Comedian George Carlin Dies, YouTube Obit Mashup

Jun 23, 2008 at 2:16 PM
12 comments

George_Carlin_mugshot

George Carlin first came to my attention when he got himself arrested for uttering the “The Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say On Television” in ~~the mid 1970’s~~ EDIT: 1971 when he performed in Milwaukee, WI. Until one of my friends bought his comedy album (which some stores refused to carry) with the routine on it I didn’t know what the content of the Seven Dirty Words was, only that they had to be the worst swear words, ever. There was no cable television then–no Internet to pull up a video or even audio of the routine so after about a year spent discussing and guessing on and off what those words entailed, I finally heard them. I’d guessed a few of them but George taught me a few more.

The George Carlin of this century was very different than prior to his wife Jan’s death in 1997. She was with him from the early days and his humour took a harder, more bitter turn in the years that followed her death.

For a time, it was hard to watch him because though he’s been a curmudgeon for forever the extra, extra, bitter George sometimes seemed more angry than funny. When examining his career of 50 years however this was but a small portion of it.

A very intelligent man and keen observer of just about everything it seemed, George Carlin was one of the funniest, most gifted comedians of my lifetime. Because I enjoy “language” with all it’s oddities and because George liked to take apart the words we use every day and examine them more closely he always had something to offer that tickled my funny bone.

I was unaware that he was fighting addictions as recently as 2004 and also that he’d had several heart attacks. Knowing this, I suppose at age 71 he did not die "too early."

In any case, his body of work will continue to speak for him.

"Here’s a short selection of George Carlin’s best YouTube flicks. If you’re a fan, I know you’ll enjoy them; if you’re one of the uninitiated, well, better late than never." Source

5. Voting
- why do we always feel like there’s a lack of real choice on the ballot? George explains the habits of an average voter, where politicians come from and why the country is screwed.

4. Ten Commandments - You know those stupid top 10 lists, that always seem like they were inflated up to a round number (any similarity to any persons or blogs living or dead is a coincidence)? Well, it goes all the way back to Moses.

3. Airline Announcements - Ever wondered why all announcements on an airplane sound like they’re spoken in some weird language from a parallel universe?

2. Saving The Planet - Saving endangered species is just one more arrogant attempt by humans to control nature. It’s what got us in trouble in the first place.

1. Religion Is Bullshit - If he was wrong about this one, it might get George into a lot of trouble right about now."

Comedian George Carlin Dies

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/06/23...

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- George Carlin, the influential comedian whose routines used profanity, scatology and absurdity to point out the silliness and hypocrisy of human life, has died. He was 71. Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, died of heart failure died Sunday at at 5:55 p.m. PT. Carlin was "a hugely influential force in stand-up comedy. He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining. He was one of the greats," actor and comedian Ben Stiller said in a statement. Carlin was often quoted, his best lines traded like baseball cards. "Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" began one famous routine. Another pointed out the differences between the pastoral game of baseball and the militaristic game of football: "Baseball is played on a diamond, in a park. The baseball park! Football is played on a gridiron, in a stadium, sometimes called Soldier Field or War Memorial Stadium." Then there were the non sequiturs: "The bigger they are, the worse they smell," he observed. He filled three best-selling books, more than 20 record albums and countless television appearances with his material. He appreciated the impact his words made on fans. "These are nice additional merit badges that you earn if you've left a mark on a person or on some people," he told CNN.com in 2004. "I'd say it's flattering, but flattery implies insincerity, so I call it a compliment." Carlin was probably best known for a routine that began, "I was thinking about the curse words and the swear words, the cuss words and the words that you can't say." It was a monologue, known as "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," that got Carlin arrested and eventually led to the U.S. Supreme Court. The "Seven Dirty Words" bit prompted a landmark indecency case afte...

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Comments

RIP George... <moment of silence>

Excellent post gf. Great tribute. Here in Milwaukee, of course every news station is remarking about how he got arrested at Summerfest after performing. LOL!

love this.

thanks so much for putting it up.

he's been my hero, even during the bitter angry years, my whole life.

You are so welcome, Karen!

He was never not amazing even when he was very much in torment.

He was a hero to me from the get go and I remain to this day.Hence the post :)

His 45 y.o. daughter (!) was on Larry King last p.m. and she sounded so normal! Then I thought, why wouldn't she? With a dad like George Carlin? You know he's a good guy.

I'm so glad he made lots of HBO specials and CD's! But as Seinfeld said in reference to George's dying at the not-too-terribly aged 71,"Who dies at 70 anymore"?!

Oh, he was at Summerfest? That's so funny!
Do many local folks go to Summerfest? Everyone from here seems to go.

George was a character. I'm greatly surprised that some so many of the great younger comedians have come out to pay tribute to him. Jerry Seinfeld on Larry King on CNN yesterday was stricken--really upset as they were good friends and having joked about death just days earlier. Bill Maher, the list goes on and all genuine.

I agree. It's seems many will miss him.

One less smart and funny person = not so good.

Yep, he was arrested right after his performance. Then he came back the following year with a few more words you can't say on TV and they didn't arrest him.

Summerfest is a big thing here, everyone goes. We will head down for concerts, but it really isn't for us old people, its mainly attended by 20-30 somethings hell bent on getting drunk.

Yeah, that's pretty much why, in the over 20 years that I've lived down here that I've never gone. Overpriced beer and way-too-happy drunken folks are not my thing.

I look most years at the musical line-up--then decide I can wait for them to play here. ;)

We look at the line up and say: Lets go see this group! Then we don't. Last time we went was to see the Indigo Girls, there was no question about that, we were going. That was the only day of summerfest that we went. I think it was the last time too! :))

You Milwaukeans(ites?) remind me of us Chicago area people.The Taste Of Chicago is all that--unless you live here. It's crowded, hot, expensive, and exhausting--we let years go by in between jaunts to it.

Is Taste of Chicago a drunkfest too? Miller sponsors Summerfest, so it is all about drunks. Heck, the air smells like beer. I'm too old for that nonsense. lol :)) If you look at the news clips, you can see it is mostly young people there (under 50). I like to go to State Fair though!

There is plenty of beer at Taste of Chicago but the vendors stop selling food before the nighttime party-fest really gets rolling. There are a lot of families at The Taste--and tourists.

The smell of fried everything will get to you before the beer smell does. ;)