George Carlin, 1937-2008

First Tim Russert, and now George Carlin. Jon Stewart said it pretty well on the Daily Show tonight: I too am getting pretty tired of losing people we need.

I may post on Russert at some other time, especially as I will be teaching a journalism course in campaign coverage this fall. This post is all about Carlin, a comedic genius whom I have valued for a long time for his views on "soft language." Years ago, when I was teaching English classes at Clemson University, I even showed one of Carlin's HBO specials to a class for what he had to say about the power of language. And this past semester, Carlin made another appearance in a class on mass media that was "linked" to a political science class on First Amendment freedoms. His "Seven Words" routine (from the Class Clown album, which I have owned for years) are of course significant to First Amendment issues, forming the basis of a Supreme Court decision, FCC v. Pacifica.

He will be missed.

Update: Here is an op-ed piece by Jerry Seinfeld in the New York Times about his friend George Carlin. Amazingly, he reveals that he and Carlin had been joking about death (following the deaths of Tim Russert and Bo Diddley) only days ago ... and that as a result, Carlin felt "safe" for a while. And Richard Zoglin published this piece on "How George Carlin Changed Comedy" in Time magazine.