George Carlin

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and social critic. He was known for his black comedy and reflections on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. He and his "seven dirty words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves. Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comics of all time, Carlin was dubbed by one newspaper to be "the dean of counterculture comedians".

The first of Carlin's 14 stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. From the late 1980s, Carlin's routines focused on sociocultural criticism of American society. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975.

Carlin's final HBO special, It's Bad for Ya, was filmed less than four months before his death from cardiac arrest. In 2008, he was posthumously awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him second (behind Richard Pryor) on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time. In 2004, he placed second on the Comedy Central list of "Top 10 Comedians of US Audiences".

Early life
George Denis Patrick Carlin was born on May 12, 1937, in Manhattan, New York, the younger son of secretary Mary Carlin (née Bearey) and The Sun's advertising manager Patrick John Carlin. His father was an Irish immigrant from County Donegal, while his mother was an Irish-American. Carlin's maternal grandfather, Dennis Bearey, was an Irish immigrant who worked as an NYPD officer. Carlin recalled that his grandmother's maiden name was O'Grady, but it was changed to Grady before she reached the U.S. He joked that they "dropped the O in the ocean on the way here". He named his character on The George Carlin Show O'Grady as an act of homage to her. His parents separated when he was two months old because of his father's alcoholism. Mary raised Carlin and his older brother, Patrick Jr., on her own.

Carlin said that he picked up an appreciation for the effective use of the English language from his mother, though they had a difficult relationship, and he often ran away from home. He grew up on West 121st Street, in a neighborhood of Manhattan he said he and his friends called "White Harlem" because that "sounded a lot tougher than its real name" of Morningside Heights. He attended Corpus Christi School, a Roman Catholic parish school of the Corpus Christi Church in Morningside Heights. He went to The Bronx for high school but, after three semesters, Carlin was expelled from Cardinal Hayes High School at age 15. He briefly attended Bishop Dubois High School in Harlem and the Salesian High School in Goshen, New York. He spent many summers at Camp Notre Dame on Spofford Lake in Spofford, New Hampshire, and regularly won the camp's drama award. Much later in life, he requested that a portion of his ashes be spread at the lake after his death.

Carlin joined the United States Air Force and trained as a radar technician. He was stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana. He also began working as a disc jockey at radio station KJOE, in nearby Shreveport. Labeled an "unproductive airman" by his superiors, Carlin received a general discharge on July 29, 1957. During his time in the Air Force, he had been court-martialed three times, and also received many nonjudicial punishments and reprimands.

Carlin met Brenda Hosbrook in August 1960 while touring with Burns and Carlin in Dayton, Ohio. They were married at her parents' home in Dayton on June 3, 1961.The couple's only child, Kelly, was born on June 15, 1963. In 1971, they renewed their wedding vows in Las Vegas. Hosbrook died of liver cancer on May 11, 1997, the day before Carlin's 60th birthday.

In November 1997, Carlin met Sally Wade, a comedy writer based in Hollywood; Carlin described it as "love at first sight", but was hesitant to act on his feelings so soon after his wife's death.They eventually married on June 24, 1998, in a private, unregistered ceremony. The marriage lasted until Carlin's death in 2008, two days before their tenth anniversary.

In a 2008 interview, Carlin stated that using cannabis, LSD, and mescaline helped him in his personal life.

Although born to a Catholic family, Carlin rejected religion.

Carlin had a history of cardiac problems spanning three decades. These included three heart attacks (in 1978, 1982, and 1991), an arrhythmia requiring an ablation procedure in 2003, and a significant episode of heart failure in late 2005. He twice underwent angioplasty to unblock clogged arteries.[60] In late 2004, he entered a drug rehabilitation facility for treatment of addictions to alcohol and Vicodin.

Carlin died on June 22, 2008 at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, of cardiac arrest at age 71. His death occurred one week after his last performance at The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In accordance with his wishes his body was cremated, and the ashes were scattered in front of various nightclubs he played in New York City and over Spofford Lake, in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, where he attended summer camp as an adolescent.

Animated Series

 * Thomas & Friends (1991-1996) - Narrator (Seasons 1-4) (US Dub)