George Carlin Essay

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George Carlin a Man of Many Words During the life of the comedian George Carlin, his boldness with word play and his astonishing knowledge of the English Language, set a foundation for future comedians of being more audacious with their choice of lines and topics. George Carlin changed social media for upcoming generations. George Carlin was born on May 12, 1937, in New York City. His mother sent George to a progressive Catholic school. He was considered a class clown and struggled academically, although it wasn’t for a lack of intelligence (Driscoll). He dropped out of school at the age of sixteen and worked odd jobs until joining the United States Air Force, where he worked on bomber jets. He was discharged a year later for failure to appear on guard duty, failure to keep his room clean, and driving while intoxicated (Driscoll). After his discharge, Carlin worked as a DJ at stations in Shreveport and Boston (Altschuler and Burns). In the late 1950s, he teamed up with Jack Burns, doing conventional stand-up routines. Carlin was a “straight, mainstream, suit-and-tie comic,” he created characters doing take-offs on the news and weather (Altschuler and Burns). By the end of the decade, Carlin felt like he was living two lives. He wanted to please the public, but he was also caught up in the cross-currents of the counter culture. As he began to take lots of drugs, he became more and more skeptical of American society and politics. “I had been hiding behind my characters for years for the benefit of the bald heads and the blue hairs,” he remembered, “and I found I just couldn’t relate to them,” (Altschuler and Burns). During the 1950’s, Carlin met the controversial comedian Lenny Bruce, who had been arrested several times on obscenity charges (Driscoll). In December of 1962, while he was playing at the Chicago Playboy Club, Carlin attended one of Lenny Bruce’s

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