George Carlin dies

Brett Singer — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:05:00 GMT

Comedy just got a little less funny.

Also, Thomas the Tank Engine needs a new narrator.

George Carlin passed away on Sunday at the age of 71. According to Bloomberg News, the cause was heart failure.

Carlin had, in my opinion, one of the weirder careers in the entertainment business. His most famous routine (video below) is the Seven Dirty Words. I'm not going to bother naming them; watch the video, but not when your kids are around. He continued to make incredible use of language throughout his career, especially with regard to what was considered acceptable speech and what was "offensive." "You can prick your finger, but don't finger your prick." Or "Pete Rose has two balls on him."

And he also did children's television. Yes, that's George Carlin's voice on old Thomas The Tank Engine videos. I remember popping one into the VCR and doing a double-take when I realized that the gravelly voiced narrator was indeed also the man who raged against tomatoes ("I don't eat bicycle tires – why should I eat little pink ones?"), baseball ("you go HOME") and one of my favorites, "Become a Schmuck" ("Don't be a schmuck – be a schmuck!") Other kiddie credits include Mr. Conductor on "Shining Time Station" (a "Thomas" spin-off -- maybe he had a thing for trains?), and voice work in "Cars" and "Tarzan 2." His other film appearances were equally incongruous, including "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure", "Scary Movie 3" and "Jersey Girl."

Several years ago I went to a taping of Carlin's television show in Los Angeles. The show only lasted one season, probably because it wasn't very good. It's very tough to take a comic as brilliant as he is and turn him into a sitcom star, especially when the material is not even close to what you are allowed to do on prime time. (Look at Chris Rock's show, "Everybody Hates Chris" – he had to go back to his childhood to make it work.) It was fun to watch them tape the show, although I would have preferred to see Carlin do some stand-up.

Hopefully future generations will dig a little bit deeper than the Seven Dirty Words. That's what he'll be remembered for, and that's one hell of a legacy. But he also spoke his mind despite having unpopular opinions at times, which is something that we always need more of. And his material wasn't all R-rated; the above lines are all clean, and there are more, such as "Where does the dentist go when he leaves the room?" Funny, funny stuff. There's a scroll of Carlin lines on his website.

We won't be able to hear what his thoughts on the 2008 election, but at least we have video. Here are a collection of classic Carlin clips that are COMPLETELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR KIDS. Unless, you know, you want Junior to go to school and ask his teachers what "tits" means. Up to you.

UPDATE: there's a YouTube channel/chat room/something or other that seems to have a continuous stream of Carlin videos. Kinda cool. Check it out here.

RIP, George. You will be missed.

Strollerderby : shining time station

George Carlin dies