Photo by Point-Shoot-Edit

I was probably ten or eleven years old when I first heard George Carlin. I was digging through the comedy bin in my local record store and something about his album cover for Class Clown caught my attention. I got a few minutes into it before leaping across the room and plugging my giant padded headphones in. I spent the rest of the next hour in front of my stereo (the cord wasn’t very long) with tears streaming down my face from laughter. By the time I got to the last track, Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television, I knew I would never be the same.

At the time, the recording was as old as I was, but I felt like I discovered something fresh and new. It wasn’t the language that struck me, although the man raised swearing to an art form. It was how he used it. Crafted it into something greater than just a collection of words. Played with it. Under his command, language truly came alive.

Even then, I knew it was something special. The power to use words like that, especially words that make others uncomfortable, to explore fundamental human truths was a revolutionary concept for me. It didn’t hurt that he was also the funniest person I had ever heard.

“If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.”
- George Carlin

He had a profound and lasting influence on my understanding and usage of language over the years. Through his recordings, books, 14 HBO specials (Jerry Seinfeld has only done two) and countless performances he critically tackled the gambit of taboo subjects including religion, politics, hypocrisy, psychology and consumerism. When George Carlin died yesterday, we not only lost a gifted comedian, but a lover and master of the spoken word.

Watch this to see what I mean. YouTube says it may contain content that is inappropriate for some users. In other words, you might need your headphones.

Tags: georgecarlin, inmemoriam, language