Remembering George Carlin

As regular listeners know, I'm a standup comic as well as a radio host. I grew up on a steady diet of Monthy Python in my tender years, since Sesame Street wasn't the only thing on PBS back in the '70s.

When I was 10, the 12-year-old son of one of my dad's friends suggested killing some time by listening to a record. He had that sly, don't-let-the-grownups-know look in his eyes, so of course I was in.

We headed to the basement under the pretense of playing pool, and he proceeded to pull out a copy of George Carlin's Class Clown. "My dad would kill me if he knew I was listening to this," he said quietly, but with the eagerness that accompanies an indulgence in something forbidden.

He went straight for side 2, and my life was forever changed. See, kids in the '70s weren't allowed to swear. Words like "damn" and "friggin" were a ticket to your room with no dessert and no TV for the next three days. Some of my fourth-grade Catholic friends actually believed they'd be going to Hell if they were in the same room where a swear word was uttered.

Here, in this basement, lit by the glow of the hi-fi's amplifier, I heard another world. A world where swearing wasn't just allowed, it was applauded. I didn't get Carlin's political messages, but I knew that he was cool and that I wanted to be able to swear like him some day.

A few years later, in the early days of cable when things like Dawn of the Dead could be aired without sparking community outrage, I got to see Carlin's first HBO special. Older and wiser, I got a lot more of what he was talking about. Carlin's blunt observation of the insanity of the world around us shaped my own comic sensibility. I realized it wasn't just about swearing, it was about having something worthwhile to say, and that sometimes an indecent word or two was the best way to say it.

It's a lesson that's all-too-often lost on young comics and radio shock jocks, who think that simply swearing or talking about sex and bodily functions is the fountainhead of hilarity. It's not, but if you walk into most open mics, you'll see this failed approach on display. Those same comics will walk off the stage and blame the audience, sometimes claiming that they're "too real" or "too edgy," or offer up the ultimate insult and say, "How come Carlin gets away with it?"

Simple: Carlin didn't just swear. He used and loved language, and like most who make their living with words, he understood that sometimes you've just got to say "fuck" to get your point across.

I'm sorry to see him go. I'll be playing some vintage Carlin on this week's show, along with a couple of rare comedy tracks from Peter Ustinov and Monty Python, as well as an album produced by WEZE, the Boston radio station where Carlin briefly worked in the 1950s.

If you're in Boston, tune to 91.5 FM from 7-9 PM Eastern Daylight on June 25. If you're anywhere else, point a Web browser at wmfo.org and listen to our free Web stream.