George Carlin (1937-2008)

WARNING: ADULT POST

It's been a ridiculously long time since I've posted and many of you have let me know that it's been too long. I have had so much to discuss, but just haven't bothered to sit down and put thoughts together. But I awoke at 5:30 and had a text message on my phone that saddened me deeply, It was from Jay B and said George Carlin died. Carlin was/is one of Jay's heroes as well as mine. Honestly going back as far as I can remember watching things I probably shouldn't have on HBO I've been laughing hysterically at Carlin's comedy and thinking about the message behind the jokes.

Carlin had been around a long time starting as most comics did 40+ years ago in a suit and tie. Then he tossed that away and went to the jeans and sweater and long hair and beard that you recognize today. Doesn't stand out much now but in that time it was a big deal in comedy. I listened to Artie Lang and Richard Belzer discuss this transformation toda. They said it wasn't as big a deal as Dylan goes Electric, but for comedy it was. He revolutionized Stand-up comedy, and was voted Comedy Central's #2 comedian of all time behind Richard Pryor, (not to shabby a guy to be behind). He was the first SNL host, had appeared on the Tonight Show 130 times,and was selected to receive the Mark Twain lifetime achievement for humor award in November.

Carlin was once arrested for his "7 Dirty Words" routine, which later led to a 5-4 Supreme Court Decision that the Federal Communications Commission had the right to sanction what was on the public airwaves. Carlin's bit itself was dubbed "Indecent but not obscene."If you didn't know prior to this the FCC sole resonsibility was to make sure that 2 stations in Pigsknuckle, Arkansas were broadcasting on frequencies that might interfere with each other. (They didn't seem to mind a certain local hillbilly music station, owned by clear channel at the time, using a signal .2 of a frequency lower than 98.5 WNCX out of Cleveland leaving Ashtabulans unable to listen to Howard Stern. But that's a whole other gripe).

So as I sat around today and laughed all over again at a bunch of classic Carlin videos, from "Football vs. Baseball" to "The 10 Commandments" to "Warlike people" I knew that I was going to break one of my rules in this post for my hero, I was not only going to allow bad language, however these videos are so genius, and the funny thing is they are strictly dissecting the words and meanings and not used to be dirty. Here is an updated version of "7 Dirty Words" and "The F Word" (I don't believe it's Carlin's voice, but he did write it). Enough of an explanation anyway, just enjoy. And when you're done why don't you can go outside and play hide and go fuck yourself!

Rest in Peace George, you've left us plenty here to laugh and think about and because of that you will NEVER truly be gone.