by Misha Firstein-Rudder
Raised inzoom New York City, George Carlin (1937-2008) is considered one of the most influential comedians of all time. His social commentary and observations about how absurd the world is helped pave the way for current-day comedy. Over his 52-year long career, the Grammy Award-winning comedian built an impressive collection of accolades. Carlin hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live and had 14 HBO stand-up specials. Carlin was very free-spirited and would say whatever was on his mind. This would get Carlin in trouble multiple times, to the point that he would find himself facing the Supreme Court.
Carlin is best known for challenging conventions and even governmental expectations. This was evident from the moment he walked on stage. While other comedians of the time were clean-cut, shaved face, with a pressed suit on, Carlin would come out with long hair, a scruffy beard, jeans, and a t-shirt. It was a look the told people Carlin did not care about conventions and would do as he pleases. In 1973, George Carlin performed his routine “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” a collection of seven curse words that were “too obscene” for media broadcasting (words like sh-t and f-k). This led to two legal proceedings discussing censorship that reached the Supreme Court. The final verdict was that “indecent speech” could be censored during hours when children may be watching. To this day, the decision is incredibly controversial as many argue it limits free speech in a way that is unseen in day-to-day life. Tom Matthews explained that Carlin came to Geneseo during Parent’s Weekend in 1984. So when a sold-out crowd came to see his routine, the school was of course nervous about what “the dean of counterculture comedians” had in store for them. Carlin did not perform the act that got him in legal trouble. Instead, Carlin turned his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” into thirty words. Carlin spent over a minute, listing off curse words at lightning speed. Fortunately for the Geneseo administration, the crowd loved every second of it.
George Carlin’s influence on comedy cannot be understated. Comedians such as Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Bo Burnham, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, and dozens more, have stated that Carlin was a huge inspiration to them. In 2008, for example, Seinfeld told the New York Times that Carlin invented modern American stand-up comedy. These highly decorated performers look up to Carlin greatly, proving just how important he was to modern comedy culture.