift as a deejay at a radio station in Fort Worth, Texas. Carlin also worked variety of temporary jobs including a carnival organist and a marketing director for a peanut brittle company.
In 1960, he left with Burns, a Texas radio buddy, for Hollywood to pursue a nightclub career as comedy team Burns & Carlin. He left with $300, but his first break came just months later when the duo appeared on Jack Paar's "Tonight Show."
Carlin said he hoped to emulate his childhood hero, Danny Kaye, the kindly, rubber-faced comedian who ruled over the decade Carlin grew up in - the 1950s - with a clever but gentle humor reflective of the times.
It didn't work for him, and the pair broke up by 1962.
"I was doing superficial comedy entertaining people who didn't really care: Businessmen, people in nightclubs, conservative people. And I had been doing that for the better part of 10 years when it finally dawned on me that I was in the wrong place doing the wrong things for the wrong people," Carlin reflected recently as he prepared for his 14th HBO special, "It's Bad For Ya."
Eventually Carlin lost the buttoned-up look, favoring the beard, ponytail and all-black attire for which he came to be known.
But even with his decidedly adult-comedy bent, Carlin never lost his childlike sense of mischief, even voicing kid-friendly projects like episodes of the TV show "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" and the spacey Volkswagen bus Fillmore in the 2006 Pixar hit "Cars."
Carlin's first wife, Brenda, died in 1997. He is survived by wife Sally Wade; daughter Kelly Carlin McCall; son-in-law Bob McCall; brother Patrick Carlin; and sister-in-law Marlene Carlin.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 264 CommentsI thought we had the technology needed to make a heart go long enough for repair or replacement, but apparently is not all there yet.
What a freaking shame.
Bye, Carlin. It''s been nice knowing you, man.
Posted by jackie0428 at 02:13 AM : Jun 23, 2008
Oh, shut up.
George was one-of-a-kind. That''s too bad, because we could use many more people like him. I''ll miss you greatly, George.
What a riot!
Posted by DADREES at 02:11 AM : Jun 23, 2008
...........
Perhaps jackie will! LOL!!!
(just kidding)
But seriously, my favorite line from Carlin, and I use it in reference often... as it is just as relevant today as it was back in 1991 when he first said it...
"...we [the U.S.] can''t make a TV or VCR worth a *****, but we can sure bomb the hell out of a country. Especially if that country is full of brown people."
I will miss his wisdom.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.
It is a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember: spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn''t cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it.
A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
Re: "Comedy Icon George Carlin Dies At 71"
R.I.P. George.
This was a very funny man.
Some of his masterful insight and humor regarding god and religion are in the first section of this very interesting film.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com
Thanks for the laughs, George!
www.zeitgeistmovie.com
Posted by FeelFree4U at 03:05 AM : Jun 23, 2008
............
Yes!
I remember hearing his words. Very appropriate for that movie!
...have the homeless all build housing on the vast amount of manicured land called GOLF COURSES!
LOL!
(from his 1991 HBO special)
One Cool Dude!!!
Funny but sad, only a true genius, full of love for the human species can construct sentences in this fashion.
I had the pleasure of playing in a house band during several if Mr. Carlin''s shows, and backstage was even funnier than when he went on, several occasions were spent in uproarious laughter as Canter''s deli in West LA, and once he even rode with us to Roscoe''s house of Chicken and Waffles, totally unafraid to go to our neighborhood, where he was welcomed with affection by the other patrons, although he wasn''t hungry, and just sat with us nursing an iced tea as we all ate.
You are already sorely missed, your words are on record forever, but we will miss new insights. I am honored and blessed to have called you friend, as you have done to me. RIP.
He was funnier if you were stoned. Quit smoking crack and switch to weed. Then watch some old Carlin tapes.
No words come to mind.
Strangely, his death seems as challenging as his humor.
For you, among all people, to call anyone a misanthrope is indeed the pot calling the kettle black. I encourage all posters to read his hate-filled drivel on various and sundry topics. He is a petty, misinformed, worthless shred of human debris who spews out nothing but bile on almost every topic. That he''s chosen one subject, the death of George Carlin, to show some semblance of humanity, I find amusing.
I do not honor you, I spit in your face.
Truely, and puerly vintage Carlin. What a hoot, that''ll be the last time that you will make me laugh, and that is truly sad. Bye Bye George!
I loved your tribute to George,,,,he would have loved it. Some posters on here clearly did not read it.
Tsk,,,Tsk,,,Tsk
The fact that such a misanthrope as you hates me is for me a source of pride, in the spirit of the great man, Mr. Carlin, whose logic and humor pointed out people like yourself, and held them up to the light for deserved ridicule.
Posted by brianbwb at 05:09 AM : Jun 23, 2008
You are so right!
For you, among all people, to call anyone a misanthrope is indeed the pot calling the kettle black. I encourage all posters to read his hate-filled drivel on various and sundry topics. He is a petty, misinformed, worthless shred of human debris who spews out nothing but bile on almost every topic. That he''''s chosen one subject, the death of George Carlin, to show some semblance of humanity, I find amusing.
I do not honor you, I spit in your face.
Posted by tasmhs at 06:40 AM : Jun 23, 2008
Now I''ve been on these boards for sometime and do not remember this citizens doing anything like what you accuse them of doing. Maybe you should take off the Swastika and look at the world through REALISTIC Eyes?? Sieg Heil and Amen
Your spit is a badge of honor, knowing that I ticked off the misanthropes (one of whom had to go look it up to reply) enough for one to do so.
Again, I thank you, and I am honored.
George, if you somehow can read this, you were right, as usual, hammer the effers, so when they say effed-up things about you, you know you have hit them where they feel it.
It does feel good.
His seven words you can never say on TV (or this blog, apparently) caused the Supreme Court to define what is permissible and what is not in the mass media.
He was also an ardent Atheist, not sure why that is taboo to mention in the article.
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Posted by dragonwagon5 at 06:10 AM : Jun 23, 2008
Carlin is younger than McCain and has 1000% more wit too. RIP George.
I had just decided to make a real effort to see him live before he quit performing. The man was a genius with insight and he offered an important message, even though it was often rough around the edges.
The US has come a long way since Carlin was censored.
According to CBS censors, those seven words are:
***, ***, ***, ***, ***, ***, and ***.
When he was, as you say being "rough around the edges", it was purely intentional. Mr. Carlin was extraordinarily fluent in the use of the English language, most of his humor was intended to make us think about how we communicate, and it takes a detailed study and mastery of context to be able to do that.
Of course he knew instinctively, within seconds of starting his monologue, when such an intellectual approach was lost on most of his audience, so he would seamlessly switch gears. Of course TV wanted the "rough stuff", so that is mostly what they showed on TV.
I think Carlin would like it. And excuse me for being political. He would have liked that too,,I bet.
I second that. "The George Carlin Monument", sounds good to me...
Priceless, only he could have pulled that one off.
Thought you might like that. Good for a laugh anyways.
And I think it would fall right in line with Carlins humor.
I was in High School in NY state the 70s, and it was decided to try and get a comedian for our prom. The prom committee wrote to dozens of comedians, only 2 answered, Don Rickles, who said he was already booked that night, and George Carlin, who said he''d do it for the airfare and hotel expenses! (this was when he was still doing his Hippy-Dippy weatherman routine)
Carlin Spoke about our Political an Social Ills, Carlinn was The Coolest, Hippest, Hippy that Ever Lived, whose Voice, Message & Content Never Changed.
He was in Your Face, Honest & Open, the Man`s Insight, Mixed with that George Carlin Wit, was never Limited, Carlin had a Full Spectrum, Full Circled Prospective on a Variety of Topics and thats whay You Appreciated him.
You can Never Stop a Hippies Dream Or Vision, even when a Hippy has Gone onto His Next Level.
Peace Be Your Next Journey...George
Especially if we can glue a big plastic fingernail at the top, facing the capitol building, and paint knuckle lines on it.
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