George Carlin (1937–2008)
Author of When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
About the Author
Comedian George Carlin was born on May 12, 1937 in Bronx, New York. He began his career at age 19 at the KJOE radio station in Louisiana. After making numerous appearances on TV, Carlin moved to radio and produced two albums, Take-Offs and Put-Ons, and FM & AM, which won a Grammy Award and was the show more first of four albums in a row to go gold. One of his best known routines was Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television. After performing this routine in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested for disturbing the peace and it also led to an indecency case after WBAI-FM radio aired it in 1973. Carlin also wrote three books and appeared on television and in movies. Besides his four Grammy Awards for best spoken comedy album, he was nominated for five Emmys. In 2002, Carlin was awarded the Freedom of Speech Award by the First Amendment Center in cooperation with the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, and he was the named 11th recipient of The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in June of 2008. George Carlin passed away at age 71 on June 22, 2008 in Santa Monica, California. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by George Carlin
Take-offs and Put-ons 5 copies
Last Words [Abridged 5-CD Set] 3 copies
Back in Town {video} 2 copies
George Carlin on comedy 2 copies
Best Of 2015 1 copy
George Carlin: Again! 1 copy
George Carlin Complete 1 copy
Little David Years 1971-1977 1 copy
Thomas the tank engine & friends- Thomas' Christmas party & other favorite stories (video) (1991) — Narrator — 1 copy
Associated Works
The 50 Funniest American Writers: An Anthology of Humor from Mark Twain to The Onion (2011) — Contributor — 286 copies, 3 reviews
Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse: Contemplating the Future with Noam Chomsky, George Carlin, Deepak Chopra, Rupert Sheldrake, and Others (2005) — Contributor — 75 copies
Thomas & Friends: Best of Thomas [Videorecording] — Narrator — 17 copies
Democracy in Print: The best of the Progressive Magazine, 1909-2009 (2009) — Contributor — 14 copies
Thomas and the Special Letter and Other Stories [Animated Videorecording] (1995) — Narrator — 13 copies, 1 review
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season 3 (2008) — Performer, some editions — 11 copies, 1 review
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends: Rusty to the Rescue & Other Thomas Stories [Videorecording] (1995) — Narrator — 8 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Carlin, George
- Legal name
- Carlin, George Denis Patrick
- Birthdate
- 1937-05-12
- Date of death
- 2008-06-22
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- comedian
disc jockey
writer - Organizations
- United States Air Force
- Awards and honors
- Grammy Award (4 times)
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (2008)
Lifetime Achievement Award, American Comedy Awards (2001) - Cause of death
- heart failure
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
Venice, California, USA - Place of death
- Santa Monica, California, USA
- Map Location
- New York, USA
Members
Discussions
George Carlin on Saving the Planet in Pro and Con (September 2019)
Reviews
I hated this book. HATED it.
I thought I liked George Carlin; I enjoyed his comedy routines, and I thought I liked his sense of humor, and his take on the world. But this book revealed him to be such a misanthropic a-hole that I almost couldn't finish the book. It tainted every memory I had of enjoying his other work.
I was literally glad he was dead by the end of it.
Maybe he was kidding and I missed the joke, but I'm not so sure.
I thought I liked George Carlin; I enjoyed his comedy routines, and I thought I liked his sense of humor, and his take on the world. But this book revealed him to be such a misanthropic a-hole that I almost couldn't finish the book. It tainted every memory I had of enjoying his other work.
I was literally glad he was dead by the end of it.
Maybe he was kidding and I missed the joke, but I'm not so sure.
So, tell me, what did you expect from a book in which George Carlin just riffs? You were expecting, maybe, Dostoyevsky? You thought there would be a calm, tranquil, cognizant discussion of life as we live it? You imagined a hint of civility and sanity?
Wrong.
This is Carlin being Carlin. That means often it is hilarious, often it is brash, and often it is a bit too much. So, that meant that I laughed often (even out loud). But it also meant that, often, I knew what he was trying to do, but it show more just wasn’t hitting. And a little too often there were times I heard my inner critic saying “Next!”
There will be people who read this that will be insulted, affronted, disgusted, not real happy. So, understand your tolerance before diving in. Understand that you will be assaulted. Understand that George Carlin will always be George Carlin (never accepting a role of doing the Hippy Dippy Weatherman over and over.)
If you can’t take it, don’t try it.
But, for those of us who know what we are getting into, and enjoy that same thing, then this is an entertaining (if occasionally uneven), voyage. That’s what happens when you throw George Carlin against the wall to see what sticks. show less
Wrong.
This is Carlin being Carlin. That means often it is hilarious, often it is brash, and often it is a bit too much. So, that meant that I laughed often (even out loud). But it also meant that, often, I knew what he was trying to do, but it show more just wasn’t hitting. And a little too often there were times I heard my inner critic saying “Next!”
There will be people who read this that will be insulted, affronted, disgusted, not real happy. So, understand your tolerance before diving in. Understand that you will be assaulted. Understand that George Carlin will always be George Carlin (never accepting a role of doing the Hippy Dippy Weatherman over and over.)
If you can’t take it, don’t try it.
But, for those of us who know what we are getting into, and enjoy that same thing, then this is an entertaining (if occasionally uneven), voyage. That’s what happens when you throw George Carlin against the wall to see what sticks. show less
I've followed George Carlin most of his career and it was always good for a laugh. After all the man had a way with words. I did not recall his suit and tie days from the Ed Sullivan era but more the hippy dippy years of his bad word dialogue. This of course covers his entire life. From hardscrabble New York, to wavy LA. I listened to the audio version and it was narrated by his brother Patrick. His voice is a deadringer for George and that added to the real life nature of it all. George now show more is gone but his humor lives on in its unique way. show less
Way back in the early '90s I invited friends over to my place to watch a new Carlin special on cable. I think it was Jammin' in New York (1992). I was taken back when a nonbinary couple told me that they would not attend due to Carlin being homophobic. I was abashed and ever since have been critical of my appreciation of his talent, maybe overly so. This book had me laugh out loud multiple times. I read it cover to cover like a book, but full of short quips it's probably best for short reads show more in the smallest room of your house... So, at least twice to make something funny, like a hat, he calls it "fruity". Do really denigrate someone, they are a "c*cksucker". OK, I get it. "Unconscious bias" maybe? Stepping back, he often feels like Archie Bunker but with more wit and imagination. Also, he feels like Abbie Hoffman without the overt political theatre. He definitely attacks racisms, white Christians, and the establishment in general. Indeed, the whole attitude is very "punk" (as I would have seen it back then), which I learned is really often a bitter subculture with an aesthetic and not an effective counter culture.
I'm happy to tell you there is very little in this world that I believe in. Listening to the comedians who comment on political, social, and cultural issues, I notice most of their material reflects an underlying belief that somehow things were better once and that with just a little effort we could set them right again. They're looking for solutions, and rooting for particular results, and I think that necessarily limits the tone and substance of what they say. They're talented and funny people, but they're nothing more than cheerleaders attached to a specific, wished-for outcome.show less
I don't feel so confined. I frankly don't give a fuck how it all turns out in this country-or anywhere else, for that matter. I think the human game was up a long time ago (when the high priests and traders took over), and now we're just playing out the string. And that is, of course, precisely what I find so amusing: the slow circling of the drain by a once promising species, and the sappy, ever-more-desperate belief in this country that there is actually some sort of "American Dream," which has merely been misplaced.
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Statistics
- Works
- 75
- Also by
- 28
- Members
- 7,567
- Popularity
- #3,225
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 123
- ISBNs
- 121
- Languages
- 3
- Favorited
- 19
