Carlin is especially noted for his irreverent attitude and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. In fact, Carlin 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 narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate the public airwaves.
George Carlin's latest stand up routines were primarily focused on attacking the flaws in modern-day America. He often took on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture.
He is considered by many to have been a successor to the late Lenny Bruce and was ranked by Comedy Central as the second greatest stand-up comedian of all time behind Richard Pryor.
Born in New York City, New York, George Carlin grew up on West 121st Street, in a neighborhood of Manhattan which he later said he and his friends called "White Harlem", because that sounded a lot tougher than its real name, "Morningside Heights". "General Grant was one of my neighbors," he would say later. He was raised by his mother, who left his father when Carlin was two years old. At age 14, Carlin dropped out of Cardinal Hayes High School and later joined the United States Air Force, training as a radar technician. He was stationed at Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, Louisiana.
During this time he began working as a disc jockey on KJOE, a radio station based in the nearby city of Shreveport. He did not complete his Air Force enlistment. Labeled an "unproductive airman" by his superiors, Carlin was discharged on July 29, 1957. In 1959, Carlin and Jack Burns began as a comedy team when both were working for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth. After successful performances at Fort Worth's beat coffeehouse, The Cellar, the two headed for California in February 1960 and stayed together for two years as a team before moving on to individual pursuits. In the 1960s, Carlin began appearing on television variety shows, notably The Ed Sullivan Show.
Eventually, Carlin changed both his routines and his appearance. He lost some TV bookings by dressing strangely for a comedian of the time, wearing faded jeans and sporting a beard and earrings at a time when clean-cut, well-dressed comedians were in vogue. Using his own persona as a springboard for his new comedy, he was presented by Ed Sullivan in a performance of "The Hair Piece," and quickly regained his popularity as the public caught on to his sense of style.
In this period he also perfected what is perhaps his best-known routine, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", recorded on Class Clown, a routine which offended some. Carlin was arrested in 1972 at Milwaukee's Summerfest and charged with violating obscenity laws after performing this routine. In 1973, a man complained to the FCC that his son had heard a later, similar routine, "Filthy Words", from Occupation: Foole, broadcast one afternoon over WBAI, a Pacifica Foundation FM radio station in New York City. Pacifica received a citation from the FCC, which sought to fine Pacifica for allegedly violating FCC regulations which prohibited broadcasting "obscene" material. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC action, by a vote of 5 to 4, ruling that the routine was "indecent but not obscene", and the FCC had authority to prohibit such broadcasts during hours when children were likely to be among the audience. F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978).
The controversy only increased Carlin's fame (or notoriety). Carlin eventually expanded the dirty-words theme with a seemingly interminable end to a performance (ending with his voice fading out in one HBO version, and accompanying the credits in the Carlin at Carnegie special for the 1982-83 season), and a set of 49 web pages organized by subject and embracing his "Incomplete List Of Impolite Words". Ironically, the court documents contain a complete transcript of the routine, perhaps validating what Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. said: "You cannot define obscenity without being obscene."
Carlin was the first-ever host of NBC's Saturday Night Live, debuting on October 11, 1975. (He also hosted SNL on November 10, 1984.) The following season, 1976-77, Carlin also appeared regularly on CBS Television's Tony Orlando & Dawn variety series.
In the 1970s, Carlin became known for unpredictable performances. He would walk off if no one laughed, verbally insult the audience, or simply not appear.
Carlin unexpectedly stopped performing regularly in 1976, when his career appeared to be at its height. For the next five years, he rarely appeared to perform stand-up, although it was at this time he began doing specials for HBO as part of its "On Location" series. His first two HBO specials aired in 1977 and 1978. It was later revealed that Carlin had suffered the first of his three heart attacks during this layoff period.
In 1981, Carlin returned to the stage, releasing A Place For My Stuff, considered by many to be his best album since Class Clown, and making a triumphant return to HBO (and to his hometown) with the Carlin at Carnegie special videotaped at Carnegie Hall and airing during the 1982-83 season. Carlin continued doing HBO specials every year or every other year over the following decade and a half. All of Carlin's albums from this time forward are the HBO specials.
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 and reprised his role in the film sequel Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey as well as the first season of the cartoon series. 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. He played "Mr. Conductor" on the PBS children's show Shining Time Station which featured Thomas from 1991 to 1993. Also in 1991, Carlin had a major supporting role in the movie Prince of Tides along with Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand.
Carlin began a weekly sitcom, The George Carlin Show, cast as "George O'Grady", a New York City cab driver, for the Fox Network in 1993. He quickly included a variation of the "Seven Words" in the plot. The show lasted 27 episodes before being canceled in December 1995.
In 1997, a day before Carlin's sixtieth birthday, his wife Brenda died of liver cancer. Also in 1997, his first book, entitled Brain Droppings, was released, which had sold over 750,000 copies as of 2001.
In 1999, Carlin returned with an appearance in Kevin Smith's film Dogma as a greedy Roman Catholic cardinal. He worked with Smith again with a cameo appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and in an unusual change, Carlin portrayed a prominent, serious role in Jersey Girl as the blue collar dad of Ben Affleck's character.
In 2001, Carlin was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Annual American Comedy Awards.
In December 2003, California U.S. Representative Doug Ose introduced a bill (H.R. 3687) to outlaw the broadcast of Carlin's seven "dirty words", including "compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms)". (The bill omits "tits", but includes "ass" and "asshole", which were not part of Carlin's original routine.)
In December 2004, Carlin announced that he would be voluntarily entering a drug rehabilitation facility to receive treatment for his dependency on alcohol and painkillers.
In 2004, George Carlin was ranked #2 on Comedy Central's 100 greatest standups of all time list, behind Richard Pryor.
For years, Carlin performed regularly as a headliner in Las Vegas, but in the spring of 2006 decided to end his performing there. He began a tour through the first-half of 2006, and had a new HBO Special on November 5, 2005 entitled Life is Worth Losing, which was shown live from the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Topics covered included suicide, natural disasters (and the impulse to see them escalate in severity), cannibalism, genocide, human sacrifice, threats to civil liberties in America, and how an argument can be made that humans are inferior to animals. The tour's original title of "I Kinda Like it When a Lotta People Die" was changed because of the Hurricane Katrina disaster which occurred 2 months before the tour started.
On February 1, 2006, Carlin mentioned to the crowd, during his Life is Worth Losing set at the Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, California, that he had been discharged from the hospital only six weeks previously for "heart failure" and "pneumonia", citing the appearance as his "first show back".
Carlin provided the voice of Fillmore, a character in the Pixar animated feature Cars, which opened in theatres on June 9, 2006. The character Fillmore is a VW Microbus, whose front license plate reads "51237" — Carlin's birthday — and is also the zip code of a town in Iowa named George.
Carlin has often denounced the idea of God in interviews and performances, most notably with his "Invisible Man in the Sky" and "There Is No God" routines. In mockery he invented the parody religion Frisbeetarianism for a newspaper contest. He defined it as the belief that when one dies "his soul gets flung onto a roof, and just stays there", and cannot be retrieved.
Carlin has also facetiously stated he worships the Sun, because he can actually see it, but prays to Joe Pesci (his good friend in real life) because "he's a good actor", and "looks like a guy who can get things done!", and praying to him has approximately the same 50% success rate as praying to God. The extent to which Carlin is an atheist, however, may be somewhat questionable.
In an interview on CNN's Larry King Live, Carlin described his religious beliefs as "acrostic," commenting that the intricate nature of spirituality is comparable to a puzzle and altogether confusing at times. Thus, even though he does not subscribe to organized religion, he also does not maintain those absolute views that can be found in his comedic act in his everyday life. When it comes to religion, Carlin notes that there are far more questions than answers.
On June 18, 2008, it was announced that George Carlin would be awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said that Carlin would be honoured for his 50-year career as a Grammy-winning standup comedian, writer, and actor.
Carlin died of heart failure in Santa Monica, CA on June 22, 2008 at the age of 71. He had a history of cardiovascular issues, including several heart attacks. He was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor posthumously becoming the award's eleventh recipient.
Carlin has released 22 solo albums and three bestselling books. He starred in a variety of TV and movie roles and remains the only stand-up comedian whose act was at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Rape Can Be Funny
George Carlin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You know that. Lots of people. Lots of groups in this country want to tell you how to talk.
Tell you what you can't talk about. Well, sometimes they'll say, well you can talk about something but you can't joke about it.
Say you can't joke about something because it's not funny. Comedians run into that shit all the time.
Like rape. They'll say, "you can't joke about rape. Rape's not funny."
I say, "fuck you, I think it's hilarious. How do you like that?"
I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd.
See, hey why do you think they call him "Porky," eh? I know what you're going to say.
"Elmer was asking for it. Elmer was coming on to Porky.
Porky couldn't help himself, he got a hard- on, he got horney, he lost control, he went out of his mind."
A lot of men talk like that. A lot of men think that way. They think it's the woman's fault.
They like to blame the rape on the woman. Say, "she had it coming, she was wearing a short skirt."
These guys think women ought to go to prison for being cock teasers. Don't seem fair to me.
Don't seem right, but you can joke about it. I believe you can joke about anything.
It all depends on how you construct the joke. What the exaggeration is. What the exaggeration is.
Because every joke needs one exaggeration. Every joke needs one thing to be way out of proportion.
Give you an example. Did you ever see a news story like this in the paper?
Every now and then you run into a story, says, "some guy broke into a house, stole a lot of things, and while he was in there, he raped an 81 year old woman."
And I'm thinking to myself, "WHY??? What the fuck kind of a social life does this guy have?"
I want to say, "why did you do that?" "Well she was coming on to me. We were dancing and I got horney.
Hey, she was asking for it, she had on a tight bathrobe." I'll say, "Jesus Christ, be a little fucking selective next time will you?"
Now, speaking of rape, do you know what I wonder? I wonder is there more rape at the equator or the north pole.
These are the kind of things I think about when I'm sitting home alone and the power goes out.
I wonder is there more rape at the equator or the north pole. I mean per capita, I know the populations are different.
Most people think it's the equator, I think it's the north pole.
People think it's the equator because it's hot down there, they don't wear a lot of clothing, guys can see women's tits, they get horney and there's a lot of fucking going on.
That's exactly why there's less rape at the equator. Because there's a lot of fucking going on.
You can tell there's a lot of fucking at the equator, take a look at the population figures.
Billions of people live near the equator. How many Eskimos do we have?
Thirty? Thirty five? No one's getting laid at the north pole, it's too fucking cold.
Guys say to their wives, "hey tonight honey, huh, tonight, huh?"
"Are you crazy? The wind chill factor is three hundred below."
These guys are deprived. Their horney. Their pent up. Every now and then...p-pmm...they bust out, they got to rape somebody.
Now, the biggest problem an Eskimo rapist has, trying to get wet leather leggings off a woman who is kicking.
Did you ever try to get leather pants off of someone who doesn't want to take them off?
You would lose your hard-on in the process.
Up at the north pole you dick would shrivel up like a stack of dimes.
That's another thing I wonder.
I wonder, does a rapist have a hard-on when he leaves the house in the morning,
or does he develop it during the day while he's walking around looking for somebody.
These are the kind of thoughts that kept me out of the really good schools.
The song "Rape Can Be Funny" by George Carlin is a sarcastic and provocative commentary on censorship and social taboos. The lyrics express Carlin's belief that one should be able to joke about anything, including sensitive and controversial topics such as rape. He argues that comedy is a way of dealing with difficult and painful issues and that it should be allowed to explore them freely without restrictions or moral judgments.
Carlin takes issue with those who try to control what comedians can or cannot say and who invoke moral or ethical standards to limit their freedom of expression. He sees humor as a way of exposing and criticizing social norms and values, and of challenging the status quo. He uses exaggeration and absurdity to shock and provoke his audience, and to make them think about the underlying assumptions and prejudices that inform their attitudes towards rape and other sensitive topics.
The lyrics also contain a criticism of the way society tends to blame the victim in cases of rape, and of how some men use rape as a justification for their own violent or abusive behavior towards women. Carlin exposes the hypocrisy and double standards of those who blame women for dressing provocatively or for being sexually active, and who see them as deserving of rape or punishment. He argues that such attitudes are unjust and unhelpful, and that they perpetuate a culture of violence and victimization.
Overall, the song "Rape Can Be Funny" is a bold and controversial commentary on taboo subjects and social norms. It challenges the audience to question their assumptions and prejudices, and to embrace the value of free expression and critical thinking. However, it is a highly divisive and inflammatory piece of work that may offend many people, and that raises important questions about the limits of humor and the responsibilities of artists and comedians in addressing sensitive and controversial topics.
Line by Line Meaning
Ohhh, some people don't like you to talk like that. Ohh, some people like to shut you up for saying those things.
Some groups in the country have censored speech that they believe is harmful or not appropriate.
You know that. Lots of people. Lots of groups in this country want to tell you how to talk.
Many groups in America have tried to restrict speech.
Tell you what you can't talk about. Well, sometimes they'll say, well you can talk about something but you can't joke about it.
Many people want to set limits on what you can and can't say or joke about.
Say you can't joke about something because it's not funny. Comedians run into that shit all the time.
Some people believe certain topics are off-limits to humor, but comedians often try to find humor in controversial subjects.
Like rape. They'll say, "you can't joke about rape. Rape's not funny."
Rape is one of the topics that some people believe is too sensitive or painful to joke about.
I say, "fuck you, I think it's hilarious. How do you like that?"
George Carlin believes that comedy should not have any limits and you should be free to joke about whatever you want.
I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd.
George Carlin argues that humor can be found in almost any situation, even ones that may seem taboo, like rape.
See, hey why do you think they call him "Porky," eh? I know what you're going to say.
George Carlin uses a crude example to illustrate how humor can be found in any situation, even ones as dark and taboo as rape.
"Elmer was asking for it. Elmer was coming on to Porky.
Many people might try to justify rape by blaming the victim, which is a harmful and dangerous attitude.
Porky couldn't help himself, he got a hard- on, he got horney, he lost control, he went out of his mind."
George Carlin is poking fun at the excuses people make to try to justify rape and how ridiculous they sound.
A lot of men talk like that. A lot of men think that way. They think it's the woman's fault.
Victim-blaming is a common attitude towards rape and sexual assault.
They like to blame the rape on the woman. Say, "she had it coming, she was wearing a short skirt."
Blaming the victim for their clothing choices or behavior is another harmful and problematic way of thinking about rape.
These guys think women ought to go to prison for being cock teasers. Don't seem fair to me.
George Carlin is criticizing the idea that women should be punished for being sexually attractive or for engaging in sexual behavior.
Don't seem right, but you can joke about it. I believe you can joke about anything.
Despite acknowledging the gravity and seriousness of topics like rape, Carlin still believes that comedy should not have any limits.
What the exaggeration is. What the exaggeration is.
Exaggeration is a key component of most jokes and comic routines.
Because every joke needs one exaggeration. Every joke needs one thing to be way out of proportion.
An exaggerated element is commonly seen in many comedic routines and is essential to most jokes.
Give you an example. Did you ever see a news story like this in the paper?
George Carlin cites a news story as an example for how exaggeration is often used in comedy.
Every now and then you run into a story, says, "some guy broke into a house, stole a lot of things, and while he was in there, he raped an 81 year old woman."
Carlin provides a news story as an example of how exaggeration is used in comedy and how it can help make a delicate subject more accessible to an audience.
And I'm thinking to myself, "WHY??? What the fuck kind of a social life does this guy have?"
George Carlin is using humor to criticize how ridiculous and depraved sexual assaults are.
I wonder is there more rape at the equator or the north pole. These are the kind of things I think about when I'm sitting home alone and the power goes out.
George Carlin uses humor to pose a thought-provoking question about the global prevalence of rape.
Most people think it's the equator, I think it's the north pole.
George Carlin takes a humorous stance in his opinion on where rape might be more prevalent.
People think it's the equator because it's hot down there, they don't wear a lot of clothing, guys can see women's tits, they get horney and there's a lot of fucking going on.
George Carlin is using humor to mock the idea that sexual behavior is dictated by weather conditions or clothing choices.
That's exactly why there's less rape at the equator. Because there's a lot of fucking going on. You can tell there's a lot of fucking at the equator, take a look at the population figures.
George Carlin is arguing that sexual activity is more prevalent in areas with more population density, which makes sexual violence less prevalent.
Everyone has a right to enjoy sex in their own way, but rape is not acceptable under any circumstances.
George Carlin uses humor to remind his audience that rape is a heinous crime that should never be taken or joked about lightly.
No one's getting laid at the north pole, it's too fucking cold.
George Carlin uses humor to take a stance on why rape might be less prevalent in colder regions.
Guys say to their wives, "hey tonight honey, huh, tonight, huh?"
George Carlin is using humor to paint a picture of sexual frustration in relationships that live in colder climates.
"Are you crazy? The wind chill factor is three hundred below."
George Carlin is using humor to show how people use weather conditions to justify not engaging in sexual behavior
These guys are deprived. Their horney. Their pent up. Every now and then...p-pmm...they bust out, they got to rape somebody.
George Carlin uses humor to show the twisted logic that sexual frustration can lead to rape
Now, the biggest problem an Eskimo rapist has, trying to get wet leather leggings off a woman who is kicking.
George Carlin uses humor to comment on the fact that rape is never acceptable under any circumstances.
Did you ever try to get leather pants off of someone who doesn't want to take them off? You would lose your hard-on in the process.
George Carlin uses humor to paint a picture of how sexual violence typically does not follow any sort of consensual or sexual act.
That's another thing I wonder. I wonder, does a rapist have a hard-on when he leaves the house in the morning, or does he develop it during the day while he's walking around looking for somebody.
George Carlin uses humor to pose a thought-provoking and dark question about the motives and mental states of rapists.
These are the kind of thoughts that kept me out of the really good schools.
George Carlin is using humor to accentuate how dark and taboo his material is.
Contributed by Molly Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Pottterbean
Archedgar
Haha, wow. Wow.
Okay, let's try and respond to this incredibly vitrilolic and ill considered rant, shall we?
1) I stated, correctly, that you were an American. I was being general, you're from Mexico. I'm personally from England, but wouldn't try and catch someone out for saying I'm from the UK, for example.
2) I'd really love to hear your explaination as to how "white men from the United States are the most DISCRIMINATED group in the world" Like, seriously. I can't even imagine that's possible to argue. Please suggest some measure by which we can objectively quantify 'oppression' though, otherwise we'll just be arguing semantics.
3) While admittedly, as a hispanic man, you're more than capable of experiencing racism, it seems you don't quite understand it. Racism is prejudice plus power. Speaking out against a system wherein a certain group has an unfair amount of power isn't racism, it's basically the opposite. Your third paragraph literally doesn't make sense.
4) Interesting that you're calling me human garbage for trying to illustrate the fact that many people, other than yourself, are hurt by these kinds of comments/jokes. For trying to stand up for rape victims. It might be worth looking at the side you're standing on - are you ultimately doing more harm, or good, by telling people to go and 'get raped'.
cabshdun
"I believe you can joke about anything" and this is why George Carlin was one of our greatest comedians.
Isaac Gleeth
+cabshdun
And South Park was influenced by that idea and continues to do so. Stone and Parker hold nothing sacred when it comes to comedy or satire.
Alexander Lindell
+Anthony Badessa It was Comedy Central that were the cowards. Matt and Trey wanted to do it.
Wiley Sells
+popcornfralla
Exactly. They have actually shown a cartoon of Muhammad in the "Super Best Friends" episode, which CC won't play ever again.
Wesley Reed
+xCuboxMagicox I would tell you the two 9/11 jokes I have, but they always seem to fall flat......
Night Angel
+cabshdun Who knew? Comedians joke about the things considered important since that gets the most laughs. It's almost like comedians, not just George Carlin, know that politics and religion get lots of laughs if you do a "us vs them" setup.
willowoodz
as a rape survivor who’s slowly coming to terms with my story, being able to laugh about it, strangely enough, makes me feel so empowered
James (surname pending)
i think that humor can aid in reflection and helps you to process your trauma. combine that with the feeling that you've overcome this awful event by laughing about it and it just proves the old addage that laughter is the best medicine. hope ur doin okay
Gazzster
Personally always thought r jokes pissed survivors off because it normalised r. Having to take a reassessment of how I think rn, that people who are affected by trauma can still enjoy comedy about it.
It’s a nice feeling to reassess.
CHR15ISDEAD
Makes me sad to think about it