George Carlin Essay, Research Paper

George Carlin

?When JFK Jr. gets into a New York taxi to go to the airport does he say, ?Take me to JFK, and how does he feel about that.1?

?I don?t like trendy foods. When I hear saut?ed boneless panda groin,? I think I?m in the wrong place. There is such a thing as pretentious food. Puree of woodchuck, marinated bat nipples, weasel chops, porcupine cacciatore. Or fried eagle. ? A guy said to me recently C?mon we?ll go to Baxter?s, they have really good fried eagle.? I?m thinking do I really wanna know this person 2?

There you have it two good examples that give you the insight to the mind of George Carlin.

George Carlin was born on May 12, 1938, in Manhattan?s Morningside Heights. Which as Carlin grew up he called ?White Harlem.3? In 1940 Carlin dad, a newspaper advertiser died, and forced his mother to go to work to support the family. Working as a secretary, George and his brother Patrick, spent much of there time alone around the house and the neighborhood. Because he was, alone a lot Carlin became a harsh critic of the world around him. Carlin was a class clown in school, never turned in his homework, and when he did, it was so sloppy that you would need the Rosetta Stone to decipher it. At the age of fourteen, Carlin began to see through organized religion and that prompted him to drop out of Catholic high school. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the Air Force, and was assigned a radar mechanic on the B-47 airplanes. There in Shreveport La. He met a radio station owner, Joe Monroe, of KJOE. There he was asked to disc- jockey and be a newscaster. By the time, he was twenty; he had his equivalency diploma, military obligation completed and had three years radio experience. After his discharge from the Air Force, he moved from radio station, to radio station. In Fort Worth, Texas, he met up with Jack Burns, and Carlin now had someone to feed off. The peddled their act to local coffeehouses and even graced The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 1962, Burns broke up with Carlin, and he reassessed his act. Moreover, for three years he sat around and absorbed all of the crap the world was getting into. In Late 1965 he appeared on the Merv Griffen Show and evolved the ?News Caste,? and Wonderful Wino. For five years, he used the Wino/Caste act, but then in 1970 he had a revelation: ?I?m pissed off!? 4 Then, shortly after his Las Vegas show was cancelled because of fowl language. The revolution had begun. Before this, comics and actors had to be careful about what they said on radio or television. Nevertheless, Carlin broke those rules, saying what was on his mind and then some. A supreme Satirist, Carlin abused anything and everything, from Nixon to the Beatles. The big event came in 1972 when Carlin was arrested at Summerfest in Milwaukee, for doing his Seven Words You Can?t Say on TV

After that his popularity skyrocketed, he brought up freedom of speech issues and the public listened. One critic wrote, ? Carlin is physical and abashed up there. He lurches about like an orangutan pausing to do impromptu calisthenics or to unburden his larynx with a few grunts, guttural growls, or primal screams. His repertoire of gestures and subverbal sounds is that of teenage oaf in an ecstasy of boredom ? the class clown in short.

In closing, I will leave you with a quote, 5 ?You Know when you?re In a Small Town When:

1. The restaurant closes at lunch so the waitress can go home and eat.

2. The mayor?s name is ?Greasy Dick, and besides appearing on the ballot it also is on his drivers license.

3. The Fashion Boutique/Post Office is located in one corner of the hardware store between the used milking machines, and the pay toilet.

4. The police station is closed evenings and weekends, but is has lit sign that gives time and temperature.

5. The newspaper prints the crossword puzzle on the front-page right above the fold and the answers right below.

6. The zip code has three digits and has a decimal point.

7. The Narcotics Anonymous Chapter has only one member and he whacked out on ranch dressing.

Bibliography:

George Carlin, Brain Droppings (Easton Press, 1997)

Charles Moritz, Current Biography(H.W. Wilson, 1976)

Footnotes:

1. George Carlin, Brain Droppings(Easton Press,1997)259

2. Carlin 8

3. Carlin 23

4. Carlin 65

5. Carlin 21

Bibliography

Brain droppings