Seven Dirty Words: The Life and Crimes of George Carlin » (Unabridged,Library - Unabridged CD)

James Sullivan is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. He previously served as the pop music and culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and has written for Rolling Stone and many other publications.

On the heels of George Carlin’s bestselling memoir, Last Words, the definitive chronicle of the life and art of the legendary comic, provocateur, and social critic

Publishers Weekly

A recipient of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, stand-up comedian Carlin (1937-2008) wrote three bestselling humor books and looked back over his five-decade career in his recent memoir, Last Words. Now music journalist and culture critic Sullivan, a contributor to Rolling Stone and the San Francisco Chronicle, offers an overview, starting with the young Carlin in 1950s New York. The Air Force sent him off to Louisiana, where he began as a Shreveport radio personality. As a DJ in Fort Worth, Tex., he polished a comedy act with Jack Burns, and the two left for the West Coast, performing together for two years before they split in 1962. Going solo, Carlin's taboo topics and “subversive attitude” took center stage. In this linear summary of Carlin's career, Sullivan dissects the comedian's classic iconoclastic routines, probes his working methods and successfully captures his rocketlike ascent to fame from night clubs and the 1960s comedic cauldron of Greenwich Village to television acclaim, controversy, and creative conflicts. However, those who want to experience a full explosion of the cynical and caustic Carlin blasting off minus the heat shields should instead seek out the finely tuned and wit-saturated Last Words. (June)

Warm-up 1

1 Heavy Mysteries 7

2 Class Clown 25

3 Attracting Attention 51

4 Values (How Much is That Dog Crap in the Window?) 75

5 The Confessional 97

6 Special Dispensation 121

7 Seven Words you Can Never Say on Television 143

8 Wasted Time 167

9 America the Beautiful 189

10 Squeamish 205

Kicker 231

Notes 235

Acknowledgments 247

Index 249