Posted on 06/22/2008 10:11:46 PM PDT by jmc813
OS 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. ADVERTISEMENT Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. 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 about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his "Filthy Words" routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
May God rest his soul. I hope he found peace to go along with his gift of laughter.
Damn. Just Damn. And seven other words...
RIP George - you made the world interesting!
He got his start in show business as a part time radio DJ in Shreveport while serving in the Air Force.
RIP to the Hippy Dippy Weatherman.
RIP George!
RIP, George.
RIP, George, you were funny and had interesting takes on things.
Wasn’t he the first host on SNL?
Also a proclaimed Atheist, and hater of Christians, the Military and Conservatives.
Who knows what he did to ensure the salvation of his soul, which I hope he may have done. However, by watching him on stage and listening to his albums, I have to say that I have my doubts.
For his sake, I hope he truly rests in peace. He was one of the funniest comedians of our time. His Earthly legacy remains in tact.
correct
One of the few that would call stupid humans out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c
Remember when he thought he was beginning ‘to smell like his grandparents’?
The 7 words you can’t say at George Carlin’s funeral...
The 7 words you can’t say at George Carlin’s funeral...
I remember him when he was preppy, before he “freaked out” and “turned-on”.
About the time Vietnam got real nasty. He had some good jokes about that which gave us a good laugh at the time. Believe me, we needed it.
Breaking on Fox now.... sad stuff man....
"I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work."
"Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that."
"Weather forecast for tonight: dark."
"What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on?"
"Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things."
RIP, George.
Sad news. RIP. Say hello to Rodney for me.
A legacy no one could be proud of.
He gave us a few laughs and some of those laughs were at ourselves. Where's the harm?
Although I liked the piece about the car gang that would break into cars at quick marts without damaging anything, and the only thing they would do was crank up the volume on the radio, so when the "victim" got back in the car with the milk, and started the car, the volume would blast him out, and he'd be left thinking, "Well, it wasn't this loud when I got out of the car...".
He wanted to offend people, so nasty commments (and, the comment above was not nasty) are the tribute he would want.
Sad as it is, I hope he realized it before he passed. There is still hope for all souls.
If memory serves, he did that bit the first time I ever saw him, on Carson ...
"Our radar is picking up a line of thundershowers, but it's also picking up a squadron of ICBMs, so I wouldn't sweat the thundershowers."
I suppose that would make sense in some perverse way, if it, in fact, made sense.
Thanks for having the balls to post that. George was right...
You can blame me for saying what needed to be said. Something we will all face one day. Joking about ideology is fair game, but Carlin took it a step further, which falls into the category of “harm”.
It’s all about the “legacy” we will all be remembered for, both good and bad.
There was a lot more material that was simply funny and even made us think a little.
So step down from your high horse and recognize that he passed away and, just maybe, The Boss greeted him saying, "See George? You were wrong. Now come sit by me."
Ah yes. Classy as always.
And you consider these to be words of wisdom?... Some where/when maybe you can ask George to tell you why he thought he was wise enough to spit in God’s face. ‘Course it won’t be an escape clause for you, but you may get an answer ... after the fact. BTW, do you know what is the beginning of wisdom?
A self-professed atheist and avid cocaine user
Re-emerging as a long-haired, bearded, denim-clad hippie, he lost many of his high-paying gigs, but his riffs on sex, drugs, and politics quickly gained an avid following among the fringe culture.
in the early ‘90s, he courted an even younger audience by assuming the lead role on the PBS children’s series Shining Time Station
“Anyone who’s intelligent who isn’t somewhat angry is probably missing the point somewhere along the way. The way I put it is this: This species is a failure that has organized itself incorrectly, and it’s stuck and will never get out of it because the forces that keep it this way are much too powerful to change. So I gave up on this species, and I kind of try to look at it from a distance, but I can’t completely give up because I’m a part of it. So there’s this tension, and that creates a kind of anger that is easy to theatricalize.”
Carlin is proud of his ability to offend - in fact, he considers it central to his success. “I don’t care what happens to this planet, this race, the country,” he told Jeff Rusnak of the Florida Sun Sentinel.
That his distinctive brand of comedy has weathered more than three decades, as well as his own personal struggles with “heavy drug use,” according to Time
In the 1970s, Carlin became known for unpredictable performances. He would walk off if no one laughed, verbally insult the audience, or simply not appear.
In December 2004, Carlin announced that he would be voluntarily entering a drug rehabilitation facility to receive treatment for his dependency on alcohol and painkillers.
Carlin does not vote and often criticizes elections as an illusion of choice.[21] He said he last voted for George McGovern, who ran for President in 1972.
On February 1, 2006, Carlin mentioned to the crowd, during his Life is Worth Losing set at the Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, California, that he had been discharged from the hospital only six weeks previously for “heart failure” and “pneumonia”, citing the appearance as his “first show back”.
- George Carlin (attributed: source unknown)
Now that is classy. [/sarc]
No, I find them to be the words of a fool.
The man mocked religion and God. Guess he knows now who was right.
A “High Horse” is the very last thing I would ride on.
It’s all about individual faith and eternal achievement before we pass form this world. What we leave behind is what mirrors our spirit. Nobody but Mr. Carlin has the answer to what or where he is at the moment.
But the writing from the “Boss” himself makes it perfectly clear that nobody will sit beside him who rejected him in the previous life. No matter how many people he made laugh or think.
True reason for mourning his death. Unless he repented, he is in torment tonight.
Wow, you should have been clearer about that. I take back the thoughts I was having about you.
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