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GUEST: George Carlin, the late stand-up comic and social commentator

America’s funniest counter-culture hero, George Carlin, passed away this weekend at the age of 71. He died in Santa Monica of heart failure. The celebrated stand-up comic tackled all the taboo subjects: religion, patriotism, sex, drugs, and death. Combining hilarious delivery with biting social commentary, Carlin’s four-decade-long career influenced top-notch comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Carlin was particularly unafraid of offending people. His infamous “seven-dirty-words” routine aired on Pacifica station WBAI in New York, resulting in a landmark lawsuit, Pacifica vs. the FCC. As a result, those words cannot be mentioned on the public airwaves anymore. Carlin was a disciple of Lenny Bruce and found inspiration in Richard Pryor. His brand of comedy was unique – instead of subject threads that ended in punchlines, Carlin’s commentary on American society was named “observational humor.” Despite his battles with drug addiction and heart problems, Carlin hosted the first ever Saturday Night Live, produced 23 comedy albums, appeared in 16 films, 14 HBO specials, wrote five books and has had more television appearances than Wikipedia can count.

You’ve heard the “seven-dirty-words” routine several times on the air lately, so today, in memory of George Carlin, we’ll play two excerpts of recent performances. The first is about religion and human rights. The second is about education, and the American ruling class.