The George Carlin of the 1960s
For most, memories of George Carlin on television come from his many HBO specials starting from the 1970s and continuing up until the present day. For others, it was his appearance during the very first Saturday Night Live back in 1975. But, there was another George Carlin that many don’t remember. That is the very young George Carlin from the 1960s.
Before the beard, and the long hair, and the swearing and his “the world is doomed” attitude, George Carlin was a traditional suit-and-tie stand-up comic. He began by teaming up with comedian Jack Burns in the late 1950s, then eventually went his own way. During that time he came up with a number of famous routines including “The Indian Sergeant,” “The Hippy-Dippy Weatherman,” and “Wonderful WINO.” Many of these routines would be performed on shows like The Tonight Show (both the Jack Paar and Johnny Carson versions) and the Ed Sullivan Show.
After the jump you’ll see two examples of his mid-60s television appearances.
The first one may or may not be from the Ed Sullivan Show. Either way, it features Carlin performing “The Indian Sergeant.” The second video is from a 1966 episode of The Tonight Show, with Carlin as Al Sleet — the Hippie-Dippie Weatherman. The Tonight Show video will probably more familiar to those viewers who have spent numerous early morning hours watching television since it was part of the Tonight Show DVD infomerical that aired for several years.
Funny Folk Salute [Expletive-Deleted] George Carlin
There may be seven words you can never say on television, but only five are needed to describe George Carlin. At least according to Robin Williams.
“He was one funny motherf–ker,” Williams said of his legendarily caustic comedic forebear, who died of heart failure Sunday evening at the age of 71.
“George Carlin was the living embodiment of the First Amendment. In the traditions of Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift, he dealt with the insanity of the world with the one-two punch of humor and honesty with no apologies,” added Williams.
“He was one of the greats,” Ben Stiller said in a more censor-friendly statement, “and he will be missed. [He] was a hugely influential force in stand-up comedy. He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining.”
Kevin Smith, who frequently cast Carlin in films and who gave the taboo breaker his last live-action big-screen role in 2004’s Jersey Girl, reacted to news of the death on his official website this morning.
“Dammit. My favorite memory of Carlin is sitting in the audience at one of his Vegas shows as he did his ’People I Can Do Without’ routine,” Smith wrote. “When he got to ’guys over the age of 10 who wear their baseball hats backwards,’ he tossed in ’Kevin, you’re exempt from this.’
“Changed my sense of humor forever. Sixteen years later, I was happy to have met the man, let alone worked with him. Honestly, I was lucky to have known him at all.”
Jay Leno also paid tribute to his fallen friend, who broke onto the national scene back in the 1960s as a hippy-dippy weatherman on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show.
“If there was ever a comedian who was a voice of their generation, it was George Carlin,” Leno said. “Before George, comedians aspired to put on nice suits and perform in Las Vegas. George rebelled against that life.
“His comedy took on privilege and elitism, even railing against the game of golf. He never lost that fire. May he continue to inspire young people never to accept the status quo.”
Judd Apatow gave props to Carlin’s influence over today’s class of cutups.
“Nobody was funnier than George Carlin,” he said. “I spent half my childhood in my room listening to his records experiencing pure joy. And he was as kind as he was funny.”
Saturday Night Live mastermind Lorne Michaels was also in mourning for the comic genius who served as the first-ever host of SNL, albeit one who later admitted to having been on cocaine for the duration of his appearance.
“You never forget the people who were there at the beginning,” Michaels said. “George Carlin helped give Saturday Night Live its start as our first host. He was gracious, fearless and, most important of all, funny.”
HBO, which produced 14 Carlin-fronted comedy specials, also issued a statement on the funnyman’s death.
“Because HBO has had such a long and close relationship with George Carlin, his passing is like losing one of our own,” the cable net said in a statement.
“No performer was more important to helping our network define itself in its early years. And no performer was more committed to the ideal of freedom of speech, a principle he embodied for the 50 years he performed with his trademark wit.
“We will miss his humor and his righteous comic anger, and we will simply miss him.”
Jerry Seinfeld, meanwhile, is penning a eulogy to Carlin for tomorrow’s New York Times. He’s also set to speak about his comedic forebear on tonight’s Larry King Live.
12 unexpected deaths of TV personalities
I didn’t know Tim Russert on a personal level. I rarely even saw him in his own element as host of NBC’s Meet the Press. However, when he suddenly died last Friday, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the fact that he was a huge presence on television, particularly during this year’s Presidential election. It made Russert feel like he was a part of the family.
So it has been with many television personalities that have left this earth before their time. It’s the intimacy of the industry and the fact that this person has come into our homes night after night, week after week, that the unexpected death of these personalities hits us much harder than, say, movie stars. Unfortunately, there have been a number of these surprising deaths over the last few decades. Here are 12 such deaths that affected millions of television viewers.
John Belushi — If the former Saturday Night Live star had died during this era of instantaneous information Belushi’s death would probably not have been as much as a surprise as it was back in 1982. However, because the private lives of Hollywood stars were semi-private back then, Belushi’s death due to a drug overdose hit every fan of SNL, as well as his movies, quite hard. It was only after the death that the public realized how hard John was abusing himself.
John Candy — So many of those listed in this post had so much more left to do in their careers before their deaths. Former SCTV star John Candy was certainly one of them. Turning his success from the classic sketch show into a successful movie career, Candy was still going strong and was even branching out into some more dramatic roles in such films as Only the Lonely and JFK. The transformation to a more diverse actor ended in 1994 when he died of a sudden heart attack.
Johnny Carson — Here is a perfect example of a major TV personality whose death was taken very personally by millions of viewers. That’s because Johnny walked into our living rooms five nights a week for thirty years as host of NBC’s The Tonight Show. The practical self-exile of Carson after he retired from the show in 1992 made his death even more poignant since fans never really had a chance to say a proper good-bye.
Chris Farley — Unfortunately, the death of Saturday Night Live cast member Chris Farley was predicted by many who saw his downward spiral. With his constant weight issues, as well as drug and alcohol problems, there were many who thought his time on this planet would be short-lived. It’s too bad they were right. Farley died of a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33 — the same age of Farley’s idol John Belushi.
Phil Hartman - Of the 12 deaths mentioned, four of these hit me the hardest. The first of these was the demise of Phil Hartman. I was in my car on the way to lunch when I heard about his death. It left a burning pit in my stomach and for days I wondered if the story was true or not — especially the part about his murder at the hands of his wife. What made it so much more devastating was that Phil was in the middle of a successful television run with his role on NewsRadio and his many voice-acting gigs on The Simpsons. That, and according to all reports, he was an incredibly nice guy.
Jim Henson — The untimely demise of Muppeteer Jim Henson has had the most lasting affect on me. I even remember where I was when I heard the news. I was home from college for the summer and a special report popped up about something that the first President Bush was going to talk about. Before that, though, the anchor mentioned the death of Sammy Davis Jr. and Jim Henson. Being brought up during the Sesame Street - Muppet Show generation it was like one of the people sitting in my living room had just passed away. I still feel a pang of sadness whenever I realize the potential that was lost that day.
Peter Jennings — Sometimes the personalities that you think are indestructible are the ones that are really the most vulnerable. Peter Jennings was one of those personalities. When the World News Tonight anchor announced he had lung cancer back in April of 2005 viewers were confident that he would recover from this setback. But it wasn’t to be, as he succumbed to the disease only four months later. Jennings’ death, like that of Tim Russert this past week, was a hit to broadcast journalism that the networks may never recover from.
Michael Landon — Here is another television personality who graced our screens for several decades then, just like that, left us due to pancreatic cancer. It was hard to tell that he was sick during his last appearance on The Tonight Show in May of 1991, one month after he was diagnosed. But, less than two months later, the former Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven star passed away at the age of 54.
Freddie Prinze — So many unexpected deaths have been connected, one way or another, to drugs. Freddie Prinze is no exception. A instant television star, thanks to the NBC sitcom Chico and the Man, Prinze’s life ended extremely abruptly at the age of 22 when he shot himself in the head after an overdose of quaaludes.
John Ritter — I heard about John Ritter’s death on my way to the airport and it hit me just as hard as Jim Henson’s or Phil Hartman’s death did. That was due to his constant presence on television thanks to Three’s Company, which ran on several cable stations several times a day. Sadly, he died of sudden heart failure on September 11, 2003 while he was filming the second season of his new ABC comedy 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter.
John Spencer — Here is the last personality whose death hit me quite personally. Again, it was due to Spencer being a weekly television presence thanks to the popularity of The West Wing. Ironically, Spencer’s character on West Wing had survived a massive heart attack with little damage. Unfortunately, no such success for Spencer as he died in 2005 at the age of 59.
Jay Leno offers help to Ed McMahon
Last week, the news about Ed McMahon possibly losing his Hollywood home spread across the airwaves. Surprisingly, there were many comments here that were downright unsympathetic to the former Tonight Show sidekick. Apparently, people in show business are sympathetic. Current Tonight Show host Jay Leno has vocally offered to help Ed with his financial problems.
Jay, who is in the last year of manning the desk that Johnny Carson manned for years with Ed right by his side, promises to come through for Ed. According to Leno’s PR man, “Everybody loves Ed. Jay and others on the show are discussing how they can help him.”
Ed has been unable to work since breaking his neck 18 months ago, but now there are offers coming in. Once people learned that McMahon was in need, the jobs materialized. Howard Bragman, who represents Ed said, “A lot of people have shown generosity. Things are going to work out.”
Good for Ed. Good for Jay. Maybe Jerry Lewis should find some coin to lend to Ed considering his years of service on the MD Telethon.
As for those who are wondering cynically why Ed didn’t save his money, apparently he’s suffered through some very expensive divorces over the years.