Goodbye to one of the greats
June 23rd, 2008 by John Grooms in Arts, NewsOne of the all-time greats of American comedy, stand-up comedian/author/actor George Carlin died yesterday of heart failure at age 71. At some point today, it might be suitable for all of us who respected Carlin to shout out “The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” - shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits - which were the subject of a Carlin routine that became a landmark free speech court case. Carlin had an enormous influence on comedy, a free-wheeling intellect, a skeptical attitude, and a brave approach to his own career. He was an established stand-up comedian when he decided to let the changes happening around the world in the late 1960s become the focus and inspiration for his act. It turned him into a ground breaker and a legend. As Time magazine says today, “the transformation he helped bring about in stand-up comedy [is] so ingrained, it’s hard to think of Carlin as one of America’s most radical and courageous artists. But he was.” Enough said.
Send to a friend:
Leave a Reply