George Carlin was a legend in his own time, which is amazing since that time spanned decades. The sheer volume of his comedic output was only surpassed by his incredible humour. He was rude, crude, and he had an amazing ability to strip hypocrisy and pretension away from the institutions that needed it most. Some people say that you lose your creativity by the time you reach 35, that the best art and comedy belong to the young. George Carlin proves that idea wrong. Or, as he would say, "That's bullshit, man!"
The first stand-up comedy album I ever owned was Carlin's 1981 A Place For My Stuff (it was a cassette, actually!). I listened to it countless times to the point where I'd had it memorised. I started dipping my toes into the world of drama back in high school. Back then, I was only interested in stage as a means to do comedy (as if that's changed). I participated in a monologue competition in my senior year, and I chose George Carlin's material to perform. I joined together Icebox Man and Fussy Eater, both off that album.
I received a lot of compliments when competing. I was critiqued after one performance by a judge (someone I'd never met, who had no preconceived notions about me), and she said that I had a skill for comedy and that I could be a character actor. For someone that's been such a dedicated fan of comedy his whole life, that was huge. I've always wanted to be on the other side of that wall.
A few weeks later, I was asked to participate in an end-of-year school assembly and perform my monologue. It was amazing rush - there I was, alone on stage with hundreds of people in front of me, and they were laughing. This was a whole new side of comedy for me, and I owe all that to George.