Jun. 22, 2008 10:53 PM
Associated Press
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A publicist for George Carlin says the legendary comedian has died of heart failure at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif.
Jeff Abraham says Carlin went into St. John's Health Center on Sunday afternoon, complaining of chest pain. Carlin died at 5:55 p.m. PDT. He was 71.
Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas. It was announced Tuesday that Carlin was being awarded the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The dean of counterculture comedians, Carlin constantly pushed the envelope with his jokes, particularly with a routine called "The Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV."
God rest you and love you George, you will be greatly missed.
Like him or hate him he took the torch from Lenny Bruce, and inspired a whole generation of comedians who speak their mind. He refused to be PC and spoke what he thought and what he felt.
By KEITH ST. CLAIR
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — George Carlin, the dean of counterculture comedians whose biting insights on life and language were immortalized in his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine, died of heart failure Sunday. He was 71.
Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Medical 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.
A publicist for George Carlin says the legendary comedian has died of heart failure at a hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., Sunday June 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull/file)
Carlin constantly pushed the envelope with his jokes, particularly with the "Seven Words" routine. When he uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested for disturbing the peace.
When the words were played on a New York radio station, they resulted in a Supreme Court ruling in 1978 upholding the government's authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language.
"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 produced 23 comedy albums, 14 HBO specials, three books, a couple of TV shows and appeared in several movies. Carlin hosted the first broadcast of "Saturday Night Live" and noted on his Web site that he was "loaded on cocaine all week long."
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.
When asked about the fallout from the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction," Carlin told the AP, "What are we, surprised?"
"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," he said. "It's reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have."
Carlin was born 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 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 Forth Worth, Texas. Carlin also worked variety of temporary jobs including a carnival organist and a marketing director for a peanut brittle.
In 1960, he left with a Texas radio buddy, Jack Burns, 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 the Tonight Show with Jack Paar. r Carlin said he hoped to would emulate his childhood hero, Danny Kaye, the kindly, rubber-faced comedian who ruled over the decade that Carlin grew up in — the 1950s — with a clever but gentle humor reflective of its times.
Only problem was, it didn't work for him.
"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."
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.
___
Associated Press writer Christopher Weber contributed to this report.
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June 22, 2008 - 11:40 p.m. MST
Copyright 2008, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
I like his book When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops? I liked the way he pared the Ten Commandments down to two.
Farewell George. You were the genuine item. [:(]
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/Carkin-hesus.jpg)
(http://www.rawiriblundell.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/buddychrist.jpg)
The man was funny. Probably my most quoted comic, so many situations with a Carlin line.
OHHHHH, he DIED. I thought maybe he passed that great big piece of turd he had been calling comedy for all these years out his butt. This is the best thing he has done for like what, forty years. He was as relevant as white patent leather shoes and hip huggers on men. Yaaaaawwwwwnnnn. I hope he gets what's coming to him, though: A great big endless pork chop and Mad Dog with an angel from Santa Monica for eternity. That would be great. He probably died on the crapper like Elvis, 'Unnnnhhhh . . . unhhhh . . . what the, that looks like the Virgin Mary . . . OH NO, my career! Blaaarrrgh!!' and then just hit the tile.
quote:
OHHHHH, he DIED. I thought maybe he passed that great big piece of turd he had been calling comedy for all these years out his butt. This is the best thing he has done for like what, forty years. He was as relevant as white patent leather shoes and hip huggers on men. Yaaaaawwwwwnnnn. I hope he gets what's coming to him, though: A great big endless pork chop and Mad Dog with an angel from Santa Monica for eternity. That would be great. He probably died on the crapper like Elvis, 'Unnnnhhhh . . . unhhhh . . . what the, that looks like the Virgin Mary . . . OH NO, my career! Blaaarrrgh!!' and then just hit the tile.
Have some decency, buddy. If there is one thing I learned from Carlin, it's that America has turned into a society full of mindless sheep. Much of what he said made a LOT of sense. I never agreed with him when it came to his stance on religion, but when it came to American society, he hit right on, and that includes the following...
-America's pointless fear of germs (my favorite)
-Too much security at the airport (We need security but not the TSA pillaging the public)
-Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality (So very true)
-Overuse of jargon in the English language (Heck, too many people misuse the English language, and now we are speaking in acronyms, it disgusts me)
Don't wish death upon people, Tim. You wouldn't want someone saying that about someone you care about. And until America finally wakes up and realize we're headed straight for collapse, we will continue to be a global laughing stock.
Ease up, people. Just giving him props, you eeeeedeeeooot. In fact, I think Carlin is still with us. Right after my colon cleanser I saw his face for a moment before I flushed! Carlin taught us that there are no sacred cows, nothing off-limits. Except the sensibilities of narrow-minded poop-heads that git their panties all in a wad. Say, is that him beyond the grave I hear? Nahhhhh, I just ripped a big smelly one!
Carlin was scheduled to be honored at the Kennedy Center in DC in the near future with the Mark Twain Life Time achievement award.
I would think that would be a pretty big deal for someone like Carlin to win the award
THE Mark Twain? THE one alllll comedians crave? NO WAY! Ohhhh I bet he was pissed as he cratered, thinking, 'Crap, now I miss out on the Kennedy Center. BLAAAAAARGH!' Nothing says 'You are washed up, ready for the big balloon ride to Valhalla like a Lifetime Achievement Award. Blame the Awards Committee.
Loved him more than words could tell.....
See ya in hell hippie dippie weather man....
A friend of the devil is a friend of mine.....
quote:
Originally posted by tim huntzinger
THE Mark Twain? THE one alllll comedians crave? NO WAY! Ohhhh I bet he was pissed as he cratered, thinking, 'Crap, now I miss out on the Kennedy Center. BLAAAAAARGH!' Nothing says 'You are washed up, ready for the big balloon ride to Valhalla like a Lifetime Achievement Award. Blame the Awards Committee.
Here's the proof...Mark Twain (//%22http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/marktwain/%22)
Heh, Carlin would make fun of this thread.
"I hate euphemisms. Passed away. What the hell does that mean? Oh, he's dead. Thanks."
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
Heh, Carlin would make fun of this thread.
"I hate euphemisms. Passed away. What the hell does that mean? Oh, he's dead. Thanks."
You're right. He got his "Two Minute warning, get you s#!t together!"
One of my faves was when he was talking about seriously ill people wanting to end their life-support systems.
"Pull the plug? F--k that! I want an extension cord for my plug!"
Also, his comparison of football and baseball is classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YphEUa5LPjM
George Carlin was fearless and a true classic original.
RIP
One of THE FUNNIEST comedians ever. Loved that Football and Baseball analogy too. RIP George.
Not safe for work or kids.....**Profanity Alert**....This is GC dealing with a heckler...Audio only....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9kpZHXhxI
He was all the rage when I was in college. Him and Cheech/Chong. But I hadn't noticed him much till his hippy dippy weatherman routine. Tonite...mostly dark. And of course the 7 words.
It is great that George Carlin used stand up comedy to say the things that others should say but cannot. Others would be persecuted for the things he said.
George Carlin used comedy to highlight the flaws in our society. Mark Twain wrote short stories that identified flaws in society. So it is great that Carlin won a Mark Twain award.
I never met him but I remember first seeing him on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s. I was instantly hooked. I will miss him.
Baseball v Football
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YphEUa5LPjM&feature=related (//%22http://%22)
Airport Security
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBxzvSbGJ2w&feature=related (//%22http://%22)
quote:
Originally posted by tim huntzinger
Ease up, people. Just giving him props, you eeeeedeeeooot. In fact, I think Carlin is still with us. Right after my colon cleanser I saw his face for a moment before I flushed! Carlin taught us that there are no sacred cows, nothing off-limits. Except the sensibilities of narrow-minded poop-heads that git their panties all in a wad. Say, is that him beyond the grave I hear? Nahhhhh, I just ripped a big smelly one!
You sound an awful lot like the people you are describing. Are you afraid of free thinkers? People who voice their opinions and feelings? There are those of us that refuse to be sheep, blindly following the winds as they blow. I don't care if you are left, right, or in the middle. You are who you are. But to sit there, and tell us that we are, as you put it, eeeeeeedeeeeeooooots, because we listen to something that you consider drivel, and pablum, for those that are unknowing and uninformed. There are those of us who think for ourselves, and form our own opinions based on the information that we recieve. Whatever that you believe and follow is your choice in life, as whatever anybody else wants to listen to, believe in, and follow for themselves. You may disagree with everything that I say, and that is your right, and I may disagree with what you say, and that is my right. But to preach to us as if we were sheep in your flock is wrong.
If you don't like George Carlin's humor, and his commentary, that's fine. I appreciate and respect that. But don't sit there and hide behind a screen name and tell everybody else that they are wrong for what they believe in, and what they feel, and find humorous and entertaining. If thats the way that you feel that life should be, who are you really?
quote:
Originally posted by dbacks fan
quote:
Originally posted by tim huntzinger
Ease up, people. Just giving him props, you eeeeedeeeooot. In fact, I think Carlin is still with us. Right after my colon cleanser I saw his face for a moment before I flushed! Carlin taught us that there are no sacred cows, nothing off-limits. Except the sensibilities of narrow-minded poop-heads that git their panties all in a wad. Say, is that him beyond the grave I hear? Nahhhhh, I just ripped a big smelly one!
You sound an awful lot like the people you are describing. Are you afraid of free thinkers? People who voice their opinions and feelings? There are those of us that refuse to be sheep, blindly following the winds as they blow. I don't care if you are left, right, or in the middle. You are who you are. But to sit there, and tell us that we are, as you put it, eeeeeeedeeeeeooooots, because we listen to something that you consider drivel, and pablum, for those that are unknowing and uninformed. There are those of us who think for ourselves, and form our own opinions based on the information that we recieve. Whatever that you believe and follow is your choice in life, as whatever anybody else wants to listen to, believe in, and follow for themselves. You may disagree with everything that I say, and that is your right, and I may disagree with what you say, and that is my right. But to preach to us as if we were sheep in your flock is wrong.
If you don't like George Carlin's humor, and his commentary, that's fine. I appreciate and respect that. But don't sit there and hide behind a screen name and tell everybody else that they are wrong for what they believe in, and what they feel, and find humorous and entertaining. If thats the way that you feel that life should be, who are you really?
Holy $#!^ take a chill pill! EVERYTHING is kewl as long as their is no post-mortem roast. OHHHHH NOOOOOO once someone has died we can not give them a ration of crap. Not an ounce. Lighten up . . . ohhhhhhh you are just bitter because you are a DIAMONDBACKS fan. (//%22http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=diamondbacks+suck%22)
Saw a clip of Carlin on Stewart's show last night. Carlin noted DICK Cheney's and Colin (COLON) Powell's names and said that Gulf War I was an example of someone getting #U(%#D in the @$$. And he gave that hilarious wide-eyed look and lopsided grin! Man! How did he do it??!! Those kind of witticisms! Give me a thousand years and I could never ever have made that observation!!
Screen name? Okay. Why would would anyone make up an effed-up stupid name like the one I am using? Only sadistic parents could do this to a person. Next thing you are going to do is tell me your name is not Dbacks Fan. Riiiiight. I know better.
quote:
Originally posted by Breadburner
Not safe for work or kids.....**Profanity Alert**....This is GC dealing with a heckler...Audio only....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9kpZHXhxI
BB! I bet you pulled this out of your filed emails sent from some of your fans![:O]
Op-Ed Contributor
Dying Is Hard. Comedy Is Harder.
By JERRY SEINFELD
Published: June 24, 2008
THE honest truth is, for a comedian, even death is just a premise to make jokes about. I know this because I was on the phone with George Carlin nine days ago and we were making some death jokes. We were talking about Tim Russert and Bo Diddley and George said: "I feel safe for a while. There will probably be a break before they come after the next one. I always like to fly on an airline right after they've had a crash. It improves your odds."
I called him to compliment him on his most recent special on HBO. Seventy years old and he cranks out another hour of great new stuff. He was in a hotel room in Las Vegas getting ready for his show. He was a monster.
You could certainly say that George downright invented modern American stand-up comedy in many ways. Every comedian does a little George. I couldn't even count the number of times I've been standing around with some comedians and someone talks about some idea for a joke and another comedian would say, "Carlin does it." I've heard it my whole career: "Carlin does it," "Carlin already did it," "Carlin did it eight years ago."
And he didn't just "do" it. He worked over an idea like a diamond cutter with facets and angles and refractions of light. He made you sorry you ever thought you wanted to be a comedian. He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody.
But his brilliance fathered dozens of great comedians. I personally never cared about "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," or "FM & AM." To me, everything he did just had this gleaming wonderful precision and originality.
I became obsessed with him in the '60s. As a kid it seemed like the whole world was funny because of George Carlin. His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story.
I know George didn't believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I'm spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, "Carlin already did it."
Jerry Seinfeld is a writer and a comedian.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/opinion/24seinfeld.html?th&emc=th
quote:
Originally posted by tim huntzinger
Saw a clip of Carlin on Stewart's show last night. Carlin noted DICK Cheney's and Colin (COLON) Powell's names and said that Gulf War I was an example of someone getting #U(%#D in the @$$. And he gave that hilarious wide-eyed look and lopsided grin! Man! How did he do it??!! Those kind of witticisms! Give me a thousand years and I could never ever have made that observation!!
The key difference being that Carlin's delivery and timing of that observation would have actually been funny.
So, please take note.