George Carlin dead at 71

The man who one time said “The Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” on stage has passed away. Comedian George Carlin died of heart failure yesterday (June 22, 2008). The “Seven Words” routine was first performed in Wisconsin back in 1972, resulting in his arrest with the charges later dropped. In wasn’t until George’s routine was played on a New York City radio station, when the Supreme Court took notice. The court ruling in 1978 would ban such offensive language on both TV and radio when children may be watching or listening. It’s language you have to pay to hear on cable or satellite tv as well as satellite radio. George has been on HBO several times as well as “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. And who could ever forget other routines he created like his radio parody “Wonderful WINO” (See Jason’s “You Tube” clip above) in which he based it on Top 40 radio stations of that time period. Another was “Al Sleet, Your Hippie Dippy Weatherman.” It was people like George and the late Lenny Bruce who basically opened the doors for radio shock jocks like Don Imus and Howard Stern. Programming Note: NBC aired the first episode of Saturday Night Live from October 11th, 1975 with George Carlin as the first host of this groundbreaking program.