| George Carlin |
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Page 1 of 2 GEORGE CARLIN  1937 - 2008 George Carlin stands as one of the most influential comics of all time. He started out in the early 60s as one of the many straight-laced (albeit one of the more amusing) stand-ups that typified the era. But by 1970 he had evolved into a loveable “too-hip-for-the-room” troublemaker. Pushing the boundaries as far as he could, he was arrested in 1972 for obscenity. Cynical, insightful, ground-breaking, controversial, complex, and always entertaining—that was George Carlin. George Carlin was born on May 12, 1937 in New York City. His father left early on and George was raised by his mother in a neighborhood of Manhattan. He dropped out of high school and eventually joined the Air Force. At the age of 19, while stationed in Louisiana, he got a job as a local DJ in Shreveport. In 1957 he left the Air Force but continued his DJ duties at stations in Boston and then Fort Worth, Texas. At WXOL in Fort Worth, he met Jack Burns—his first comedy partner. They started performing at the beat coffee house The Cellar.  Ready to break into the big-time in 1960, the two packed their bags and headed for Hollywood as comedy team Burns & Carlin. They immediately found work at radio station KDAY but were billed as the Wright Brothers. They also started performing stand-up--eventually recording an album “Burns & Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight.” It was actually performed at a coffee house in Hollywood! After 3 months at KDAY, Carlin & Burns quit and became an active stand-up team on the beatnik coffee house circuit in Los Angeles. It wasn’t long (October of 1960) when Burns & Carlin made their very first TV appearance—on The Jack Paar Show. In 1961, Carlin married his first wife, Brenda. They stayed married until Brenda’s death in 1997. (Carlin was lucky enough to fall in love again and re-married in 1998 to Sally Wade who remained his wife until his death in 2008). Al Sleet, the hippie-dippie weatherman -- "Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely-scattered light towards morning." In 1962, the comedy team of Burns & Carlin broke up amicably and Carlin became a solo stand-up artist. His following started slowly, very slowly—but he did manage a solo appearance on The Tonight Show in 1962 (pre-Johnny Carson) with Mort Sahl as the host. By 1964 he had moved to New York and started appearing in small clubs and “hootenannies” all the while honing his material and developing characters like Al Sleet (the hippie-dippie weatherman) and the Indian Sergeant. In 1965, he made his first appearance on both the Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas Shows. He eventually appeared on both shows more than 20 times each. In 1966, he moved back to Los Angeles, making his prime-time debut on “The Jimmy Dean Show.” He became a regular performer and writer on “The Kraft Music Hall” in 1966. He even landed a small acting role in an episode of Marlo Thomas’ “That Girl.”  By 1967, he was tapped to be in the cast of “Away We Go” a summer replacement of “The Jackie Gleason Show.” The cast included Buddy Greco and Buddy Rich. Also, 1967 marked his first appearance (of many) on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” In 1967 he released his first solo album “Take Offs and Put Ons” and received a Grammy nomination. In 1968, he broke into the movies with the Doris Day film “With Six, You Get Eggroll” as Herbie Fleck. |