George Carlin

He married Brenda Hosbrook in 1961 and had a daughter with her. Their marriage lasted till his wife’s death in 1997.

In 1998, he married Sally Wade. They remained married till his death.

He had a history of heart problems and had suffered three heart attacks. He also had troubles with alcoholism and drug abuse which further deteriorated his health. He died of heart failure at the age of 71.

George Carlin was born to Patrick Carlin, an advertising manager, and his wife Mary Beary, a secretary.

His parents separated when he was very young. He was raised by his very religious mother with whom he had a strained relationship.

He attended Cardinal Hayes High School which he left after just three semesters. He also went to Bishop Dubois High School for a brief period of time.

He was an active participant at Camp Notre Dame in Spofford and often won the camp’s drama award.

He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1954 at the age of 17. He was trained as a radar technician and stationed at Louisiana. During this stint he was court martialed thrice. He was discharged in 1957.

He began performing as a part-time disc jockey while he was serving in the Air Force. After being discharged he took up a job with radio station KXOL in Texas where he met Jack Burns.

He teamed up with Jack Burns in 1959 and the duo performed at the coffeehouse The Cellar in Fort Worth. They moved to California in 1960 and recorded an album ‘Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight’. The pair broke up to pursue individual careers after working together successfully for two years.

He soon moved on to perform on television and appeared on shows like ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and ‘The Tonight Show’. Some of his most popular routines were ‘The Indian Sergeant’, ‘Stupid disc jockeys’ and ‘Jon Carson’.

In 1967, he released his debut solo album ‘Take-Offs and Put-Ons. It contained routines that were similar to the ones he had already performed on the television shows. The album earned a Grammy Award nomination.

George Carlin was a comedian loved for his frank and outrageous commentary on controversial topics. In a career spanning over five decades, the one major work which became his signature was the ‘Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television’ routine featured on his album ‘Class Clown’.