Comedian George Carlin
dies in Los Angeles at 71


HBO shows George Carlin photo
for his HBO special, 'Its Bad For Ya'.
(AP Photo/HBO, Robert Sebree,file )

Yahoo.com
June 22, 208


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.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman and Steve Gorman; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080623/us_nm/carlin_dc

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I inherited George from my dad...like Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

I saw him perform a few years ago...his distain for humanity and sick view of the world will always be a contributing factor to my own F'd up mind. I'd say god bless...but Carlin wasn't a big god fan.

Instead...I'll say thanks.

Thanks for the great laughs, George. We'll miss ya

I saw George at the River Rock Casino in Van just a couple months ago.  It was one of those moments where you say "If not now - When?"  He rocked the sold out crowd.  

Can you imagine the conversation when he reached the Pearly Gates????

Thanks for the laughs George - wherever you are!

such a loss, going to miss him

RIP Mr. Carlin

Damn it!  Another comedy legend gone... thanks for those seven little words, George... we'll never forget you...

We're all nuts or wack-jobs with bad attitudes. George demonstrated how to make a very nice living from it while laughing at how ridiculous we can be.

Hello, Lewis Black.

A great loss. As Al Sleet 'The Hippy Dippy Weatherman" would say......The forecast for tonight is dark.
RIP ....George

The impression some people had of George Carlin was what always facinated me.

Many older folks remember "Football vs. Baseball" and Hippy Dippy Weatherman bits.  Even "Seven Dirty Words" wasn't bad, but Carlin at his core could be brutal if you didn't know what to expect.  Plenty remember him from Johnny Carson, few from HBO specials.

I've had to make the call twice on sponsoring a Carlin show.  Having seen him in his element in Vegas, I knew what to expect.  Show promoters often wanted Mainstream stations, or even Oldies, instead of Classic Rock where Carlin belonged.

I remember the show in Regina.  He was tuning up for a new HBO special.  A good chunk of "Hippy Dippy" fans in the audience.  He walks on stage, applause, mic comes to his lips and his opening line in that growling, permanently P.O'd voice he trademarked.....

"You know something people never talk about?  P**sy Farts!

20 people walked out in 10 minutes.  It was beautiful.

RIP George.  One of the legends.

I saw him a few times and he just made my sides hurt.

One of the best and will be missed


Maybe he & Richard Pryor are doing a show together in heaven tonight !!!!!



RIP GEORGE  

Quoted from BARKS BITES

I saw him a few times and he just made my sides hurt.
One of the best and will be missed
Maybe he & Richard Pryor are doing a show together in heaven tonight !!!!!

Or not...given his beliefs

you had a feeling he wasn't going to live into his golden years.  thankfully he has left a vast legacy and his clips will be available online or at the video store for years to come.  Thanks for the rib tickling George!

A legend departed.
I'd love to eavesdrop if he ever bumps into Lenny Bruce.... wherever they are.

i recall one Carlin LP from the 70's where he waxed about if he got an advanced warning that he was about to die, he'd like to blow himself up.  "There he goes....God love him."

(more Carlin on dying)
" 'Older' sounds a little better than 'old,' doesn't it?," he said. "Sounds like it might even last a little longer. ... I'm getting old. And it's OK. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won't have to die - I'll 'pass away.' Or I'll 'expire,' like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they'll call it a 'terminal episode.' The insurance company will refer to it as 'negative patient care outcome.' And if it's the result of malpractice they'll say it was a 'therapeutic misadventure."'

It would be fitting if the Tonight Show dusted off some of those Carlin stand-up routines and put them on tonight.  

Some quotes from brother George............

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/George_Carlin