Monday, June 23, 2008

George Carlin, R. I. P.

My first memory of Carlin comes from around 1965. He played the hippy-dippy weatherman on a John Davidson TV variety show. I believe Richard Pryor was on the same show. Neither he nor Carlin had as yet developed the personas they later became famous for.

The Associated Press: George Carlin mourned as a counterculture hero: "LOS ANGELES (AP) — Acerbic standup comedian and satirist George Carlin, whose staunch defense of free speech in his most famous routine 'Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television' led to a key Supreme Court ruling on obscenity, has died.

Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas. He was 71."

2 comments:

Randy Johnson said...

This is your hippy-dippy weatherman with your hippy-dippy weather, man!

So long, George.

Doc Quatermass said...

"100% chance of darkness tonight, with scattered light towards morning." Al Sleet, your hippy dippy weather man.

I'm tempted to use all 7 dirty words. Woke up this morning and it was the first thing I saw on the computer. I keep meaning to get my old Carlin albums from my mom's house and have a friend transfer them to CD. All those great Ed Sullivan and other variety show memories from the 60s and early 70s of Carlin.