Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 23, 2001

Volume 29, Number 20

Comedian Carlin shares tales
from his 'very lucky' life

Comedian George Carlin tackled some of life's most complex and difficult questions during a visit to campus on Feb. 12.

Abortion, religion, even the meaning of life were just a few of the issues that Carlin pondered in front of a capacity crowd in the lecture hall of the Yale University Art Gallery.

The entertainer, perhaps best known for his "Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV" routine, which later led to the 1978 Supreme Court decision banning the seven words from television and radio, was invited to speak at Yale by Pierson College and The Yale Record. Rather than perform his stand-up act, Carlin instead chose to talk about his life and explain "how this all came to be."

He began his talk by saying, "I consider myself a very lucky individual." During his 40-year career, Carlin has had 10 comedy albums nominated for Grammy Awards, has been nominated for an Emmy Award twice for his role as Mr. Conductor on PBS's children's show "Shining Time Station," and has acted in such successful and disparate films as "The Prince of Tides" and "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." His first book, "Brain Droppings," was on The New York Times bestseller list for 18 weeks.

However, by describing himself as lucky, Carlin was not just referring to his successful career but his very existence. He recalled how he was conceived as the result of a chance encounter between his parents, who were married but separated at the time. Although his mother originally wanted an abortion, she changed her mind when she was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office and saw the image of her own mother, who had died a few months earlier, in an oil painting. His mother took the image as a sign and decided to keep the baby who would one day become the irrepressible comedian.

Although Carlin's parents failed at their attempt to remain together for his sake, primarily because his father "lacked the ability to efficiently metabolize ethanol," Carlin credits them for his talent. He described his father as an accomplished raconteur who in 1935 won a nationwide Dale Carnegie public speaking contest against 600 other entrants. His mother, said Carlin, loved to tell stories and do character voices. "As they say in Ireland: This ability, I didn't lick it off the rocks," he quipped.

Carlin's luck continued throughout his early years. He attended a Catholic school, but one that had no corporal punishment, no segregation of the sexes and no uniforms. In this experimental school, "everything was up for discussion, even math," Carlin said.

"It was a wonderful, nurturing place where they encouraged self-expression," he said. "And I pursued all the things that interested me that had to do with self-expression -- talking in class, attracting attention, disrupting the class. I felt, if I weren't going to get an education, why should these other children?"

By the time he reached high school, Carlin had lost interest in school. "I had already formed my little dream of being a comedian, being an actor, being a radio guy, being an impersonator, being an announcer or a disc jockey," Carlin said. "I didn't know what form it would take, but I knew what I wanted." Carlin dropped out of school at age 16, joined the Air Force and became a disc jockey that first year. "It was the first leg of my childhood dream," he said. "I got very lucky."

Carlin recounted his start as a stand-up comedian in Fort Worth, Texas, with former partner Jack Burns. Carlin and Burns, both in radio at the time, would ad-lib a stand-up routine at a local coffee house, receive free vodka as payment and fantasize about being on "The Tonight Show" with Jack Paar.

"We would sit in Fort Worth in our underwear after our night-time shift and we would ad-lib the interviews we would have someday when we were on Jack Paar. And they were filthy, just filthy," Carlin recalled. "That was February of 1960. Eight months later, we were on that show -- fully dressed. We were actually in the business! We had no inkling in February that we were even leaving radio, and eight months later we had left, gone to California, found an agent and had gotten on the Jack Paar show.

"Dreams come true," Carlin continued with emphasis. "Cling to them. Do what you can about them."

Moving from the story of his life to his work, Carlin admitted his disdain for topical humor. "What I like to do is talk about larger political issues -- political with a small 'p,' as it were -- things that will always be with us: death, life, abortion, love, sex, discrimination, all of the things that are ongoing issues."

Carlin then went on to tackle one of the largest issues, the meaning of life. Showing an uncharacteristically philosophical side, Carlin shared with the audience his epiphany about mankind's desire to be "one with the universe" and his "form of reuniting with 'the great one.'"

" As an adult, I realized: Hey, I am equal to the universe, greater than the universe, lesser than the universe. I am greater because I can contain in my mind in an instant thought 'the universe.' I'm lesser because -- that's apparent. And I'm equal because every atom in me is the same as the atoms in the universe. Every atom came from a supernova that exploded into a lone star," he explained. "If I'm equal to, greater than, lesser than, then it's only me out there. What could be wrong? What is there to fear? It's only me out there."

Carlin ended his talk by countering the image of himself as an angry and unhappy person. "I don't experience anger in my life," he said. "I always say, 'Boy, they don't make a day I don't like.' It's just all joy."

-- By JinAh Lee

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

New Berkeley College master named

Bollingen Prize in Poetry honors 'anguish and humor' of Louise Glück's 'Vita Nova'

Yale Glee Club salutes music's power to mold lifelong friendships

Architect Cesar Pelli to design Yale's new engineering building

Comedian Carlin shares tales from his 'very lucky' life

Yale College term bill is set at $34,030

Bentley Layton appointed to Goff chair in religious studies

Race is not a factor in the delivery of mental health services . . .

Graduate students give voice to their poetry in colloquium

Valesio group is 'an ongoing poem'

Candid close-ups are Yale police officer's hobby

Pioneering nurses will be honored at center's annual convocation

Grant to support field research by F&ES students

YUHS names new medical director

Pianist (and trained chemist) makes his faculty debut

Shakespeare-inspired music will be featured in concert by Yale Jazz Ensemble

Campus Notes