Friday, May 12, 2006

Happy Birthday George!


“. . . this experiment, this magnificent experiment in democracy is just being shredded to pieces by these right-wing Christians, the Ashcroft branch of Republicanism. (They're) just shredding the rest of the Bill of Rights which hadn't been shredded already.”
-- George Carlin, interview in Idaho Statesman, Jan. 24, 2004

On this date in 1937, George Carlin was born in Manhattan to an Irish Catholic family. The salty stand-up comedian has received two Grammys, for "Fm & Am" (1972) and "Jammin' " (1993). He was arrested for disorderly conduct in Milwaukee in 1972 for performing "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Radio or Television." A case about his right to perform this show on the radio went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Carlin was the first host of Saturday Night Live (1975), and has appeared in 11 HBO specials since 1977. Typical quips: "When evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve." "If churches want to play the game of politics, let them pay admission like everyone else." "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." Carlin inspired the Freedom From Religion Foundation's "Emperor Has No Clothes Award," honoring public figures who "tell it like it is" about religion.

4 comments:

Stardust said...

George Carlin is my all-time favorite, too.

And I too am a huge comedy fan. I would rather watch a comedy show or movie than anything else.

Stardust said...

LOL!!! Yes, I couldn't forget that!

Carlin even makes my 78-year-old father laugh.

One of my all-time favorites is when he talks about "stuff"...we are organizing our house now and cleaning out "stuff" and we do the "stuff" routine while trying to decide which "stuff" to move and which "stuff" to chuck...but we might NEED some "stuff" so can't get rid of it...I don't know why we bother to label our "stuff" in boxes because we never unpack "stuff" and just move the "stuff" from place to place.

Roya said...

I have only seen a couple of his shows on the net, which were great. I love comedy especially when it's about religion.

The Jolly Nihilist said...

I'm a huge Carlin fan. It's extremely rare to find somebody who's such a perfect blend of intelligence, perceptiveness and wit. Although I wasn't crazy about his last HBO special, his previous few had been some of his best material of all time.

I have a continual debate raging in my mind as to which entertainer--Carlin or Penn Jillette--is the better spokesman for atheism.

All I know is, I'm glad to have them both on my side.

Happy Birthday George!