George Carlin, 1937-2008
June 23, 2008

The first time I ever heard the word “irreverent” (and was informed what it meant) was in reference to George Carlin, the great stand-up comedian and actor whose legendary “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” was embraced by everyone I ever met in summer camp while growing up in suburban New Jersey in the Seventies. Carlin died of heart failure yesterday at the age of 71.

My father was the one who described Carlin to me as irreverent—you see, he was familiar with (and quite enjoyed) Carlin's comedy of the late Fifties and Sixties. That was a time when Carlin was garbed in a traditional jacket and tie, appeared at the country’s upper-crust nightclubs and delivered relatively conventional stand-up comedy, much of it centered around his Irish working-class childhood in New York. My father liked that kind of comedy at the time…

But it was when Carlin shifted to counter-culture comedy stylings--bawdily mouthing off about everything from religion to politics to drugs—that I became a fan. My first exposure came mostly through his comedy albums (all on vinyl) that I was exposed to in summer camp, and then, later on, with his regular HBO specials (most of which are available on DVD). That was the stuff that my father thought was irreverent, but it didn’t take too long for him to also find it engaging, clever, critical, edgy and, most importantly, funny.

Today’s stand-ups toss off remarks about the state of the union  with a razzle-dazzle array of colorful language that doesn't hold a candle to Carlin when he was at his prime and delivering his material with a carefully-calculated measure of words that you can never say on television. Comics and others who have forgotten that a comedian's material must come before the delivery (and the icing that’s provided by vulgar language) in a stand-up routine should check out some of Carlin’s richly archived history so they can understand how his work paved the path for everyone to indeed utter all seven of those words--and more!--on TV.

Posted by Laurence Lerman on June 23, 2008 | Comments (1)