I had the distinct pleasure of seeing George Carlin at the Warner Theater in DC several years ago. We had third row left seats and it was fabulous.
Having been raised on mid-1980s Saturday Night Live (good, but not great comedy; SNL peaked early) and stolen viewings of Eddie Murphy’s Raw and Robin Williams’ Live At The Met, Carlin when I discovered him in my early 20s on HBO was a delight: clever, smart, and ascerbic as hell. He played with language in a way that no other comedian in my experience had before, and, frankly, no other comedian has since.
Carlin was once quoted as saying “”If you’ll scratch a cynic, you’ll find a disappointed idealist.” Like many things, he was right about this I think.
Listen to Carlin’s original “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television” from his 1972 album Class Clown (this version was recorded off the original vinyl that was given to TGF at 14 years-old by her future brother-in-law).or check out his 1978 revised list.
Regardless of whether you partake of the media or not, the world is linguistically a poorer place for Carlin’s death. The man knew the value of words and grasped their power.
* Derivation from Carlin’s original “Seven Words” sketch