O.T; R.I.P George Carlin, 71
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero
famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart
failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He
was 71.
Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died
at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m.
EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains,
spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.
Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an
anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug
references and a routine called "Seven Words You Can Never Say On
Television." A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine
ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the 1978 case, Federal Communications Commission vs. Pacifica
Foundation, the top U.S. court ruled that the words cited in Carlin's
routine were indecent, and that the government's broadcast regulator
could ban them from being aired at times when children might be
listening.
Carlin's comedic sensibility often came back to a central theme:
humanity is doomed.
"I don't have any beliefs or allegiances. I don't believe in this
country, I don't believe in religion, or a god, and I don't believe in
all these man-made institutional ideas," he told Reuters in a 2001
interview.
Carlin, who wrote several books and performed in many television
comedy specials, is survived by his wife Sally Wade, and daughter
Kelly Carlin McCall.
(Reporting by Dean Goodman and Steve Gorman; Editing by Patricia
Zengerle)