George Carlin's Soul Irretrievably Resting On a Rooftop

George Carlin liked to say, "When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front-row seat."

He had an important impact on 20th century America. His "Seven Dirty Words" routine was central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate certain language on TV and radio. With slightly less importance, he was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live.

On June 18, 2008 the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced it would honor Carlin for his 50-year career as a stand-up comedian, writer and actor.

He was raised as a Roman Catholic faith but denounced the idea of God, in his "Invisible Man in the Sky" and "There Is No God" routines. He also expressed his disbelief in God in interviews. He invented the parody religion Frisbeetarianism for a newspaper contest. He defined it as the belief that when a person dies "his soul gets flung onto a roof, and just stays there", and cannot be retrieved.

He once said that he worshiped the Sun, because he could actually see it, but prayed to Joe Pesci (a real life friend) because "he's a good actor", and "looks like a guy who can get things done!"

Carlin also introduced the "Two Commandments", a revised "pocket-sized" list of the Ten Commandments in his HBO special Complaints and Grievances, ending with the additional commandment of "Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself."

Below is an excerpt of one of his routines where he describes himself as a modern man. Below that is his tongue-in-cheek essay on why voters have no right to complain about the public officials they elect.

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Comments

[usindecline]

I miss him. He's the only comedian I ever paid to see in a big venue, and it left a mark.
His opener, asking the audience if we had ever noticed that our farts smelled "pretty good", literally threw my BFF and me out of our seats and onto the floor, holding each other and screaming with hysterical laughter. It hurt like an orgasm.
It was around 1973 and nobody had ever asked a crowd that contained me anything so outrageously funny and true. It's so cool that he got away with it for so long.
There's a truth void out there now. We'll all have to muddle through without him.