redd foxx

Now that’s it. I’m officially old. Those funny guys that I use to listen to with my friends are all dying or dead. Those guys who were racy – Redd Fox, Richard Pryor and George Carlin are all dead. George Carlin died last night at the age of 71.

He like Pryor wandered in the early days trying to find his voice. The Hippy Dippy weatherman has the first Carlin routine that I can remember. The 7 dirty words was his classic. It truly made him. The routine, besides being risque, it showed, again, how Carlin plays with language. How he can turn a phrase or word and make it really funny.

He had this routine in which he talked about the old west. He asked wouldn’t it be funny if every time they talked about killing someone in one of those old westerns, you could substitute the word F$ck for kill. “Sheriff, I’m going to f$ck ya’ and I’m going to f$ck ya’, slow.”

Carlin was the master of language. He was able to look at words or phrases and make them hilarious in the right context. Below is an example from his great routine – Stuff.

Carlin was one of the greats. I loved his spirit and his humor. I’m thankful that I still have some of his records to listen to. I wonder what he is asking God right now?