George Carlin Tickets

Grammy-winning stand-up comedian, actor, and author George Dennis Carlin was born on May 12, 1937 in New York, New York. He grew up on West 121st Street in a neighborhood of Manhattan, an area he later called as 'White Harlem', because that sounded a lot tougher than its real name, 'Morningside Heights'. General Grant was one of his neighbors. Raised primarily by his mother, Carlin dropped out of Cardinal Hayes high school At age 14 and joined the United States Air Force, training as a radar technician. He was stationed at Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, Louisiana.

George Carlin also started working as a disc jockey on KJOE, a radio station based in the nearby city of Shreveport. George Carlin was labeled as an 'unproductive airman' by his superiors and was discharged from his duties on July 29, 1957. In 1959, George Carlin and Jack Burns formed a comedy team (Jokes) while working for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth and headed for California in February 1960. There they stayed together for two years before splitting up and going their separate ways.

George Carlin began appearing on television variety shows in the 1960s, notably The Ed Sullivan Show with the famous routines ?The Indian Sergeant? , ?Stupid disc jockeys?, ?Al Sleet - the hippie-dippie weatherman ? and ?Jon Carson? By the 1970s Carlin had changed his routines and his appearance. By dressing strangely and sporting a beard and earrings he lost some of his TV bookings but regained his popularity as the public caught on to his sense of style.

George Carlin also perfected his best-known routine, ?Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television?, recorded on Class Clown. As the routine offended many, Carlin was arrested in 1972 at Milwaukee's Summerfest and charged with violating obscenity laws after his performance. This particular routine raised such an outcry that the government had to step-in and the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public airwaves. This was a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices. George Carlin released ?A Place For My Stuff? in 1981 which is considered to be his best album since in Class Clown. He returned to HBO with his Carnegie special videotaped at Carnegie Hall. This aired during the 1982-83 season and he continued doing the HBO specials every year or every other year over the following decade and a half. All of Carlin's albums from this time forward are the HBO specials.

2001 saw his Lifetime Achievement Award given at the 15th Annual American Comedy Awards. California U.S. Representative Doug Ose introduced a bill named as H.R. 3687 to outlaw the broadcast of Carlin's seven "dirty words" in December 2003.

All of George Carlin's standup routines are focused on attacking the flaws in modern day America. He often takes on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirizes the excesses of American culture. His irreverent attitude and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects are considered by many. Described by Comedy Central as the second greatest stand-up comedian of all time behind Richard Pryor he is described as a successor to the late Lenny Bruce.