Talk:George Carlin

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[edit] Influenced

Dane Cook's page said that Carlin was one of his influences. Dennis Leary's said the same. Can someone add them? I don't want to screw it up. >_< (Neosystems (talk) 23:04, 16 April 2008 (UTC))

[edit] Nationality

Yesterday I changed nationality from "American" to "United States of America". It was reverted subsequently to "American". There is no use of starting a war of editing, but let me explain my point.

I know "American" is quite common in the USA. But for all others, American refers to somebody or something originating from a continent, not one country of this continent, even not the most populous one.

See also the disussion under Demonym, "Cultural Problems", and the discussion of the article American.

The passage from Demonym runs: Quote - The demonym for citizens of the United States of America suffers a similar problem, because "American" may ambiguously refer to both the USA and North and South America. United Statian is awkward in English, but it exists in Spanish (estadounidense), French (étatsunien(ne)), Portuguese (estado-unidense or estadunidense), Italian (statunitense), and also in Interlingua (statounitese). US American (for the noun) and US-American (when used as a compound modifier preceding a noun) is another option, and is a common demonym in German (US-Amerikaner), though almost unheard of in English. Latin Americans (who are the most affected by this use of American) also have yanqui (Yankee) and the euphemism norteamericano/norte-americano (North American, which includes the USA, Mexico, Canada, and several other countries). Frank Lloyd Wright proposed Usonian (which was taken over into Esperanto: country Usono, demonym Usonano, adjective usona). In the spirit of Sydneysider, Statesider is also a possibility. See main article: Use of the word American.

The 2007 Miss Teen USA contestant Caitlin Upton, who gained international notoriety for her otherwise nonsensical response to a question posed during the pageant, referred to the people of the United States as "U.S. Americans." - End of Quote

The citizens of the USA are indeed using "American" for things or people coming from the USA and tend to believe that the whole world - except a few nuts - does the same. However, as Demonym correctly states, in many languages other than English reference is made to the USA in some way, and not just to America, which is used for the continent only. This sounds rather like the US-Americans usurping the expression "American" on their behalf and for their convenience and just purporting that everybody else does the same.

The US-Americans are free in how they call themselves at home. An international encyclopedia, however, should not be sloppy in such a matter or follow a national particularity, but try to find an internationally acceptable consensus. And this has certainly to take into consideration that for about 6 Billion people "American" refers to the continent and only 300 Million US-Americans use it exclusively for themselves. Especially all North, Central and South Americans, even if not from the USA, must feel concerned by everything "American". Internationally we should thus remain precise and explicitly specify the origin as being the USA. I am open for any suggestion, but US-Americans looks nice to me.

I am Austrian for the records. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.69.24 (talk) 21:11, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Although I understand your point about the continents being the Americas I'm afraid that I have to side on the American as a Nationality for a citizen of the United States of America. To my knowledge it is the only nation in the world to include America in its name. It is also the only currently accepted Nationality for people from the United States on various government forms issued by other nations (i.e. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Just my 2 cents. Jasynnash2 (talk) 15:44, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion

Pictures. We need his scruffy face on here somewhere. Lockeownzj00 19:20, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This is really negative about him. I don't at all agree with the historical perspective on Carlin. I'm a right wing conservative neo-con and have always found him hilarious. Most of information here really doesn't talk about the intellectual side of his comedy - he's actually really intelligent.

I'm a big fan of his, and although there's negative stuff about Carlin in the article I see *NOTHING* that George would personally take offence to. Anything in there that is negative is true (like him being arrested for obscenity) and it shows people how badly he has been treated by the establishment, further fuelling his on-stage tirade against them. It all shows that he's well within his rights to hate their guts and feel personally offended by their actions, and of course return the offending on-stage and entertain us with his thoughts :-) SmUX 00:47, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Call for Organziation

I'm not a Carlin expert, but I know he performed his first HBO show in 1977, followed by his first heart attack in 1978. This article says he stopped performing in 1976 because of a heart attack. I think we need to find out which is correct. The bulk of the 1980s is virtually ignored, yet he must have been performing because I knew who he was when he appeared in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

He once did a bit that I think he called the Comedian Olympics in which he said, "Richard Pryor had a heart attack so I had a heart attack. Richard Pryor had another heart attack so I had another heart attack. Then Richerd Pryor set himself on fire, man. I said fuck that, I'll have another heart attack!" That would lead me to believe he's had three but I don't know what years they were.

Also, how many HBO shows has he done? He seems to appear there almost annually these days. --Feitclub 22:07, Dec 12, 2004 (UTC)

I may be too late -- but so far, he's done 13 HBO specials since 1977... Since 2006 marks his 50th Anniversary in showbiz -- he may do another HBO special to complete such a milestone!!! Wouldn't you agree!?!? --WIKISCRIPPS2K6 FRI MAY 12 2006 10:49 PM EDT

There is also an error in 1997... the article says he did not work for a full year after his wife had died on May 11th...yet I attended one of his shows on July 24th at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton, N.H. He had other shows on his schedule that year... George fan from Boston

[edit] His Military Discharge

Technically he was never given a dishonorable discharge, so I changed the article accordingly. - 8J5

He was given an honorable discharge as a matter of fact. - Anon

[edit] Milwaukee arrest

Although you have his mugshot and copies of his 1972 arrest in Milwaukee there is no mention of it in the article.

Yes, I was going to make the same comment. --Charles 21:42, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
Taken care of by a Milwaukeean.--Orange Mike 03:09, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Best Acceptance Speech

I was flipping through channels once and I saw Carlin give the best acceptance speech I'd ever seen. He was I think getting into the Comedy Hall of Fame. I think his wife was also dying. He looked at the award for a long time, and he looked at his wife, and he said something amazing, like "'Honey, when you and I are in the middle of selling everything we own to keep going, then we'll thank all of you people for the award, and sell it too thinking, 'wasn't that nice.'" He was devastated and in tears. I've misquoted it, but it made me ready to fight a war for George Carlin if he asked me to...

Anyone have a link to that speech?

I don't have the speech, but I must say, I wish I knew how to encyclopedicly add a mention to his VERY marked change in attitude and personality since his wife died compared to how he was before... Anyone remember how jovial he was during George Carlin - Again (in the 70's) with The Hippie-Dippie Weather Man, and in most of hs 80's shows... He was still incredibly snappy, dirty, and critical of religion, politics and corporate America, but it was all with a happy attitude, generally smiling, and an upbeat overhead... In his last 2 shows, he has been very miserable looking, with an emphasis on grumpy, heavily nihilistic routines... Still funny, but just very different in presentation. Is there an encyclopedic way to mention this change in obvious relation to the loss of his wife? Ubergenius 14:24, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
No there isn't, because it's not "obvious", it's conjecture and speculation. It could be because of the loss of his wife, but it could also be his age catching up with him and the medical incidences he's recovered from. Or it could be a combination of all of that. Until we hear him give his perspective on the change, I don't think there's a way to offer a theory in the article itself while staying withing Wikipedia's guidelines. - Ugliness Man 19:08, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
Yes, you are right. Ubergenius 14:24, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
Agreed. Very similar to Mark Twain, a brilliant wit who has lived too long, seen too much, given up on most of it, and now turns his mind towards a bitter deconstruction of the misery he sees around him. Carlin used to have hope. I miss the old him. I hope he can find himself again. Gmuir 17:37, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
I am really sick and tired of people saying that Carlin's wife's death is the reason why he's not the laid-back guy he was in the 70's. First of all, Carlin's darker turn with him wearing all black and satire getting sharper started in the early 90's when his wife was still alive. He's said himself that quitting drugs made him a better writer. Lastly, since his wife's death, he's been in a happy relationship with another woman. He does still struggle with addictions and his wife's death probably didn't help. But he has struggled with it before he even met his wife. MrBlondNYC 00:05, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
You can argue whether his material turning darker is a good thing or a bad thing. You can argue why it changed. You can't dispute that it did change. I stand by the statement I made above. --Gmuir 23:35, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
And you stand alone, and incorrect. --Eleemosynary 06:00, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quotes

I am a huge Carlin fan (I did not discover him until a couple of years ago). I was particularly amazed by his genius on issues of language in general; playing with it and making fun of how we regard and react to language - this immediately struck a chord in me. He has given me hours of pure joy, and there are very few of his things which I don't think is hilarious. Well, enuff of reverence, and to the point:

I think the article would benefit from a "Quotes" section; in my opinion this would be a good introduction to a person who don't know of Carlin, giving hints on what he's all about. I know there are already quotes present in the article, but it would be nice with something like this format:

"I think we're already circling the drain as a species, and I'd love to see the circles get a little faster and a little shorter."
- remarking on his view of human life in a late 1990s interview with Art Bell

I could begin on it, but it would be nice with opinions here first.

My regards, Dennis Nilsson. --Dna-Dennis talk - contribs 17:00, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

PMS. If you like Carlin, check out Bill Hicks too. IMO, not as exquisite; he is more blunt and vulgar (and dead), but often pretty darn hilarious. One of my favorites is his comment on his visit to the JFK assassination museum in Texas: It's really accurate, you know, 'cause Oswald's not in it! DMS. --Dna-Dennis talk - contribs 17:14, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

The quote in the quotes section starts with this: "They're superstitious, they have these beliefs, these primitive, you know, people believe in a., I mean they're just really kind of credulous, and gullible."

Umm... people believe in a what? A god? What did he actually say? - furrykef (Talk at me) 04:06, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

That's what he actually said. You have to realize that the quote was transcribe verbatim, it was what he said the way he said it (or, at least, the way it sounded). It wasn't taken from a book or part of his standup routine, it was a portion of a conversation, and when you're having an unscripted conversation, sometimes there will be minor stuttering and stammering, so that sentences don't get quite finished. I added ellipses to make it a bit more clear, but we also have to consider the possibility that it's not actually "a", it could be "uh..." - Ugliness Man 11:32, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
As much as I like Carlin's material, couldn't at least the two extremely long quotes be moved to (and linked) to WikiQuote? - IstvanWolf 22:17, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
I agree. The quotes are a bit excessive. They might not even belong in Wikiquote; a link to a transcript might be more appropriate. The one on the Sun is fine, though. 72.200.132.221 15:09, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
Links to transcripts would likely be VOC, since all his albums and books are still commercially available. I've been transcribing his albums one at a time for my own personal use, and I wish I could archive them on a publicly available space for the sake of reference, but I really don't see any way to do it without it being a huge copyright violation. - Ugliness Man 11:01, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

I think George Carlin is great. His tone and the way he says stuff is really what sets him apart from other comedians. I was wondering if he ever said anything about "the clue being hidden under the kitchen table"? Not sure I may have heard it somewhere.Sovixeny (talk) 08:33, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] LAUGH IN

I've looked in several online sources including IMDB, the detailed timeline on Carlin's own website, several LAUGH IN fan sites, and a couple of books about television, and I can find no indication anywhere that Carlin ever appeared on LAUGH IN. I used to watch LAUGH IN when Nik at Nite had the re-runs of it several years ago and I don't ever remember him appearing. So, does anyone have a source for this? Is there one somewhere and I'm just missing it? I think if I don't hear back from anyone or can't find a source somewhere else on my own in a few days I'm just going to delete the reference to LAUGH IN.

Will user:will1410

He definitely was in laugh in.

It's an old claim, with no evidence to support it. He was on The Hollywood Palace, The Ed Sullivan Show and the Flip Wilson Show; perhaps it is these old appearances you are thinking of. In any case, I removed the unsubstantiated claim.--Orange Mike 21:54, 20 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] "Raab Himself" incident

If anyone is familiar with the series of CKY videos, created by Bam Margera and Brandon DiCamillo, you should know the skit that George Carlin inspired on CKY. A clip is shown of Carlin saying "...there's some things you never see." and then, "You never see someone taking a shit while running at full speed". Immediately following that, the skit plays, where one of the crew who goes by the name Raab Himself, goes sprinting down the road after injesting 18 laxatives, and actually does just that. It is a hilarious skit, and I think it should be mentioned. I would work on it now, but I am in the middle of typing a project now. I shouldn't even be here right now, I'm obviously sidetracked. If anyone wants to research it and put it in, go for it! If not, I will do so myself at a later time. --Reaper X 21:18, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

I've seen that video, but I don't think it is worth mentioning. CKY is a relatively small and unknown series of videos (although it has a large fanbase, it is very isolated). And it was just straight video from one of Carlin's routines. Not an appearance by him, just a snippit. A mention of George Carlin would be better located on the CKY video page.

[edit] Carlin on Tonight Show 06/14

George Carlin is going to be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday, June 14th! Be sure to tune in! - Alakey2010 12 June 2006, 07:02 PM.

[edit] Oliver Wendel Holmes quote

i searched the link attributed to Holmes and that phrase is not in the linked decision

[edit] Life Goes On

Perhaps this is a bit much for this group to consume and perhaps this should not even be made public in this forum - but our beloved father, George, has a very special lady in his life by the name of Sally Wade. Both reside in Venice, California and have been seen frequenting several local establishments lately. I'm just glad George is doing so well. Cheers you old fart!

[edit] Wedding Vow Recording

I own the reel-to-reel recording of George and Brenda renewing their wedding vows in 1971. The recording has been digitally mastered. It's a very emotional recording which brings back fond memories of times past. Perhaps a small sound clip of the ceromony could be embedded onto the public bio? Interested, contact me and we can work on it. punchline67@yahoo.com

[edit] Birthyear

Was George born in 1936 or 1937? Different sources have different dates.Hotwine8 03:02, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

When he was on the tonight show this year he said that he was 69! 09:11, 25 November 2006 – Alakey2010

[edit] Shining Time Station

Why's there no mention of him as Mr. Conductor on this show? It's a nice contrast to his more profane work... 128.100.37.133 15:32, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

This, however, is mentioned:
By 1989, Carlin had become popular with a new generation of teens when he was cast as Rufus the mentor of the titular characters in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. In 1991, he provided the narrative voice for the American version of the children's show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, a role he continued until 1998.
If you wanna add it somewhere in that paragraph, go for it. I don't know if Thomas is a spin-off of Station or the other way around, so I didn't want to bother trying to word it correctly. - Ugliness Man 16:01, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Frisbeetarianism Contradiction

The {{Contradict-n}} tag on this article should be removed, the Frisbeetarianism article is in need of citation, The onus of a claim is the responsibility of the one making the assertion, not the other way around, George Carlin is known for the use of Frisbeetarianism in his act, the assertion made on September 7, 2005 that “Frisbeetarianism was created in a 1975 skit from The Jim Stafford Show” has no verifiable citation. The user who made it was asked to do so on their user page with no response. --Sirex98 21:27, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] LSD

Carlin has repeatedly said that his introduction to LSD prompted him to abandon the impersonation-based comedy routines which defined his early career and instead perform 'as himself' ... also that it was the major turning point of his life. This should be included.

[edit] Death report last year

Does anyone remember, sometime last year, the report that Carlin had died? Was that vandalism on this site? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.186.80.239 (talk • contribs) 12:43, 4 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Clarification on title changes

There has been a bunch of back-and-forth editing regarding a title change, where the 9/11 attacks have been replaced with Hurricane Katrina, and vice versa, so I hope this clears things up... the album and show which eventually got called "Complaints and Grievances" was originally going to be called "I Kinda Like it When a Lotta People Die" (or something similar), but was changed due to the 9/11 attacks. Then, the album and show which eventually became called "Life is Worth Losing" was also going to be called "I Kinda Like it When a Lotta People Die" (or something similar), but was changed due to Hurricane Katrina. Is that clear enough? - Ugliness Man 17:53, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] HBO stopped showing Complaints and Grievances?

Instead, Back in Town or You Are All Diseased is shown instead of Complaints and Grievances when it is scheduled on HBO. 67.162.108.111 02:58, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

Is this on purpose or just a tv guide mistake? More info plz.

Kst447 (talk) 04:48, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Joe Pesci quote

I just reverted an anonymous edit and wanted to clarify why I did so. Aside from the fact that the addition of mentioning the dog was unneeded and superfluous, it used quotation marks to suggest that Carlin said something which he didn't. For the record, here's the complete quote:

So to get around a lot of this, I decided to worship the sun. But, as I said, I don't pray to the sun. You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that counts. Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't fuck around. In fact, Joe Pesci came through on a couple of things that God was having trouble with. For years I asked God to do something about my noisy neighbor with the barking dog, Joe Pesci straightened that cocksucker out with one visit. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a simple baseball bat.

So he never actually said that Pesci "shut up his neighbour's dog" or whatever variation on that idea was added to the article. - Ugliness Man 23:49, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Formatting Error

Browsing this page I noticed a weird formatting error involving part of the biography section at the bottom of the page. I don't know enought about the formatting code, so I thought I'd bring it to the attention of those who do.

Also, might want to check on a possible neutrality issue in the 2000's section. Do we really know that Pryor was voted ahead based on a sympathy vote, if so, cite it. Cmay632 06:04, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Second best Stand-up?

I thought he was the third, behind Bill Hicks (#1) and Richard Pryor (#2). Anyone care to share? --MajinVegeta 21:28, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

  • 100_Greatest_Stand-ups_of_All_Time--207.5.122.137 22:55, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
I don't know where Bill Hicks was ranked but I do know that it was 1) Richard Pryor and George Carlin came in 2nd. – Alakey2010 04:56, 20 June 2007 (CST)

[edit] Biography assessment rating comment

WikiProject Biography Assessment

This is very close to being a GA, if not one already.

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Yamara 21:05, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Atheism

The note of Carlin's atheism being questionable is ridiculous. This is weakly backed up by a quote of him noting that he essentially does not reject notions of the spirit. Atheism is the lack of a belief in god, not the lack of subscription to spirituality altogether. I am sorry, I am a wiki-noob an am unfamiliar with the etiquette of signing posts.

I agree with you in theory, but this is Wikipedia, and we have to go with facts which can be backed up with external citations; given what evidence we have (and more importantly, what evidence we don't have) we don't know for certain what Carlin actually believes or doesn't believe, so we have to go with what he's said. Yes, he had that bit called "There is no God" on You Are All Diseased. In interviews he's qualified that by stating that he's specifically referring to the Judeo-Christian "invisible man in the clouds" version of God, and that he doesn't really know enough about the various other religions' deities to authoritatively say that they're all bullshit. Remember, what a comedian says when they're on stage isn't always the whole story, since the whole story isn't always good comedy. He goes out of his way to not identify himself speficially as an atheist. While it's true that him avoiding that label doesn't tell us what he does believe in, but we have to have the article reflect what he's said, not what we think he means. Oh, as for signing posts, all you need to remember is four tildes. - Ugliness Man 08:20, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
It's common knowledge that Carlin considers all religions as superstition. This by his statements both on and off stage.--BMF81 09:50, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
Uglinessman - you misunderstand the meaning of the word 'Atheism' - it simply means a lack of belief. 61.91.35.101 (talk) 13:14, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Comedy Special for 2008

According to IMDB, his next special has been announced and will be called The Parade of Useless Bullshit. The George Carlin website is down at the moment, so I can't verify anything yet. CardinalFangZERO 10:48, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

In a recent on-line interview George Carlin himself said he was going to do another HBO special but he did not give a date. Here is the link to the video: link. – Alakey2010 04:55, 20 June 2007 (CST)
i can't wait--we need to cite an official HBO release ASAP. 207.29.128.130 17:10, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wife's information

In the article, under the 1960's heading, it says ' In 1961 [emphasis mine], Carlin married Brenda Hosbrook... ' while in the information box it says spouse from July 3, 1963. I am under the impression he was married in 1961 and his daughter was born in 1963, but I don't know for sure. Hopefully someone who knows the answer to this can fix it, I see the discrepancy but am unsure of what is correct.198.232.29.99 17:52, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] George Carlin, jewish?

Is george carlin jewish? His surname is jewish so I was wondering if anyone knows if he has jewish ancestry? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.69.76.35 (talk) 19:04, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Not that I know of. If he is, he is an Atheist Jew, because of his satire of bullshit. Candleof Hope 17:35, 17 November 2007 (UTC)
George Carlin was an Irish Catholic. In fact, he had to quit the Catholics, because they were after his soul. They had announced it to him, "All we want... your mortal soul." And he had heard about soul... long before he had heard about Catholic, he had heard about soul... and all they ever kept saying was, "Save it! Save your soul... save your SOUL!" And the Catholics were after his! So he said, "No good man! I'm savin' my soul. Shine it up... use it on the weekends..." Famartin (talk) 18:02, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

He is an Atheist. He will always be one too.

[edit] Carlin's logo

Should mention his logo is of his cat fucking his dog (or is it the other way around?), which was mentioned in several acts (both pets are dead now.) JAF1970 (talk) 06:11, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

I've never seen that logo! It's sounds hilarious though!

It's not necessarily his logo, but rather the logo for Cablestuff Productions, which is the company that produces his specials. I'm not exactly sure if it George's company, but Brenda Carlin, his wife until her death, was a CEO. CardinalFangZERO (talk) 06:51, 8 March 2008 (UTC)