George Carlin: Class Clown, Clear-Eyed Cynic, and Counterculture Crusader

this video is brought to you by squarespace the tool to use to make a website for your brand and grow your business more on them in a bit the year was 1968 and in the evening america sat down to watch the smothers brothers comedy hour on cbs a variety show that featured comedy skits and musical guests but this wasn't your average variety show the smothers brothers comedy hour broke away from the traditional formula and quickly evolved into a program that wasn't afraid to push boundaries political satire the vietnam war religion these were topics that you simply wouldn't see on other programs that played it safe but you could see them here because of this the smothers brothers comedy hour was a big hit with the younger generations and became known as a place that would feature a lot of new acts representative of the counter-culture era of the 1960s among these acts was an up-and-coming comic called george carlin but it wasn't the same carlin that most of us would be familiar with not yet at least he was dressed in a crisp blue suit clean shaven with his short hair neatly parted to one side surprised to say that he had not found his look yet but as the years went on and george carlin became more popular his hair started to grow longer his clean shave and face was covered with a nice thick beard his suits were replaced by plain black shirts the well-groomed wholesome and clean comic was slowly morphing into a scruffier raunchier and more cynical comedian and he had some things to say and he was going to say them regardless of who got upset and what other people thought and just like that george carlin became one of the loudest voices of his generation [Music] george dennis patrick carlin was born on may 12 1937 in new york city he was the second son of patrick carlin and his second wife mary berry his family life wasn't a particularly happy one his father and newspaper ad salesman liked to get drunk and smack around those close to him his first wife even died of a heart attack after receiving one such beating as far as george's own mother was concerned he claimed that patrick only hit her once afterward mary's four brothers had him down and told him what would happen if he ever did it again so he stopped therefore by the time george was born the physical abuse had stopped but his parents marriage still consisted of long separations interspersed with brief reconciliations that same year the separation became final which made patrick carlin complete his downward spiral into alcoholism he lost his family and his job but he did enjoy a brief redemption arc before his curtain call around 1941 patrick carlin got sober lost a lot of weight and found a new job in radio he moved to the bronx where he lived with his daughter from his first marriage mary until his unsurprising death from a heart attack in 1945. during this time little george grew up in the morningside heights neighborhood of manhattan where he lived with his brother and his mother who worked as an executive secretary he learned to make do by himself his mother had to work long hours to earn enough money while his brother who was six years older than him often went out and left george alone but this didn't bother him too much he would make a simple meal for himself and then get lost in the world of comedy whether it was through comics radio or later on television mad magazine ballahu jack benny milton burl and jackie gleason they were the ones who raised young george during his many hours of solitude from a very young age george carlin discovered that he was meant to be a performer even as a toddler he would entertain his mother and her friends at the office with new dances or impersonations of famous actors this garnered him the forays that he coveted approval attention applause approbation he didn't get the same treatment in other aspects of his life carlin grew up in a decidedly catholic environment catholic church catholic schools catholic camp and yet carlin realized early on that the catholic stuff wasn't for him that being said george didn't mind his environment later on he credited the progressive nuns at corpus christi school for helping to shape his curious and skeptical mind by encouraging their young students to ask questions about any and all topics in school george quickly adopted the role of class clown he received both competition and mentorship from another student dubbed john pigman a natural performer that carlin claimed to idolize pigman could burp on cue for 45 seconds hence his name but his greatest act that carlin witnessed involved pigman walking up to two old ladies unzipping his fly pulling out a hot dog wiener and then cutting it in half with a pocket knife before running away while his audience gasped and screamed unfortunately for george as he got older the pranks and gags were also accompanied by bouts of genuine delinquency in the seventh grade he got caught stealing money from a locker and while for a while it looked like he might not be allowed to graduate middle school ultimately he struck a deal with the nuns and carlin graduated in exchange for writing the year-end play which was titled how do you spend your leisure time in high school george became a trumpeter not because he had any particular affinity with the instrument but because it was the only one they had in the house after his older brother stole it during a st patrick's day parade other than that high school was mostly a string of absences and detentions george didn't find the same relaxed and encouraged learning environment as before so as soon as he turned 16 he dropped out carlin enrolled in the air force hoping to finish his service early and then use the gi bill to train for a career in radio when he was 17 he was sent to barksdale air force base in bozia city louisiana where he worked as a radar technician to fill his time george auditioned for a production of golden boy in shreveport where he met a guy named joe monroe who was part of a radio station called kjoe he allowed carlin to come in for an audition and later he hired him for weekend duty as a promo reader and substitute dj to nobody's surprise carlin wasn't made for military life he got in trouble several times for getting high or drunk on duty and for various other offenses he wasn't big on authority figures either in carlin's own words when his tech sergeant chastised him for not obeying military protocol i told him to go [ __ ] himself to be honest i don't think my salute was up to standards either shockingly despite his behavior and despite being court-martialed three times carlin still received a general discharge in 1957. his role at kjoe had increased but now that he was out of the air force carlin had no desire to stay in louisiana he wanted to be closer to new york so he found a new gig with weze in boston the job lasted a whopping three months before carlin got canned for taking the wez news van out and driving to new york to score some weed however something notable did happen during his short time in boston he met jack burns his future comedy partner after weze both carlin and burns were hired by another station called kxol in fort worth texas since both men had comedic aspirations they started working on a double act routine in 1960 they relocated once more this time to hollywood where they served as morning djs for k-day radio again this was short-lived because a few months later they dropped their radio gigs all together to focus exclusively on comedy now let me interrupt this video very quickly to tell you about our long time friends and sponsor over at squarespace now you've heard me talk about squarespace before and look honestly if you're making a website anywhere other than squarespace in 2022 i would have to ask you what on earth are you doing because squarespace have all of the tools you could ever need in one easy to use place if you need a website or you do head on over to squarespace and from there 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business together easy plus all the basics like analytics and blogs go to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com biographics to save 10 of your first purchase of a website or a domain and now back to today's video [Music] burns and carlin found some success playing at nightclubs in hollywood they appeared on the tonight show which was hosted by jack parr at the time they even recorded their one-on-one comedy album during that year titled burns and carlin at the playboy club tonight even though it wasn't released until 1963. the act split up after two years because both men wanted to go solo but they remained close friends on a personal level george carlin met his first wife around that time brendon hosbrook the two married in 1961 and stayed married until her death in 1997 and they had one daughter together named kelly with the new family life on the road became more difficult for carlin so he decided to settle down in new york again and focus on the comedy scene there in fact he went back to his old neighborhood in morningside heights and found an apartment in the same building where he grew up his budding solo career was aided by a few industry veterans who saw the potential in carlin one of them was lenny bruce whom carlin described as one of the few friends he had in comedy business in fact carlin was in the audience in december 1962 when bruce was performing at the gate of horn in chicago and got raided by the police for obscenity carlin refused to show his id and got arrested and tossed in the paddywagon right next to lenny bruce another comedian who lent a helping hand was mort sal the satirist jack parr was out at the tonight show and johnny carson was about to come in once his old contract expired but until then sal was temporarily filling in he convinced the nbc execs to bring in some new comedians with anti-establishment material and george carlin was one of them his first solo appearance on the tonight show saw him doing an impression of jfk and it was a big hit with the audience the television gig started rolling in pretty steadily after that the merv griffin show mike douglas jimmy dean the craft summit musical and of course the tonight show with johnny carson where carlin appeared over 130 times during his career all in all carlin made almost 60 television appearances in 1965 and 1966 and the following year he recorded his first solo comedy album takeoffs and put-ons colin would continue recording comedy albums until his death releasing another 17 albums during his lifetime and another one posthumously his numerous tv appearances continued into the late 1960s but by 1970 carlin thought his act was growing stale he felt like his routines were becoming too safe and bland due to the massive influence of the television on his career by now he wasn't a rookie trying to break into the industry anymore he had established himself and he thought it was time for the world to see the real george carlin by 1970 the counterculture lifestyle was firmly embedded into the american psyche and although george carlin considered himself a part of it his stage persona certainly wasn't there was a single event that persuaded him to morph into the comedian that we all know and love carlin described it as a long epiphany one moment happened in 1969 when he was fired from frontier hotel in las vegas after his first show of what was supposed to be a two-year deal for saying the word ass during his routine another moment occurred when carlin had to check into the hospital for a hernia operation and he stopped shaving during that time and decided that he liked the beard and then of course it was all the acid carlin took lsd for the first time in october 1969 at a jazz club in chicago called mr kelly's he called it a seminal experience that turned him into a radically different utterly changed reimprinted reprogrammed person from then on the carlin you saw on stage was more in line with the real carlin long hair beard wearing jeans and a t-shirt and speaking a lot of ideas that went against the man not everyone was thrilled with this new and improved karlin most television shows had an expectation for their comedians to be clean cut and well-dressed nightclub promoters also weren't fans of his new edgy material carlin lost a lot of gigs because some places simply didn't want to stir the pot by featuring counter culture figures his anti-vietnam war material in particular garnered him plenty of vehicles and even the occasional threat from veterans in the audience but not everyone was opposed to the change some show hosts such as steve allen virginia graham david frost and hugh hefner had no problem with this new persona and slowly but surely the audience was also getting used to the new george carlin because the tv and nightclub appearance has dwindled a bit carlin took the time to focus on his comedy albums he released his second solo effort in 1972 and it was popular enough that it won the grammy award for best comedy album which was the first of five wins for carlin titled fm am it featured his classic clean act on the am side while the fm side had raunchy counterculture material thus marking carlin's metamorphosis from straight-laced to hippie but it would be his next album released later that same year that would turn karlin into a controversial freedom of speech crusader titled class clown the album ended with one of the most famous and infamous bits in comedy history seven words you can never say on television the words that according to karlin affect your soul curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war and i know you're thinking what are these seven words simon well let's not repeat them here for the sake of by monetization later that same year carlin was arrested for performing the routine on stage at summerfest in milwaukee just like his mentor lenny bruce before him but this did not deter him if anything he doubled down on it and carlin recorded a sequel routine titled filthy words on his next album occupation fool even though seven words became karlin's most well-known bit it was actually the follow-up filthy words that got the supreme court involved the saga began on the 30th of october 1973 when new york city radio wbai decided to play carlin's filthy words routine uncensored about a month later a man named john douglas wrote a letter to the federal communications commission or fcc complaining that his young son heard the broadcast he also got a non-profit media watchdog called morality and media involved and the whole thing turned into a back and forth argument between the fcc and wbai's owner pacifica over the extent of the authority that the fcc could exert on radio stations the whole ordeal lasted almost five years until the supreme court made a landmark ruling in favor of the fcc in the case of federal communications commission and pacifica foundation reinforcing the idea that the government was allowed to regulate indecent speech over the broadcast medium [Music] the controversy brought on by the court case had no negative impact on carlin's career who became one of the biggest names in comedy during the 1970s in 1975 george carlin served as host for the very first episode of saturday night live but it didn't really leave an impression on him since carlin was in the midst of an intense week-long drug binge at the time and his memory was a little hazy there was however a different medium that had a major impact on his career hbo the premium television network wouldn't really explode in popularity until the 1980s but it still had a dedicated audience and it offered something that nobody else did uncensored comedy specials the same show that you would see in a club with all the naughty language and obscene ideas in its entire length just as the comedian envisioned it delivered right into your living room carlin's first hbo special was released in 1977 simply titled george carlin at usc it would be followed by 13 more specials which for many people became the preferred way to enjoy carlin's new comedy routines over the traditional albums after his second hbo special aired in 1978 garland slowed down for a few years when it came to on-stage performances although this looked like a puzzling career move at the time since he was at the apex of his popularity he later revealed that this was because it suffered a heart attack marking the beginning of his heart issues that would follow him for the next 30 years until his death the 1980s were a bit leaner for george especially the first half his health problems worsened first he was in a car crash in 1981 and the following year he had a second heart attack more serious than the first while attending a baseball game at dodger stadium carlin was rushed to the hospital by limo and he became one of the first people in the world to be the recipient of a new surgical technique using balloon angioplasty to open obstructed arteries since the comedy clubs weren't as packed as they used to be carlin thought it was the right time to renew his acting aspirations he'd always wanted to act his first role came back in 1968 in a romantic comedy titled with six you get egg roll and then in 1976 he had another role in the hit comedy car wash but it wasn't until the late 80s early 90s that carlin received some genuine recognition for his acting he had major supporting roles in outrageous fortunes starring bette midler and shelly long and the prince of tides with nick nolte and barbara streisand but it was his role as rufus in the bill and ted bear of sci-fi comedies that introduced george carl into a new generation of comedy enthusiasts in television colin had a few small roles and produced a pilot for hbo they never got picked up but his longest and the most surprising memorable role was that of mr conductor on the kids show shining time station based on the british show thomas the tank engine it wasn't a role you expected from carlin but that may be exactly why you wanted it and he played it for five years the 1990s and 2000s were more of the same for george khalid multiple hbo comedy specials interspersed with the occasional movie or television role he had his own show for a while the george carlin show created by him and the simpsons co-developer sam simon it ran for 27 episodes but other than that carlin didn't really take on any other time-consuming projects other than stand-up comedy he couldn't afford them carling got into trouble with the irs for unpaid taxes and took him a long time to dig his way out of that hole basically he had to do what was most profitable which in his case meant touring the country and doing comedy gigs he didn't have the luxury of wasting time on an acting career that would have probably gone nowhere but in the end carlin credited his financial troubles with making him a way better comedian during this time carlin also tried his hand at being an author he'd already published his first book in the early 1980s but that was mostly a collection of jokes and stand-up routines in 1997 carlin published what he deemed his first real book brain droppings it became a new york times best seller and was followed by two more books in the early 2000s plus a posthumous autobiography in 2004 carlin checked into rehab for the first time in his life ending a 54-year high that started when he smoked his first joint at the age of 13. he had already given up most drugs but was still on the wine and vicodin diet and he needed some help to kick this last habit once he completed rehab he stayed sober for the remainder of his life in 2005 carlin accepted a new las vegas contract at the stardust it wasn't carlin's first vegas engagement and these gigs always placed him in a quandary on one hand colin absolutely hated las vegas which he called the most dispiriting soul-saddening city on earth in fact he had just been fired from his previous vegas contract at the mgm in 2004 right before checking into rehab because he kept insulting his audience for being stupid enough to come to vegas on the other hand carlin admitted that it was a great place for a comedian to work on new material fresh audiences came to him every night and he didn't have to travel the money was also good and a lot of people in attendance weren't his fans they just received comp tickets so they weren't going to laugh just to humor him carlin worked on his last two hbo specials here with the final one it's bad for you coming out just a few months before his death on june 18 2008 cullen was awarded the mark twain prize for american humor by the kennedy center in a statement carlin responded thank you mr twain have your people call my people five days later he died of heart failure age 71. he'd just performed a show a week earlier and he had already begun work on his next hbo special and was also writing a one-man broadway show called watch my language when george carlin was asked in interviews why he kept working so hard in his old age he liked to quote master cellist pablo casales who said well i'm beginning to notice some improvement

Channel: Biographics

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Length: 20min 4sec (1204 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 08 2022