George Carlin, June 22, age
71: Carlin was flinty and fearless, and ushered in an unflinching era
in stand-up comedy. He joked about drugs and the counterculture, and became
a hero to them, even as he sent up hippiedom. Among his best-known bits were
"The Hippy Dippy Weatherman,"
who forecast "Tonight: Dark. Continued dark
throughout most of the evening, with some widely scattered light towards
morning." He also had a (still-unprintable) memorable bit, the "Seven Dirty
Words" that resulted in a landmark Supreme Court case, which unfortunately
didn't find for Carlin and his ability to say those words on public radio. He
was a frequent host and guest on "The Tonight
Show," toured tirelessly and recorded frequent comedy specials, the last of
which, "It's Bad for Ya," aired this past March on HBO. In November, Carlin was
to become the first posthumous recipient of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain
Prize for American Humor. And somehow, one thinks Twain would have loved most of
Carlin's material: "Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul
goes up on the roof ... and gets stuck."
(Scott Pasfield/Retna Ltd.)
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