“When you’re born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front-row seat.”

–George Carlin

As a high school junior in 1971, I had never heard of George Carlin. Maybe I just led a sheltered life at the time, but I wasn’t familiar with his background as a controversial Tonight Show (Carson-era) guest host, the seven words you can’t say on TV, or any of his other schtick. All I knew is that the school I attended was hosting Carlin for a noontime show, and it didn’t cost me a thing. Talk about a hell of an assembly…

I don’t think the school administrators knew quite what they were getting into. My schoolmates were well versed in all of the words that Carlin used - in fact, we probably could have taught him a few. Granted, my high school was a private military prep academy (boys only) so perhaps the administrators already knew the racy nature of Carlin’s standard routine, and it wasn’t a bother to them.

What the people who ran the school weren’t prepared for was Carlin’s anti-Nixon, anti-Vietnam war rants, and the hippy dippy weatherman. By the end of the act, I recall that all of us attending (remember, this was a military school) were howling with laughter through tear-stained faces. For us, Carlin defined ROTFLMFAO long before the world wide web and its acronyms were part of the culture. I mean, picture it: several hundred 16 and 17 year-old boys in ROTC uniforms, laughing at the top of our adolescent lungs, as the brass of the school stood in the aisles with every bit of color drained from their skin. As Carlin wound up his act, we rewarded him with thunderous applause, and filed out of the auditorium in shock (and awe) that the school administrators had been totally, thoroughly punked. I’ll never forget it.

George Carlin died last night. Even though he’s had some health issues over the years, and didn’t look so physically swell on his last HBO special, his wit hadn’t deserted him. He was supposed to tour again this summer, and presumably tape another concert. What strikes me is that it’s kind of funny that in his later comedy years, he had the opportunity to basically recycle some of his routines (with updating, of course) and apply his special brand of sarcasm to George Bush and current day politics.

In his prime, there was no better practitioner of the art of comedic social commentary (well, maybe Bill Hicks, but we’ll save that argument for another day). George Carlin was one of a very select few entertainers who could reach back into his personal repertoire and confirm:

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Youtube: George Carlin as Al Sleet, the Hippy Dippy Weatherman