LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71.


Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine called "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television." A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the 1978 case, Federal Communications Commission vs. Pacifica Foundation, the top U.S. court ruled that the words cited in Carlin's routine were indecent, and that the government's broadcast regulator could ban them from being aired at times when children might be listening.

Carlin's comedic sensibility often came back to a central theme: humanity is doomed.

"I don't have any beliefs or allegiances. I don't believe in this country, I don't believe in religion, or a god, and I don't believe in all these man-made institutional ideas," he told Reuters in a 2001 interview.

Carlin, who wrote several books and performed in many television comedy specials, is survived by his wife Sally Wade, and daughter Kelly Carlin McCall.

NO!!!!! That really is horrible. My parents loved his work and they played his LPs and we watched his cable shows together.

I used to listen to his albums when I was a kid. I have seen most of his HBO specials and had the privilege of watching him work out his fall 2001 HBO special in the summer of 2001 in the Main Room at the Comedy Store. There was some very funny stuff about televised tragedy he couldn't use because of the events of 9/11/01 on the actual special.

RIP George Carlin....He was very cutting edge..in with likes of lenny bruce.

My fav was the Seven Dirty Words...he will be missed.

sniff sniff. No one could make you think about the world while laughing your ass off like Carlin could.

Carlin sucked. Comparing him to Lenny Bruce is a crime.

Fuck you. He blew LB away. His first two books were amazing. The whole diatribe about waiting at the airport going through hassles for nothing was eerily foreboding. He said it was just a way to strip you of your rights and that it did nothing. He added that someone was going to hijack a plane and commit a terrorist act on American soil. I will miss him...

PS sorry to get on my high horse but there is a litany of conservative posters eviscerating him for this clip. How the fuck is this a 'liberal' point of view?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qNv-oDbBZQU

comparing him to anyone is irrelevant. The guy is dead and that's a fucking shame.

Another regret to my list. I always meant to see him perform live before he died and I always put it off. When great comedians die it always bums me the fuck out. The worse part is there are so few good ones coming onto the scene these days.

Most comics are awful...this guy was one of the rare geniuses. I mean true genius. I've seen every single HBO special he ever did, and I saw him in Vegas twice. He had just the right amount of Goofiness to his intense shit to make ANYTHING he said funny.

I can quote so many of his routines:

"Television in America is fucked up. Today i saw a bit on Mickey Mouse's 60th birthday. No wonder no one takes our country seriously anymore, we devote valuable television time to the birth of an imaginary rodent! Fuck Mickey Mouse! Fuck him in the ass witha big rubber dick, then break it off and beat him with it....I hope he dies, I hope Mickey goddamn dies...I hope he gets ahold of some tainted cheeeese.....And then the news announces two pandas in Beijing finally mated. Leave these poor creatures alone! I have zero interest in Panda fucking first off, and second, no wonder they are almost extinct, how can any creature fuck when someone is taking its rectal temperature every half hour and watching it with a goddamn reuters troop of reporters?"

Ohh crap!

No, NO, Dimitri. You're supposed to use one (or more) of the seven deadly words:

• Shit
• Piss
• Fuck
• Cunt
• Cocksucker
• Motherfucker
• Tits

In his honor, I'm going to try to work each of those words into every conversation I have today.

RIP George, the world will be a lot less funny without you!

I'm numb inside.

He was a connoisseur of American vocabulary & free speech.
I was fortunate enough to see him live about 4 or 5 years ago at the State Theatre in Easton, PA.

Where's a fucking 'crying like a bitch' graemlin when you need one?

Thanks Zen. Cheers.

Quote:

---

PS sorry to get on my high horse but there is a litany of conservative posters eviscerating him for this clip. How the fuck is this a 'liberal' point of view?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qNv-oDbBZQU

---

I fondly remember this clip from his "George Carlin: 40 years of comedy" special on HBO. John Stewart was the host (who BTW, could probably give one hell of a eulogy for him) of it, where Carlin went on to verbally disect what in America we call 'customer service'.

He also has some kewl references in there to his cat Murray getting ass-fucked by his dog.

i think his delivery was great too... his voice was perfect for it. the voice of concerned exasperation.

sad loss for common sense

Indeed.

Evidence to your claim, Elab.

My parents took me to see him perform in San Diego when I was maybe 12 and I'll never forget his first line.

"Did you ever notice that most of the women that are against abortion are women you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?"

I loved that guy. He was great on the Bill Maher show on HBO. Even though he was an atheist he is in the holy trinity of comedy with Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce.

One of my all time favourite comedians. I seriously regret not seeing him last year when he was in town and I was literally going to get tickets this week for his next show. He was ballsy and always said what he really thought.
Rest In Peace.

He was scheduled for a trip to Richmond, BC this fall, too. Shame.

Now pointless schedule

If took the webbies of his page all damn day to actually acknowledge his death. It's only been posted since about 3pm EST.

Freaky:

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.”

---Jerry Seinfeld, NY Times, June 24, 2008

A shitload of Carlin on YouTube:

Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV (Expanded List)
Baseball vs. Football
The Ten Commandments
Rape CAN Be Funny
Some People Are REALLY Fucking Stupid
The Greatest Bullshit Story Ever Told

Solving the homeless problem (NIMBY/golf courses):

"these...golfing...COCKSUCKERS."

"Did you ever watch golf on television? It's like watching flys fuck!"

"Let these rich cocksuckers play miniature golf!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSRCjG-VLk

My favorite Carlin quote is on prostitution:

"Selling is legal. Fucking is legal. Why is selling fucking illegal?"

Guess who's coming to his funeral.

quote: "blah, blah, George Carlin, the ....agnostic, profane atheist...blah, blah"

What is it, old fart? Agnostic or atheist? Make up your mind; gods hate doublespeak!