George Carlin Dies: Video Highlights From His Career

Comedian George Carlin, best known for his scabrous, unflinching style and his rivetingly observant social satire, died of heart failure Sunday night in Los Angeles. Carlin was 71 years old.

In a career spanning a half-century, Carlin's comic routines tended toward social commentary and satire, with a deep and abiding love for the vagaries and peculiarities of the English language and a fearless embrace of the profane. The apotheosis of Carlin's comic mind probably came in the form of his famous "Seven Words You Can't Say On Television" routine. The original routine can be read here. Below, Carlin does a variation. Yeah, it is Not Safe For Work.

Carlin's career took him from the stand up circuit to a television career that spanned four decades and included fourteen HBO specials, including 2008's It's Bad For Ya. He also appeared in over fifteen movies, most notably in the "Bill And Ted" franchise and a handful of late-career appearances in the movies of Kevin Smith. He's won a Grammy Award and was named the second-greatest stand-up comedian of all time by the Comedy Central network, behind only Richard Pryor. Carlin was often a deeply dark, deeply cynical, and deeply accurate observer of human nature. You probably should have listened to him, especially with the AP running a story this weekend with the fatalist headline "Everything seemingly is spinning out of control." His death is an irreplaceable loss.

RELATED: HuffPo's Rachel Sklar had the opportunity to interview the comedy legend earlier this year. For their conversation, click here.

MORE VIDEOS:

Carlin, on "Stuff":

On language:

On saving the planet:

On white people:

On the Ten Commandments:

Comments

[tathagat]

"Lenny Bruce was amazed that I could publish that and get away with it. At the time, magazines always used dashes or asterisks to indicate that kind of language. At that point in his career, Lenny was still using the term "frig" onstage.

In his hotel room, we had a discussion on the semantics of profanity. I explained that it was not illegal, since the Supreme Court had defined obscenity as material which appeals to the prurient interest. Lenny took out the unabridged dictionary that he carried around in his suitcase and looked up the word "prurient."

"Itching," he read out loud. "It means itching! What does that mean -- they can bust a novelty store owner for selling itching powder along with the dribble glass and the whoopee cushion?"

"It's just their way of saying that something gets you horny."

Lenny closed the dictionary, clenching his jaw and nodding his head in mock affirmation of a new sick discovery: "It's against the law to get you horny!"" -- from "Lenny Bruce On The Loose"
by Paul Krassner

http://members.aol.com/dcspohr/lenny/krassner.htm

[operalovr]

I grieve the passing of George Carlin. No one could make us think about our lives, and laugh about it at the same time, like he could. He had a brilliant mind, and we won't see the likes of him again. R.I.P.

[OgreDaddy]

George, your truth will be your legacy.

RIP

[speakyourmind]

I had the good fortune to have seen George Carlin perform one time in Los Angeles back in the 90's. What a fantastic performance! I am so sad today.

[RealityBaseCamp]

I'd like to take this opportunity to do what I usually do for George, and tell everybody that the email spam with a piece attributed to him is still a fake. You can read his opinion of 'The Paradox of Our Time' on his website, along with a few other fakes, so you can all set people straight when they circulate the fakes again following the news of his death. And thanks for all the good sh**, George!

[crushyourtv]

I HATED those emails when they circulated-- always got an angry response from me!

[leftoflennon]

American legend.

[terryb]

Damn i love the truth. Thank you George. R.I.P.

[Soundofthunder]

George just joined his beloved Ort Cloud. I hear the Ort Cloud LOVES fart jokes.

SOT

[intopolitics]

He made The Daily Show (and the like ) possible today.

[pattio66]

A true American hero gone...Carlin will be missed. We need comic geniuses like him now more than ever.

[6WaysToSunday]

George Carlin was so much more than a comedian. He was one of our greatest progressives and social activists. His biting satire pointed out the hypocrisies, injustices and absurdities of our life.

The world needs more Carlins. He will be sorely missed.

[driven989]

We need more people like this man in the world...

[outsurgency]

An American Classic. Ironically, they were'nt kidding when they said he was a genious. His philosophical humor will be dearly missed.

[LiberalBuzz]

What a loss. If indeed the court jester is the one who shows the Emperor has no clothes, then we have lost the single greatest court jester in this country's history.

From the first time I saw him until his death I looked forward to seeing him or seeing his specials. Sometimes he could hit hard but rarely without a large, very large dose of reality behind everything he said.

Even if it made you uncomfortable and that is what will make his loss the worse for us.

[cjh]

bummer.