George Denis Patrick Carlin was a Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, author and philosopher.
Carlin was especially noted for his political and black humor and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public airwaves.
Carlin's mid-2000s stand-up routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often took on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture.
A disciple of Lenny Bruce, he placed second on the Comedy Central cable television network list of the 10 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live.
This was done in 1984, which was not a high point in George Carlin's career. Some of this book contains recycled material from his stand-up routines.
It does contain an incomplete list of "impolite" words, some of which appear to be given in American Sign Language. Also contains a great song list and, my favorite, the list of books in George Carlin's book club.
This does contain some interesting biographical material, such as a childhood photo and his arrest in Milwaukee.
But I really could've done without the gross eye photo, so a star off for that.
When I moved back in with Mom in 2005, I was really surprised to find this on her bookshelves. And so was Mom. My ex-boyfriend, not the smartest bunny in the hutch, was a HUGE Carlin fan. Apparently, he left his copy at Mom's. He never mentioned losing the book to me before I left him in 2000, so I bet he still thinks he has it.
I first read this in a Walden Books store in Uniontown (long, long since gone) when I was in high school, and I laughed for weeks afterward at some of the jokes and entries. It had one of my all-time favorite stupid jokes, in the form of a Carlin poem:
Mime Rhyme
The party broke up when Marcel Marceau Won thirty-two games of charades in a row.
HAHAHA!!! To this day I still laugh at the simplistic brilliance. (For you youngsters, Marcel Marceau was an internationally famous French mime.)
So years later it finally occurred to me to try to find this book online, and I managed to purchase it on eBay -- so many years later I own my own copy, and it is every bit as humorous as I remember it being.
This thing is a magazine, for all practical purposes. It is pretty much packed with classic GC, however. Probably has more laughs in it than books five times its size.
Kinda disappointed. Glad this wasn't the first Carlin book I picked up otherwise I wouldn't have wanted to read all his others as they have cracked me up. This on was a modgepodge of crap.