With the passing of George Carlin, many of his fans reflect on the great impact that Carlin made in the comedy world.  He challenged our notion of what a comedian should speak about, dress like, and rebel against.  His stand-up in the 60s went through a revolution that shocked many of his fans who weren't quite ready for his rapid transformation... yet.  Carlin went from a tie-wearing, clean-cut, hippy-dippy weatherman:

"Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely-scattered light towards morning."

…to a long-haired, bearded, fast-talking, alleged drug abuser.  Audiences were unsure of how to react to Carlin's new attitude and faded jeans.  He lost some of his gigs, riled up audiences and got kicked out of Las Vegas shows.  Johnny Carson banned him as a guest on the Tonight Show for a period of time. 

Carlin kept pushing.  He became a social issues comedian, exposing topics that Americans had never talked about before in night clubs. His routine began to cover sensitive hot-button issues such as Vietnam, profane language, abortion, religion and sex.  Carlin was famous for his bit on 'Seven Dirty Words.' The repeated profanity inspired a lawsuit in 1978 that resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that the government could regulate indecent material on public airwaves.  Network TV's "family hour" was born.   

Carlin's observational humor was not always profane; he struck a chord with our society by pointing out the shallowness and materialistic nature of the "me first" generation and America's obsession with camcorders, golf, hyphenated names, sneakers with lights on them, and baby boomers "who went from 'do your thing' to 'just say no' and 'from cocaine to Rogaine.'

One of my favorite bits that Carlin did was on football and baseball, and it's much tamer than some of his more risqué comedy routines. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YphEUa5LPjM. 


Some quotes by which to remember this comedic pioneer:

George Carlin on…


Celebrity Death

"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."


Aging

"Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

"You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

"'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life… you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

"But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

"You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

"But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

"So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.
You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

"You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REFifty and Furthermore | Silver Celebrities | George Carlinnti-Inflammatory + More Nutritiones with) to do?ial Futurep: So does Loveinter days. Clouds, ice and snow may not be our best friends. As we age we tend to be more sensitive to climatic changes.

< Prev		Next >