George Carlin

George Carlin has been around as a professional comedian for many years now. In fact, he is the last surviving member of what most comedians believe to be the holy trinity of comedy; Richard Prior, Lenny Bruce, and George Carlin.

George was born May 12, 1937 after being conceived nine month prior to that during August at Curly's Hotel, Rockaway Beach, NY. Two months later George's mother carried him and his five year old brother Patrick down their apartment's fire escape to escape his father. They were later divorced and George never saw his father again.

George spent the next twenty-five years of his life growing up in New York City on 121st street. After nine years of school George finally dropped out and joined the Air Force. He received several court-martials and article Fifteens (form of punishment just below court-martial) to his military record; later he was honorably discharged in 1957. George then took on the world of radio, getting several jobs throughout the years of 1959 to 1960. During this time he formed a comedy team with his friend Jack Burns and the two later stopped doing radio to perform live stand-up. They split ways in 1962 and George struck out on his own as a comedian. His first official show alone was at the Chicago Gate of Horn. This was the shining start of an amazing career that still continues to amaze us today.

It was a rocky start for George but after years of stand-up gigs and guest spots on several television shows he released his first album "Take Offs and Put Ons". In the 70's He released several more albums and even received a Grammy for one "Fm & Am". The most amazing feat he accomplished was winning an appeal against the FCC over material they cut from his act because it contained dirty language. This led to another appeal in which the Supreme Court declared that the FCC could only ban the material from radio and television during hours when children might hear it. However, in Carlin's eyes this was an incredible victory. George went on to appear in over a dozen HBO comedy specials as well as many movies. He has written two books 'Napalm & SillyPutty and When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?' which contained quotes, poems and material from his act throughout the years.

George Carlin has had a full life and career. He has taken great pleasure at influencing our world with laughter. As George claims in one of his acts, "But, hey, that's my job, my job is thinking up goofy shit, coming around every so often to let you know what it is. Or reminding you about stuff you already knew, but forgot to laugh at the first time." But it goes farther than simple 'goofy shit', his act was recently rated second in the top one hundred comedy acts of all time. On the Daily Show, Jon Stewart honored George with a segment entitled George Carlin: 40 Years in Comedy. During the segment they began talking about George's fascination with the English language and how he manages to weave it into patterns that people love to listen too. George said, "Remember what we do is a form of oratory, we look for patterns and learn to turn that into rhythms that keeps a flow people can enjoy." Although there is a lot of bad language in his act, George is insistent that the words themselves are not to blame for being considered filth but instead that people just "----ed them up" on their own. He claims language is a tool that we learn to master and use to amplify our inner feelings. So despite his elderly appearance and his considerably bizarre outlook on life, George Carlin is a very committed entertainer. He likes to relate to his fans and from them receives the impression of extended family he never had as a child. "I love the private theatres and HBO specials, the performance is special. The fans come to see you and you're the whole evening. Then they come up after the show and treat you like you're their cousin. After awhile you have to say 'Well I guess I'm part of the family'."

George Carlin's career has filled our lives and his own with laughter. But true fans you can enjoy the opinions he expresses about issues most people couldn't laugh at, helping us realize how ridiculous some things we take far too seriously really are from an outsider perspective. Now at age seventy George continues on with new material and just recently released his thirteenth HBO special Life is Worth Losing. We can only hope that there is more to come in the future.