George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. He was known for hisdark comedy and reflections on politics, English, psychology, religion, andtaboo subjects.
George Denis Patrick Carlin[3][4] was born at New York Hospital (nowWeill Cornell Medical Center) inManhattan on May 12, 1937, to Mary (née Bearey; 1896–1984) and Patrick John Carlin (1888–1945).[5][6] He had an older brother, Patrick Jr. (1931–2022), who had a major influence on his comedy and was sometimes involved.[7] Carlin called himself "fully Irish"; his mother was born in New York to Irish immigrants and his father was an Irish immigrant fromCloghan, County Donegal.[8] In his autobiographyLast Words, he wrote about a fantasy of Ireland he often had when his first wife was alive: "The southeastern parts so that it would be a little warmer, and the two of us there, close enough toDublin that you could go buy things you needed."[9] Carlin's maternal grandfather was a police officer for theNew York City Police Department (NYPD) who wrote out the works ofWilliam Shakespeare by hand for fun.[10][11] Carlin's parents separated when he was two months old because his father was an alcoholic, who—according to Carlin—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 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 at 519 West 121st Street, in Manhattan'sMorningside Heights neighborhood, 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 theCorpus Christi Church in Morningside Heights.[16][17] One of Carlin's closest childhood friends wasRandy Jurgensen, who became one of the most decorated homicide detectives in NYPD history.[18] His mother had a television set—a new technology few people owned at the time—and Carlin became an avid fan of the pioneering late-night talk showBroadway Open House.[19] He went tothe Bronx for high school, but was expelled fromCardinal Hayes High School after three semesters at age 15. He briefly attendedBishop Dubois High School in Harlem and Salesian High School inGoshen.[20] He spent many summers at Camp Notre Dame inSpofford, New Hampshire, where he regularly won the camp's drama award; upon his death, some of his ashes were scattered atSpofford Lake per his request.[21]
Carlin idolizedDanny Kaye and wanted to be just like him. His career plan was to work his way up through various performing occupations to eventually become a comedic actor like Kaye, and although he eventually realized this would not happen, he constantly referred in interviews to his sad realization of not being able to attain his boyhood dream. Near the end of his life, he took more acting roles, having never really given up on his lifelong dream.[22][23][24]
In 1959, Carlin metJack Burns, a fellow DJ at radio stationKXOL inFort Worth, Texas.[28] They formed a comedy team and after successful performances at Fort Worth'sbeat coffeehouse The Cellar, Burns and Carlin headed for California in February 1960.[4]
Within weeks of arriving in California, Burns and Carlin put together an audition tape and createdThe Wright Brothers, a morning show onKDAY in Hollywood. During their tenure at KDAY, they honed their material in beatnik coffeehouses at night.[29] Years later, when he was honored with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, Carlin requested that it be placed in front of the KDAY studios near the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.[30] Burns and Carlin recorded their only album,Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight, in May 1960 at Cosmo Alley in Hollywood.[29] After two years as a team, they parted to pursue individual careers, but "remain[ed] the best of friends".[31]
In the 1960s, Carlin began appearing on television variety shows, where he played various characters, including a Native American sergeant, a stupid radio disc jockey, and a hippie weatherman.[32] Variations on these routines appear on his 1967 debut album,Take-Offs and Put-Ons, which was recorded live in 1966 at The Roostertail in Detroit and issued byRCA Victor in 1967.[32] During this period, Carlin appeared onTonight Starring Jack Paar before becoming a frequent performer and guest host onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He was one ofJohnny Carson's most frequent substitutes during his three-decade tenure. Carlin was also cast as a co-host alongsideBuddy Greco inAway We Go, a 1967 CBS comedy-variety show, which was the summer replacement forThe Jackie Gleason Show.[33] His material during his early career and his appearance—he wore suits and had short-cropped hair—was seen as conventional, particularly compared to his lateranti-establishment material.[34]
Carlin was present atLenny Bruce's arrest for obscenity at theGate of Horn club in Chicago on December 5, 1962. As the police began detaining audience members for questioning, they asked Carlin for identification. After responding that he did not believe in government-issued IDs, Carlin was arrested and taken to jail with Bruce in the same vehicle.[35][36]
In the late 1960s, Carlin made about $250,000 annually.[37] In 1970, he changed his routines and his appearance; he grew his hair long, sported a beard and earrings, and typically dressed in T-shirts and blue jeans. He lost some TV bookings by dressing strangely for a comedian at a time when clean-cut, well-dressed comedians were the norm. He hired talent managers Jeff Wald and Ron De Blasio to help him change his image, making him look more "hip" for a younger audience. Wald put Carlin into much smaller clubs such asThe Troubadour in West Hollywood andThe Bitter End in New York City, and later said that Carlin's income declined by 90% but his later career arc was greatly improved.[37]
In 1970, record producerMonte Kay formed theLittle David Records subsidiary of Atlantic Records, with comedianFlip Wilson as co-owner.[38] Kay and Wilson signed Carlin away fromRCA Records and recorded a Carlin performance at Washington, D.C.'sCellar Door in 1971, which was released as the albumFM & AM in 1972. De Blasio was busy managing the fast-paced career ofFreddie Prinze and was about to signRichard Pryor, so he released Carlin to Little David general manager Jack Lewis, who, like Carlin, was somewhat wild and rebellious.[39] Using his own persona as a springboard for his new comedy, he was presented byEd Sullivan in a performance of "The Hair Piece" and quickly regained his popularity as the public caught on to his style.[40]
Starting in 1972, singer-songwriterKenny Rankin was Carlin's label-mate on Little David Records, and Rankin served many times as Carlin's musical guest or opening act during the early 1970s. The two flew together in Carlin's private jet; Carlin says that Rankin relapsed into using cocaine while on tour since Carlin had so much available.[41]FM & AM proved very popular and marked Carlin's change from mainstream to counterculture comedy. The "AM" side was an extension of Carlin's previous style, with zany but relatively clean routines parodying aspects of American life. The "FM" side introduced Carlin's new style, with references to marijuana and birth control pills, and a playful examination of the word "shit". In this way, Carlin renewed a style of radical social commentary comedy Lenny Bruce had pioneered in the late 1950s.[37]
In this period, Carlin perfected his well-known "seven dirty words" routine, which appears onClass Clown as follows: "'Shit', 'piss', 'fuck', 'cunt', 'cocksucker', 'motherfucker', and 'tits'. Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that'll infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war." On July 21, 1972, Carlin was arrested after performing the routine atMilwaukee'sSummerfest and charged with violating obscenity laws.[42] The case, which prompted Carlin for a time to call the words the "Milwaukee Seven", was dismissed in December when the judge declared that the language was indecent but that Carlin had the freedom to say it as long as he caused no disturbance.[43] In 1973, a man complained to theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) after listening with his son to a similar routine, "Filthy Words", from Carlin'sOccupation: Foole, which was broadcast one afternoon on radio stationWBAI. The FCC cited Pacifica for violating regulations that prohibit broadcasting "obscene" material. TheSupreme Court of the United States upheld the FCC action by a vote of 5 to 4, ruling that the routine was "indecent but not obscene" and that the FCC had authority to prohibit such broadcasts during hours when children were likely to be among the audience.[44][45]
The controversy increased Carlin's fame. He eventually expanded the "dirty words" theme with a seemingly interminable end to a performance, finishing with his voice fading out in one HBO version and accompanying the credits in theCarlin at Carnegie special for the 1982–83 season, and a set of 49 webpages organized by subject and embracing his "Incomplete List of Impolite Words".[46] On stage, during a rendition of this routine, Carlin learned that his previous comedy albumFM & AM had won a Grammy. Midway through the performance on the albumOccupation: Foole, he can be heard thanking someone for handing him a piece of paper. He then exclaims "shit!" and proudly announces his win to the audience.[47] Over his career, Carlin was arrested seven times for reciting the "Seven Dirty Words" routine.[48]
Carlin hosted the premiere broadcast ofNBC'sSaturday Night Live on October 11, 1975. Per his request, he did not appear in its sketches.[49] The next season, 1976–77, he appeared regularly onCBS Television'sTony Orlando & Dawn variety series.[50] Carlin unexpectedly stopped performing regularly in 1976, when his career appeared to be at its height. For the next five years, he rarely performed stand-up, although it was at this time that he began doing specials for HBO as part of itsOn Location series. Carlin did 14 specials, including 2008'sIt's Bad for Ya.[51] He later revealed that the first of his threeheart attacks occurred during this layoff period.[52] His first two HBO specials aired in 1977 and 1978.[53][54]
In 1981, Carlin returned to the stage, releasingA Place for My Stuff and returning to HBO and New York City with theCarlin at Carnegie TV special, which was filmed atCarnegie Hall and aired during the 1982–83 season. Carlin continued doing HBO specials every year or two over the following decade and a half. All of Carlin's albums from this time forward are from the HBO specials.[55][56] He hostedSNL for the second time on November 10, 1984, this time appearing in several sketches.[57]
Beginning in 1988, Carlin evolved and adopted both a new appearance and a new direction. As he did in his first change of direction in the early 1970s, Carlin blended his old and new styles by bringing in politics and disdain for society withnihilist humor while using some of the previous material direction of pointing out the odd things people all do and continued his fascination with language, but with disdain for its current uses by society. He also began growing a ponytail at this time. This led to darker material and an aggressive tone over the next 2 decades, which were his most popular and widely seen shows via HBO specials which he continued to do until his death.[58]
In 1989, he gained popularity with a new generation of teens when he was cast as Rufus, the time-traveling mentor of the title characters inBill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. He reprised the role in the sequel,Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), and in the first season of thecartoon series.
That same year, Carlin became the second American narrator of the children's television seriesThomas & Friends, narrating thefirst through thefourth season.[60] He played Mr. Conductor on thePBS showShining Time Station until 1996, replacingRingo Starr on both programs.[60] According toBritt Allcroft, who developed both shows, on the first day of the assignment, Carlin was nervous about recording his narration without an audience, so the producers put a stuffed teddy bear in the booth.[60]
Carlin'sJammin' in New York, a new HBO special in 1992, highlighted the directional change he'd been honing the last few years as he wore all black with longer hair and a new biting humor. Critics applauded the show and he continued down this path of more serious subjects and nihilistic tone for the remainder of his life. Carlin opined that this show was his favorite.[61]
In 1993, Carlin began a weeklyFox sitcom,The George Carlin Show, playing New York Citytaxicab driver George O'Grady. The show, created and written byThe Simpsons co-creatorSam Simon, ran for 27 episodes, through December 1995.[62] InLast Words, Carlin wrote ofThe George Carlin Show, "I had a great time. I never laughed so much, so often, so hard as I did with cast membersAlex Rocco,Chris Rich,Tony Starke. There was a very strange, very good sense of humor on that stage ... [but] I was incredibly happy when the show was canceled. I was frustrated that it had taken me away from my true work."[63][page needed] Carlin was honored at the 1997Aspen Comedy Festival with a retrospective,George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy, hosted byJon Stewart. His first hardcover book,Brain Droppings (1997), sold nearly 900,000 copies and spent 40 weeks on theNew York Times best-seller list.[64]
Carlin later said that there were other, more pragmatic reasons for abandoning his acting career in favor of standup. In an interview forEsquire magazine in 2001, he said, "Because of my abuse of drugs, I neglected my business affairs and had large arrears with the IRS, and that took me eighteen to twenty years to dig out of. I did it honorably, and I don't begrudge them. I don't hate paying taxes, and I'm not angry at anyone, because I was complicit in it. But I'll tell you what it did for me: it made me a way better comedian. Because I had to stay out on the road and I couldn't pursue that movie career, which would have gone nowhere, and I became a really good comic and a really good writer."[65]
In 2001, Carlin was given aLifetime Achievement Award at the 15th AnnualAmerican Comedy Awards. In 2003, RepresentativeDoug Ose introduced a bill (H.R. 3687) to outlaw the broadcast of Carlin's "seven dirty words",[66] including "compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms)". The bill omitted "tits", but included "asshole", not one of Carlin's original seven words. It was referred to theHouse Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution in 2004 and was tabled.[66]
Carlin in April 2008
Carlin performed regularly as a headliner inLas Vegas, but in December 2004, his run at theMGM Grand Las Vegas was terminated after an altercation with his audience. After a poorly received set filled with dark references to suicide bombings and beheadings, Carlin complained that he could not wait to get out of "this fucking hotel" and Las Vegas; he wanted to go back east, he said, "where the real people are". He continued: "People who go to Las Vegas, you've got to question their fucking intellect to start with. Traveling hundreds and thousands of miles to essentially give your money to a large corporation is kind of fucking moronic. That's what I'm always getting here is these kind of fucking people with very limited intellects." An audience member shouted, "Stop degrading us!" Carlin responded, "Thank you very much, whatever that was. I hope it was positive; if not, well, blow me." He was immediately fired, and soon thereafter his representative announced that he would begin treatment for alcohol and prescription painkiller addiction on his own initiative.[67][68]
Carlin's last HBO stand-up special,It's Bad for Ya, aired live on March 1, 2008, from theWells Fargo Center for the Arts inSanta Rosa, California.[70] Themes included "American bullshit", rights, death, old age, and child-rearing. He repeated the theme to his audience several times throughout the show: "It's all bullshit, and it's bad for ya".[71]
In August 1960, while touring with comedy partnerJack Burns inDayton, Ohio, Carlin stopped at a roadside diner, where he met waitress Brenda Hosbrook.[3] They began dating and were married at her parents' home in Dayton on June 3, 1961.[72] Their only child,Kelly Marie Carlin was born June 15, 1963, and became a radio host.[3] Carlin and Hosbrook renewed their wedding vows inLas Vegas in 1971.[3]
Their marriage was often marred by hiscocaine use and heralcoholism, the latter of which worsened when Carlin's mother came to stay with them and would secretly pour Hosbrook drinks while derogating him.[3] When Hosbrook was hospitalized due to her drinking, she told Carlin that she would not return home if his mother was there. He immediately went home, booked his mother a flight to New York, and took her to the airport.[3] The couple soon addressed their addiction issues; the marriage improved so much that Kelly later said it felt like it had been rebooted.[3] Hosbrook died ofliver cancer on May 11, 1997, one day before her husband's 60th birthday.[3][73]
Carlin met comedy writer Sally Wade six months after Brenda's death and said it was "love at first sight", but told her he was hesitant to act on his feelings so soon after being widowed.[74] He discussed needing to be alone, potentially for up to a year, before being ready to date again.[3] They had no contact for eight months and she assumed he had moved on, but then he called to ask her out.[3] They wed in a private, unregistered ceremony on June 24, 1998, and remained married until Carlin's death.[75][76]
In 2008, Carlin said that usingcannabis,LSD, andmescaline had helped him cope with life.[13] He also said several times that he had battled addiction to alcohol, cocaine, andVicodin,[77] and spent some time in a rehab facility in 2004.[78] During the taping of his stand-up specialLife Is Worth Losing on November 5, 2005, he said he had beensober for 341 days.[79]
After being raised as aCatholic, Carlin outspokenly rejected religion, frequently criticizing and mocking it in his routines.[80] When asked if he believed in God, his response was, "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."[81]
Carlin had a history of heart problems,[82][83] including heart attacks in 1978, 1982, and 1991.[52] He also had anarrhythmia requiring anablation procedure in 2003, a significant episode of heart failure in 2005, and twoangioplasties on undisclosed dates.[84] In the 2022 documentaryGeorge Carlin's American Dream, Jerry Hamza—Carlin's manager from 1980 until his death—said Carlin underwent many heart surgeries in a short period toward the end of his life. Carlin's publicist Jeff Abraham said that he once lifted his shirt after coming to a gig from the hospital to show Abraham his torso, whereupon Abraham said it looked like a science project.[3]
On June 22, 2008, at age 71, Carlin died from heart failure atSaint John's Health Center inSanta Monica, California.[85][86] His death occurred one week after his final performance atThe Orleans Hotel and Casino. Per his wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered in front of various New York City nightclubs and overSpofford Lake inNew Hampshire, where he had attended summer camp as an adolescent.[87] Hiswill stated that there was to be no funeral and that he wished only for his widow and daughter to host a small gathering at his home for loved ones to share stories of him.[3]
After Carlin'sseven dirty words routine and subsequentFCC 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.[116]
Upon Carlin's death in 2008, HBO broadcast 11 of his 14 HBO specials from June 25 to 28, including a 12-hour marathon block on the HBO Comedy channel. NBC scheduled a rerun of the first episode ofSaturday Night Live, which Carlin hosted.[117][118][119] BothSirius Satellite Radio's "Raw Dog Comedy" andXM Satellite Radio's "XM Comedy" channels ran a memorial marathon of Carlin recordings the day after he died.Sirius XM Satellite Radio has since devoted an entire channel to Carlin,Carlin's Corner, featuring all his comedy albums, live concerts, and works from his private archives.[120]Larry King devoted his June 23 show to a Carlin tribute, featuring interviews withJerry Seinfeld,Bill Maher,Roseanne Barr,Lewis Black, Carlin's brother, Patrick Jr., and his daughter, Kelly. On June 24,The New York Times printed an op-ed piece on Carlin by Jerry Seinfeld.[121] CartoonistGarry Trudeau paid tribute in hisDoonesbury comic strip on July 27.[122]
A dedication from theLaugh Factory two days after Carlin died
For years, Carlin had been compiling and writing his autobiography, to be released in conjunction with a one-man Broadway show tentatively titledNew York Boy. After his death, his collaborator on both projectsTony Hendra edited the autobiography for release asLast Words. The book, chronicling most of Carlin's life and future plans including the one-man show, was published in 2009. The abridged audio edition is narrated by Carlin's brother Patrick Jr.[125] In 2011, Carlin's widow Sally Wade publishedThe George Carlin Letters: The Permanent Courtship of Sally Wade, a collection of previously unpublished writings and artwork by Carlin interwoven with Wade's chronicle of their decade together.[126] The subtitle is a phrase on a handwritten note that Wade found next to her computer upon returning home from the hospital after his death.[127] In 2008, Kelly Carlin announced plans to publish an "oral history", a collection of stories from Carlin's friends and family.[128] She later said the project had been shelved in favor of completion of her own project,[129] an autobiographical one-woman show calledA Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George.[130][131]
On October 22, 2014, part of West 121st Street inMorningside Heights was renamed "George Carlin Way".[132]Moneyball screenwriter Stan Chervin announced in 2018 that a biopic of Carlin was being written.[133][134]
Many quotations have been falsely attributed to Carlin, including various joke lists, rants, and other pieces. The websiteSnopes, which debunksurban legends and myths, has addressed these hoaxes.[137] Many of them contain material that runs counter to Carlin's viewpoints; some are especially hostile toward racial groups, gay people, women, the homeless, and other targets. Carlin was aware of this and debunked the quotes, 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."
^Goldmark, Tony."George Carlin – Biography".Amoeba Music.Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. RetrievedSeptember 1, 2016.He bridged these two sides of his persona with 'The Hair Piece,' a whimsical poem about public aversion to long hair that he performed on Ed Sullivan, effectively reintroducing and reinventing himself to America. FM & AM went Gold, got him a gig at Carnegie Hall, and won the Grammy award for Best Comedy Album.
^"Saturday Night Live". Geoffrey Hammill, The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived fromthe original on August 20, 2002. RetrievedJune 12, 2014.
^Carlin's own audio bookLast Words, chapter 19. Also in his own words (at the 46:52 mark on the YouTube video) from a conference he did for the National Press Club on May 13, 1999.
^"George Carlin". Hollywood Walk of Fame. October 25, 2019.Archived from the original on December 17, 2024. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2025.Category Live Performance Address 1555 Vine Street Ceremony date 01/21/1987
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