Charismatic. Controversial. Clever.

George Denis Patrick Carlin became one of the most influential and popular comedians of the late twentieth century, thanks to his hilarious critiques of American culture. From hyper-consumerism to TSA security, there hasn’t been a single cultural element or lived experience that Carlin hasn’t used as source comedic material. Although some criticized parts of his later work as too contentious, Mr. Carlin defended his content, insisting that his comedy had always been driven by an intolerance for the shortcomings of humanity and society. “Scratch any cynic,” he said in a 2001 interview with Marc Cooper, “and you’ll find a disappointed idealist.”

Carlin adopted his unique use of the English language from his mother, despite their tumultuous relationship that caused him to run away from home multiple times. This instability in the home translated into many of his early career endeavors. He went to Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, New York, but dropped out after only a couple of months at age 15. Carlin joined the U.S. Air Force and was trained as a radar technician. He was stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana, and began working as a DJ at radio station KJOE in nearby Shreveport in July of 1956. Called an “unproductive airman” by his superiors, he received a general discharge on July 29th, 1957. During his time in the Air Force, he was court-martialed three times and received many nonjudicial punishments and reprimands.

In 1959, Carlin met Jack Burns, a fellow DJ at a radio station in Fort Worth. They formed a comedy team, and after successful performances at a local coffee house, they were awarded shows in California. They had success in California, continuing to tour locations around the state, before deciding to part ways and pursue separate careers, but still remaining close friends.

It was here where Carlin’s acting career began. Carlin was cast in Away We Go, a 1967 CBS comedy show, and became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson. However, Carlin took a radical turning point in the 1970s. He radically changed his look from the stereotypical well-dressed comedian, ditching the suit and tie, in favor of a rugged beard and jeans in order to appeal to a younger audience. His income briefly declined, but his career arc was greatly improved.

Carlin didn’t also just change his image, but also the content of his work. He went from an establishment comedian to a counterculture comedian. His first big splash came from his infamous ‘Seven Dirty Words’ routine. This routine involved Carlin listing seven words that entertainers are told never to say. Then, through his masterful comedic timing and spoken rhythm, he plays around with these words, making a broader claim about the inconsistencies of censorship in mass media.

Unfortunately for Carlin, a certain local government didn’t find the routine very funny. On July 21st, 1972, Carlin was arrested after performing the routine at Milwaukee’s Summerfest and was charged with violating obscenity laws. The case that prompted Carlin to call those words the Milwaukee seven, was dismissed after the judge ruled that the routine was indecent, but protected under the First Amendment. Later renditions of the Milwaukee seven resulted in six additional arrests and a landmark Supreme Court case, where the Supreme Court ruled that the routine was indecent instead of obscene, but networks and property owners had the right to shut it down if children were to be attending the event.

It was from this point where Carlin began to redefine comedy. His bits oftentimes revolved around bizarre observations around language and American tendency which would culminate in a broader critique of American Culture. For example, his “baseball vs football” bit seems at surface level to be a rather wholesome comparison between football and baseball, as he highlights the pleasantries of baseball juxtaposed with the brutalities of football. My personal favorite quote from the bit is “Baseball takes place in the spring, the season of new life. Football begins in the fall, where EVERYTHING IS DYING.”

However, as Carlin progresses, you can begin to understand the broader significance of the bit. Towards the end, he describes the objective of football while using militaristic language. For example, he says, “the object is for the quarterback otherwise known as The Field General to bombard the target with his aerial assault riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy…with short bullet passes and long bombs he marches his troops into enemy territory balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack which punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.”

Carlin noticed that football can be framed to be bizarrely similar to war. Carlin then uses the game of American Football to criticize Americans’ fascination with war, so much so they created an entire sporting event to simulate it. This isn’t the only routine where Carlin satirized American Sports. From his special ‘George Carlin: Playing With Your Head,’ Carlin designates Baseball, Basketball, and American Football as the only true sports. The rest of the routine is Carlin describing what he would change about other sports for them to meet his standard to become a sport. However, once again, if you analyze the routine, you begin to understand Carlin is roleplaying, once again satirizing Americans’ obsession with violence.

Beyond violence, Carlin used his mastery of the English language to make fun of phrases, words, and jargon that we are so frequently used to hearing. In his 1990 special “Doin’ It Again,’ Carlin performed a bit about Euphemisms that is still true today. The routine has an overall serious tone, one that any stand-up-comedian fan would notice if not familiar with Carlin. He starts the bit by explaining the “Euphemisms’ and ‘Soft Language’ he is talking about. He uses “shell shock” as an example, a condition in combat where a fighter’s nervous system snaps from tremendous pressure in combat. This condition has been renamed over the years, changing to battle fatigue, operational exhaustion, and finally post-traumatic stress disorder.

Carlin points out how the word has changed to soften the emotional impact of the phrase, almost hiding the intentional meaning. He accuses western society of doing this to conceal its sins surrounding conflicts such as Vietnam, and the emotional trauma soldiers endured for no real payoff. He concludes this bit by saying, “I’ll bet you if we’d still been calling it shell shock, some of those Vietnam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time.”

As the 1990s began to roll around, Carlin’s comedic style began to change once again. He stopped doing “routines and bits” and started to write essays sprinkled with irony, sarcasm, and satire. His first special with this comedic style is my personal favorite “Jammin in New York,’ which aired in 1992. This special features five main essays: The War in the Persian Gulf, things we have in common, airline announcements, the idiocy of golf, and climate change.

The interesting thing about this special is how political it is, but Carlin doesn’t fit into any one political ideology. In the opening essay about the Persian Gulf, he satirizes Neo-Conservative war hawks such as former Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George Bush, questioning their actual motivations. My favorite line from this essay is, “Can’t build a decent car, can’t make a TV set or a VCR, have no steel industry left, can’t educate our young people, can’t get health care for our old people, but we can bomb your country all right!” In contrast, he criticizes the climate change agenda, claiming that “saving the planet” does not demonstrate the good will of humanity, but their endless desire to control and manage the planet.

This special is simply hilarious; I remember my stomach hurting from laughing so hard. Carlin’s essay ‘Things we have in common’ is a simple reminder of the many human experiences we have all had that unite us as one kind.  “Do you ever find yourself standing in one of the rooms in your house and you can’t remember why you went in there? And two words float across your mind: ‘Alzheimer’s Disease?!’”

However, without a doubt his funniest, and most brilliant routine also comes from this special: Airline announcements. Carlin goes on for 25 minutes, picking apart the jargon of the airlines to perfection, reminding the audience of how idiotic the language we have accepted is. This essay is too perfect for me to summarize, as I would never be able to do it justice, so I’ll just leave some of my favorite quotes.

“Anyway, as part of this boarding process, they say ‘we would like to pre-board…’…Well what exactly is that anyway? What does it mean to pre-board? You get on before you get on? That’s another complaint of mine: too much use of this prefix ‘pre.’ It’s like ‘pre-recorded…’ ‘this program was pre-recorded…’ well OF COURSE it was pre-recorded! When else are you gonna record it? AFTERWARDS?! That’s the whole purpose of recording: to do it beforehand… otherwise it doesn’t really work, does it?!

“The safety lecture continues… ‘In the unlikely event of a sudden change in cabin pressure…’ ROOF FLIES OFF!!! ‘…an oxygen mask will drop down in front of you. Place the mask over your face and breathe normally.’ Well, I have no problem with that. I always breathe normally when I’m in a 600 mph uncontrolled vertical dive.”

“Now we’re taxiing in, [the flight attendant] says, ‘welcome to O’Hare International Airport…’ Well, how can someone who is just arriving herself possibly welcome me to a place she isn’t even at yet?! Doesn’t this… doesn’t this violate some fundamental law of physics?! We’re only on the ground for four seconds; she’s coming on like the mayor’s wife!

“‘…where the local time…’ well of course it’s the local time. What did you think we were expecting? The time in Pengo, Pengo?”

As the 20th century rolled around and Carlin entered his seventies, his comedic style began to change once again. He almost began to sound like a bitter old man, as his nihilist view of the world took center stage. While his work from this period maybe wasn’t as funny as it used to be, the topics and themes of his work ring louder and louder as time goes on. Carlin explained throughout multiple interviews and TV appearances that as he grew older, his faith in humanity decreased. He watched the world, the United States government, and capitalism, almost like a fan in the stands of a baseball game, cheering for its downfall.

He released two specials during this time period, ‘Life is Worth Losing’ and ‘It’s Bad for Ya.’ He spent much of the time in these specials satirizing capitalism and the people capitalism creates. His work of spoken word called ‘The Modern Man’ does this to perfection, making fun of everything for workplace jargon, medication, and modern jobs. He spoke about education, claiming that the education system in America will never be effective, because the “owners” of the country aren’t interested in well-educated people capable of critical thinking. He ends ‘Life is Worth Losing’ with his most famous quote, “It’s called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

‘It’s Bad for Ya’ was Carlin’s last special, as his life of heart problems caught up to him, and he died on June 22nd, 2008 from a heart attack. It’s been almost seventeen years since we lost one of the greatest comedians, and as our domestic political situation continues to resemble an SNL skit, I begin to wonder how Carlin would react to 2025 America.

I infer that he would probably have a controversial take on the political polarization in this country. While many of us see two opposing parties with radically different values, Carlin would probably see two parties that mirror each other. He often would say that America had “owners,” wealthy-unelected donors who wielded significant political power, which is why Carlin never voted. He would see two parties, lying and stealing, doing everything they can to stay in power. He would probably look at social media and “cancel culture,” and satirize society’s oversensitivity as he did during his bit on euphemisms.  

Most importantly, despite the turbulent times we live in, with wars raging abroad and domestic instability, Carlin would continue to be himself. He would be honest with the audience about his view of the current state and future of America. He would unapologetically be himself, the philosophy that led to him becoming one of the greatest comedians of all time.

 “I’m completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death,” said George Carlin.