There are many people who don’t get George Carlin. They think his routines are too misanthropic (“People are stupid”), too anti-religious (“Religion is bullsh*t”), or misogynistic (“rape can be funny”). Judge them from the titles alone, and you aren’t deriving any appreciation of what an impact Carlin, who died today at age 71, had on the comedy scene over the past 50 years.George Carlin was the kind of guy who could curse a blue streak, FCC be damned. (For a time capsule into how our understanding of obscenity has evolved, as well as how a treatise on obscenity can be rendered intelligently and as a thing of beauty, check out his routine about the 7 words you can’t say on television. Or if you’re sensitive to obscenity, look below for some more family friendly alternates.)Carlin resented censorship and wasn’t shy about it…but even within his survey of foul language, you can see a mind that was razor sharp, intelligent and insightful. He was a man obsessed with the peculiarities of humanity, our inconsistencies and eccentricities in everything from eating habits to religious observance. His routines were more than just setup, punch line/setup, punch line. They were delicate dances within language and delving into human personality. To experience Carlin in a relatively family-friendly manner, try this analysis of Baseball and Football, or one of his more famous routines, “Stuff”:



posted June 23, 2008 at 9:05 pm
He was brilliant! We need more people like him who spoke truth to power and showed us how insipid our culture could be. He was inspiring, I’ll miss his humor.
posted June 24, 2008 at 2:48 am
” Weather tonight ~ Dark”
George Carlin
posted June 24, 2008 at 7:21 am
I am so glad I invested in some of HIS “STUFF” years ago…my children learned to appreciate his attitudes and his talents….A big hole in good comic relief now exists…except for the memories..thank you, George.
posted June 24, 2008 at 8:57 am
He was a thinking persons comedian. He will be missed.
posted June 24, 2008 at 10:21 am
He will be missed. He was one of a kind. He made us laugh, look at ourselves and think. On leftovers in the fridge, I still don’t know if it is “meat” or “cake”!
My condolences to his loved ones. We have all lost someone special with his passing. Thank you for sharing his sense of humor with the rest of us.
posted June 24, 2008 at 11:04 am
George, I miss you!
posted June 24, 2008 at 11:11 am
Strange….Can’t remember a time in my life that there wasn’t a George Carlin…and now I can’t imagine a life without him.
posted June 24, 2008 at 11:32 am
George Carlin is NOT a cultural hero!!!!!!
He pioneered the “no holds barred” style of comedy that created
the “Life on the D List” mentality. Yes, he was a genius–but it was
a genius of perversity! Comedy which undermines TRUE moral values is
NOT comedy—it is tragedy!!!
Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton are better role models for comedy!!!
Kenneth Macari
posted June 24, 2008 at 11:41 am
George Carlin was my favorite comedian. He had a unique talent of putting some of the harsh realities of truth into comedy and made us laugh. His style and gift of gab will be missed.
posted June 24, 2008 at 11:47 am
george carlin was a genius comic who not only made us laugh but also made us think. the world won’t be the same without him. while i also do enjoy comics like ray romano he can’t even be put in the same class with carlin. show a little respect for the deceased. blessed be.
posted June 24, 2008 at 12:15 pm
George is in heaven making them laugh now.
No one was like him nor will there ever be
a replacement. i rember listening to his
records(that’s how long it’s been since I’ve
love his humor).thanks, george for the laughs.
posted June 24, 2008 at 12:39 pm
From most of the posts I’ve read here, one would think this was disbeliefnet. “George is in heaven making them laugh now,” really! If he is, he’s doing so against his will, because Carlin hated religion.
posted June 24, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I quess the amazing thing to me is that belief net is open minded enough to praise geprge carlin. unless i am gravely wrong, he was an atheist. How could he be making people laugh in heaven when he distained the whole idea of God/heaven. This morning i saw a cartoon featuring Carlin at the heavenly gates.
Don’t get me wrong. I have been a fan of his comedy since the 70′s. He was funny. I just have a hard time reconciling the routine where he dared God to stike him dead “right now”.with anything religious.
I am not in favor of villifying his memory ,but why try to cast him in any light that touches on religion. I think Csrlin would appreciate the irony of a cartoon depicting him at the Pearly Gates with God saying, “it took a few years but I honored your request for me to stike you down.”
posted June 24, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Rest in peace, you liberal cataclyst!
posted June 24, 2008 at 1:06 pm
George Carlin will be sadly missed. I grew up with him and he always made me laugh. Even listening to the above he made me laugh. I hope GOD has a good sense of humor, he will need it with George around.
posted June 24, 2008 at 2:22 pm
As long as I can remember, George adored his Wife, who sadly died well before he did and this cut him deepl. George spent much time helping her through it with much hope, faith & love I am sure. Yes he was tested and seemed quite twisted after her death, but I am sure his hurt came out in strange ways to many of us. May the Lord grant him peace and reunite him with his beloved Wife…George you made so many of us laugh with you, at you and because of you and all in good fun…You are just the man to go before our Lord on behalf of us humans, with such good humor that even Jesus will put his hand on your shoulder & say, but Father, he is just so funny, let him spend some time with us here in Heaven and just look at how much he adores the women you sent him…surely Father, George must be worthy of these promises…Rest(Party on) in peace.
posted June 24, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I think that in his own way George Carlin was more religious than many modern-day
Pharisees and whited sepulchres.
posted June 24, 2008 at 3:50 pm
George Carlin was so sophisticated in his style of comedy even up to the last HBO special I saw maybe not even a year ago – smart, funny, and right on the money about so much of life – things we don’t want to admit to ourselves – like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin told the truth, showed us the truth and even if it was anti everything, we knew what he was saying was so – and so incredibly funny in the way he was saying it. Anti-religious? maybe – Spiritual? Most likely very much so. Brought up Catholic (like myself) we all eventually rebelled against it but we have our own beliefs, faith and spiritual needs like everyone else – we’re just not going to shove it down anyone’s throat. George was able to joke about it in a way that people like myself could really relate to – but in the end, anyone who attends Catholic school their entire lives has some semblence of spirituality whether they believe it or not – its inherent. George’s comedy was so smart and sophisticated – way over the heads of most religious type people. Catholics, Jews and just about any privately educated person are way smarter, more sophisticated and urban-slick compared to alot of the middle, middle class in this country. We get George – they don’t. That’s it in a nutshell. Beliefnet happens to be run by very hip believers!
posted June 24, 2008 at 8:18 pm
There are few celebrities I would miss half as much as George Carlin. He was one of the most brilliant comedians I’ve ever seen and certainly the most insightful. He had such a way of taking the ordinary, everyday things that we take for granted and turning them inside out in order to point out the ridiculousness in life. I’ve been quoting him almost my entire life, it seems. Thank you, George, for putting the human condition in perspective-you will be missed more than you know!
posted June 24, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I always really enjoyed George through most of his career. He was smart and funny. He had so many routines that showed deep insight into human nature and made funny of the inconsistentcies in all of us.
But in the later years, he became more and more open about his atheism, and in my opinon became too anti-church and anti-christian. There is great fault in all of us, we are all weak and sinful. But that man does not follow God’s will, doesn’t mean that God does not exist. It just means we should love him more for his mercy and grace! It made me sad for him and harder to watch him.
Matthew 10:32, Exodus 20:7 God is a merciful God, may he have mercy on his soul. We will miss you George!
posted June 24, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I spent my entire life growing up with George’s humor and hearing about his death took my breath away like I lost a relative. His style was and is like no on elses because he speaks the truth but there’s never a dull moment and always something to make you stop and think. He found humor in everything but yet could make you seriously stop and go hmmm. The man was definitely one of a kind and I am so grateful I had the chance to spend my life laughing with him.
posted June 24, 2008 at 10:47 pm
A brilliant mind was lost with the passing of George Carlin. Just the sound of his voice made me smile and start to laugh in anticipation of his humor. I cried when I heard the news of his death even though I knew he was ailing.
posted June 26, 2008 at 11:26 am
I am no fan of obscenity and I am a religiously observant person, so why did I love George Carlin and his humor so much?
Because he was a focused observer of human nature, deft with language and graceful to watch. I never saw his religious humor as against God, but rather as against organized religion and its leaders, who claim to know first-hand what God wants. Likewise with government, where elected officials seem to act as if they are above the law, not a result of it.
His obscene language could be overlooked for the sake of seeing what he was really saying. I did not always agree, but I could understand his point and that helped clarify my own attitudes. He was a great thinker, and I was proud to introduce his philosophizing to our kids. We will all miss him.
posted July 3, 2008 at 10:21 am
Wow, what a shock it was the other day,when I went online,and saw that George Carlin had just died. We had just been watching him on cable tv. and, were laughing ourselves silly.
He, like so many,many other people here, have already said, was such a brilliant man with his wonderful insight into human nature, politics,religion.
He could take any situation, and make us really think about it.
I think my favorite,and also my family’s, was the 7 words you can’t say on television. In fact, I think we just saw that one a couple of months ago, and just rolled with laughter,until tears were rolling down our cheeks. I grew up on his humor,as well. He was one of my parents favorite comedians,and my sisters and I heard him more times than I can count. I was,like another commenter said, blown away, and my breath taken away at the news of his passing. He will be sorely missed by myself,my family,and I know,by millions. Rest in Peace George. We will miss you greatly.