George Carlin, one of my favorite comedians, died today. You can read some history on the man in this New York Times article:
George Carlin, Irreverent Comedian, Dies at 71
“George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” died in Santa Monica, Calif., on Sunday, according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He was 71.”
One of the best interviews with him I’ve read was from The Onion’s A.V. Club:
George Carlin
“AVC: Still, whenever someone says “fuck” on TV, it’s referred to as “one of George Carlin’s seven words.” That’s quite a legacy.
GC: Yeah, and I’m in a lot of articles that are even more serious, about obscenity and indecency. It’s nice to be a kind of footnote in legal history. That’s how I think of myself. It’s kind of interesting and fun. It’s a perverse badge of honor to be the only comedian whose routines were the subject of a case in the United States Supreme Court. The august, history-ridden Supreme Court. And I hear all the time from college students that in their communications-law classes and even just plain old law classes, a lot of professors want them to study the Pacifica case. And sometimes they play the routine for them, from that third album.”
The Pacifica case is an interesting one.
Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica
Case Summary for Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica
Seven dirty words
Posted by Vixen as News at 10:31 PM CDT