George Carlin Dies of Heart Failure

This is just awful. Comedy (and a generation) lost one of its greatest voices.

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 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.

Ken Levine put it best: "We have lost a genius -- comic and otherwise.  We have also lost our greatest Bullshit Detector."

He was never reclusive, which certainly made his material spot-on. It seems almost everyone has a Carlin story in this town. Ken worked with him on a sitcom. I stood in line and chatted with him at a 7-11 (he bought Alta Dena orange juice and a banana). My wife used to work at Real Food Daily in Santa Monica and prepared his lunch.

I guess the point is what made him so genuine on stage was that he seemed to be everywhere when he was off stage. He truly spoke for us. He says he didn't believe in the country, but he sure believed in speaking up when the country fucked up. In Carlin's world, not believing didn't mean not caring.

Here's the bit from 1978. NSFW - Don't play it at work without headphones and don't play it at all if the seven words still upset you.

Comments

[Bitter Animator]

This is sad news indeed. He was a very funny man. When young, he was probably the first comedian who I noticed had a bit of a bite to him and the more I experienced life, the funnier Carlin got.

I wanted to stop by to thank you for the kind words about my dog and introducing me to the Rainbow Bridge idea. While it had me in floods of tears (damn you!), it meant a lot to me that you shared your story of Jesse. The exact words you said to her, my wife said to our dog at the time. Only she used his name obviously. And 'boy' instead of 'girl'. So I guess the words weren't the same but the meaning was.

Thanks for sharing that.

[David Aquarius]

Just got the news. My heart is broken.

George Carlin was an icon to me. He was the best, the wise old fucking sage who would spit in your corn flakes as he baffled your normal. He didn't care about the limelight, it paid the bills and kept his pipe full. What he care about was shining the light of truth on the dark bullshit of conformity. He'd point out all the shit lying around and challenge us not to step in it. Then he'd tell us how to clean our shoes.

His words were angry but precise, loaded but measured. He was a master of the People's Language, the words we use to live. He used that mastery to shove our own stupidity right up our collective noses.

I'm going to miss him.

This is too much to soak in only one night. I'll have to think about a real tribute later.

[Mark Richards]

Loved him from afar. Regret never meeting him. A necessary and irreplaceable truth-testing influence is gone.

It's not a monologue when the words are shared, and he spoke my own, right to the core.

[mcf]

Fuck.

[KKinAJ]

Wonderful W.I.N.O.

"Wonderful WINO..." — "The Beatles' latest record, when played backwards at slow speed, says 'Dummy! You're playing it backwards at slow speed!'"

[Skycat]

Incredibly sad. A real hero.

[Pastor Doodah]

One of my few heros.