George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of counterculture comedians". He was known for his dark comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and taboo subjects.
Not to be confused with George Catlin.
George Carlin
May 12, 1937
June 22, 2008 (aged 71)
- Stand-up comedian
- actor
- author
- social critic
1956–2008
- Stand-up
- film
- television
- radio
- literature
- American culture
- current events
- death
- drugs
- everyday life
- family
- language
- mass media
- masculinity
- misanthropy
- nihilism
- old age
- philosophy
- politics
- pop culture
- profanity
- psychology
- race relations
- religion
- society
Carlin was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975. The first of Carlin's 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977, broadcast as George Carlin at USC. From the late 1980s onwards, his routines focused on sociocultural criticism of American society. He often commented on American political issues and satirized American culture. His "seven dirty words" routine was central to the 1978 United States Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision affirmed the government's power to censor indecent material on public airwaves.
Carlin released his first solo album Take-Offs and Put-Ons in 1966. He went on to receive five Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album winning for FM & AM (1972), Jammin' in New York (1992), Brain Droppings (2001), Napalm & Silly Putty (2002), and It's Bad for Ya (2008). The latter was his final comedy special, which was filmed less than four months before his death from cardiac failure.
Carlin co-created and starred in the Fox sitcom The George Carlin Show (1994–1995). He is also known for his film performances in Car Wash (1976), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), The Prince of Tides (1991), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Scary Movie 3 (2003), and Jersey Girl (2004). He also had voice roles as Zugor in Tarzan II, Fillmore in Cars (2006), and as Mr. Conductor on Shining Time Station, as well as narrating the American dubs of Thomas & Friends.
Carlin was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2008. He placed second on Comedy Central's list of top 10 American comedians in 2004,[1] while Rolling Stone magazine ranked him second on its list of the 50 best stand-up comedians of all time in 2017, in both cases behind Richard Pryor.[2]
Early life[edit]
George Denis Patrick Carlin[3][4] was born at Weill Cornell Medical Center (then called New York Hospital) in the Manhattan borough of New York City on May 12, 1937, the son of Mary (née Bearey; 1896–1984) and Patrick John Carlin (1888–1945).[5][6] He had an older brother named Patrick Jr. (1931–2022), who had a major influence on his comedy and was sometimes directly involved.[7] Carlin described himself as "fully Irish" as his mother was born in New York to Irish immigrants and his father was an Irish immigrant from Cloghan, County Donegal.[8] In his posthumously published autobiography Last Words, he wrote about a fantasy of Ireland he would often have when his first wife Brenda was alive: "The southeastern parts so that it would be a little warmer, and the two of us there, close enough to Dublin that you could go buy things you needed."[9] Carlin's maternal grandfather was an NYPD police officer who wrote out the works of William Shakespeare by hand for fun.[10][11] Carlin's parents separated when he was two months old due to the alcoholism of his father, whom Carlin said was "never around".[3] His mother raised him and his brother on her own.[12] When Carlin was eight years old, his father died.[13]
Carlin said that he picked up an appreciation for the effective use of the English language from his mother,[14] though they had a difficult relationship and he often ran away from home.[15] He grew up on West 121st Street in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, which he and his friends called "White Harlem" because it "sounded a lot tougher than its real name".[13] He attended Corpus Christi School, a Catholic parish school of the Corpus Christi Church in Morningside Heights.[16][17] One of Carlin's closest childhood friends was Randy Jurgensen, who would later to become one of the most decorated homicide detectives in NYPD history.[18] His mother owned a television, which was a new technology few people owned at the time, and Carlin became an avid fan of the pioneering late-night talk show Broadway Open House during its short run.[19] He went to the Bronx for high school, but was expelled from Cardinal Hayes High School after three semesters at age 15. He briefly attended Bishop Dubois High School in Harlem and Salesian High School in Goshen.[20] He spent many summers at Camp Notre Dame in Spofford, New Hampshire, where he regularly won the camp's drama award; upon his death, some of his ashes were scattered at Spofford Lake per his request.[21]
Carlin joined the U.S. Air Force and trained as a radar technician. He was stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana, and began working as a DJ at radio station KJOE in nearby Shreveport. Labeled an "unproductive airman" by his superiors, he received a general discharge on July 29, 1957. During his time in the Air Force, he had been court-martialed three times and received many nonjudicial punishments and reprimands.[22]
Personal life[edit]
In August 1960, while touring with comedy partner Jack Burns in Dayton, Ohio, Carlin stopped at a roadside diner and met waitress Brenda Hosbrook.[3] They began dating and were married at her parents' home in Dayton on June 3, 1961.[64] Their only child, daughter Kelly Marie Carlin (born June 15, 1963), later became a radio host.[3] Carlin and Hosbrook renewed their wedding vows in Las Vegas in 1971.[3] Their marriage was often marred by his cocaine use and her alcoholism, the latter of which worsened when Carlin's mother came to stay with them and would secretly pour Hosbrook drinks while speaking negatively about Carlin.[3] When Hosbrook was hospitalized due to her drinking, she told Carlin that she would not return home if his mother was still there; he immediately went home, booked his mother on a flight back to New York, and took her to the airport.[3] The couple soon addressed their addiction issues, with the marriage improving so much that Kelly later said it felt like it had been rebooted.[3] Hosbrook died of liver cancer on May 11, 1997, the day before Carlin's 60th birthday.[3][65]
Carlin met comedy writer Sally Wade six months after his wife's death and described it as "love at first sight", but admitted to her that he was hesitant to act on his feelings so soon after being widowed.[66] He told her that he needed to be alone, potentially for up to a year, before feeling ready to date again.[3] They then had no contact with each other and she assumed he had moved on, but he called her eight months later to ask her out on a date.[3] They wed in a private and unregistered ceremony on June 24, 1998, and remained married until Carlin's death in 2008.[67][68]
In a 2008 interview, Carlin stated that using cannabis, LSD, and mescaline had helped him cope with events in his personal life.[13] He also stated several times that he had battled addictions to alcohol, cocaine, and Vicodin,[69] and spent some time in a rehab facility in late 2004.[70] During the taping of his stand-up special Life Is Worth Losing on November 5, 2005, he mentioned that he had been sober for 341 days.[71]
Although born into a Catholic family, Carlin was outspoken in his rejection of religion in all forms, frequently criticizing and mocking it in his comedy routines.[72] When asked if he believed in God, he responded, "No. No, there's no God—but there might be some sort of an organizing intelligence, and I think to understand it is way beyond our ability."[73]
Death[edit]
Carlin had a history of heart problems spanning three decades,[74][75] which included heart attacks in 1978, 1982, and 1991.[46] He also had an arrhythmia requiring an ablation procedure in 2003, a significant episode of heart failure in 2005, and two angioplasties on undisclosed dates.[76] In the 2022 documentary George Carlin's American Dream, Jerry Hamza—Carlin's manager from 1980 until his death—said that Carlin underwent so many heart surgeries in such a short span of time towards the end of his life that he once lifted up his shirt to show Hamza his torso, prompting Hamza to remark that it looked like an experiment.[3]
On June 22, 2008, at the age of 71, Carlin died of heart failure at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.[77][78] His death occurred one week after his final performance at The Orleans Hotel and Casino. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in front of various New York City nightclubs and over Spofford Lake in New Hampshire, where he had attended summer camp as an adolescent.[79] His will stated that there was to be no funeral, religious or otherwise, and that he wished only for his widow and daughter to host a small gathering at his home for loved ones to share their fun stories of him.[3]
Legacy[edit]
Awards and honors[edit]
Along with numerous other accolades, Carlin won five Grammy Awards and was nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards and two Daytime Emmy Awards. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 and was a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2008.
Influences[edit]
Carlin's influences included Danny Kaye,[15][80] Jonathan Winters,[15] Lenny Bruce,[46][81][82] Richard Pryor,[46] Nichols and May,[83] Jerry Lewis,[15][46] the Marx Brothers,[15][46] Mort Sahl,[82] Spike Jones,[46] Ernie Kovacs,[46] and the Ritz Brothers.[15] His daughter Kelly said in 2022 that he took more acting roles in the latter half of his career because he "never gave up on the Danny Kaye dream".[3]
Comedians who have claimed Carlin as an influence include Adam Ferrara,[84] Bill Burr,[85] Chris Rock,[86] Jerry Seinfeld,[87] Louis C.K.,[88] Lewis Black,[89] Jon Stewart,[90] Stephen Colbert,[91] Bill Maher,[92][93] Liz Miele,[94] Patrice O'Neal,[95] Colin Quinn,[96] Steven Wright,[97] Mitch Hedberg,[98] Russell Peters,[99] Bo Burnham,[100] Jay Leno,[101] Ben Stiller,[101] Kevin Smith,[102] Chris Rush,[103] Rob McElhenney,[104] and Jim Jefferies.[105]
The Carlin Warning[edit]
After Carlin's seven dirty words routine and subsequent FCC v. Pacifica Foundation Supreme Court ruling in 1978, broadcasters started to use the "Carlin Warning" to remind performers of the words they could not say during a live performance.[106]
Internet hoaxes[edit]
Many online quotes have been falsely attributed to Carlin, including various joke lists, rants, and other pieces. The website Snopes, which debunks urban legends and myths, has addressed these hoaxes.[127] Many of them contain material that runs counter to Carlin's viewpoints; some are especially volatile toward racial groups, gay people, women, the homeless, and other targets. Carlin was aware of this and debunked the quotes by writing on his website, "Here's a rule of thumb, folks: nothing you see on the Internet is mine unless it comes from one of my albums, books, HBO specials, or appeared on my website. [...] It bothers me that some people might believe that I would be capable of writing some of this stuff."
In 2011, "Weird Al" Yankovic referenced the hoaxes in his song "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me" with the lyric, "And by the way, your quotes from George Carlin aren't really George Carlin."
Audiobooks
