|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other authors named George:
|
|
|
|
Author's popularity: -1
Vote:  
|
If you like or dislike this author in general or one or more of their quotes in particular, please give us your feedback by clicking on the icon to vote for, or the icon to vote against them.
|
|
Popularity: 3
Vote: | At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Electricity is really just organized lightning. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Have you ever noticed? Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, andanyone going faster than you is a moron. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer's disease where they slowly began to recover other people's lost memories. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | In comic strips, the person on the right always speaks first. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Standing ovations have become far too commonplace. What we need are ovations where the audience members all punch and kick one another. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | The status quo sucks. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | Think off-center. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | Weather forecast for tonight: dark. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they? |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | What does it mean to pre-board? Do you get on before you get on? |
Popularity: -2
Vote: | When someone is impatient and says, "I haven't got all day," I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day? |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | When Thomas Edison worked late into the night on the electric light, he had to do it by gas lamp or candle. I'm sure it made the work seem that much more urgent. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Who decides when the applause should die down? It seems like it's a group decision; everyone begins to say to themselves at the same time, "Well, okay, that's enough of that." |
|
Biography
|
George Dennis Carlin (born May 12, 1937 in New York City) is an Irish American ("I used to be Irish Catholic, now I'm an American. Y'know: you grow.") stand-up comedian, actor, and author, noted especially for his irreverent attitude and his observations on language and religion. He is considered by many to be a worthy successor to Lenny Bruce.
Biography George Carlin grew up on West 121st St. in a neighborhood of Manhattan which he later said he and his friends called "White Harlem", because that sounded a lot tougher than its real name, "Morningside Heights". He was raised by his mother; she left his father when he was two years old. At age 17, Carlin dropped out of high school and joined the United States Air Force, training as a radar technician. He was stationed in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he began working as a disc jockey on a local radio station. He did not complete his Air Force enlistment.
At the age of 18, he and Jack Burns, a new announcer at the station, assembled a comedy routine and began booking nightclubs. Soon the act broke up. Carlin continued to work as a stand-up comic.
In the 1960s, Carlin began appearing on television variety shows, notably Laugh In. His most famous skits were:
* Indian war parties ("You wit' the beads...get outta line"),
* Stupid disc jockeys ("Wonderful WINO...") - "The Beatles latest record, when played backwards at slow speed, says 'Dummy! You're playing it backwards at slow speed!"
* Al Sleet, the "hippie-dippie weatherman". - "Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued mostly dark tonight, turning to widely scattered light in the morning."
* Jon Carson - the "world never known, and never to be known"
In 1961, Carlin married Brenda Hosbrook, whom he had met while touring the previous year. The couple had a daughter, Kelly, in 1963.
During this period, Carlin became more popular. He was cast on Away We Go, a 1967 comedy show. Carlin changed his routines, and his appearance. He lost some TV bookings by dressing as a hippie, with beard and earrings, but regained his popularity as members of the public caught up to his sense of style. It is not clear that Carlin has ever lost his hippie sensibilities, as he retains his beard and ponytail to this day.
In this period he also perfected what is perhaps his best-known routine, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", recorded on Class Clown. This routine offended some. In 1973, a father complained to the FCC that his son had heard a later, similar routine, "Filthy Words", from Occupation: Foole, broadcast one afternoon over WBAI, a Pacifica Foundation FM radio station in New York City. Pacifica received a citation from the FCC, which sought to fine Pacifica for allegedly violating FCC regulations which prohibited broadcasting "obscene" material. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC action, by a vote of 5 to 4, ruling that the routine was "indecent but not obscene", and the FCC had authority to prohibit such broadcasts during hours when children were likely to be among the audience. FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978). The controversy only increased Carlin's fame (or notoriety). Carlin eventually expanded the dirty-words theme with a seemingly interminable end to a performance (ending with his voice fading out in the HBO version), and a set of 49 web pages organized by subject and embracing his "Incomplete List Of Impolite Words". Ironically, the court documents contain a complete transcript of the skit, proving what Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said: "you cannot define obscenity without being obscene".(http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/FCC_v_Pacifica/fcc_v_pacifica.decision)
[[Image:Georgecarlinmugshot.jpg|thumb|250px|right|George Carlin's 1972 arrest photograph
(arrest report: (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Set/3881/9carlin_geo3.gif) (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Set/3881/9carlin_geo4.gif))]]
In December 2003, California Representative Doug Ose introduced a bill (H.R. 3687) to outlaw the broadcast of Carlin's seven "dirty words", including "compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms)." (The bill omits "tits", and includes "ass" and "asshole" which were not part of Carlin's original routine). Carlin was also arrested in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and charged with violating obscenity laws.
Carlin was the first-ever host of NBC's Saturday Night Live, debuting on October 11, 1975. He also hosted SNL on November 10, 1984.
In the 1970s, Carlin became known for unpredictable performances. He would walk off if no one laughed, verbally insult the audience, or simply not appear.
Carlin unexpectedly stopped performing in 1976 when his career appeared to be at its height. For the next five years, he would rarely appear and performed no stand-up. It would later be revealed that Carlin had suffered a heart attack.
In the 1980s Carlin reformed. By 1989 Carlin became popular with teens when he was cast as a mentor, Rufus in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Carlin began a weekly sitcom, The George Carlin Show, cast as "George" a cab driver, for the Fox Network in 1993. He quickly included a variation of the "Seven Words" in the plot.
In 1997, Brenda Carlin died of liver cancer. George Carlin did not work for a year following the death of his wife.
In 1999, Carlin returned with an appearance in Kevin Smith's film Dogma. He worked with Smith again with a cameo appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and a larger role in Jersey Girl.
In 2004, Carlin was voted #2 of the "Greatest Standup Comedians of All Time" by Comedy Central behind Richard Pryor.
In December 2004, Carlin announced that he would be voluntarily entering a drug rehabilitation facility to receive treatment for his dependency on alcohol and painkillers.
Carlin performs regularly as a headliner in Las Vegas.
He has currently begun a new tour and will have a new HBO Special on November 19, 2005.
...(more on Wikipedia)
|
|
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "George Carlin".
|
|
|
